The UK Gambling Commission is getting tired of playing whack-a-mole with illegal gambling websites. This time, it wants to get its hands on something operators might actually miss: their money. The regulator is stepping up its efforts to disrupt unlicensed businesses, targeting everything from payment channels to advertising and the companies helping them stay afloat.

The announcement came on 9 November, as the first Illegal Gambling Awareness Week got underway. Executive Director of Operations Sue Young said:

If you run an illegal gambling operation, we are coming after you, your business and your money.

Sue Young

Taking down websites isn’t enough

There’s only so much good a blocked domain can do when another one pops up a few days later. The Commission knows this, which is why its latest approach goes beyond telling illegal operators to pack it in.

Since January, more than £40 million in suspected criminal funds has been referred to partner agencies for potential asset freezing. That’s money potentially within reach of enforcement action, although it hasn’t all been frozen. The Commission is working with law enforcement to seize cash linked to illegal land-based gambling operations, too.

It’s now looking to squeeze the wider operation. That means making it harder for unlicensed businesses to take payments, advertise their services, and get access to the games and sports betting products they need to attract customers.

Millions of links, but who’s counting?

The enforcement figures make for some hefty reading. 

So far in 2026/27, the Commission has issued more than 1,000 cease and desist notices to illegal operators. It has referred 7.8 million URLs to search engines, with around 3 million removed from search results. Another 2,200 websites have been referred for disruption action.That’s a lot of links to chase. 

The frustrating part is that getting a URL removed from Google doesn’t mean the business behind it has disappeared. Operators can switch domains, redirect customers and keep the same operation ticking over elsewhere.

That’s precisely why the move towards targeting payment providers, advertisers, and other commercial connections matters. It’s all well and good removing the shopfront, but making it impossible to run the business behind it is going a step further.

Is this enough to hurt the black market?

Illegal Gambling Awareness Week runs from 9 to 13 November, bringing together regulators, gambling businesses and law enforcement agencies to tackle unlicensed gambling.

The Commission wants closer cooperation with technology companies and financial firms, which makes sense. Illegal operators need more than a website to make money. They need customers, payment routes and games to keep the whole operation moving.

The £40 million referral is a substantial figure, and millions of removed links make for an impressive enforcement tally. But the Commission still has a rather large job on its hands. If it wants to make a real dent in illegal gambling, it needs to do more than chase websites around the internet. It needs to make running an unlicensed operation a whole lot less profitable.

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