Black market set to take £500 million on jump racing season, BGC warns
Illegal bookmakers are set to take around £500 million in bets during Britain’s 2026-27 National Hunt season, the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has warned.
The trade body expects £10 million to be staked illegally at this weekend’s Cheltenham November Meeting alone, with the King George VI Chase, Cheltenham Festival and Grand National still to come. It did not say how it calculated the figures.
The warning comes ahead of Safer Gambling Week (16-22 November). The BGC said licensed bookmakers must meet age verification, anti-money laundering and safer gambling requirements. Illegal sites offer none of these protections, pay no UK tax and contribute nothing to racing.
Criminals are looking to cash
“Britain’s National Hunt season is one of the highlights of our sporting calendar, but criminal gambling operators are also looking to cash in,” said BGC chief executive Grainne Hurst. “These operators contribute nothing to British racing, pay no UK tax and offer none of the vital protections customers expect from licensed bookmakers.”
Hurst said the BGC would keep working with the government and the Gambling Commission to tackle the black market.
The BGC also cited WARC analysis showing that unregulated operators account for almost half of UK gambling advertising spend. It pointed to H2 Gambling Capital forecasts that illegal stakes could grow from £17 billion in 2026 to more than £33 billion by 2028.
Traffic data points the same way
The BGC has not explained how it arrived at the £500 million figure, but independent data shows the same trend. IFHA research published last week found that unlicensed sites drew 19.4 visits for every 100 visits to licensed sites in the first seven months of 2026, up from about 1 per 100 in late 2021. Across 32 sites taking bets on British racing, the rate rose almost seven-fold.
Enforcement has yet to turn the tide. Since April 2024, the Gambling Commission has issued more than 3,100 cease-and-desist or disruption notices, but the IFHA found no sustained fall in illegal traffic. British Horseracing Authority chief executive Brant Dunshea warned that racing customers who move to illegal operators face “greater risks and fewer consumer protections”.
Ads, payments and tax
The BGC’s figures on advertising echo concerns across Europe. Anders Dorph, head of Danish regulator Spillemyndigheden, has said that illegal gambling ads are “everywhere” on social media. He argues the fight now depends on platforms such as Meta and Google, and on payment providers.
Tax adds further pressure. A September report for Euromat by Regulus Partners and Helios estimated that Europe’s black market has grown 18% a year since 2019. It warned that April’s rise in UK remote gaming duty from 21% to 40% could push the UK black market to as much as €1 billion.
Online betting duty rises to 25% in April 2027, but remote bets on UK horse racing will be excluded and stay at 15%.
According to the BGC, its members contribute more than £350 million a year to British horse racing.