Unregulated and Unstoppable: Cryptocurrencies and the Future of Online Illegal Betting
October 13th, 2025
Unregulated and Unstoppable: Cryptocurrencies and the Future of Online Illegal Betting examines the accelerating adoption of cryptocurrencies by illegal online sports betting operators and the implications for financial crime, consumer protection, and regulatory oversight. Our analysis reveals that while cryptocurrencies offer operational benefits such as faster transactions, lower fees, and global accessibility, they also pose significant risks. Chief among these is their role in facilitating money laundering and other criminal activity..
Mapping the Offshore Gambling Regulators is co-authored by Steve Menary, a journalist and author specialising in sports governance, match-fixing, and illegal betting, and Marko Begovic, Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Sport, Serbia and Associate Professor in the Faculty of Business Administration and Social Sciences at Molde University College, Norway. The report was funded by a Research Innovation Fund Seedcorn award from the Bristol Hub for Gambling Harms Research at the University of Bristol, UK and is republished here by the IFHA Council.
This report reviews the growing number of offshore gambling regulators and explores the broader implications of their role in the global online gambling landscape. While these regulators are legally established and issue licenses in accordance with local laws, their transnational reach can present challenges when it comes to aligning with the social, economic, and consumer protection standards of other jurisdictions.
The report highlights how some of these regulators, particularly those with limited transparency and oversight, may inadvertently facilitate gambling-related harm or be vulnerable to misuse by criminal networks. It also examines how sport and social media are used to promote these operators, potentially drawing consumers to platforms with fewer safeguards.
Unchecked and Unbalanced: Illegal Betting and The Consequences of Failing Market Regulation
September 12th, 2025
The IFHA Council ’s latest compendium of a major report and 12 articles collates the Council’s latest research on the threat of illegal betting markets to the integrity of racing and other sports. From August 2024 to May 2025, the IFHA Council's Bulletins have been shedding light on regulation of betting, the growing criminal profits from illegal betting, and the ways technological breakthroughs are being exploited by organised crime. All of which are now packaged in one edition.
The Dark Side of Betting: Inside a South African Illegal Betting Exchange
August 6th, 2025
The Dark Side of Betting: Inside a South African Illegal Betting Exchange explains how illegal betting exchanges pose a serious threat to racing integrity as they provide a platform for those involved in racing malpractice to bet on horses to lose. It is crucial for gambling regulators and law enforcement agencies in South Africa to prioritize action against these illegal platforms to safeguard the integrity of the sport.
Modern Day Integrity Bet Monitoring and Betting Analysis Conducted by Horseracing and Sports Regulators
November 28th, 2024
The Modern Day Integrity Bet Monitoring and Betting Analysis Conducted by Horseracing and Sports Regulators explains why having betting analysis capabilities is a fundamental and crucial function of any racing or sports regulator (governing body, racing club or racing authority) and provides concrete and pragmatic examples of the key principles of developing and implementing an efficient betting analysis function.
Confronting the Threats to Integrity - Illegal Betting Markets and Disruptive Technology
August 19th, 2024
The ARF’s latest compendium of 2 major reports and 18articles collates the Council’s latest research on the threat of illegal betting markets to the integrity of racing and other sports. From February 2023to April 2024, the ARF Council's Bulletins have been shedding light on the ways technological breakthroughs can be exploited by organised crime, all of which are now included in one edition.
Variable Betting Duty & the Impact on Turnover, Illegal Betting & Taxation Revenues
November 6th, 2023
The report provides an analysis of variable Betting Duty (tax) rates on racing and sports betting operators to assess the impact on legal markets of higher rates and the related impact on betting turnover in the illegal betting markets. The economic impact of excessive Betting Duty in the Internet age is to drive consumers to the illegal betting market.
How Organised Crime Operates Illegal Betting, Cyber Scams & Modern Slavery in Southeast Asia
October 10th, 2023
The report shows how illegal betting and related cyber-scam operations linked to human trafficking are utilised by transnational organised groups causing corruption and financial crime on a global scale.
Anti-Illegal Betting & Related Financial Crime Bulletin July 2020 to December 2022
February 10th, 2023
This compendium is a collection of ARF Council Bulletin articles from July 2020 to December 2022 covering topics related to anti-illegal betting and related financial crime.
The State of Illegal Betting report examines the current situation of illegal betting, what this means in relation to legal betting, and what both will look like in the future. The report includes analysis of more than 500 betting websites to examine their licensing status, products offered, website traffic, server locations and other data points.
The report also includes a series of commentaries from ARF Council members on how sports data can fuel illegal betting; the greater negative impacts of illegal betting and gambling-related harm; international and intergovernmental issues around corruption in sport; and notable examples and development in sports law in relation to illegal betting. The report also includes contributions from INTERPOL and the UNODC regarding their views on the relationship between illegalbetting, sports corruption, and organised crime.
How China's Crackdown on Illegal Betting Impacts Global Betting Markets
September 21st, 2021
This report examines Mainland China’s crackdown on illegal betting from 2018 to mid-2021, its background, purpose and impact. It is based on official announcements and statistics, 315 Mainland Chinese media articles related to illegal betting, and English-language reports. The report details:
Why China is so concerned about illegal betting
Insights into the scale of the problem
The crackdown’s impact on wider illegal betting in Asia
Notable shared characteristics of illegal betting operations
Why China’s crackdown is relevant to other jurisdictions
A Report of Illegal Betting Growth During the COVID-19 Pandemic
May 3rd, 2021
This report assesses the global impact of the pandemic on illegal betting with a particular focus on Asia, including an assessment of the increase in illegal betting in Hong Kong, details of the involvement of Macau casino junkets in online illegal betting (as well as other gambling and financial crime), the illegal betting situation in Mainland China, the growing expansion of illegal betting operators across Asia (in particular in Myanmar), and how the global situation has changed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic during 2020.
A Report of Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies in Illegal Betting
May 3rd, 2021
The purpose of this report is to explain how blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies are being used in the illegal betting industry in Asia.
Blockchain and cryptocurrencies have been widely adopted in betting for payments, blockchain-based applications, and fund transfers, posing a threat to legal betting by enabling operators and bettors to bypass AML, KYC, and regulatory requirements. Their use has surged, with Bitcoin now accepted on at least 127 offshore sports betting sites and 284 online casinos, while other cryptocurrencies facilitate illicit transactions, including money laundering and illegal betting syndicates.
Good Practices in Addressing Illegal Betting: A Handbook for Racing and Sports Organisations to Uphold Integrity
October 19th, 2020
This Handbook highlights the risks to the integrity of horse racing and other sports from illegal betting-related sports corruption, and provides practical guidance to administrators and other key stakeholders for mitigating against and combatting such corruption.
Practical guidance in the Handbook includes an overview of major issues around illegal betting, how to conduct bet monitoring and betting analysis, intelligence gathering and analysis, how to conduct illegal betting investigations, and how to engage stakeholders to combat illegal betting and related corruption.
This paper covers illegal betting markets in six ARF jurisdictions. Although these jurisdictions are different in many ways, key commonalities were found in relation to illegal betting:
it funds organised crime,
it harms society directly and indirectly, and
it is a threat to sporting integrity.
This paper provides insights into the scale and nature of these negative impacts.
