The UK Gambling Commission has challenged a central argument in the regulated industry’s debate over illegal gambling, with new research suggesting consumers’ use of unlicensed operators does not necessarily replace their activity with licensed businesses.
The latest in a series of reports examining the illegal gambling market, the study focused on financial transaction data. This included identifying specific payments between consumers and illegal companies, as well as the associated harms and financial behaviors.
Making use of the regulator’s Open Banking dataset, the report identified 3,426 transactions involving suspected illegal operators, linked to 179 individuals.
Some 91% of those with repeated detected illegal gambling transactions also used licensed operators.
