The UK Gambling Commission is keeping tabs on the illegal gambling market; this much is clear from a recent statement by the watchdog’s CEO, Andrew Rhodes, who spoke at the International Association of Gaming Regulators in Toronto, Canada.

UKGC Pursues Offshore Websites Without Much Fanfare

While the UKGC has not really boasted about its achievements in limiting the reach of the offshore market, mostly out of concern not to appear too hasty or deliver too little, Rhodes finally stated during his address last week that there were some actual numbers and progress worth reporting.

According to the watchdog’s boss, out of the 200,000 URLs analyzed and reported to search engines, 100,000 have been taken down. But removing the URLs is hardly the whole picture, as the watchdog has identified the 1,000-odd operators who have been the most prolific in setting up these unregulated websites.

While the URLs can be set up through mirror links, it’s not all that easy, Rhodes argued, explaining that such mass bans significantly reduced the revenue that these operators generated and put constant pressure on their business.

Rhodes believes that the UKGC can play a crucial part in fighting back against the illegal gambling market – not only by making the local market more attractive, but also by taking proactive measures that ultimately harm illegal operators.

Among those is a commitment to making it harder for illegal operators to have their websites discovered by search engines. Similarly, the UKGC has sought to strengthen market conditions and also disincentivize players from connecting with offshore websites in the first place.

Highlighting the Advantages of the Legal Market

He has highlighted a shift in consumer trends that now expects everything to be delivered on time, which is not the case with withdrawals in the offshore markets, which can be late, delayed, or fail to materialize, with the UKGC intent on publishing this message to players and dissuading them from pursuing gambling in the black market.

Rhodes used this opportunity to highlight the fact that out of the 44.2 million withdrawals placed with the regulated market, a whopping 96.3% were honored instantly, with 3.5% taking up to 24 hours to complete, and only 0.1% of the total taking longer than 48 hours to settle.