UKGC commits $34.3M to fight illegal gambling and changes the enforcement model

The UK Gambling Commission is rebuilding the model after several years of evidence that targeted site blocking does not work.

The UK Gambling Commission received around $34.3M in government funding⁠ over three years to fight illegal gambling. The budget is split into around $9.2M in 2026/27, $11.9M in 2027/28 and $13.2M in 2028/29. UKGC CEO Andrew Rhodes described it as a ninefold increase in enforcement-specific funding. He said the decision materially changed the regulator’s operational capacity for the first time in years.

The regulator had already been putting pressure on offshore operators. Between July 2024 and June 2025, the Commission issued more than 3,100 warnings and secured the removal of 288K links⁠ from Google and Bing. But in practice, the effect is short-lived: blocked operators return under new domains within days.

From blocking sites to pressuring infrastructure

The $34.3M will fund a shift in strategy. Instead of shutting down individual sites one by one, the regulator will put pressure on hosting providers, advertising networks and payment gateways. The main weapon will be court-backed domain blocking at network level under the new Crime and Policing Act 2026⁠ — a type of order that offshore operators cannot ignore as easily as standard warnings. To support this shift, the Commission is already expanding its cross-border enforcement team.

According to Blask data, the UK licensed market is worth around $12.5B CEB per year. Regulated operators currently account for around 96% of demand, but the risks are rising. From April 2026, Remote Gaming Duty on online casino and slots increased from 21% to 40%⁠, hitting licensed operators’ margins and making cheaper offshore alternatives more attractive to players. Stronger pressure on illegal infrastructure is a way to keep the market from leaking into the grey zone.

Why infrastructure pressure may actually work

The new measures are a pre-emptive attempt to close the gap before the market starts moving into the shadow economy. The shift is backed by evidence: years of link takedowns produced no lasting effect, with blocked operators returning under new domains within days. Success will still depend on the speed of legal implementation, the hiring of IT specialists and the ability of ISP-level blocking to stay ahead of new domain creation.

The regulator itself recognises that this cycle is difficult to break. The bet is that pressure on payments, hosting and advertising will make relaunching illegal operations economically irrational.