In the United Kingdom and the influential Betting and Gaming Council lobby group has drawn attention to the size of Europe’s black market iGaming scene while warning that the British gambling landscape now stands at a ‘dangerous crossroads’.
The Betting and Gaming Council represents approximately 90% of British gaming, sportsbetting, casino and bingo operators including behemoths such as William Hill, Entain and Flutter Entertainment. The organization used an official press release to declare that it recently commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers to conduct a formal investigation into the size and reach of illegal online gambling across multiple regulated European jurisdictions that uncovered higher rates of illegal operation linked to ‘the introduction of strict new measures on regulated operators.’
Designated desire:
The London-headquartered body explained that the findings of this examination come as the British government is preparing to lay out its future vision for the nation’s domestic online gambling market via the publication of a ‘white paper.’ It moreover proclaimed that it would like this forthcoming regulatory environment to encompass ‘targeted measures to protect vulnerable gamblers’ rather than ‘a blanket approach that could force the vast majority’ of iGaming aficionados into the hands of unlicensed operators.
Troubling trend: Council, Michael Dugher (pictured), cautioned that any large-scale changes to the current online gambling landscape of the United Kingdom could lead to ‘the regulated industry being smaller and the illegal black market growing substantially.’ The former Labour politician additionally claimed that such an eventuality would endanger the jobs of the 120,000 people working for its members in addition to the £4.5 billion ($6.1 billion) they annually hand over in tax.
Read a statement from Dugher…
“This research is stark about the dangers of the black market and we have to learn lessons from abroad and make the right choices at this dangerous crossroads. Any shift to the unsafe black market would also jeopardise the £350 million ($476 million) a year our members currently give to horseracing in sponsorship, media rights and the betting levy; financial support that has proved crucial during the pandemic.”