The UK Gambling Commission posted a new senior 'Head of Illegal Markets' role this week, advertising the position at a £65,000 base salary that industry observers have widely criticized as inadequate for the scope of the challenge. The regulator faces an illegal gambling market that research shows has ballooned to £16.6 billion in 2025, more than tripling from around £5 billion in 2019.
£65,000 Salary Draws Scrutiny
Speaking at the Bingo Association AGM on May 7, acting chief executive Sarah Gardner welcomed £26 million in new government funding over the next three years, saying this would allow the regulator to address land-based illegal gambling 'arguably for the first time in a serious way.' The salary attached to the new role, however, has been widely flagged in trade press and on industry LinkedIn as out of step with the scope of a £16.6 billion problem.
Illegal Market Grows Rapidly
Research from H2 Gambling Capital, cited by the Betting and Gaming Council, found the unlicensed UK gambling market reached £16.6 billion in 2025, up from roughly £5 billion in 2019. Separate WARC analysis projected that unlicensed operators will exceed £1 billion in UK advertising spend by 2028, with illegal sites already accounting for roughly 42 percent of the country's £1.9 billion in 2026 gambling ad spend.
Enforcement Actions Escalate
The Commission's enforcement output has been substantial even before the new role and funding take effect. In remarks at the Ethical Gambling Forum on April 28, executive director Tim Miller said that during 2025-26 the regulator had issued 741 cease-and-desist notices, reported almost 400,000 URLs to search engines, referred over 1,000 websites for delisting, and disrupted 1,134 additional sites through takedown or geo-blocking. Miller called on Meta, Google, and Visa for a coordinated response.
Leadership Transition Underway
The hire arrives during a leadership transition at the Commission. Andrew Rhodes stepped down as chief executive on April 30; Gardner moved up from deputy chief executive to acting CEO while the board recruits a permanent replacement. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport launched a dedicated illegal gambling task force in January, led by gambling minister Baroness Twycross, designed to coordinate enforcement across regulators, law enforcement, and major platforms.
Crypto Regulation in Parallel
The new enforcement focus runs alongside the Commission's separate work on bringing cryptocurrencies into the UK's regulated gambling framework. At the BGC Annual General Meeting in February, Miller said the Commission's Industry Forum had been tasked with examining how crypto assets could be used to fund legal gambling under the FCA's incoming regulatory regime, which is expected to come into force on October 25, 2027. The framework would require any operator providing crypto-funded gambling to be authorized by the FCA at that point.
Whether the £65,000 salary yields a senior hire capable of working alongside Gardner's acting leadership and the £26 million in new funding will be an early test of the Commission's stated intent to address illegal gambling at scale.