UK sets out zero tolerance policy...
... as French journalist outlines pillars of offshore iGaming
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UK Gambling Commission sets out zero tolerance policy as French journalist outlines the three pillars of offshore iGaming
Unhappy market dominates industry talk at Gaming in Germany event
Aristocrat FY25, Meta’s billions from scams and illegal iGaming
News shorts: Turkey, Prize Picks-Polymarket, Lottomatica, Belgium, Gaming1
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UK Gambling Commission sets out zero tolerance policy
CEO says “no more warnings” for companies supplying illegal operators as French journalist highlights three key pillars enabling offshore iGaming
No excuses: The Gambling Commission’s CEO Andrew Rhodes has put iGaming suppliers on alert, telling them there will “be no more warnings” and they will be censured in the shortest delays possible if they are found to “be servicing the illegal market” of unlicensed operators targeting in the UK. Rhodes made the comments during his CEO address on Monday, adding that the UKGC had already suspended nine B2B licences recently.
Doin’ the ‘due dil’: His call follows those he made last year when he urged licensed operators to carry out thorough due diligence on their suppliers to ensure they did not do business with illegal operators in the UK.
“We will not accept any excuses,” he added, “and you should, as a sector, expect to see more enforcement action in the coming weeks and months. We’ve been working on this area very actively and we don’t intend to stop.”
Rhodes’s comments follow UKGC’s review of live casino provider Evolution’s licence since the start of the year, which highlighted its shifting focus towards examining suppliers’ relationships with unlicensed operators.
Loud and clear
His comments also echo those made by the investigative reporter Philippe Auclair during the French iGaming trade body AFJEL’s AGM last week in Paris. As part of his work Auclair investigates the relationship between criminal organisations, illegal sportsbooks and football leagues for the website Josimar.
Table of three: Auclair’s presentation pointed to three key factors that, according to him, enable illegal brands to operate, gain brand awareness and respectability.
“Real time data providers are absolutely essential to operate a sportsbook, but are also often involved in monitoring betting activity to preserve sporting integrity,” he said, before adding that marketing agencies enable Asian-facing operators to sponsor just over half the Premier League’s clubs, while brands widely acknowledged as being unregulated or illegal operators sign “international betting partner” agreements with major English clubs and in other countries like Paris Saint-Germain in France.
Licence migrations: Finally, he pointed to licence brokers, who, following recent clampdowns in the Isle of Man or the Philippines, have now moved on to building licensing systems in Anjouan, Vanuatu and more recently the island of Nevis in the Caribbean, where operators are able to obtain licences for just €15,000.
Upping sticks: Auclair pointed out that brands like the crypto-gambling giant BC Game, which he said “generated revenues of $9bn in 2024”, had “migrated” from Curaçao to Anjouan at the end of 2024.
Speaking of cryptocurrencies, in his address UKGC boss Andrew Rhodes highlighted their rise as a major challenge, in particular the fact that their use growth among younger demographics “means there is pressure building within the system”. “That demographic shift will (soon) find they have no place in the legitimate industry because of the currency they use. That is a challenge that probably didn’t really exist a few years ago,” he said.
Meanwhile, The Guardian has revealed that UKGC has demanded additional information from a UK major bookmaker after it accidentally disclosed information suggesting it may be running an illegal offshore betting operation during a routine disclosure of documents required by the regulator.
The newspaper did not reveal which bookmaker was involved, but that it could be subject to a full-blown investigation if it turns out that it has been funnelling large bets from VIPs to entities based overseas, thus avoiding UK taxes in the process.
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Unhappy market dominates industry talk at Gaming in Germany event
Illegal market, tax system and recognising problems all air as complaints aimed at the authorities
Tons to do: Sebastian Buchholz, Head of Licensing and Market Supervision at the German regulator GGL, kicked off the Gaming in Germany event that took place in Berlin yesterday by saying the body was satisfied with its work in recent years in terms of fighting the black market, but also recognised that there was still much work to be done to protect German players.
Buchholz said GGL would also investigate channelisation rates closely as part of improving the iGaming regulations of Europe’s largest economy, but Dirk Quermann, President of the Deutscher Online Casinoverbrand (DOCV) told delegates at the event the German online slots market was “in dire need of change”.
States of unhappiness: According to Quermann, effective change will only happen when the GGL is left to work on its own accord and federal states lessen their influence. This would help the regulator transition from “a gatekeeper to an architect” in its decision-making and federal states need to stop exerting “influence on the GGL”.
He also said the current regime of taxing wagers at 5.3% per play needed to be changed to a system based on a GGR-based taxation system, as is the case in most European markets.
Depressed Dahms: Mathias Dahms, President of the Deutscher Sportwettenverband (DSWV), said that the sports betting situation was not that different to that of online casino and was in fact “really depressive”.
