Entain says offshore operators are targeting UK audiences through promotions during World Cup

• Entain has published a report warning that at least 30 unlicensed gambling websites are actively targeting UK consumers
• The push is increasingly sophisticated with offshore operators deploying AI-generated personas to educate audiences on how to bypass restrictions
• Entain is calling on the government, regulators and law enforcement to ask hard questions about whether they have the tools and resources to take on a black market

Entain has become the latest gambling industry stakeholder in the United Kingdom to sound an alarm over the proliferation of black market gambling market.

The company, which is one of the leading sports betting and gaming groups worldwide, including in the United Kingdom, has published a new report that explains exactly how far illegal operators were able to penetrate the regulated market.

The report comes on the heels of a similar market overview by the Betting and Gaming Council, which estimates that the illegal gambling market is set to claim at least £200m in betting handle, compared to £1bn for the regulated market.

Illegal gambling websites have an "always-on" presence in the UK market through promotions, influencers and more

Entain highlighted the "immediacy of illegal gambling promotion targeting UK consumers."

The report indicates that unregulated gambling promotions are deployed at what the company described as "at scale" and as part of a coordinated effort, tapping into content accounts, influencers and tipsters, all of whom work together to drive traffic towards offshore operators.

There are at least 30 unregulated gambling websites, Entain argues, that are now targeting UK audiences and actively trying to introduce them to these alternative and unregulated offers.

"As the Men’s World Cup is underway, this research is a wake-up call to government, regulators and law enforcement agencies that illegal gambling promotion is not operating at the fringes but is now operating at scale in the UK with coordinated networks primed to target millions of UK fans during the tournament,"Bejay Patel, MD UK and Ireland at Entain, explained.

Entain digs into the numbers, highlighting how illegal operators target consumers

Entain said that there were at least 72 instances of UK-facing promotions initiated by the aforementioned 30 gambling websites that operate without a UK Gambling Commission license.

Promotions for these unregulated websites were launched across multiple social media and video streaming platforms, including YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Twitch, Instagram, X, and Kick.

Entain also highlighted that prominent soccer insiders such as Sergio Agüero, Eden Hazard and Iker Casillas have appeared on promotions for offshore gambling websites.

Offshore gambling operators became even bolder, turning to AI-generated personas to educate people on how to bypass local restrictions and use VPNs to navigate their way to offshore operators.

Entain specifically named key influencers which it saw as driving unregulated gambling content, among which were HSTikkyTokky, Ed Matthews, and Adin Ross.

The company’s report also remarked that once players reached these offshore gambling venues, they did not benefit from or had no customer protection measures, such as age verification, for example.

"It also raises serious questions about whether regulators and enforcement agencies have the powers and resources needed to tackle the highly coordinated illegal gambling promotion effectively, particularly across global social media platforms," Patel remarked.

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