The UK Gambling Commission has secured statutory authority to apply for court-ordered blocking of illegal casino sites at the ISP level, a power delivered through the Criminal Justice Bill that moves the regulator beyond voluntary cooperation with internet providers and into binding judicial enforcement against unlicensed operators – including those domiciled outside Great Britain.
Under the new mechanism, the Commission can apply to a judge for a suspension order requiring ISPs to block specific domains or IP addresses where there is evidence those sites are facilitating illegal gambling for UK users. The instrument differs materially from the cease-and-desist notices and payment disruption tools the UKGC has relied on to date, in that it carries legal compulsion rather than industry goodwill – and its extraterritorial reach means offshore operators can no longer treat a foreign incorporation as structural insulation from UK enforcement.
The blocking power addresses a persistent operational problem: sites that migrate to new domains within days of disruption. The UKGC’s existing multi-mechanism approach – geo-blocking, search delisting, payment processor intervention – has produced measurable results, including a 46% traffic reduction to the largest illegal domains following targeted geo-blocking in 2023, and 264 unlicensed websites prevented from operating in Great Britain in the 2024–25 financial year alone. ISP-level blocking via court order gives the Commission a tool that is both faster to enforce and harder for operators to circumvent through simple domain-hopping.
The new power is backed by £26 million in Exchequer funding committed over three years – £5 million in 2026/27, rising to £10 million in each of the two subsequent years. The allocation is earmarked to expand the illegal markets unit, invest in detection technology capable of tracking domain migration, and underwrite the legal costs of ISP blocking actions. The three-year profile signals institutional commitment rather than a budget line tied to a single enforcement cycle.
Andrew Rhodes, Chief Executive of the UK Gambling Commission, has said of the broader enforcement push: “Many of the sites we deal with are determined, persistent and adaptable.” The framing is consistent with the Commission’s published enforcement trajectory: actions against illegal gambling increased by more than 500% between 2021/22 and 2022/23, and successful disruption outcomes more than doubled across the same period – before the regulator received any of the new statutory tools now being legislated.
For licensed operators, the commercial stakes are direct. The scale of illegal gambling activity targeting UK consumers – including coordinated influencer networks and unregulated operators running persistent acquisition campaigns – represents a material competitive distortion in a market where licensed operators absorb Remote Gaming Duty and compliance overhead that unlicensed sites simply do not carry. The UKGC puts UK online channelisation at approximately 97.6%, a figure it cites as evidence that robust enforcement has not driven consumers to the black market, but which also reflects how much of the market remains accessible to licensed operators when illegal sites are actively suppressed.
The Commission’s enforcement record provides context for the credibility of the new power. Prior actions have ranged from a £650,000 fine against NetBet to a £10 million penalty against Platinum Gaming, and physical operations such as the May 2025 raid on an unlicensed premises in Manchester conducted alongside Greater Manchester Police and Manchester City Council Licensing officers. ISP-level blocking now sits alongside these tools as part of a coordinated enforcement architecture rather than a standalone measure.
The immediate next step is passage and commencement of the relevant Criminal Justice Bill provisions, after which the Commission is expected to begin applying for its first suspension orders and to issue updated operator guidance on reporting obligations and engagement with illegal sites.
Source: OLBG
Renata Kovacs has spent the better part of a decade following the regulatory shifts and licensing battles that define how gambling markets open, close, and evolve across Europe and beyond. She came up through the legal and compliance side of the industry before shifting her focus to journalism and analysis, giving her a perspective that sits closer to the operator room than the press box. Her coverage tends to cut through the noise and get straight to what a regulatory change actually means for the businesses and players involved.