Links Between Illegal Streaming Sites and Black Market Gambling

The UK is driving its agenda against illegal gambling providers, and a new report has drawn a link between black market betting sites and illegal streaming sites. These pirate sites, or unregulated streaming sites, have become extremely popular in the UK, and the Gambling Watchdog is concerned that they expose audiences to black market and offshore gambling sites. That is not all they expose viewers to, as many of the sites in question have peppered sports fans with malware, scams, and they have been linked to data theft.

The obvious move next is to crack down on these illegal streaming sites, and rightly so, it would curb UK sports fans from some of the greater dangers they can pose. At the same time, iGaming operators in the UK are preparing for the Autumn Budget tax hikes, which are going into effect from April.  Part of which would fund the £26 million that the UK Treasury has pledged to the Gambling Commission to tackle the illegal market. But will these measures and efforts be enough to win players back from the UK’s black market?

Pirate Streaming Sites On the Rise

A study conducted by Yield Sec for Fairer Gambling UK on the correlation between illegal streaming and gambling growth has placed the spotlight on illegal streaming platforms. These sites, which provide live streams of the English Premier League, top tier football leagues, and other “Top 10 GB Sports” have grown tremendously in the past few years. In 2024, an estimated 3.1 billion streams were viewed for 90 seconds or more (the definition of committed view of this content), which illegally streamed live broadcasts of Top 10 GB Sports. In the first half of 2025, a further 1.6 billion views were recorded.

It spells trouble for Sky Sports, and the other broadcast providers such as TNT, ITV and various others, as these pirate sites take a massive chunk of their potential market. But that is not the only concern. Because it exposes many sports fans to offshore, and illegal, betting sites, through extensive marketing and pop up ads. That exposure was reduced when Premier League clubs ditched front of shirt gambling brand sponsorship, many of which were sponsored by offshore bookies. The reason being they wanted to appeal to sports fans outside the UK who would bet on the Premier League.

But there is a growing demographic of users based in the UK who watch the Premier League via pirate sites, and where the exposure is arguably higher than seeing gambling ads on the front of EPL team shirts.

Why Sports Fans Turn to Pirate Streaming Sites

There are many reasons why sports fans use pirate streams instead of the official channels. They are free to use, fans can access more matches and are not limited to those covered under one broadcaster, and on the surface, it seems like there are no strings attached.

It does seem like the worst thing that can happen is the stream breaks mid match, or it starts to lag, or the stream goes into a lower resolution. In that case, the viewer can either continue, or, pick a different link and try there.

Many of which are not difficult to access or find, are now seen as gateways into wider illegal online ecosystems. Besides the links to offshore gambling sites that are not regulated in the UK, they can also pose dangers for malware infections, phishing attempts, and data harvesting.

Dangers Around Illegal Streaming Sites

These pirate sites don’t make money off subscriptions, nor on a pay-per-view basis. So instead, they sell advertising space to practically any buyer. You can get ads for lawnmowers right next to links to pornography sites, and pop-up banners that promote a betting site or an online casino. You are more likely to see the latter than ads for lawnmowers or adult content sites though, as 89% of the illegal streams featured ads for black market bookies.

The casino/bookie ads will have welcome bonuses or sign up offers, the content that is most likely to catch the eye and induce an emotional trigger, calling the viewer to catch the hot deal.

The streaming sites don’t typically work if you have your ad blocker on. They need you to turn it off, and then when you click on a link, it may take a good handful of tries before you get to the relevant site. All the previous ones will have casino offers, bookie promos, or other irrelevant content.

Anyone using illegal streams should also be very careful not to click on any outbound links or accept any conditions displayed on the site, as these may be tied to malware and viruses, attempting to hack the user’s computer or steal their sensitive data.

UKGC Taking Action

The Gambling Commission is constantly working on promoting responsible gambling, educating sports fans about the dangers of addiction, and cutting down on the black market. Any gambling operators that are not licensed by the official channels are deemed a threat, with no exceptions. Even recognized operators and game software studios have to abide by the law. As Spribe learned the hard way when its UKGC game vendor license was suspended for providing games without the proper permissions.

The UK Treasury stated that the UKGC would receive a further £26 million to conduct research and educate responsible gambling, and to crack down on the black market. Chief Executive of the UKGC, Andrew Rhodes, described the extra funds as being a nine fold increase on the UKGC’s budget to tackle the illegal gambling market.

Illegal betting operators were estimated to have pulled in around £379 million in revenue in the first half of 2025. Meaning, they own approximately 9% of the UK’s entire online gambling marketplace. Which is a massive increase on the 2% share from 2022.

It is not just offshore bookies either, as these pirate sites can have links to illegal bookie brokers, unlicensed betting exchanges, crypto bookmakers (not regulated in the UK), and even off-the-books Telegram or WhatsApp bookies (or other messaging app based bookie brokers).

Remote Gaming Duty Increase in April

The black market doesn’t offer bettors a safer environment, but it has the benefit of avoiding the UK duties. And this leads to the bookies having more leeway to offer bonuses, boosts, and perks to their members. They can afford to put bigger deals on the table, deals that UK bookies cannot compete with. The Autumn Budget concluded last year with a hike in the Remote Gaming Duty and General Betting Duty. The Remote Gaming Duty will rise from 21% to 40% on April 1, 2026. The General Betting Duty is set to rise from 15% up to 25% for online or remote bets, from April 1, 2027.

That is not all, as the UK is undergoing strict regulatory reforms as well. These relate to player verification methods, affordability checks, safer gambling tools, restrictions on hybrid casino/bookie operations, and stricter advertising laws. Offshore betting sites don’t have these restrictions, allowing larger bonuses, fewer checks, and faster onboarding for the players.

Regulatory Concerns About the Autumn Budget

Blocking these illegal pirate streams may help cut off some of the traffic to the black market, but it is neither easy nor is there any precedent that would suggest it has any significant impact. Because these are not structured domains run by operators. Most are temporary, and switch domains often, or, there are streams which are shared via social media platforms. During the 2024-25 Premier League season, the league’s anti piracy team succeeded in blocking over 230,000 live streams on social media platforms and shut down 430,000 links from Google.

Offshore gambling brands don’t swap domains or skin swap as much, but they are also difficult to track. Back in November, 7 European nations agreed to share data on black market operators, in a bid to identify the domains more easily and block the sites more quickly. It is a time consuming and costly endeavour, and while the UK’s Gambling Watchdog has an extra £26 to fight the black market, it won’t be a simple procedure.

The figures that the UK Treasury calculated for the Autumn Budget, have also been scrutinized. Shortly after the Budget was made and the figures were announced, industry insiders were quick to point out that the figures don’t take into account the revenue potentially lost to the black market in the following years. One figure estimated that the UK Treasury will only make half £1.6 billion they expect in gambling tax revenue per year.

The next step may well be drawing the spotlight on these illegal streaming sites. But in the bigger picture, what’s more important is finding a balance for licensed UK operators to work within, without losing their valuable clients to the black market.