BGC warns about “Dangers of Complacency” of illegal gambling
PwC study reveals that number of British online punters has more than doubled
The number of British punters using black market websites to place bets has more than doubled, reveals the Betting and Gaming Council a new report published last week, warning of “the dangers of complacency” about the threat from unlicensed and illegal gambling operators.
The report commissioned by tBGC from PwC, ‘Review of unlicensed online gambling in the UK’, is a brand new 66-page document based on data collected during November and December 2020, and highlights a series of worrying trends, including a doubling of the money staked with unlicensed operators – a jump from £1.4bn to £2.8bn (US$ 3.85 billion) compared to a similar study in 2019.
The new data also shows the number of customers using an unlicensed betting website has grown from 210,000 two years ago to 460,000, highlighting also worrying global trends that show the size of the black market in other countries.
The findings came as the United Kingdom Government conducts a Gambling Review, which has formally and specifically asked for information about the black market as part of its ‘Call for Evidence’, following widespread concerns raised by a number of parliamentarians.
Michael Dugher, the BGC’s chief executive, said: “This new report by PwC is an impressive and comprehensive piece of work which demonstrates how the unsafe, unregulated black market is a growing threat to British punters. These illicit sites have none of the regulated sector’s consumer protections in place, such as strict ID and age verification checks, safer gambling messages and the ability to set deposit limits.”
Dugher said that as head of the standards body representing the regulated betting and gaming industry he welcomes wholeheartedly the Government’s Gambling Review, adding: “It is important to stress that the big increase in the black market is not an argument against more changes to the regulated industry, but an argument that we need to get them right.” On the number of British punters using black market sites, the report by PwC report says: “Based on our survey, the proportion of UK online gamblers using an unlicensed operator has increased from 2.2 per cent to 4.5 per cent in the last 1-2 years. This equates to an increase from c210,000 players in 2018-19 to c460,000 in 2020.”
This corresponds to a doubling of stakes with unlicensed online operators from £1.4bn to £2.8bn. The new report also suggests that the size of the online black market is larger in countries where the regulated betting and gaming sector is less competitive, and points to countries including France, Norway, Italy and Spain – which have tougher restrictions on licensed operators – as examples of nations where the black-market share is bigger than in the UK.
