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example, legislators say: Look, we don't want to be an iGaming state. The reality is, in today's world, you are an iGaming state, whether you like it or not. The question is, do you regulate it? Do you license it? Do you protect consumers? And do you get the tax revenue from it? I think Britain has shown, despite being a pretty small country, you can have quite a large, vibrant, regulated gambling market. SP: You touch immediately on an extremely important point in the fight against illegal gambling. There are essentially two sides. One is the defense, what can you do as a regulator to go after the illegal offer. But there is also what we could call the offense, what can you enable as a jurisdiction to avoid people wanting to go elsewhere.
And I think the third piece of work that has to happen is looking at the demand side of the equation as well. What is it that encourages consumers to consider the illegal market and what can we do as a regulator, what can industry do and what can government do to keep our market attractive? What are the sorts of innovations we can encourage that protect consumers and meet our licensing objectives but also increase the appeal of the consumer offer.
One of the recent examples came out of some of the reforms in the UK Gambling White Paper which allowed casinos to have sports books on their premises for the first time. A few weeks back, I visited the Hippodrome in London, where they've opened Paddy’s Sportsbook in partnership with Flutter. It's an amazing venue and the sort of place you would want to spend some
" In today's world, you are an iGaming state whether you like it or not. The question is, do you regulate it, do you protect consumers and do you get the tax revenue? "
TM: Definitely. I would say there are actually three areas that your
actions need address when you're tackling the black market. One of those, absolutely, is enforcement, prosecution, taking action against criminals around the world that are seeking to exploit consumers here in Britain. Over the last year or so in particular, we've had a lot of success there with huge numbers of URLs removed, websites taken down and we're making progress around prosecutions. That's all incredibly important. Then the second part is to look at those players that facilitate the operation and visibility of the illegal market and its ability to attract consumers. Increasingly we're seeing social media, big tech companies, payment providers playing a role in that. Recently I highlighted some of the challenges we've had with groups like Meta, who have not, until now, done enough to stop the so-called “not on Gamstop” sites. These target incredibly vulnerable consumers and, if we're going to have success in this battle, it is essential that companies like Meta and other tech companies, take their responsibilities seriously.
time. You can eat, have a drink, watch sport and gamble in an environment that's really appealing to consumers, but hasn't exposed them to any greater risk. We’re really keen to promote innovations like that, so if the industry has new ideas, they should come and talk to us so we can look at what are the ways that we can support them and at the same time divert attention from the illegal market. SP: You mentioned that jurisdictions have to choose between whether they regulate the market or just accept that it will exist offshore Do you think there are limits within a regulated market to the kind of products that we should be prepared to regulate, irrespective of whether people can use various means to access those products anyway? TM: I do think there are limits. If a product is designed in such a way that is confusing to consumers, that exploits consumers then I don't think something like that has a place in in the
IMGL MAGAZINE | MARCH 2026
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