The Betting & Gaming Council has estimated that up to £60 million was staked with illegal operators during last week’s Cheltenham Festival, citing data showing the black market now accounts for approximately 6% of total wagers placed in Great Britain.
Cheltenham is widely regarded as the biggest event in the horse racing calendar, attracting around £1 billion in total stakes across the four-day festival. Based on the 6% figure, the BGC calculates that roughly £2 million per race was placed with unlicensed operators during the event.
BGC Sounds the Alarm on Black Market Growth
BGC CEO Grainne Hurst tied the illegal market’s growth directly to regulatory and fiscal pressure on the licensed sector.
“Cheltenham is the biggest week of the year for racing fans and millions placed bets safely with regulated operators. But the criminal harmful black market also tried to cash in, targeting punters with illegal betting that offers none of the protections provided in the regulated sector.”
Hurst warned that conditions are becoming increasingly favourable for unlicensed operators. The UK government confirmed major gambling tax increases late last year, with the Remote Gaming Duty set to rise from 21% to 40% from April and remote sports betting duty increasing from 15% to 25% in 2027. The BGC has consistently argued that those increases will erode the competitive position of regulated operators relative to illegal alternatives.
“Rising taxes and increasingly intrusive checks will only make it harder for legitimate operators to compete. The priority must be keeping punters in the regulated market where protections are in place, rather than driving them towards harmful unregulated operators.”
Affordability Checks and the Racing Sector
The affordability check framework introduced under the 2023 gambling white paper has attracted particular criticism from the horse racing industry. In 2024, the Jockey Club warned that affordability checks could cost the racing sector £250 million over five years, as players bypass financial disclosure requirements by switching to black market platforms.
The BGC’s Cheltenham assessment reinforces that concern. With the Remote Gaming Duty increase weeks away from taking effect, operators are already adjusting margins and product offerings. The industry body argues that each additional compliance burden sharpens the price differential between regulated and unregulated operators, making the latter more attractive to price-sensitive bettors.
The black market surge risk has been flagged by multiple operators, including Evoke, which warned after the Autumn Budget that the tax changes would drive both job losses and increased illegal activity. Flutter estimated a £540m impact from the duty increases across its UK business.
Enforcement and Stakeholder Pressure
The BGC used the Cheltenham estimate to call on stakeholders — including government, the UKGC, and racing bodies — to increase efforts to identify and disrupt the criminal networks behind illegal gambling platforms. The council framed the issue as both a player protection failure and a structural threat to horse racing’s commercial foundation, given the sport’s dependence on levy income derived from regulated betting turnover.
The UKGC published its final report on the illegal online gambling market in November 2025, which found that unlicensed operators were increasingly targeting UK consumers through social media and affiliate networks. The BGC’s 6% figure aligns with that report’s findings on the scale of the problem.
The April RGD increase will be the first real-world test of how much market share moves in response to the new tax environment. If Cheltenham is a baseline, the BGC’s concern is that the figure does not improve — and may worsen — once operators begin passing on higher costs to customers.
Source: Betting & Gaming Council
