Youth and Self-Excluded Players Drive £379M Surge in UK’s Black Market Gambling

In 2020 the illegal sector was worth just 0.43%, but at a recent Peers for Gambling Reform event the CEO of Yield Sec, Ismail Vali, revealed that this figure has now dramatically increased to 9%, with this rise representing £379m in the first half of 2025.

The UK has long been considered an example marketplace for regulated online gambling but this significant growth in illegal operations disrupts this perceived notion.

Vali explained that this wasn’t necessarily a result of mainstream consumers switching to unlicensed operators, but rather it’s driven by the exploitation of vulnerable groups, such as self-excluded or underage players.

Unlicensed operators target and exploit these at-risk players specifically because they have nowhere else to go and they are the “cheapest and most effective path” for illegal gambling.

This expansion is fueled in particular by the “not on Gamstop” phenomenon that has rapidly risen in recent years. Unlicensed operators are actively singling out self-excluded gamblers looking for ways around the exclusion scheme when promoting their brands.

Vali said, “So of 100% of stuff that you see promoting illegal gambling, 84% is not-on-Gamstop related. Not-on-Gamstop was a problem that started in 2020, we’ve said something about it every single year.

“And every single year, this thing doubles the size of the UK’s illegal gambling sector. This is an area where that phenomenon simply has not been killed.”

The legal gambling market represents over 2,000 licensed operators generating £3.9bn in revenue and is promoted by nearly 7,000 affiliates, while the illegal market comprises around 700 unlicensed businesses with 1,600 affiliates. Worryingly, the number of unlicensed casinos is growing every year.

The data procured by Yield Sec indicates that £426m of the losses to illegal operators comes solely from self-excluded gamblers, according to Gamstop’s analysis of its 532,484 registered users showing a 25% recidivism rate. When you include the market for underage gambling that figure comes to nearly £583m total for the illegal market.

The research revealed that search engines and social media platforms are directing users to these unlicensed sites via “not on Gamstop” searches, although Yield Sec recognised the progress that has been made with recent ChatGPT updates including policies to redirect these searches to helplines and resources.

With these concerning figures essentially doubling every year since the pandemic, this exposes a serious flaw in the UK’s gambling market that needs to be addressed soon in order to prevent further harm to vulnerable players.