Some multiple: He added that if this was a football match, the score would be 1-11 to the wrong side because there are “11 times more illegal sports betting providers” than legal ones, he added. The total value of licensed bets was reported at €3.2bn in Q2, down from the €3.5bn in Q1.
The DSWV said that the actual size of the black market needed to be acknowledged. Currently, the DSWV says illegal online gambling channels 30-40% of the market while the regulator GGL estimates the ratio at 25%.
Aristocrat’s strong socials offset by mixed performance
Aristocrat recorded an 11% YoY increase (8% cc) in revenue at $6.3bn and a 16% (12% cc) EBITDA rise at $2.6bn in 2025, although divisions recorded mixed performances. The group highlighted NeoGames’ first full contribution, while the $1.4bn cash flow it generated was proof of its “strong free cash flow generation to fund its growth strategy”.
Its gaming machines division grew its installed base by c4,100 units, with market share reaching 43%, while Product Madness was now “ranked #1 in the Social Slots market with 21% market share”, the group said, and “continued to outperform the market” with FY25 EBITA up %5 vs. forecasts at $804m.
While results were “inline at group level”, they were more “divisionally mixed”, said the Jefferies team, with interactive profits of £205m 6% below market expectations.
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Meta rakes in billions from scam adverts
Social media giant shows little willingness to clean up advertiser roster
Mister 10%: Internal documents uncovered by Reuters have shown that Meta planned to generate around $16bn, or 10% of its 2024 revenues, from advertising online scams, banned goods and illegal online gambling and estimated that its platforms publishes 15 billion “higher risk” adverts for scams every day while charging the advertisers a premium for running the ads.
Force majeure: The data also showed that the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp failed to prevent and identify “an avalanche” of advertising messages for at least three years, in the process exposing “billions of users to fraudulent e-commerce and investment schemes, illegal online casinos, and the sale of banned medical products”. It recorded around $7bn from those adverts per year, according to a late 2024 internal document.
Cost of doing business: The files reveal that Meta was planning to cut the share of Facebook and Instagram revenue derived from scam ads. It also acknowledged that regulatory fines for the adverts were certain and would amount to around $1bn, although even such a fine would be a fraction of the overall revenues Meta generates from the scam adverts.
In addition, rather than taking preemptive measures to increase its vetting of advertisers, the online giant’s leadership decided to only act “in response to impending regulatory action”.
The information corroborates numerous updates from iGaming executives in regulated markets, who regularly denounce the fact that illegal operators can advertise freely on the networks, often committing fraud by using the brand names and logos of renowned gambling brands to lure players in before redirecting them to their sites.
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News shorts
Turkey’s National Lottery, Milli Piyango (MPI), has joined forces with the country’s president Recep Erdogan to fight illegal gambling in the country. Ekrem Candan, MPI Chairman and General Manager, submitted a file with “420,000 criminal complaints made against websites promoting illegal gambling activities” to Turkey’s Financial Crimes Investigation Board. He said the country was “ facing a borderless threat that attacks our youth, economy, and integrity of our society.”
Prediction pile on: US fantasy betting market leader Prize Picks will work with Polymarket to launch prediction markets and sports betting in the US and follows the deal by Underdog, the number 2 in the market, signing a similar deal with Crypto.com. Those news items come in the wake of FanDuel and DraftKings also making moves on prediction markets. Meanwhile Allwyn also announced that it had successfully syndicated $1.5bn to finance its acquisition of PrizePicks. The financing includes a seven-year for $1bn and a six-year facility with a number of banks for $500m.
Lottomatica has bought around €130m worth of its shares as of early November, bringing its overall spend on share buybacks to €500m. The company plans to spend another €170m on buybacks before the end of the year to benefit from its strong performance in the past 12 months. Another €200m buyback scheme is planned for 2026.
Belgium’s Federal Public Service Economy has taken measures to block against illegal online casinos as part of decisions based on an emergency procedure introduced in June 2024 and that allows for the rapid imposition of measures to block copyright infringements and illegal iGaming. Paul Laurent leads the department that combats online piracy and illegal gambling, he announced on LinkedIn that 18 websites had been targeted.
The Belgian technology supplier Gaming1 will acquire the remaining 50% of Circus.nl, the joint venture it launched in the Netherlands in 2022 with the land-based casino group Gran Casino. Gaming1, which operates the Circus and 777 brands, said it was committed to the Dutch market and was “heavily investing in technology to ensure that Circus.nl offers not just a top-tier gaming product but also the most entertainment and enjoyable experience in both casino games and sports betting.”
Calendar
Results: 12 Nov: Flutter Entertainment, Gambling.com, Better Collective, 13 Nov: Bragg Gaming
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