The UK Gambling Commission has published its money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessment for licensed gambling, covering April 2023 through October 2025. The report flags inadequate scrutiny of white-label partnerships and B2B operator relationships as a systemic weakness that increases sector vulnerability.
Remote and land-based casinos remain in the highest risk category, alongside betting. Online casino GGY reached £5 billion between April 2024 and March 2025, with slots accounting for £4.2 billion. Remote betting generated £2.6 billion, land-based betting £2.5 billion. The gambling software sector was upgraded from low to medium money laundering risk due to the cross-border nature of supply and licence resale to unlicensed operators. Peer-to-peer products — poker and betting exchanges — were assessed as high risk in both environments.
The regulator cited weak monitoring of linked accounts, misconfigured AML thresholds and poorly trained compliance staff. E-wallets, prepaid cards and crypto payment methods are seeing increased use, offering more opportunities for concealed transactions. Criminals are deploying deepfakes, face-swap video and other AI tools to bypass verification.
The government has allocated £26 million over three years to tackle the unlicensed market and vulnerabilities in payment chains. Two people were arrested earlier this week in a raid on an illegal casino in Bristol.
