Illegal US online gambling revenue hit $97.4bn in 2025 as Vicky Foxcroft takes over as UK gambling minister

Two stories matter here for high-risk payment teams: the US illegal gambling market kept growing faster than the regulated one, and the UK is getting a new gambling minister who has already backed tighter controls on payments and player access. If you run PSP, acquiring, or banking for gaming, this is the kind of week that changes your risk map.

1. The Gaming Compliance International study for the Campaign for Fairer Gambling says illegal online gambling revenue in the US rose by 45.2 per cent in 2025 to $97.4bn. Total online gambling losses reached $125.6bn, and unlicensed sites accounted for 77 per cent of total revenue. In other words, regulation did not automatically pull volume out of the shadow market.
2. The same report says legalisation of online sports betting and casino gaming did not reduce illegal activity, with unregulated operators continuing to grow. Derek Webb, who funds the CFG, used the findings to argue for action against illicit operators. For payments teams, that translates into a familiar headache: licensed demand and unlicensed demand often sit side by side, but the compliance treatment is not remotely the same.
3. State-level patterns were not uniform. Louisiana had the highest ratio, with most unregulated activity, while West Virginia and California showed different ratios depending on their regulatory frameworks. That matters because US gambling risk is still a state-by-state exercise, not a neat national switch.
4. In the UK, Vicky Foxcroft has been appointed as the new gambling minister, replacing Baroness Fiona Twycross in Andy Burnham’s administration. Foxcroft will oversee the implementation of reforms set out in the 2023 Gambling White Paper. She has previously supported banning credit card use for gambling and blocking problem gamblers’ online transactions.
5. The Betting and Gaming Council welcomed Foxcroft’s appointment and said regulation should be evidence-led and proportionate. It also praised Baroness Twycross for engaging with the regulated sector. At the same time, Prime Minister Burnham said he plans to abolish the “aim to permit” rule for gambling venues, which points to a tighter regulatory direction in the UK.

One practical takeaway for PSPs: the pressure is moving in two directions at once. In the US, illegal volume remains large enough to distort the market. In the UK, policy is leaning harder into restrictions on gambling access and payment flow. That combination usually means more KYC, more transaction monitoring, and less tolerance for sloppy merchant classification.