A crackdown on betting black market sites has been ramped up by the Gambling Commission after a huge spike in UK traffic.

A concerning increase in unlicensed gambling sites has forced efforts to increase to “prevent the illegal market from operating at scale”.

An International Federation of Horseracing Authorities report into anti-illegal betting and related crime showed the number of unique visitors to 22 unlicensed sites to bet on UK racing August 2021 and September 2024 had risen by a staggering 522%.

In contrast, visitors to ten legal websites offering betting on racing seen growth of only 49% during that period.

The Gambling Commission have so far issued 770 cease-and-desist, and disruption notices this year, including 262 cease-and-desists to operators, and a further 205 to advertisers.

While the number of URLs referred to Google this year is up to 102,000, with 64,000 removed by the search engine, and a total of 264 websites disappearing.

Any suspicious betting activity via black markets is not made available to the British Horseracing Authority.

And these operators provide no further funding into the sport, via levy or media rights payments as legal bookmakers do.

Commenting on the latest report, Louie French MP, Conservative shadow minister for sport and gambling, says the government must act now, with the results “entirely predictable” yet a “concern for all”.

French said: “The rise in black market gambling should be a concern for all. It was entirely predictable, and the government urgently needs to start listening.

“They must change track from the nanny state path they are racing towards.”

A Gambling Commission spokesman said: “Our aim is to prevent the illegal market from operating at scale in Great Britain.

“A significant part of our strategy in doing that is to target our efforts as far upstream as we can – at the level of hosts, payment providers, software providers, search engines and others. We have spent the last two years in particular not just targeting illegal activity but also building our own resources, skills and capabilities.

“Since the start of the financial year, we have issued over 770 cease and desist, and disruption notices – this includes 262 cease-and-desists issued to operators, and 205 to advertisers.

“Over that same period we have referred over 102,000 URLs to Google, with 64,000 of these removed by the search engine, and 264 websites taken down. This is more than a tenfold increase in URL takedowns in comparison to the whole of 2023 to 2024.

“We agree with the view expressed by others that gambling regulation should be balanced and proportionate, with those who are betting safely on racing allowed to do so without interruption.

“It is with that aim in mind we have been piloting potential improvements to how licensees currently seek to balance their need to meet the licensing objectives while continuing to provide the products and services that consumers enjoy.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport said: “The government recognises the significant contribution racing makes to British sporting culture and its importance to the British rural economy.

“We are working to ensure the Gambling Commission has the powers it needs to tackle unlicensed gambling websites.”