BGC warns illegal betting could have taken £40 million at Royal Ascot 2026

The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) says unlicensed operators may have taken around £40 million, or about $51 million, in bets during Royal Ascot 2026, held from 16 to 20 June. For regulated PSPs and betting operators, the point is obvious: when legal channels get more expensive or more tightly controlled, the black market is waiting with a very simple pitch — fewer checks, no protections, and access through the same digital channels everyone else uses.

1. Royal Ascot was the BGC’s backdrop for a new warning about the growth of illegal betting in the UK. The five-day event drew hundreds of thousands of visitors and generated one of the biggest betting volumes in the British calendar, with users from the UK and around the world taking part.
2. According to the BGC’s estimate, unlicensed operators could have captured around £40 million in wagers during the tournament. On a single five-day event, that is a tidy illustration of scale: the market is not just “there”, it is moving serious money.
3. The BGC tied the warning to recent policy pressure on the licensed sector, including the recent increase in gambling tax and the possible introduction of affordability checks (solvency checks). Its argument is straightforward: if regulated operators face higher costs and tighter rules without stronger action against unlicensed sites, some customers will drift to those unregulated alternatives.
4. Grainne Hurst, chief executive of the BGC, said the illegal black market “does not offer customers any of the protections found in the regulated sector” and “does not contribute at all to the sport from which it seeks to profit”. She added that, as evidence continues to show growth in the black market, policy decisions need to support a thriving regulated market that protects customers and helps keep gambling-related crime in check.
5. The BGC also widened its campaign to the tech side of the funnel. It sent an open letter, signed by Hurst, to major UK digital companies, calling for urgent action to cut off the routes unlicensed operators use to reach British consumers. The council said illegal operators are increasingly using social media, search engines, messaging apps, and online ad networks, which gives them access to vulnerable populations.

For payment companies working in high-risk, the practical read-through is simple: the distribution layer matters as much as the merchant account. If unlicensed operators can keep buying traffic and collecting payments through digital channels, enforcement at the acquirer level is only doing part of the job.