Entain has a plan for tackling illegal gambling in the UK

Entain has issued a statement in which it has urged the government to take the threat of the illegal and black market in the United Kingdom seriously.

The entertainment giant has outlined a blueprint for how this could happen, and the urgency of its appeal follows shortly after the Betting and Gaming Council released a new report conducted by Frontier Economics and indicating that the gap between operators and the black market be some £70m.

Entain wants the illegal gambling market in the UK to go

According to Entain, the black market is still growing, even though there is now a well-balanced gambling framework put forward, and the company raised concerns over the illicit operations’ staying power.

In places such as France and Germany, the black market’s share of operations is said to be at 45% and 60% respectively, although this second figure is highly contested by the local regulator which insists that it is wrong.

Entain has turned to Regulus Partners, another consultancy, to help flesh out the details of a possible action plan that could help the government work out what could be an efficient ream of measures that will have an impact on addressing this growing threat.

Among the measures that Regulus Partners has found worth exploring are co-opting payment service providers and ensuring that they block payments that are conducted on behalf of those operators that occupy the black market.

The report also suggests a tighter noose on social and media advertising that could be pointing to illicit operations, as well as incorporating an IP blocking program, not unlike the one used by the Australian Media and Communications Authority to keep bad actors at bay. The regulator has already suspended more than 1,000 bad actors.

Tighter measures needed to address the sprawl of black market operations

Regulus Partners also suggests that any blacklist should be made public and readily accessible to people who may be interested in finding out why a company had been blocked. The report was revealed at the ongoing SBC Summit in Lisbon, Portugal, with Entain Chair Barry Gibson weighing on the importance of acting quickly.

"Taking on the black market operators should be a key priority for policymakers around the world. It will tackle crime and raise money which could be spent on critical areas such as healthcare, education, and infrastructure. It would ensure that customers get greater protection from playing with fully regulated and legitimate operators," Gibson said.

Not least, Regulus Partners and Entain suggest that tougher enforcement actions on bad actors should bring them to heel and make them recognizant of the risk they run by breaking the law and offering unregulated products to UK customers.

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