BGC launches new poll to try to educate players on how to recognize illegal operators

• The BGC has launched a new initiative aimed at asking players if they can spot black market operators
• The quiz shows screenshots from Gambling Commission-licensed and unlicensed casinos
• The trade group believes that the lack of awareness among consumers is one of the issues that needs to be addressed specifically.

The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has launched a new campaign that is focused on an evidence-based approach to help tackle the illegal gambling market in the United Kingdom.

This is why the BGC has introduced the "Spot The Black Market," an interactive quiz shared on the trade group’s official website here, as well as its social media handle on X. The BGC said:

"This campaign is about exposing the hidden dangers of the black market. These unregulated sites deliberately mimic trusted brands but play by none of the rules that keep people safe. Our new Spot The Black Market game shows just how easily consumers can be deceived, and reinforces the importance of choosing licensed, protected operators."

This initiative is intuitive as it addresses a very specific problem - while much of the ongoing dialogue is about how to fairly tax the gambling industry, and how to tackle the offshore gambling market, relatively few efforts are being made to help educate the players themselves, and to properly gauge whether they can spot the black market operators out there.

Matej Novota, Head of Casino Research at Casino Guru, has long touted educating players as a key pillar to helping stave off the offshore market:

"Educating players on how to spot illegal operators is one of the most underutilized tools in responsible gambling. Regulatory enforcement matters, but if players themselves can recognize the warning signs, you create a much more resilient ecosystem."We spend a lot of time debating taxation and offshore enforcement, but relatively little effort goes into arming players with the information they need to protect themselves. Player education is a missing pillar in the fight against the black market."

The quiz itself shows players screenshots from various websites, asking them to recognize brands that are available in the United Kingdom and whether they qualify as licensed or not.
The quiz also goes over bonus offers, with the BGC gauging if players are less likely to identify a website if a bigger promotion is offered.

This new initiative is reminiscent of what Casino Guru and Mindway AI have done, introducing a self-check Responsible Gambling game designed to let players compare their actual behavior when playing online casino games against an independent and impartial benchmark.

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