The UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has published terms of reference for its Illegal Gambling Taskforce, setting out three operational priorities, confirming Baroness Fiona Twycross as chair and a 12-month initial run before review.
The document defines the group’s remit as identifying solutions and recommendations to reduce the negative impacts of illegal gambling. Three subgroups will deliver the work programme. Each is tied to a specific area: preventing or reducing payments from and to illegal gambling operators, tackling online advertising of illegal gambling, and improving cross-agency collaboration on enforcement covering both illegal remote and land-based gambling.
Membership and structure
Baroness Twycross, the Minister for Museums, Heritage and Gambling, will chair the taskforce. Ben Dean, DCMS’s Director for Sport and Gambling, acts as co-chair. Full membership combines experts and industry participants drawn from the gambling sector, tech platforms, payment providers, the Gambling Commission and other regulators, government departments, and trade bodies.
DCMS has previously confirmed that Google, Mastercard, TikTok and Visa are among the companies involved, but said the names of specific organisations and individuals serving as members will not be published. Additional stakeholders may be invited to participate in particular agenda items or subgroup sessions, including parties from outside the core membership.
The taskforce will run for 12 months before its remit and membership are reviewed and, where necessary, renewed. Plenary meetings will take place at least twice a year. DCMS has recommended that subgroups convene at least quarterly to inform those biannual sessions.
Scope and boundaries
The terms of reference state explicitly that the taskforce will not direct or intervene in operational matters performed by the Gambling Commission. Its remit may evolve as priorities and challenges are identified by members, with any changes agreed between the Minister, Deputy Chair, Secretariat and the taskforce.
Industry members are expected to deliver non-legislative solutions on advertising and payment services, both within their own organisations and through facilitating wider industry action. The framework leaves legislative responses outside the group’s direct mandate, positioning the taskforce as a coordinating body rather than a regulatory one.
Parallel enforcement measures
The taskforce sits alongside other measures announced by DCMS and the Gambling Commission in recent months. The regulator secured an additional £26m in government funding over three years from the November 2025 Budget, which it has said will support a new focus on illegal land-based gambling. The Commission has also opened recruitment for a dedicated head of illegal markets, a newly created role to lead its strategy on enforcement, intelligence gathering and disruption activity.
DCMS launched a separate consultation in February 2026 on banning unlicensed operators from sponsoring UK sports teams, including Premier League clubs. The government has framed the measure as part of the same effort to limit the visibility and commercial reach of illegal operators. The Gambling Commission’s November 2025 report on the illegal online gambling market provided much of the underlying analysis that informed both initiatives. Read more: UK Gambling Commission releases final report on illegal online gambling market.
Industry reaction
Speaking at the Betting and Gaming Council AGM last month, Twycross said the work would produce results within the taskforce’s first year of operation.
“I’m determined that, however hard it is for us to achieve this, it will result in fast, effective action.”
BGC CEO Grainne Hurst has questioned whether enforcement spending alone will address the underlying drivers of black-market activity, citing the November Budget’s increase in remote gambling duty to 25% and online casino duty to 40%. Read more: UK confirms major gambling tax increases.
“[The government] have given the gambling commission £26m to tackle the black market, but actually that’s missing the point. We need to stop sending people into the black market for the gambling commission to then take action on. We need to make sure that the regulated sector is attractive, healthy and sustainable.”
Evoke, owner of William Hill, made a similar argument in its response to the Budget, warning that higher duties could push customers towards unlicensed operators. Read more: Evoke responds to UK budget tax hikes.
What happens next
The first review point comes at the end of the 12-month term, when DCMS will assess whether the taskforce model has delivered measurable progress against payments, advertising and enforcement targets, or whether the remit needs to be reshaped. Operators and B2B suppliers will be watching closely for any move from non-legislative coordination toward statutory measures on payment processing and advertising, which would carry direct compliance obligations across the regulated industry.
Source: UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport
