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EU iGaming Weekly: Deep Dive into the Lords Advertising Ban, Europe’s €12 Billion Black Market, and UK Slot Growth

By jili tutorial · September 19, 2026

EU iGaming Weekly: Deep Dive into the Lords Advertising Ban, Europe’s €12 Billion Black Market, and UK Slot Growth

The European gambling landscape is shifting rapidly, with regulatory crackdowns, black market expansion, and revenue shifts dominating headlines. This week, the UK House of Lords called for an outright ban on gambling advertising, Belgium reported a drop in new player registrations despite rising online revenue, and new research valued Europe’s illegal online gambling market at €12 billion. Below, we unpack each story with added context, examples, and forward-looking analysis.

🏛️ UK House of Lords Calls for Total Gambling Advertising Ban

The Committee’s Formal Recommendation

On 17 September 2026, the House of Lords Liaison Committee published a follow-up report demanding that ministers ban all gambling advertising and abandon the government’s objective of growing the sector. The committee argued that a comprehensive ban is the “most effective policy option” for reducing gambling harms. The recommendation includes:

The Fallback List: A Staged Approach

Should ministers resist a total ban, the committee proposed the following secondary measures:

  1. A single statutory regulator for all gambling advertising.
  2. An end to advertising on team kits and at sports venues.
  3. Restriction of TV gambling ads during live sports broadcasts.
  4. A ban on inducements (e.g., free bets, deposit bonuses).
  5. A ban on direct marketing and content marketing.
  6. A licensing regime for affiliate marketing companies.
  7. A mandatory restriction on serving gambling ads to individuals under 25.

Government Response and Timeline

Baroness Twycross, the government’s spokesperson, stated that the government has “no plans to legislate on advertising at this time.” Nevertheless, the committee expects a formal response within the standard two-month deadline (by mid-November 2026). While select committee recommendations are not binding, they carry significant political weight and often influence policy direction.

Why This Matters: The UK’s Evolving Stance

The UK has moved from a relatively permissive gambling environment to one increasingly focused on harm reduction. For example, the 2023 Gambling Act Review introduced stake limits for online slots and a statutory levy for research, education, and treatment. An advertising ban would represent the most severe restriction yet, potentially reshaping how operators like Entain, Flutter, and bet365 market themselves.

⚽ Sponsorship Ban Debate: Researchers Want It Extended to Licensed Operators

The DCMS Consultation

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) closed an eight-week consultation on 9 September 2026. The proposed ban targets physical sponsorship and advertising by operators that do not hold a Gambling Commission licence. This would cover kit sponsorships, stadium billboards, programmes, and venue infrastructure across all sports.

The “Balloon Effect” Argument

A public health research consortium called Local Health and Global Profits submitted a response urging the DCMS to extend the ban in two ways:

The consortium’s reasoning revolves around the “balloon effect”: if only illegal firms are restricted, licensed operators will simply buy more sponsorship, keeping total exposure unchanged. In fact, the same level of gambling advertising would persist, but now carried by legal operators.

The Betting and Gaming Council’s Counterposition

The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) wants the opposite: the ban should be extended to stop illegal firms sponsoring any sport, rather than widening it to licensed operators. The BGC argues that criminal operators evade regulation, harm consumers, and undermine the tax base. The DCMS has yet to publish its official response.

Real-World Example: The Everton & Stake.com Case

In 2022, Premier League club Everton signed a sponsorship deal with Stake.com (a Crypto casino operator). At the time, Stake.com held a license in Curacao but not in the UK. The deal sparked controversy and eventually led to the club self-suspending the partnership. This case illustrates how illegal or non-licensed operators can still secure high-profile sponsorships, and why the DCMS consultation is so contentious.

📊 UK Gambling Industry GGY Hits £17.5 Billion – Online Slots Surge

Key Figures from the Gambling Commission

On 17 September 2026, the Gambling Commission released its annual industry statistics for April 2025 – March 2026:

MetricValueChange
Total industry GGY£17,456 million+4.4% (from £16,728m)
Remote casino GGY£5,699 million+14.8%
Online slots GGY£4,790 million(84% of remote casino)
Remote betting GGY£2,448 million–6.6%
Non-remote betting GGY£2.4 billion–3.3%
Number of betting shops5,617–208 (12th consecutive decline)

Online Casino Overtakes National Lottery

For the first time, remote casino (including slots, table games, and live dealer) accounted for 32.7% of total GGY, surpassing the National Lottery’s 19.9% share. This marks a structural shift in how British gamblers spend money: digital casino products are now the largest single sector.

