BGC says illegal Premier League betting could reach £800m this season, with £20m staked over opening weekend

The Betting and Gaming Council says the black market could absorb up to £800m in bets during the new Premier League season, with about £20m already staked with unlicensed operators over the opening weekend. For licensed PSPs, the point is simple: when regulated visibility shrinks, demand does not disappear, it moves to less controlled channels.

1. The estimate comes as the Premier League 2026/27 season began with the long-planned ban on front-of-shirt gambling sponsorships now in force. Betting logos are now limited to shirt sleeves and training kits, and the BGC says the unlicensed market remains “as present as ever.”
2. The lobby group, which represents many of the largest licensed operators in Britain, said the black market will take up to £800m in bets across the season. It also said around £20m may have been staked with unlicensed operators over the opening weekend alone.
3. According to the BGC, that figure could rise by a further £200m next season, taking illegal betting on the Premier League to around £1bn a year after April’s planned increase in General Betting Duty. The group did not explain how it calculated the numbers.
4. The BGC said its analysis suggests a typical weekend sees between £15m and £20m staked with unlicensed operators, and that the first round of fixtures were expected to land toward the top of that range.
5. The group supported the Premier League’s voluntary decision to remove betting sponsors from the front of team shirts and welcomed the Government’s plan to stop clubs taking sponsorship from gambling operators without a UK licence. It also wants that policy extended to prevent illegal firms from sponsoring any sport in the UK.

The BGC also cited recent independent analysis from WARC, which found that unregulated operators accounted for almost half of UK gambling advertising spend, and H2 Gambling Capital, which forecasts illegal betting on sports in Britain to rise from nearly £17bn this year to more than £33bn by 2028. Grainne Hurst, Chief Executive of the Betting and Gaming Council, said licensed operators in Britain follow strict rules on consumer protection, safer gambling and financial safeguards, while illegal operators do not.