The UK Gambling Commission published estimates of illegal gambling site use on 5 November. About 2.5% of adults who gambled online in the past year visited an illegal site within the four weeks before the survey. Another 1.5% did so within the year, but not in the last four weeks.
Among all adults, including those who don't gamble, the figures are lower: 0.6% over four weeks and 0.4% over the year. Overall, 94.4% of respondents showed no sign of using an illegal gambling site. Another 4.6% showed some signs, but there was not enough data to classify them as users.
The estimates are based on the Gambling Survey for Great Britain across four survey waves from April 2025 to April 2026. The regulator's index relies on seven behavioural indicators, such as playing on a site outside the Gamstop register or registering without age and identity checks. Among those classed as users, 58% played on a non-Gamstop site, and 56.6% cancelled withdrawals before the money reached their account or wallet.
Use was higher among men and among 18- to 24-year-olds.
The regulator said its indicators do not yet show sustained growth in illegal online gambling sites. For the industry, the main takeaway is different: illegal sites are concentrated among online gamblers, not the general population. Their share among people who gamble online is more than four times higher than among all adults.
The next step is new survey questions. Questions sorting illegal-site users into types of player are due in the first wave of the 2027 survey.
