Illegal betting website traffic surges 19-fold in Britain since 2021 says IFHA

Visits to illegal betting websites used in Britain have risen sharply since 2021, according to a study by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA).

The analysis, published on Friday, covered 301 betting websites including 74 licensed operators and 227 unlicensed sites. In the first seven months of 2026, the unlicensed sites recorded 19.4 visits for every 100 visits to licensed sites. This was about one in five across the sample. 

In late 2021, the equivalent figure was about one per 100.

Fourteen-fold increase in monthly visits to illegal sites

Monthly unique visits to the illegal sites in the sample rose from 1.8 million in 2022 to more than 25 million in 2025, a fourteen-fold increase. Licensed-site traffic fell by 34% over the same period, according to the report’s annual figures. 

Illegal traffic eased during the first seven months of 2026 but remained higher than in any other period examined.

The study also found that visitors were spending longer on illegal sites and viewing more pages. Between late 2024 and July 2026, average visit duration rose from five minutes 38 seconds to seven minutes 25 seconds. This was an increase of 32%. Pages viewed per visit increased by 34%, from 5.19 to 6.98.

Licensed websites continued to record longer visits, more pages per visit and lower bounce rates – the proportion of visits that end after a single page. 

However, the report found that the gap between licensed and illegal sites narrowed across all three measures. Average time spent on licensed sites fell from 11 minutes 18 seconds in late 2024 to nine minutes 57 seconds in the first seven months of 2026.

A Gambling Commission survey published last week found that 2.5% of adults in Great Britain who had gambled online in the previous year used an illegal gambling website in the four weeks before being surveyed. This was out of 14,257 online survey respondents and 3,569 people who had gambled online in the previous year. 

Racing sites show a similar rise

A separate comparison of 32 unlicensed websites taking bets on British racing found that, between January and July 2026, they attracted 6.8 visits for every 100 visits to licensed sites. That was almost seven times the rate recorded in late 2021, when unlicensed racing sites received 0.97 visits for every 100 licensed-site visits.

The report warned that betting activity moving offshore could affect racing’s funding and integrity. It argued that the higher rate on other remote betting could affect racing if customers were to move broader betting activity to unlicensed operators.

During the autumn budget, the chancellor increased machine games duty (MGD) by 5% to 25%. Original speculation believed this increase would actually be 20%, which would have brought the duty up to 40%. Regulus Partners predicted that the horse racing industry would lose around a third of its annual revenue should the duty have doubled.  

Enforcement has intensified but is it enough?

Since April 2024, the Gambling Commission has issued more than 3,100 cease-and-desist or disruption notices and recorded the removal of almost 288,000 URLs. It has also referred more than 447,000 URLs to Google and Bing, according to figures cited in the report.

The IFHA report said the increase in enforcement has not yet been accompanied by a sustained reduction in illegal-site traffic. It argued that progress should be judged by lasting falls in traffic, rather than by the number of notices issued or URLs removed.

Brant Dunshea, chief executive of the British Horseracing Authority, said: “Throughout the Gambling Act Review, British racing consistently warned that even well-intentioned policy changes could have unintended consequences for our sport, including driving more customers towards the illegal market.”

He added: “Every racing customer who moves from a licensed operator to an illegal one faces greater risks and fewer consumer protections. These unlicensed businesses also contribute nothing to British racing or to the public finances.”

Dunshea said the authority would share the findings with the government and press for measures to keep bettors in the regulated market. 

‘Progress so far has been limited’

He also criticised the pace of work by the Illegal Gambling Taskforce. The taskforce is a 12-month initiative set up by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) that takes particular emphasis on online operators and their payment and advertising channels.

“While the taskforce’s creation was welcomed as a positive development, it is over nine months since that initial announcement was made, and progress so far has been limited,” Dunshea explained. 

The timing of the BHA’s report comes during the same week as the establishment of the Gambling Policy Commission (GPC). The GPC was created with the intent to review gambling laws and regulation in the UK. It will ask whether the framework established by the Gambling Act 2005 remains fit for purpose or whether new legislation is needed.