In The News UKGC claims to be confronting illegal gambling in Great Britain

[conker]

The UK Gambling Commission recently posted a

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outlining the efforts they are making to confront illegal gambling in Great Britain. There are some interesting details in the article that stood out.

Unlicensed operators are actively targeting British consumers by manipulating search engine results, exploiting social media platforms, and integrating with payment systems.

On search engines:

To reduce visibility of illegal operators, we have developed referral pathways with major search platforms; Google, Bing, and Yahoo which together account for around 97 per cent of the Internet Search Engine (ISE) market in Great Britain. These partnerships enable automatic delisting of illegal content, intelligence sharing, and early disruption. While sites often reappear, this remains a valuable tactic.

On social media:

We have also been expanding our efforts to include social media platforms like Meta, TikTok, X, and YouTube to tackle illegal advertising. Looking ahead, strengthening our understanding of advertising channels, financial flows and collaborating more closely with the financial sector will be key.

On results:

Assessing traffic data from 160 websites targeted for enforcement action shows a 32 per cent drop in GB user engagement following reassessment after three months. Whilst positive, we recognise that disruption activity often leads to displacement elsewhere which requires us to actively monitor the marketplace.

It's great to see a 'pro-active' approach, but there still seems to be a lot of UK players finding their way onto unlicensed casinos. So, are these efforts working or is this just a game of whack-a-mole?

 

[slot_zombie]

Players will always actively seek out better gaming options outside of the nanny UKGC license, waste of time imo.

 

[conker]

Players will always actively seek out better gaming options outside of the nanny UKGC license, waste of time imo.

It's a double-edged sword that one, as quite often players can be enticed by essentially 'fools gold'. Bonuses that aren't real, or have complicated terms. Invariably many players that get caught out don't understand the perils of the black market or are too desperate to care.

I agree with you when it comes to options to play crypto or where games that you want to play might be that aren't in UK licensed. Plus, the nerfed RTP debacle has definitely changed the 'value' proposition for UK players.

 

[CryptoG82]

Good to see they are finally doing something to disrupt payments - this is the main thing that can be done to stop these sites by taking away the facility to use Visa and Mastercard.

 

[goon1303]

Unlicensed operators generally offer better odds. At least in sports betting.

 

[dunover]

Unlicensed operators generally offer better odds. At least in sports betting.

That's like saying fish and chips from a shop owned by the mafia give you a bigger portion because they have threatened the suppliers and get free potatoes and cod.

 

[satchnz]

That's like saying fish and chips from a shop owned by the mafia give you a bigger portion because they have threatened the suppliers and get free potatoes and cod.

It’s probably more like the local fish and chip shop offers bigger portions because they don’t have a food hygiene certificate (and therefore don’t have to follow regulations that adds cost)

 

[DreamRJ]

The UK Gambling Commission recently posted a

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

outlining the efforts they are making to confront illegal gambling in Great Britain. There are some interesting details in the article that stood out.



On search engines:


On social media:


On results:


It's great to see a 'pro-active' approach, but there still seems to be a lot of UK players finding their way onto unlicensed casinos. So, are these efforts working or is this just a game of whack-a-mole?

I see a major flaw in this though. They might be getting without for UK customers but just turning a VPN on will then make them viewable again.

Honestly if gamblers want to play in unregulated casinos they will. This will not stop them, if anything it might stop a very small % of gamblers.

 

[CryptoG82]

I see a major flaw in this though. They might be getting without for UK customers but just turning a VPN on will then make them viewable again.

Honestly if gamblers want to play in unregulated casinos they will. This will not stop them, if anything it might stop a very small % of gamblers.

The only thing that will stop them is on the payment side and they appear to be taking some action with Visa and Mastercard as stated in their overall summary. This is helpful as even though Crypto is an option many normal people who don't deal with that are being hooked using their debit and credit cards with payments never going directly to the actual casino(as they have no rights to accept direct payments through those networks. It appears there is some progress in this area between the UKGC and Dutch authorities.

 

[megadam]

It’s probably more like the local fish and chip shop offers bigger portions because they don’t have a food hygiene certificate (and therefore don’t have to follow regulations that adds cost)

Or that said regulations have nothing to do with hygiene of the place but to do with the hygiene of the customers (Bonus buys, autoplays etc).

 

[Beefy13]

Are there any good casinos that can be used if you registered on GamStop and selected the wrong time frame? I see lots of adverts, but it is a minefield. Does anybody have any advice on where to go for a good casino not with GamStop?

 

[Webzcas]

When you say you selected 'wrong time frame', what do you exactly mean? Surely you selected what you considered the right time frame when you willingly signed up.

Couple of things to consider, do not try and register an account at a UKGC licensed operator by using different details than those registered at your Gamstop account. In doing so if you win, you will lose any winnings. Also you cannot use the excuse of being signed up at Gamstop to try and get any lost deposits back.

Secondly, be very very very wary of any sites purporting to recommend Non Gamstop Casinos. These are 99% rogue outfits and you may as well pour your money down a drain.

Lastly, whilst there are 'some' decent offshore non uk licensed casinos that will take your custom. It would be wrong for any forum member to recommend such to you.

 

[satchnz]

Lastly, whilst there are 'some' decent offshore non uk licensed casinos that will take your custom. It would be wrong for any forum member to recommend such to you.

 

[johnnymcc1966]

It seems like we had fewer of these problems before the UKGC stuck their oar in than we do now. Maybe,just maybe it's them who are largely the problem given how their 'improvements' have driven customers away from the UK market into the arms of the rogues.

 

[Avernite]

Positive news imo.

Yes, some people will circumvent it via crypto, but this will save a lot of people time, money and sanity.