BGC calls for Online Harms Bill to tackle black market operators

The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), the trade association for the British gambling industry, has called on the government to ensure that the new Online Harms Bill includes action to crack down on unlicensed operators targeting consumers in the UK.

The bill, which is expected to be introduced imminently in the House of Commons, looks to introduce new regulations to keep citizens online, protect children and stop the spread of terrorist materials. It was announced in the Queen's Speech, which sets out the key goals of the governing Conservative Party, in December last year.

While the BGC praised the government’s efforts to tackle online harms, it said more must be done to tackle unregulated activity, citing research that showed search results for key gambling terms on major search engines are unlicensed black market operators.

The research, based on 47 search terms, resulted in 8,825 individual organic search results, of which 78% related to gambling operators, including both licensed and unlicensed operators. However, when removing duplicate results, the search identified 229 unlicensed operators.

A BGC survey also found that 2.2% of UK online gamblers has used an unlicensed operator for one or more gaming products over the last 12 months. The BGC also cited web traffic statistics, saying that unlicensed operators accounted for 2.5% of gambling website visits in the last 12 months – equating to 27m visits from UK IP addresses.

In addition, the BGC estimated that based on the proportion of gamblers using unlicensed operators reveals the size of the active UK ‘black market’ is worth around £1.4bn (€1.67bn/$1.82bn) in stakes.

“We welcome the Online Harms Bill, but it also provides the government with a chance to clamp down on the black-market and help protect punters who want a flutter in a safe environment,” BGC chief executive Michael Dugher said.

“Search platforms are promoting black-market gambling operators for profit, putting the British consumers, including children, at risk. None of the UK’s strict licensed safeguards are in place on these illegal sites.

“Regulated bookies and online operators have a strict zero tolerance approach to underage gambling, yet unlicensed operators are free to prey on vulnerable consumers.”