Guest article provided by IAGR partner, Greo Evidence Insights. 

Illegal online gambling remains a persistent challenge for regulators worldwide. Unlicensed operators often provide gambling products and services without following rules designed to protect people, including age verification, safer gambling tools, anti-money laundering safeguards, and dispute resolution mechanisms. As online gambling markets continue to expand, the digital, global, and borderless nature of the internet allows illegal operators to reach people across borders in ways that were impossible with traditional, land-based gambling. Illegal gambling operates within a broader digital ecosystem involving operators, affiliates, payment providers, and technology platforms, which can complicate regulatory responses. At the same time, estimating the size of illegal gambling markets remains methodologically challenging and often contested. As a result, many regulators focus less on precise measurement and more on understanding trends over time and whether policy approaches are increasing or decreasing consumer participation in unlicensed gambling.

Pervasive illegal gambling undermines regulated markets by creating an uneven playing field. Licensed operators must meet a jurisdiction’s regulatory requirements and pay taxes or licensing fees, while unlicensed operators do not. Individuals who use illegal services may also have few options for recourse if disputes arise or if winnings are not paid. In some cases, individuals may not be aware they are using unlicensed services, particularly where illegal operators closely mimic licensed offerings or appear alongside them in search results and digital platforms. At the same time, the persistence of illegal markets reflects not only enforcement challenges but also differences in pricing, product availability, speed, and user experience between licensed and unlicensed offerings.

The growth of online gambling has increased both the scale and complexity of illegal activity. Offshore operators can host websites in jurisdictions with limited regulatory oversight while targeting individuals in regulated markets through online advertising, social media, affiliate networks, and search engine visibility. Illegal gambling activity spans multiple regulatory domains, including gambling regulation, advertising standards, financial oversight, and platform governance. This requires coordination across bodies with distinct mandates that may not always be aligned. Major technology platforms, including Google, Meta, and Apple, play an important role in limiting access to illegal gambling services through their policies on advertising, content moderation, and app distribution. However, the scale and speed of digital advertising ecosystems can make consistent enforcement challenging, particularly across jurisdictions with differing regulatory expectations. At the same time, digital wallets and cryptocurrencies also facilitate cross-border transactions that are difficult to monitor and control. These features can enable rapid adaptation by illegal operators, including shifting payment methods or re-establishing access after enforcement actions.

To address these concerns, regulators use a range of enforcement tools, including website and payment blocking, financial penalties, and collaboration with internet service providers, payment processors, advertising systems, and major technology platforms. While these measures can reduce visibility and access, engagement with platforms like Google and Meta is increasingly important to reduce the promotion and visibility of unlicensed operators across search results, digital advertising, and mobile applications. Many jurisdictions also promote the use of licensed operators through public awareness campaigns, helping individuals distinguish between licensed and unlicensed services and highlighting the stronger consumer protections they provide. These efforts reflect a broader objective of channelling individuals toward regulated environments, where consumer protections and safeguards are in place.

As illegal gambling evolves, regulators are increasingly adopting a combined approach, integrating robust licensing frameworks, enforcement tools and processes, cross-border cooperation, and efforts to steer individuals toward regulated markets. Addressing illegal gambling involves a range of interconnected factors, including enforcement capacity, market conditions, and consumer awareness. Sharing insights on emerging approaches and what works in practice can strengthen collective efforts to reduce illegal gambling and enhance consumer protection globally.

Recently published gambling research

Below is a selection of resources that may help inform regulatory action related to illegal gambling.

Please note that resources are selected based on relevance to the topic without formal assessment of quality, and inclusion does not imply endorsement.

• Defining and estimating the illegal gambling market
• Using banking data to understand onshore and offshore gambling among people with debts
• Stakeholders’ perspectives on channeling policy to address offshore gambling in Finland
• Illegal offshore gambling: A growing threat
• Challenges in regulating the online gambling sector: A scoping review
• A scoping review of measures used to block offshore gambling websites
• Evaluating the impact of tax rates on channelling online gambling toward the regulated markets in Europe
• Illegal online gambling: Consumer awareness, drivers and motivations
• Illegal online gambling – Phase 2: Identifying indicators of consumer engagement with illegal gambling websites

Evidence-informed action

Regulators can consider the following examples when developing strategies to address illegal gambling.

Great Britain

In Great Britain, the UK Gambling Commission is responsible for preventing unlicensed operators from offering gambling services to individuals in the jurisdiction. Under the Gambling Act 2005, operators must obtain a licence to provide gambling services to people in Great Britain, regardless of where the operator is based. According to enforcement data published by the Gambling Commission for the period of October 2024 to September 2025, there were 208,088 enforcement actions relating to illegal online gambling, with the largest category involving referrals of illegal gambling URLs to search engines to reduce their visibility. Other enforcement actions during this time period included issuing cease-and-desist letters and working with payment providers and online platforms to disrupt access to unlawful services.

• Unlicensed Gambling – Our approach to tackling unlicensed gambling
• Activity to tackle unlicensed gambling and outcomes

Italy
Italy regulates online gambling through a licensing regime overseen by the national gambling authority, which also takes enforcement action against unlicensed operators targeting people in Italian. The regulator works with internet service providers to block illegal gambling domains and restrict access to unlicensed platforms. As of September 2025, more than 11,400 unauthorised gambling domains had been blocked as part of Italy’s efforts to prevent individuals from accessing illegal gambling services.

• ADM orders blocking of 23 further unlicensed online gambling sites: black list exceeds 11,400 domains
• Elenco dei siti soggetti ad inibizone [List of blocked websites] [in Italian]

Norway

In Norway, gambling is restricted to state-authorized operators under the oversight of the Norwegian Gambling and Foundation Authority (Lotteri- og stiftelsestilsynet). Unlicensed operators are prohibited from targeting Norwegian players, and the Authority enforces this through cease-and-desist orders, internet service provider blocking, and payment provider restrictions. To date, 238 websites operated by 72 companies have been blocked, with a further 71 sites modifying their operations to exit the Norwegian market ahead of enforcement action.

• Blokkering av ulovlige pengespillsider/Blocking of illegal gambling sites [in Norwegian]
• DNS blocking in Norway [in English]

Global Cooperation
In 2025, major gambling trade bodies and regulators participated in formal cooperation efforts targeting illegal gambling. The American Gaming Association (AGA), the European Casino Association (ECA), and the Betting & Gaming Council (BGC) signed a memorandum of understanding, operationalized in 2025, committing to joint law enforcement roundtables, interjurisdictional information sharing, and coordinated strategies. The first roundtable, held in June 2025 in Berlin, brought together regulators and industry representatives to exchange knowledge and discuss approaches for tackling unlicensed gambling operators in Europe and beyond.

• Global gambling associations join forces to fight illegal market at Berlin roundtable