Illegal gambling sites targeting people trying to quit

Illegal gambling sites are preying on people trying to protect themselves from gambling harm, The Guardian has revealed.

Unlicensed betting sites such as MyStake have been directing vulnerable gamblers to their websites through affiliate links telling people how to bypass GamStop, the UK’s self-exclusion scheme which bans people from gambling sites. Even MyStake’s young CEO, shown in a photograph with footballer Ronaldinho, has been exposed an AI generated fake, designed to give the company a veneer of authenticity.

The Labour Party made a manifesto pledge to reform gambling legislation. Within the first year of Government, it announced significantly higher tax duties for online betting companies — expected to raise £1 billion a year — to help fund measures to tackle the damage caused by gambling.

The cost

The Guardian report stated: “MyStake may not be a household name, like Ladbrokes or Bet365, but it is part of a sprawling international empire.”

It is one of a number of connected gambling and casino sites which are easily accessible in the UK and, according to web traffic analysis, have collectively attracted approximately 2.3 million UK users a month between November 2025 and January 2026.

The newspaper noted that the money gained from these gambling enterprises “may flow around mainland Europe but it is the UK that pays the price. Gambling harm costs the economy between £1bn and £2bn, according to government estimates.”

“In practice, the sheer number of illegal casinos means they are easy for gamblers to find but very hard for regulators to stop.”

Online regulation

Last year, the Gambling Commission was allocated an extra £26m over three years to root out illegal gambling sites.

Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith said: “The Gambling Commission must step in and also ensure they are liaising with authorities in the countries where these people operate”.

The agency is expected to get new powers to “seek the blocking of IP addresses and domain names linked to illegal websites”.

Recovery and hope

Last month, recovering gambling addict Rachel, 41, from Merthyr Tydfil in Wales, shared her story of hope after reaching “breaking point” from hiding her addiction from friends and family for years, and accumulating £40,000 worth of debt.

After opening up to loved ones about her struggles, she blocked her access to gambling sites and turned her hobby of reselling clothes online into a job.

She explained that she sometimes still gets a “pang” to go back to gambling. Rachel shared: “I wouldn’t say I’m ever recovered because I’m not. But I always think to myself, ‘remember your story, remember what you’ve done’.”