UK Reports Problems Estimating Illegal Gambling Market Due to VPN Use

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) said the growing use of virtual private networks (VPNs) is making it harder to estimate how many users access illegal gambling websites.

The regulator currently assesses user activity using a proxy measure based on time spent on such sites. Rather than counting individual users, it tracks total time spent. While this approach provides an indication of overall trends, it does not offer precise audience figures.

However, even these estimates are becoming less reliable due to the growing use of VPNs. These services mask users’ real locations and allow them to bypass online restrictions, meaning some traffic is not captured in the data.

The impact of VPN use became more pronounced after the Online Safety Act came into force in July 2025, strengthening controls over online content in the UK. Following its introduction, VPN usage rose sharply and has since stabilised at around 40% above previous levels.

The UKGC had previously sought to account for hidden traffic by applying an estimated 30% uplift to its figures. New data, however, suggest that the share of “invisible” visits may be higher. As a result, the regulator has introduced multiple scenarios reflecting varying levels of VPN impact, widening the range of estimates and reducing precision.

Overall, from May 2024 to February 2026, the regulator found no sustained increase in interest in illegal gambling websites. User activity fluctuated from month to month without a clear pattern. For example, a rise observed in autumn 2024 was not repeated in 2025.

UK users are estimated to spend between 120 million and 310 million minutes per month on illegal gambling websites.

The UKGC emphasised that current data are sufficient to understand broad trends but do not allow for an accurate assessment of the size of the illegal market.

Gambling Park previously reported that AI adoption can improve the accuracy of bookmakers’ odds by 22%, according to a recent study.