An update from the Gambling Commission has suggested that there are no real patterns for consumer engagement with illegal gambling sites – but hundreds of millions of minutes are being racked up on there every month.
Data also suggests a huge increase in consumers using VPNs to access these sites since the Online Safety Act came into force in July 2025.
A blog post from Tim Livesley, Head of the Data Innovation Hub at the Gambling Commission, has revealed fresh insight into how the regulator is tracking illegal gambling activity and the challenges it faces in measuring it accurately.
Speaking following the Commission’s Spring Evidence Conference in Birmingham, Livesley outlined both recent trends and ongoing efforts to refine the regulator’s methodology.
The latest analysis, extending trend data through February 2026, suggests that engagement continues to fluctuate rather than follow a clear upward or seasonal pattern, but shows just how prevalent illegal operators consistently are in the modern age.
Measured through estimated time spent on illegal sites, the data does not indicate sustained growth over the 21-month period analysed. However, the Commission continued to stress caution in interpreting these figures.
Data suggests a peak in engagement between January-March 2025, with it again spiking around August. It implies that over 200 million minutes were spent on illegal gambling sites during these months. A slight increase can also be seen from November 2025 to February 2026.
However, the Commission noted that web traffic estimates, while useful for identifying directional trends, carry inherent limitations, including margins of error and blind spots around alternative access methods.
VPN usage spikes after Online Safety Act
One of the most significant variables affecting the data is the rise in VPN usage, particularly following the introduction of the UK’s Online Safety Act.
The Commission had already applied a 30% uplift to account for traffic potentially hidden by VPNs. However, updated data from Ofcom and Similarweb indicates a sharp spike in VPN usage in July 2025.
Worryingly, this was followed by stabilisation at levels around 40% higher than pre-legislation norms. This has led to revised modelling scenarios, with wider confidence intervals applied to recent data.
What is also concerning for the Commission is that all estimates project that illegal gambling sites consistently have hundreds of millions of minutes spent on them from UK consumers.
The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) also estimated that up to £100m was potentially staked with illegal operators across the recent Aintree Festival, including as much as £40m alone on the Grand National.
The BGC’s Chief Executive Officer, Grainne Hurst, has also voiced concerns about recent studies which found that illegal gambling marketing spend is set to overtake that of legal operators by 2028.
On the Gambling Commission’s findings, Livesley emphasised that illegal gambling is a “multi-dimensional” issue that cannot be captured through a single data source, and did acknowledge the error that some of these estimates can carry.
“We have noted that we use web traffic estimates, which are subject to margins of error,” he said.
“We view them as more effective at providing insights on trends rather than absolute volumes of traffic. We also acknowledge that there are alternative ways consumers can access illegal gambling which will not be visible in this data.
“We caution against treating any single data source as definitive on an issue as multi-dimensional as illegal gambling. We are also developing our approach to additional data points which can be used in conjunction.
“Nonetheless, web traffic to illegal websites is a useful indicator of trends.”
What the Gambling Commission is set to do
Now looking at expanding its approach, the Commission will combine web traffic analysis with additional datasets and research initiatives, including:
- the Gambling Survey for Great Britain
- its Consumer Voice programme
- collaboration with international regulators and licensed operators
The broader framework is looking to improve accuracy and provide a more complete understanding of consumer behaviour.
What is also eyebrow-raising is the willingness from the Gambling Commission to work with licensed operators – something which the Government has seemed reluctant on since taking on responsibility for gambling treatment services across the UK.
The Commission confirmed that tackling illegal gambling remains a regulatory priority, with further updates expected on both enforcement activity and the effectiveness of disruption measures.
It will be interesting to see whether findings like this could have any impact on the Commission’s incoming – and much discussed – Financial Risk Assessments (FRAs). Industry figures have long called for a pause on these checks, suggesting they could potentially drive players towards the black market.
Operators, punters and regulatory bodies across the UK have been pleading for an intervention with illegal gambling operators for some time now.
Now that the Gambling Commission has clear evidence of just how much time is spent on those sites, many eyes will be drawn to what is being done to shift consumers away from being sucked into gambling with these operators.
