UK Gambling Commission Open Banking Study Finds 91% Overlap in Licensed and Illegal Gambling Activity
A UK Gambling Commission open banking study found 91% of repeat illegal-site users also gamble with licensed operators, with no major drop in regulated spending.Summary
The UK Gambling Commission published an open banking study on 28 October using payment data rather than surveys to track spending with unlicensed operators. It found that 91% of people with repeated detected payments to illegal sites also gambled with licensed operators, and licensed transactions did not fall substantially after the first illegal payment, suggesting illegal gambling supplements rather than replaces regulated play. The Commission links unlicensed activity to far higher problem gambling scores, with searches for sites "not on GamStop" a primary entry route per its Phase 3 Consumer Voice research. The study has a narrow base: a payment firm's categorizer flagged transactions with over 50% gambling probability, excluding cryptocurrency and capturing only some illegal operators, so it cannot measure the illegal market's size or prove harm. The findings arrived during Budget week as the sector absorbs a 40% online gaming duty in place since April 2026; the Betting and Gaming Council argues higher taxes push players to the untaxed black market, citing projections that more than one in five pounds staked online could reach illegal operators by 2031. The Commission cautions the panel data is not nationally representative, and as duty rises again in April 2027, the 91% overlap leaves open whether tax policy or targeted enforcement on GamStop searches will better contain illegal activity and harm.
(Source：Sccg Management)