Gambling Commission Launches Illegal Gambling Index: 2.5% of British Online Gamblers Used Illegal Sites

The Gambling Commission, Great Britain's gambling regulator, published its first Illegal Gambling Index on 5 November 2026, estimating that 2.5% of people who gambled online in the past 12 months engaged with illegal gambling sites in the previous four weeks.

The index was developed with Yonder Consulting and draws on year one of the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB), which covers April 2025 to April 2026. The Commission also released an updated Illegal Gambling Data Dashboard alongside it. The release gives operators, payment providers and affiliates the first structured estimate of how many British consumers are reaching unlicensed sites.

What the first Illegal Gambling Index results show

About 1 in 40 online gamblers engaged with illegal sites in the four weeks before being surveyed, and roughly 4% did so at some point over 12 months. The figures are a share of online gamblers, not of the whole population, and the two should not be mixed up.

According to iGaming Business, 94.4% of respondents showed no indication of use, while 4.6% showed some indicators but not enough to be classified as users. Men and younger adults were more likely to engage with illegal sites, according to next.io. iGaming Times reports that the 128 classified users were too few to support detailed demographic breakdowns.

How the index measures illegal site use

The index infers use from behavior instead of asking people directly. It combines seven self-reported indicators, and the Commission has said direct questions about illegal sites produce unreliable answers. Coverage names several of the indicators:

• using a site known not to be on GamStop, the British self-exclusion scheme
• signing up where age or ID checks are not required
• cancelling a withdrawal before it reaches the bank account or wallet
• using a virtual private network (VPN)
• gambling with cryptocurrency

Among respondents classified as users, 58% had used a site they knew was not on GamStop, 56.6% had cancelled a withdrawal, and nearly 47% had signed up because they knew age or ID checks would not apply, according to next.io and iGaming Business.

The pattern matters for compliance teams. The most common behaviors point to consumers who are avoiding self-exclusion and verification controls, not simply to people who stumbled onto an unlicensed brand. That is the same consumer-protection gap regulators elsewhere are trying to close. Gamingo has tracked comparable measurement exercises, including a survey showing that 25% of Belgian gamblers use unlicensed sites, and enforcement moves such as Greece tightening its illegal gambling laws.

A baseline, not a trend

This release sets a starting point. The index offers a single reading, so it cannot show whether illegal use is rising or falling. iGaming Times argues that the "stable" characterization rests on the Commission's dashboard monitoring rather than on the index itself, and the "low, stable" wording appears in next.io's headline.

The Commission's own assessment, as reported by Yogonet, is that its monitoring indicators do not currently show sustained or substantial growth in illegal online gambling. The dashboard tracks three areas: the supply of illegal sites, consumer engagement, and disruption activity by the regulator.

Future comparisons are planned. According to The Gamblest, new survey questions in 2027 will help track four gambler segments, and later waves will be compared against web-traffic estimates and other intelligence. The Commission has previously signaled a push to make better use of operator information, as covered in UK Gambling Commission emphasizes enhanced use of operator data. Regulators in other markets run parallel disruption programs, such as the ACMA crackdown on illegal gambling websites in Australia.

What it means for operators and affiliates

Licensed operators should read the indicator list as a map of where consumers leak out of the regulated market: weak or absent ID checks, withdrawal friction, and self-exclusion gaps. Payment processors and affiliates face the same logic, since cancelled withdrawals and cryptocurrency use are among the measured signals. With a baseline now published, any later rise in the index figures would give the Commission evidence for tougher disruption work across the supply chain.

Status reviewed on 8 November 2026. Key figures come from the Gambling Commission's 5 November 2026 release as reported by Yogonet, next.io, iGaming Business and iGaming Times. More regulation news and EMEA coverage.