UKGC Continues Fight Against Black Market Operators
UKGC Gets Aggressive With Unlicensed Sites
The U.K. Gambling Commission executive director, Stephen Miller, has announced that between April and August, over 340 cease and desist letters were sent to illegal operators and those promoting unlicensed gambling sites in a push to protect UK Players.
Along with those letters, over 45,000 URLs were reported to various search engines, including Google and Bing, with around 65% of those removed.
TGP Europe left the UK, earlier this year...
In 2025, the UKGC ramped up its investigations into UK-licensed operators, with regulatory settlements against some of the biggest names in the industry, including Tombola, Progress Play, Grace Media, Fafabet, SpreadEx and TGP Europe, which recently surrendered its license.
And of course, there is the infamous advertising campaign by Stake.com, which has also left the UK market.
There has been some criticism of the UK Gambling Commission's stricter policy, but ultimately, players are the ones who benefit through better protections.
According to research company Eilers and Krejcik, the gambling "Black Market" is worth an estimated £1.5 billion in the UK, and with that comes a complete lack of responsibility to players and those with gambling issues.
All UK-licensed gambling sites must adhere to strict rules as part of their licensing award, and the UKGC subsequently investigates and fines those that overstep the mark or fail to protect players.
BookiesBonuses only features UK Licensed sites
The next step in the battle to protect UK gamblers is to target those unlicensed and unregulated sites. Players have no protection from unsavoury practices, such as account freezing or failure to pay out, as they do not need to worry about UK gambling laws.
Players who have self-excluded can still access these black market operators, as they are not legally required to block the player, as once again, they do not fall under the jurisdiction of the UKGC, which is why "non-gamstop" sites are not only a popular search term online but also extremely dangerous to players with gambling issues.
My Opinion
In any walk of life, when the option of choice is seemingly removed, many people will complain and moan about the "nanny state" interfering once again. However, in this instance, the removal of that "choice" can only be seen as a good thing.
The UK Gambling Commission has one of the most robust sets of rules in the world, with the protection of players at the forefront of actions taken. An unlicensed operator has little need to concern itself with those rules, and thus can treat players poorly by locking them out of accounts, blocking the withdrawal of winnings and offering little protection for those with gambling problems.
There are plenty of horror stories about unlicensed operators and the many ways UK-based players are left high and dry, and that is why www.bookiesbonuses.com only features bookmakers or casinos that are UK licensed by the Gambling Commission, as my colleagues and I believe that gambling in a safe environment is key to having fun.
