Revealed: sophisticated network driving illegal gambling promotion across UK social media

Open-source intelligence analysis reveals illegal gambling promotion deeply embedded in mainstream social media content consumed by young UK men aged 14–25.

More than 30 different unregulated gambling websites identified with UK-facing promotional activity – including Stake, Rainbet and Duelbits.

Coordinated network of illegal gambling operators, sporting celebrities, influencers and gaming platforms using social media at industrial scale to promote unregulated products.

Illegal promotion permeates football, the manosphere, gaming and viral short-form video.

London 17th June: Entain, one of the world’s leading sports betting and gaming groups, has published new research revealing the scale, sophistication, and growing immediacy of illegal gambling promotion targeting UK consumers. Activity is set to rise sharply as the World Cup begins.

The report shows that unregulated gambling promotion is already being deployed at scale across social media, with coordinated networks of influencers, tipsters and content accounts primed to capitalise on heightened engagement during the tournament. The research warns that the World Cup represents a major near-term risk, with promotional infrastructure already in place and ready to intensify as the competition gets underway.

The report examines activity across seven major digital platforms and identifies more than 30 unregulated gambling websites actively targeting UK audiences through a highly organised ecosystem spanning football content, gaming, viral short-form video and ‘manosphere’ influencer culture.

Crucially, the report finds that illegal gambling promotion is no longer something consumers actively seek out but is an “always on” presence embedded within the everyday social media content young people consume.

Key findings:

Researchers identified 72 instances of UK-facing promotion across more than 30 unregulated gambling sites, with multiple operators already producing World Cup content before the tournament has even begun.

Gambling promotion identified across Kick, Instagram, X, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook and Twitch - with around 20% of TikTok's UK audience estimated to be under 18.

Global football celebrities including Sergio Agüero, Eden Hazard and Iker Casillas identified as ambassadors for offshore gambling brands, lending mass reach and legitimacy to unregulated operators through audiences running into tens of millions.

Researchers identified a network of AI-generated YouTube personas designed to show UK users how to bypass gambling restrictions and services offering VPN-based access and identity verification workarounds to access banned sites.

Unregulated gambling content systematically embedded within football, gaming and manosphere culture, with key influencers - including HSTikkyTokky, Ed Matthews, Adin Ross and others with audiences concentrated among men aged 14–25 - combining gambling promotion with displays of wealth, gym culture and risk-taking.

At least 12 football fan and tipster accounts - covering clubs including Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United - found posting identical betting tips simultaneously, in what researchers concluded was a coordinated affiliate campaign, most without any disclosure of a commercial relationship.

Streaming platform Kick identified as a central hub of the illegal gambling influencer ecosystem, hosting a dedicated gambling category with minimal age verification and acting as a launchpad for content redistributed across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube and using referral codes, affiliate links and gamified incentives in their content.

Little to no age verification and consumer safeguards were found to be weak for customers, inconsistent or easily circumvented across the platforms examined, with at least one operator requiring no age verification whatsoever to create an account.

Commenting on the research findings, Bejay Patel, MD UK and Ireland at Entain, said:

“As the Men’s World Cup is underway, this research is a wake-up call to government, regulators and law enforcement agencies that illegal gambling promotion is not operating at the fringes but is now operating at scale in the UK with coordinated networks primed to target millions of UK fans during the tournament.

“It also raises serious questions about whether regulators and enforcement agencies have the powers and resources needed to tackle the highly coordinated illegal gambling promotion effectively, particularly across global social media platforms.”

About the research:

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