The Gambling Commission published initial findings from a new Illegal Gambling Index on 5 November 2026, giving its first estimates of how many adults in Great Britain engage with illegal gambling websites. The Commission says engagement across the whole population appears low and stable, and that a cohort of online gamblers does use these sites.
What The Survey Found
Across all adults in the survey, including people who do not gamble, 94.4% showed no indication of using an illegal gambling website. 0.6% had engaged with one in the past four weeks, and a further 0.4% had done so in the past 12 months but not in the past four weeks. Another 4.6% showed limited indications of engagement, which the Commission says is not enough evidence to classify them as users.
Among adults who gambled online in the past 12 months, excluding people who only play National Lottery products, 2.5% had engaged with an illegal gambling website in the past four weeks and a further 1.5% in the past 12 months.
Engagement was significantly higher among men than women: 0.9% of men and 0.4% of women in the past four weeks. Over the past 12 months, engagement was significantly higher among 18 to 24 year olds, at 1.5%, than in any other age group, where it ranged from 0.1% to 0.6%.
How The Index Works
The Index draws on seven behaviours that adults reported in the Gambling Survey for Great Britain, and the Commission gave each one a strength rating that reflects how strongly it points to illegal website use. The findings cover four quarterly waves between April 2025 and April 2026, with a base of 14,257 adults, of whom 3,569 had gambled online in the past 12 months.
The Commission describes the results as an indication of engagement. It says the questions aim to identify people who may be using an illegal website, whether or not they realise it.
Among people classified as users, the most common behaviours reported in the past 12 months were using a site they knew had no GamStop registration, at 58.0%, and cancelling a withdrawal before it reached a bank account or wallet, at more than half. Only 128 respondents fall into the user group, so the Commission says it cannot yet report a demographic breakdown of that group.
What The Commission Said
Sue Young, the Commission's Executive Director for Operations, said engagement with the illegal market from an overall population perspective "appears low and stable from these indicators". She added that "there is a cohort of online gamblers who use these sites and research suggests those consumers who use illegal operators are more likely to experience harm". The Commission says motivations for using illegal operators vary and no single factor explains them.
Disruption Figures From The CEO Briefing
Sarah Gardner, the Commission's Acting Chief Executive, delivered a speech at the CEO Briefing on 5 November 2026 that compared the last financial year with the first six months of this one. The Commission issued 1,005 Cease and Desist notices to advertisers and operators between April and September, against 741 in the whole of last year. It reported 7,824,932 URLs to search engines, with 3,038,969 already removed, compared with 397,527 reported and 266,667 removed last year. It referred 2,201 websites to search engines for delisting, against 1,068 last year.
Disruption took 1,134 websites down or behind geo-blocks last year, and the Commission reports 1,668 websites taken down so far this year. The Government committed £26 million to the Commission over three years at last year's Budget to help tackle the illegal market, and a Minister-led Taskforce now exists. Gardner said the numbers show only part of the Commission's activity.
What This Means For UK Players
The Commission's research lists behaviours that point to an unlicensed site. It treats signing up because you knew you would not need to verify your age or identity as a near certain sign that no licensed operator runs the site, because age and identity verification are fundamental requirements for Gambling Commission licensed operators.
The figures describe adult behaviour, not the size of the illegal market. Gardner said the Commission could not put a number on the market's scale a year ago, and described the new work as a big step towards that goal. The Commission updated its Illegal Gambling Data Dashboard alongside the research, and it will use the dashboard to track engagement over time.
