Gambling Commission expands enforcement focus to target illegal gambling profits and assets

The Gambling Commission has announced a significant expansion of its approach to tackling illegal gambling, with a renewed focus on disrupting the profits, assets and wider business models that support unlawful operators, alongside its existing efforts to remove illegal websites.

The announcement coincides with the launch of the first Illegal Gambling Awareness Week (9-13 November 2026), an international initiative led by the International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR). The campaign aims to strengthen cooperation between regulators, law enforcement agencies and industry stakeholders in addressing illegal gambling activity.

Speaking at recent industry and regulatory events, Sue Young, Executive Director of Operations at the Gambling Commission, said the regulator is widening its enforcement strategy to target the financial and commercial infrastructure that enables illegal gambling businesses to operate. The Commission stated that its work now extends beyond website disruption to include interference with payment systems, advertising channels and access to gambling products and sports betting services relied upon by unlicensed operators.

According to the regulator, more than £40 million in suspected criminal funds has been referred to partner agencies for potential asset-freezing action since January 2026. The Commission said it is also continuing to work with law enforcement partners on the seizure of cash linked to illegal land-based gambling activity.

The latest enforcement figures demonstrate the scale of ongoing activity. During 2026/27, the Commission reports issuing more than 1,000 cease-and-desist notices, referring 7.8 million URLs to search engines, securing the removal of 3 million URLs from search results, and referring 2,200 websites for disruption action. The regulator also reported a rise in URL referrals from 147,721 in the first quarter to 7.7 million in the second quarter, an increase of more than 5,000 per cent.

The Commission said that Illegal Gambling Awareness Week follows the recent publication of findings from the Gambling Survey for Great Britain and updates to its illegal gambling dashboard, which it believes will provide further evidence to support enforcement activity and monitor efforts to disrupt illegal markets.