Black market sites 'having a field day', MP claims

Intrusive affordability checks are helping to drive punters to the black market, a Conservative MP has claimed, with illegal operators having "a field day" as a result.

Craig Whittaker, the MP for Calder Valley in West Yorkshire, said the government's long-awaited gambling review white paper could not come soon enough as its delay was helping to bolster the black market.

He said that affordability checks were "central" to the issue, adding: "Currently, there is no such thing as a frictionless affordability check. In this void, the default position for many operators, not wishing to fall foul of the regulator, is to force customers to prove they can play by requesting they produce private financial documents like pay slips.

"As a result, frustrated punters are either choosing not to bet – or more worryingly – considering the unsafe, unregulated gambling black market. These illicit online sites are having a field day, providing unlicensed gambling within a few clicks of a mouse."

Whittaker, writing on the Conservative Home website, cited a report commissioned by gambling industry group the Betting and Gaming Council which had claimed the number of people using black market operators had more than doubled in just two years to 460,000. He added that policing access to such sites, which do not offer the same protections as the regulated market, was "an impossible job".

He pointed to the examples of black markets caused by "draconian rules" in Italy, France, Norway and Sweden.

Craig Whittaker MP: claimed affordability checks were driving frustrated punters to the black marketCredit: Richard Townshend

Whittaker said: "The industry knows more can be done to protect those vulnerable to harm and more financial checks, targeted on those that are vulnerable or at risk, is certainly the answer. No one wants to see customers betting money they can’t afford to lose. But those checks should not force punters to the black market."

He added: "The best way to protect the small proportion who struggle is to guarantee a mature, well-regulated sector, not enforce measures which push punters to illicit corners of the internet."

The government launched its gambling review in December 2020 but publication of its findings have been the subject of repeated delays. The review was one of the subjects discussed at a meeting of the public accounts committee on Monday at which MPs quizzed officials from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

In answer to a question by Carolyn Harris MP asking when the white paper would appear, Sarah Healey, the permanent secretary at the DCMS said: "You will obviously all know that the last time I appeared before you I said it would be published in the coming weeks. Obviously some issues intervened which meant that it was unable to be published as promptly as we wanted.

"We continue to work hard with ministers to reach a final version of that white paper and to launch it as soon as we possibly can."

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