In effect, the report was saying that where betting with licensed and regulated operators is made more difficult, there is a tendency for customers to simply switch to the online black market. The report by PWC said: “This analysis suggests that the UK has a more ‘open’ online gambling market and currently has a smaller unlicensed market share than our European benchmarks. Whilst it is not possible to isolate the impact of individual regulatory characteristics, the above assessment suggests that jurisdictions with a higher unlicensed market share tend to exhibit one or more restrictive regulatory or licensing characteristics.” Likewise in France, where online casino games are also a state monopoly, the black market for gaming accounts for 57 per cent of all money staked on gaming. In Italy, where gambling advertising is completely banned, the black market accounts for 23 per cent of money staked. One of the countries mentioned, Norway, has a state monopoly for gambling coupled with restrictions on staking, affordability and advertising, which has resulted in a black market that accounts for over 60 per cent of all money staked. Another section of the PWC report suggested that the size of the black market is larger in countries where the regulated betting and gaming sector is less competitive. But if those same moral crusaders against people having a bet cared about safer gambling, as opposed to just being anti-gambling, they really should be concerned about the black market.Įarlier this year, a major report by PWC found that the number of British punters using unlicensed sites had more than doubled in just two years. The report also found that the amount staked in the black market had doubled from £1.4bn to £2.8bn over the same period.īut, as Whittingdale and the Government consider future gambling regulation here in the UK, there are also important lessons from abroad. So if the Government’s Review leads to the regulated industry being smaller, they will be happy. Prohibitionists don’t like the fact that millions of us choose to enjoy a bet and they just want to see less gambling. The black market, of course, pays no tax and employs no one in our country. The anti-gambling lobby don’t care that BGC members alone employ nearly 120,000 people and pay £4.5 billion in tax in the UK. We all know that anti-gambling campaigners can’t stand high street bookmakers and the big brands in U.K.
Yet the distinction between betting and gaming in the regulated industry with licensed operators, as opposed to people gambling with the unlicensed, unregulated black market online, is not necessarily well understood by many MPs in Westminster or newspaper journalists. That is certainly something that we will bear in mind during our consideration of these things”. In the final debate in the House of Commons before the summer recess, the Minister heading the Government’s Review of Gambling, John Whittingdale, told MPs: “It is very important that we create a safe space where people are given protection if they are gambling online, but we do not want to drive them away from the regulated sector and into the black market.