Rhodes Flags Crypto Threat, Funding Strain, Illegal Market UK

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) is warning that crypto gambling could emerge as a major regulatory test within the next two years, with chief executive Andrew Rhodes urging the government not to ignore the rapid rise in cryptocurrency use among younger demographics.

Speaking at his CEO Briefing 2025 on 6 November, Rhodes said what was once viewed as a distant issue is now fast approaching.

“What I thought was a five-year-away problem, perhaps a year or two ago, I think is now an 18-months-to-two-years challenge,”
he stated.

He noted that crypto adoption among young consumers has built “pressure within the system,” predicting a demographic shift in which a “significant cohort” will rely on digital currencies for daily transactions. Without government action, he warned, these users could find “no place in legitimate industry because of the currency they use.”

Although acknowledging the urgency, Rhodes ruled out any near-term licensing of crypto-based gambling, stressing that such a move requires a government-level decision.

“Once you open that door, you cannot close it,”
he said, adding that regulation would need to address questions about crypto’s status as a source of funds or wealth and what safeguards are needed to manage associated risks.

He welcomed the Financial Conduct Authority’s ongoing work toward a potential framework for digital assets, saying governments “cannot ignore that pattern.”

Beyond crypto, Rhodes also used the event to highlight looming financial constraints at the UKGC.  is funded entirely by licence fees that are not indexed to inflation and are reviewed only every five to seven years. The latest review, originally planned for 2024 under the government’s gambling white paper, has been postponed to the end of 2025.

Rhodes warned that this delay could leave the regulator short of funds by mid-2026:

“The extra investments we have made in areas like illegal gambling, criminal investigations and data capabilities are not funded beyond the middle of next year.”

He said these initiatives were financed through reserves accumulated during 2021-22, which will soon be depleted. The shortfall threatens continued investment in enforcement and data-driven regulation unless the new fee structure is approved.

The UKGC’s fourth and final report on illegal online gambling—published just days before the briefing—found that current methods for measuring unlicensed activity in Britain remain inconclusive.

The regulator tested three estimation models:

• a dwell-time approach based on time spent on illegal sites,
• a channelisation model comparing traffic between legal and illegal operators, and
• a survey-based approach reliant on player recall.

Ultimately, the Commission pursued only the first two, dismissing survey data as unreliable. However, both remaining models yielded limited results due to small sample sizes and uncertain web-traffic data.

The study found sports betting to be the most common activity on illegal platforms (34% of tracked users), followed by bingo (14%) and slots (13%). Yet the UKGC concluded that these figures are not robust enough to quantify total spending outside the licensed market. Even a 0.5% error in channelisation estimates could distort gross gambling yield calculations by £34 million.

“Further work is required before we will reach a position where reliable estimates can be published,”
the Commission said, calling for greater operator cooperation and updated data sources.

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Despite these challenges, Rhodes reaffirmed the regulator’s commitment to tackling illegal gambling and protecting consumers. So far this financial year, the UKGC has:

• issued 480 cease-and-desist notices to advertisers and operators,
• reported 188,297 URLs to search engines, leading to 104,192 removals,
• referred 659 websites for delisting, and
• disrupted 504 sites that were taken down or geo-blocked in the UK.

“We’ve been extremely active in this space,” Rhodes said, noting that few regulators worldwide have invested as heavily in illegal-market disruption.

He emphasized that the Commission’s remit remains to license and regulate, not to dictate policy—leaving decisions about cryptocurrency and funding frameworks to Parliament and the DCMS.

Still, his message was clear: the intersection of crypto adoption, budget constraints, and unlicensed activity represents one of the most pressing regulatory challenges facing Britain’s gambling sector in 2026 and beyond.

Source:

, gamblingcommission.gov.uk, November 10, 2025.