A Shocking Number of UK Gamblers Prefer Black Market Casinos

In a recent report by the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), it was revealed that 200,000 British gamblers choose to play at unregulated online casinos despite running the risk of not being paid out their winnings.

The BGC warns the UK Gambling Commission that this is a clear indicator that they have lost the faith of a large portion of their gambling community. In the past, the regulator has come under fire for enforcing regulations that may look good on paper but ultimately lose the interest of gamblers.

The Number Do Not Lie

To avoid any claims that they are exaggerating the issue, the BGC published a comprehensive data set outlining the extent of the region’s losses in this regard.

Three key reference points in the BGC report are:

• UK players visit unregulated gambling sites up to 27 million times a year
• From 2018 to 2019 more than 200,000 UK players gambled at unregulated casinos
• Over the same period these players wagered approximately £1.4 billion

BGC chief executive Michael Dugher added:

“… these figures demonstrate the danger of unintentionally driving punters into the arms of the illegal, online black market – which offers none of the protections of the regulated sector.”

As the UK’s standards body for gambling the BGC is deeply concerned about the negative impact of this resurgence in black market casino interest as it opens the youth and at-risk population up to exploitation.

In particular, the BGC reports speaks of the dangers of under-18s playing at illegal casinos which do not enforce age verification, confirm player identities’, or offer any safer gambling tools to limit financial or emotion risk.

 Wasting A Valuable Resource

In addition to the human element, there is also the business aspect to consider. The £1.4 billion wagered at illegal casinos represents a sizable financial loss to the United Kingdom.

Michael Dugher said:

“The regulated betting and gaming industry employs 100,000 men and women and pays £3.2bn a year in tax to the Treasury, so the Government needs to be wary of doing anything that puts that at risk.”

The UKGC appears to be failing on multiple fronts as the current regulations do not serve the interests of the gambling public nor those of licensed gambling operators who see valuable revenues being siphoned away to unlicensed online casinos.

We can only hope that the upcoming Gambling Review addresses these serious shortcomings in the current system. The new system needs to balance serving both the industry and the gambling community, to ensure it remains safe for players and financially viable for the operators.