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In Sweden, Spelinspektionen recently flagged affiliates and social media as key channels for black market advertising and how affiliate networks redirect search traffic towards unlicensed operators.

Regulators have so far focused mainly on monitoring paid advertising. In Germany, the GGL credited an updated Google ad policy with reducing black market visibility. Yet, it acknowledged that illegal operators could still achieve visibility in organic search through SEO manipulation. 

This points to a wider shift towards addressing organic search signals and domain-level practices such as doorway pages, an issue also raised in the UK, where research has linked black market migration to search-driven promotion and SEO exploitation.

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AGCs in England that offer round-the-clock access to gambling machines will instead require planning approval.

The prime minister is also considering imposing an increased tax on gaming machines in the UK, based on a proposal from the Social Market Foundation. This could be seen in the upcoming autumn budget.

The National Lottery registered ticket sales of £7.9 billion, up 0.9%, while prize payouts slightly decreased by 0.6% to £4.5 billion. Contributions to good causes increased by 2.8%, estimated between £1.6 billion and £1.7 billion.

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The crackdown on illegal gambling sites coincided with a broader policy debate in The Hague. The Dutch House of Representatives is set to discuss gambling regulation reforms this week. 

Nederlandse Loterij has welcomed government proposals aimed at expanding the Gambling Authority’s powers to combat illegal operators but has cautioned that comprehensive legislative changes could take years to become effective.

Blok called for more decisive immediate action, saying: “The government must act now through criminal prosecutions by the Public Prosecution Service, alongside measures taken by regulators and licensed operators.