Why Slots Dominate

Online slots alone generated £4.79 billion, representing 84% of remote casino revenue. This concentration is partly due to high-frequency play and the addictive nature of slot mechanics. The Gambling Commission has previously flagged slot volatility and stake limits as key harm-reduction areas. The 2023 stake limit of £2 per spin for under-25s (and £5 for over-25s) has not significantly dampened overall slot GGY, suggesting operators have adjusted by increasing session length or promoting higher-limit games to older players.

Betting Decline Continues

Football betting revenue dropped from £1,330 million to £1,165 million, while overall remote betting fell 6.6%. This decline may reflect growing awareness of accumulator bans and the shift to casino-style products, as well as increased competition from the black market (see below).

Land-Based Sector Shrinks

The number of betting shops fell for the 12th consecutive reporting period, down to 5,617. Retail betting GGY also fell 3.3%. This long-term trend is driven by digital migration and the decline of high-street footfall.

🌍 Europe’s Illegal Online Gambling Market Valued at €12 Billion

The Research Study

The European Gaming and Amusement Federation (EUROMAT) commissioned research by Regulus Partners and Helios that valued Europe’s illegal online gambling market at €12 billion in net revenue for 2025. This is three times the 2019 total and equal to 25% of all online gambling activity across the region.

Methodology and Scope

The study assessed 28 markets: the EU27 excluding Malta and Luxembourg, plus the United Kingdom, Serbia, and Montenegro. Illegal activity was measured via brand recognition, payment flows, and traffic data.

Drivers of Growth

Filip Jelavić, owner and project lead at Helios, attributed the surge to domestic policy failures rather than just operator cunning. Key factors include:

Jelavić also noted that cryptocurrency has been central to building illegal operations, enabling anonymous payments and bypassing traditional banking oversight. Additionally, affiliate networks give smaller unlicensed sites a cheap route to acquire players without large advertising budgets.

EUROMAT’s Response

EUROMAT President Jason Frost stated that the study will underpin the federation’s engagement with policymakers and law enforcement agencies across member states. The report is a powerful lobbying tool for arguments against over-regulation: if legal markets become too restrictive, players simply migrate to illegal ones.

Example: The Netherlands and Sweden

🇧🇪 Belgium: Online Revenue Rises, but New Registrations Plunge

Key Data from the Kansspelcommissie

The Belgian Gambling Commission’s 2025 annual report revealed:

Breakdown by Licence Type

Why Are New Registrations Falling?

The regulator attributed a small part of the decline to the law that raised the minimum gambling age from 18 to 21 on 1 September 2024. However, the dramatic 43.1% drop likely signals a broader trend: potential players are registering directly with illegal sites, bypassing the regulated system entirely.

BAGO’s Warning

BAGO, the association representing five licensed Belgian operators, argued that the data confirms a shift to the black market. They cited a KSC survey in which 28% of respondents aged 18–30 said they had played on an illegal site. This highlights the failure of strict regulations to keep younger demographics inside the licensed ecosystem.

The Self-Exclusion Trend

Voluntary self-exclusions rose to nearly 67,000, a 19% increase year-on-year. This could reflect greater awareness of problem gambling tools, but also indicates that more players are recognising harm and seeking help. Operators fear that self-exclusion pushes even more players toward illegal alternatives, since those sites do not honour EPIS (the national self-exclusion register).

🔮 What to Watch Next Week and Beyond

UK: Government Response and Fee Increases

Europe: EUROMAT Engages Policymakers

EUROMAT plans to present its black market research to national policymakers and law enforcement agencies across member states. Expect increased calls for harmonised regulation and better enforcement against illegal operators.

Belgium: Calls for Action on Illegal Market

BAGO has urged the Belgian government to prioritise action against the illegal market and its financial flows. Possible measures include blocking payment transactions to unlicensed sites and increasing cooperation with cryptocurrency exchanges.

The gambling industry in Europe faces a paradoxical moment: legal markets are growing in revenue, but illegal activity is expanding even faster. Regulators must decide whether further restrictions will protect players or simply push them underground. The next few months — with UK policy responses and EUROMAT’s lobbying — will set the tone for how this tension unfolds.