International Market Assessment | 2026

Illegal Gambling Market Intelligence

The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), the UK industry body representing licensed betting and gaming operators, commissioned Fincord Intelligence to assess the international illegal online gambling market.

The assignment examined its scale, operating structures, channels used to reach players and the infrastructure that enables illegal operators to remain active across jurisdictions.

Commissioned by the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), United Kingdom

Selected Findings

Around $50bn

Estimated global gross revenue generated by illegal online gambling in 2025

5 000

Operator structures identified behind the market.

The research found that illegal gambling increasingly functions through interconnected international networks rather than as a collection of isolated websites.

15 000 +

Websites and applications associated with those structures.

Why It Matters

In the UK, the research found that illegal operators deliberately target consumers who have self-excluded through GAMSTOP or seek to avoid protections applied in the regulated market.

Mirror domains, VPN access, affiliates, messaging platforms and alternative payment channels make individual website blocking easy to circumvent.

One of the central conclusions of the research is that blocking individual websites alone is not enough. Effective disruption also requires attention to the infrastructure that allows illegal operators to remain accessible and move money.

Key conclusion

Illegal online gambling is increasingly functioning as a system of interconnected international networks rather than as a collection of individual sites.