Coordinated network spans seven platforms
Entain has published research identifying more than 30 unregulated gambling websites running coordinated UK-facing promotional campaigns across social media, with activity expected to intensify as the FIFA World Cup progresses.
The London-based operator, one of the world’s leading sports betting and gaming groups, commissioned open-source intelligence analysis covering seven major digital platforms: Kick, Instagram, X, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook and Twitch. Researchers logged 72 instances of UK-facing promotion across the unregulated sites, spanning 44 influencer, clipper and tipster accounts. The research was conducted in May 2026.
Stake, Rainbet and Duelbits were named among the unregulated operators identified, alongside global football figures including Sergio Agüero, Eden Hazard and Iker Casillas, who Entain says act as ambassadors for offshore gambling brands. The research describes these partnerships as lending the unregulated sites mass reach and legitimacy through audiences running into tens of millions.
Manosphere influencers and AI-generated personas flagged
The report finds that gambling promotion is systematically embedded within football, gaming and manosphere content rather than something audiences seek out directly. Influencers named in the research, including HSTikkyTokky, Ed Matthews and Adin Ross, were found combining gambling promotion with displays of wealth, gym culture and risk-taking, targeting audiences concentrated among men aged 14 to 25.
Researchers also identified a network of AI-generated YouTube personas instructing UK users on how to bypass gambling restrictions, alongside services offering VPN-based access and identity verification workarounds to reach sites blocked for UK consumers.
At least 12 football fan and tipster accounts covering Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United were found posting identical betting tips at the same time, which researchers concluded was a coordinated affiliate campaign. Most of the accounts carried no disclosure of a commercial relationship.
Kick named as central hub, age checks called weak
The streaming platform Kick was identified as a central node in the promotional ecosystem, running a dedicated gambling category with minimal age verification. Content from the platform is redistributed across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube using referral codes, affiliate links and gamified incentives, according to the research.
Age verification and consumer safeguards were found to be weak, inconsistent or easily circumvented across the platforms examined. At least one operator required no age verification at all to open an account. The report also notes that around 20% of TikTok’s UK audience is estimated to be under 18.
“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,” said Bejay Patel, MD UK and Ireland at Entain.
“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 added.
Industry pressure builds around World Cup black market activity
The findings land amid wider industry concern over illegal gambling during the tournament. The UK Gambling Commission’s own report on the illegal online gambling market had already flagged the difficulty of measuring the black market’s true scale, cautioning against figures lacking transparent methodology. Entain’s research adds platform-level detail to that broader regulatory question, naming specific operators, accounts and circumvention tactics rather than estimating aggregate market size.
The report comes against a backdrop of tightening UK gambling regulation more broadly, following confirmed increases to UK gambling duty rates that regulated operators, including Entain, have said will materially affect their UK businesses. Whether the UK government or platforms named in the research respond with concrete enforcement measures before the tournament concludes remains an open question.
Source: Entain
