Study finds Britons using illegal crypto gambling sites
Britons are gambling billions of pounds a year on the black market, including at illegal crypto casino sites, according to a new landmark study.
Research commissioned by the Betting and Gaming Council – which describes itself as a “standards body” for the industry but is often labelled as a pressure group – found the extent to which British gamblers are playing at illegal sites.
According to data that was collected by leading consultants Frontier Economics for the study, Britons are collectively staking around £4.3 billion a year on black market gambling.
The study found £2.7 billion was gambled on illegal, unregulated gambling black market sites online, some of which are crypto casinos that do not have a licence to legally operate.
Chief executive of the Betting and Gaming Council Grainne Hurst described the report as “shocking” and said it “exposes the unnerving true scale of the growing, unsafe, unregulated gambling black market”.
She added in a statement released alongside the new piece of research: “From online gaming, to betting on sports like horse racing, millions of customers are being driven into the arms of pernicious black market operators.
“These people don’t care about player safety, don’t want to pay their fair share to support sport and don’t pay a penny in tax. By failing to adhere to the stringent standards set by the Gambling Commission, unregulated operators in the unsafe black market can make bigger offers, grant customers total anonymity, and promise the freedom to gamble without any controls or safety measures, unlike BGC members.”
Hurst and the BGC are calling on the government and the Gambling Commission, which is responsible for regulating the industry in the UK, to avoid “sleepwalking” into a bigger issue.
One of the authors of the report, Andrew Leicester, who is an associate director at Frontier Economics, pointed out that black market gambling is getting easier to find and access.
The research showed over one in five 18-24 year olds who already like to place bets also use the black market to gamble online, along with using secure online messaging apps to bet.
Crypto casinos lack regulation if they do not have a licence to legally operate and some sites also allow credit card deposits, which were made illegal in the UK a few years ago.
Leicester added: “Efforts to make gambling safer are important, but must avoid the risk of simply pushing more players and spending into unregulated providers who do not need to comply with regulations around safer play.”
