Britain's Gambling Commission takes aim at illegal operators' money and game supply
Taking down websites is no longer enough for Britain's gambling regulator. It now wants to choke off the money, advertising and game supply of illegal operators, and has referred over £40 million in suspect funds.
Beyond website takedowns
The Gambling Commission for Great Britain said on 9 November 2026 that it had begun to look past the websites of illegal operators to the money, assets and business models sustaining them. Its executive director of operations set out what that means in practice: disrupting the flow of money to those operators, obstructing their advertising and cutting them off from the games and sportsbooks they rely on. The shift was first reported by casinolicence.co.uk, which covers the British market.
£40 million referred since January
Money is where the Commission puts its first number. Since January it has passed more than £40 million in suspected criminal funds to partner agencies, which may now move to freeze those assets. The progress report published alongside adds:
- over 1,000 cease and desist notices sent to illegal operators so far in 2026/27
- over 2,200 websites put forward for disruption action
- over 7.8 million URLs flagged to search engines, of which more than 3 million have been taken out of search results
Search referrals jumped from 147,721 URLs in Quarter 1 to 7.7 million in Quarter 2, which the Commission calculates as a rise of more than 5,000%.
Partners in finance, tech and policing
Law enforcement agencies, the financial sector, tech firms and the gambling industry itself are the partners the regulator names for the next phase. The plan also relies on sharing intelligence, reporting early and backing partners with data and evidence. The Commission presents it as an extension of earlier disruption work, meant to protect consumers and back licensed operators while tackling crime linked to illegal gambling.
The approach echoes the Dutch regulator, the KSA, which said in October, when it fined EOD Code SRL 37 million euros, that it also acts against illegal gambling through banks, hosting firms and big technology companies.
A first international awareness week
The announcement opened Illegal Gambling Awareness Week, held from 9 to 13 November for the first time. The campaign is run by the IAGR, the International Association of Gaming Regulators, and the Commission backs it as a chance to show consumers and the industry what illegal gambling puts at risk. Before going public, the regulator briefed UK industry leaders at its CEO Briefing the week before, and overseas counterparts at the IAGR's own conference in October.
Operators holding a Commission licence appear among the casinos licensed in the United Kingdom, and there is a separate list of brands without a British licence.
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