On 20 January 2025, the UK Gambling Commission issued a warning to operators providing business-to-business gaming solutions, following findings that games were appearing on illegal gambling websites. The Commission warns licensees that they may have been negligent in allowing them to do so and in the process, place their own licence at risk.

Recent estimates suggest over £2.7bn is being staked annually on the online black market in the UK, equating to around £36.9m in lost betting and gaming excise duty. Illegal gambling can cause immeasurable harm to consumers, and the Commission has made it one of its key objectives of preventing gambling from being a source of crime.

The Commission advises operators to actively monitor their business relationships to ensure any partners are not participating in offering illegal gambling facilities to the UK market, and where identified, terminating relationships where non-compliance has occurred. However, if an operator is to take such action, operators will need to have investigated the circumstances and ensure that grounds exist to lawfully terminate any arrangements.    

In the event an operator identifies that their software has been used to facilitate illegal gambling, it will be important to assess the potential exposure of the operator to both regulatory action, and civil claims, by contract parties or affected consumers.