Combating illegal gambling operations worldwide
The WLA Executive Committee was held in Costa Rica to coincide with the CIBELAE Illegal Gaming and Security Seminar, from 24-26 March, with the theme Technology and regulations against fraud, organized with the support of WLA, and the Junta de Protección Social.
The Seminar attracted lotteries and regulators from 26 countries, and united global experts involved in combating the complex issue of illegal gambling. It addressed the urgent need to modernize regulatory frameworks and adopt cutting-edge tools for mitigating cyber risks, and for the global regulated lottery and sports betting market to protect operational chains by maintaining integrity and ensuring compliance of standards.
WLA President, Andreas Kötter, underscored the need for a united effort to tackle the growing illegal gambling market which impacts the entire global regulated lottery and sports betting community. He noted that combating illegal activity requires a constant methodological effort and educating industry stakeholders to anticipate risks and respond rapidly to ever-evolving unregulated activities is key.
Positively impacting societies worldwide
Kötter presented an overview of WLA and the global lottery and sports betting ecosystem which is a vital contributor to public good in societies around the world through the sale of responsible, ethical, and entertaining gaming products.
Latest figures from the Global Lottery Data Compendium demonstrate this point. In FY 2024, WLA Regular Members returned almost 95 billion to good causes.
On prediction markets versus regulated betting and lotteries, Kötter explained that the former increasingly function like betting products but use financial market nstruments, with fewer safeguards and obligations, and at scale, they create integrity, consumer-protection, and fairness risks.
Key takeaways
The global community must:
- Dedicate strong and sustained efforts to combating illegal betting.
- Educate stakeholders about emerging and harmful forms of gambling.
How the WLA supports its members fight illicit gambling operations
Robert Chvátal, CEO ofAllwyn, and Chair of the WLA Committee for Combating Illegal Lotteries and Gambling (CILBC), presented ways to tackle illegal operations, with three fundamental pillars:
- Elimination of unauthorized advertising.
- Technical blocking of digital infrastructure.
- Disruption of payment gateways through close cooperation between regulators and the private sector.
Sizing illegal markets
The global, illegal gambling market has grown substantially in scale, complexity, and geographic reach over the past decade. Driven by digital transformation, it threatens public revenues, consumer welfare, and the integrity of legal gaming frameworks.
At a time when multiple jurisdictions are revising gambling legislation and reassessing regulatory models, the need for structured and defensible estimation tools has become more pressing.
Against this backdrop, Chvátal talked about the WLA joint project with the School of Criminal Justice at the University of Lausanne (UNIL), to develop a Standardized Method for Estimating Illegal Gambling, which addresses the absence of credible, comparable data on illegal gambling markets.
Relying on reproducibility, transparency and regulatory usability, the main aim of the project is to equip public authorities and institutional stakeholders with a robust methodological framework for structuring the estimation of illegal gambling markets and facilitate evidence-based dialogue among regulators, enforcement agencies, and international organizations.
A Workshop is planned in Lausanne on May 12, with the project’s implementation task force experts (American Gaming Association, UNODC, Council of Europe, INTERPOL, CK Consulting, H2 Gambling Capital, IFHA, Singapore Pools) to:
- Present the overall framework and approach.
- Share key results and insights from the project research.
- Review country outputs.
Useful tools for WLA members
The CILBC has developed the following tools, which are available to members:
- The WLA Working Definitions guide provides standardized definitions (legal versus illegal) for illegal gambling operators; lottery courier services operators; betting on lotteries operators, and commercial gaming brokers (legal).
- Letter templates for lotteries to resellers – if a WLA member notices increased activity by online resellers offering – to their consumers – products from other jurisdictions without being authorized to do so, the member can send the letter, if deemed appropriate, to the concerned multi-jurisdictional entity, the resellers and if applicable the regulator.
- Payment risk assessment template which allows WLA members to assess online payment methods, as well as what action is being taken, by whom, in different jurisdictions.
- WLA Position Paper on Bulk Sales, in which the WLA recognizes the decision on courier services is a policy choice which if allowed, must be regulated and layered controls applied.
Find out more about the work of the CILBC
