UK online gambling operators’ claims of a thriving unauthorized black market are being refuted by their own regulator ahead of the government’s review of gambling laws. 

Shortly before Christmas, the UK’s Betting & Gaming Council (BGC) lobby group circulated details of a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report that claimed some 200k UK punters spent around £1.4b on unauthorized internationally licensed online gambling sites in a 12-month period spanning 2018 and 2019. 

The PwC report further stated that internationally licensed sites not authorized to conduct business in the UK accounted enjoyed 27m visits from UK punters during the period in question, equal to 2.5% of all online betting visits. These sites also claimed a 9% share of all UK gambling search results. 

BGC CEO Michel Dugher claimed these statistics should help guide the government’s review of the Gambling Act 2005, which promises to severely clip the wings of UK-licensed sites. Dugher said the PwC report demonstrated “the danger of unintentionally driving punters into the arms of the illegal, online black market – which offers none of the protections of the regulated sector.”