VPN’s Effect On Illegal Gambling Info Is Highlighted By The UK Gambling Commission
The UK Gaming Commission has developed its trend data from July 2025 to February 2026 in order to improve its perspective on how customers interact with illegitimate gaming websites. According to the agency, the most recent data still reveals irregularities rather than a specific pattern of steady increase during the 21-month period it monitors.
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The Commission’s expectations on traffic hidden by virtual private networks, or VPNs, which can mask the user’s online behavior, have also been updated by this new analysis.
As the regulator tries to create a more complete picture of the illegal market, the update is part of a larger plan to integrate survey and research data with web traffic figures.
Trend information until February 2026
The update was released in a blog post yesterday by Tim Livesley, Head of the Gambling Commission’s Data Innovation Hub. It comes after the regulator’s November 2025 publication describing the technique it used to evaluate user access to illegal gambling websites. The estimated total minutes spent on the site are used by the Commission to measure engagement.
The regulator stated in the most recent update that the overall baseline did not show steady or consistent growth in customer interaction over the course of 21 months of data. Additionally, it stated that the growth seen in Autumn of 2024 did not repeat in the same period of 2025, suggesting that traffic does not seem to follow does not seem to follow a seasonal trend.
Internet Traffic Estimation Limits
The Commission highlighted that online traffic estimates have error margins and are more useful as trend indicators than full volume measurements with the updated chart. Additionally, it warned that no single source could be regarded as final because some ways to access illegal gaming are not visible in the dataset.
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The Regulator’s larger approach to illegal gambling, which is regarded as a complex problem, is reflected in this statement. The Commission also stated that to better understand how customers interact with unauthorized websites, it is creating additional data points that can be used in tandem with traffic estimations.
VPN Modifications Following the Online Safety Bill
The regulator noted the introduction of the Online Safety Bill as one external factor that caused many customers to purchase VPNs to avoid online activity limits. To account for traffic hidden by VPN use, the Commission has already raised its threshold by 30%. On the other hand, the agency claimed that a greater portion of web traffic might have been concealed after July 2025. It used VPN usage stats from Similarweb and Ofcom to examine that possibility. Similarweb displayed a similar pattern with a smaller first surge, where Ofcom’s stats revealed a significant increase in usage in July 2025, followed by a slow fall to a level about 40% above prior levels.
Increased Evidence and Compliance Activities
The Commission stated that in order to validate and improve data sources, it is looking for feedback from licensed operators and international regulators. In order to improve the analysis of the black market, it is also searching for other datasets.
The regulator’s Consumer Voice research program and the Gambling Survey for Great Britain, which collects information on user participation, will provide more proof. Along with more details on increased chaos and enforcement activity and how it evaluates the return on that investment, the Commission stated that it will release other updates on its research, stats, and data work throughout the year.
Source: gamblingcommission.gov.uk
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