Operators may be moving offshore because of tougher domestic regulations

• Operators are migrating offshore at a time when domestic regulation is becoming tougher
• Casino Guru data ties this rapid shift to a spike in unresolved player complaints, particularly against Anjouan-based operators
• National governments have an even greater incentive to protect players by keeping them onshore

A new survey by the Bristol Hub for Gambling Harms Research at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom has outlined an interesting trend. Other than players migrating offshore, there is a fair bit of operators who are making the switch as well.

New offshore destinations attract operators amid the toughening of domestic criteria

The survey, called Mapping the Offshore Gambling Regulators, argues that as domestic and established regulation is growing more demanding, and expects operators to meet stricter consumer protection laws, many firms are preferring to take the step towards offshore jurisdictions.

This comes at a time when Yolo Group, one of the world’s most influential gambling groups, has said that it would shed its grey-market vestiges and focus exclusively on working with domestic regulators instead.

The study claims that there has been a surge in the formation of new regulatory regimes and specifically following the passage of reforms in popular licensing destinations as the Philippines, Isle of Man, and notably Curaçao. The authors have not hesitated to call some of the most recently emerged jurisdictional licenses and their administrative bodies "pseudo-regulators," with some 20 such jurisdictions offering online gaming licenses now.

Pseudo licensing and camouflage for the operators

The researchers also argue that this is used to "camouflage" the illegality of the core offering. One specific case concerns Anjouan, an autonomous island in the Comoros, which issued 825 gambling licenses to online operators in May 2025 alone. Anjouan also does not collect tax on gambling revenue, making it particularly appealing.

Casino Guru has noticed a similar trend, drawing data from the Complaint Resolution Center, which saw a spike in unresolved player complaints against Anjouan-licensed operators in 2024, pushing the total to 148 (after a 90% increase).

Šimon Vincze, Head of Sustainable & Safer Gambling, Casino Guru, also contributed to the survey, citing as saying: "Playing at offshore operators is risky as there are few assurances of fair treatment. Their T&C might be structured unfavourably for the players and contain traps that will be used as a reason for confiscating money. Insufficiencies in gambling harm protection are another risky area, as we have seen self-exclusion cases double year on year. Such operators might not respect requests for self-exclusion, delay blocking, or dissuade players from doing so."

As these new offshore destinations continue to emerge, national governments will have an even stronger incentive to ensure that players stay locally and do not venture to explore unproven websites.

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