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BGC Wants Tough Action on Illegal Gambling

by Glenn Baird - February 13, 2020

The UK’s Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has insisted that action needs to be taken to prevent the operation of unregistered gambling operators.

The Council has revealed through its own research that four in ten search results using key terms associated with online gambling have provided results that are linked to unlicensed, unregulated black market operators.

The research also highlighted that 27 million visits were made to illegal gambling websites from IP addresses linked to the UK last year. They BGC estimates that this would equate to roughly 200,000 players in the UK visiting black-market gambling sites in 2019.

Chief Executive of the BGC, Michael Dugher said: “Search platforms are promoting black-market gambling operators for profit, putting the British consumers, including children, at risk. None of the UK’s strict licensed safeguards are in place on these illegal sites.

“Regulated bookies and online operators have a strict zero tolerance approach to underage gambling, yet unlicensed operators are free to prey on vulnerable consumers.

“We welcome the Government’s Online Harms Bill. But it also provides the Government with a chance to clamp down on the black-market and help protect punters who want a flutter in a safe environment.”

At the same time calls for this crackdown are being made the UKGC is being asked to consider reducing the maximum wager allowed at online gambling sites registered in the UK to £2 per spin, bringing online legislation in line with that of Fixed Odds Betting Machines. The obvious danger that could occur if demand is realised is the increased traffic that finds its way into black-market casinos that are entirely unregulated but willing to take the wagers that regulated site are not.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland sits to the north-west of mainland Europe. The United Kingdom shares a border with The Republic of Ireland and has coasts on the Atlantic Ocean, Celtic Sea, North Sea, Irish Sea and English Channel. The population of the UK is approaching the 67.6 million mark leading to a fairly densely populated land mass. The gambling sector in the United Kingdom is entirely regulated and licensed by the UKGC – the United Kingdom Gambling Commission. Should players resident In the UK wish to gamble with foreign based operators there is no history of this being treated as a criminal offence, but high levels of protection exist for UK residents playing with UK licensed operators.

Disclaimer:

The above information is what we believe to be the the legal status of online gambling, however information on this topic is limited and hard to find. We accept no liability for any errors or ommissions. It is the reader’s responsibility to ensure that they know the legality of online gambling in their country before engaging with any online gambling service.