BGC Wants to Educate Players about How to Recognize Illegal Websites

This time around, the BGC is looking to change its focus on helping players recognize and tell illegal gambling websites from the legitimate and licensed ones. 

This has long been touted as a viable strategy, with few parties interested in actively reaching out to players and educating them about this particular aspect of the experience.

Recognizing illegal gambling websites is unlikely to eliminate the 12.5% of all gamblers in the United Kingdom who are currently turning offshore, but it could help reduce these numbers through a dedicated campaign. 

To this end, the Betting and Gaming Council has shared its “Spot the Black Market” quiz on social media X, in which it queries people to spot which websites are unregulated, and seeks to further highlight the dangers associated with gambling at such websites to begin with. 

A BGC spokesperson has described the campaign in further detail, explaining why it matters: 

“This campaign is about exposing the hidden dangers of the black market. These unregulated sites deliberately mimic trusted brands but play by none of the rules that keep people safe.”

The quiz cleverly focuses on the player experience, in the sense that it asks them to guess whether a thumbnail image of popular websites that are available in the United Kingdom is licensed or not licensed.

Once again, bending in the same player-led experience, players are asked to try to establish whether a website is indeed legal or illegal. The BGC has also highlighted that many websites that operate without a license are purposefully trying to emulate licensed brands in a bid to mislead players.