• The Ukrainian Gambling Council (UGC) is calling for a comprehensive, multi-faceted approach to combat the growing global threat of illegal online gambling.
• UGC Deputy Chair Viktoriya Zakrevskaya highlighted key challenges for regulators, including the use of cryptocurrencies and social media by black market operators.
• The commentary points to different national strategies, such as Argentina blocking access to illegal sites on public Wi-Fi and Indonesia using financial tools to block payments.
• In the US, a decentralised system has seen the illegal market reportedly grow nearly twice as fast as the legal one, highlighting the need for federal-state-tech company coordination.
• Zakrevskaya argues that a combination of technological, regulatory, and social measures is essential to protect licensed markets and vulnerable consumers.

A senior figure at the Ukrainian Gambling Council (UGC) has issued a call for a more comprehensive and internationally coordinated approach to tackling illegal online gambling, arguing that isolated national efforts are struggling to contain a global problem.

In a recent commentary, Viktoriya Zakrevskaya, Deputy Chair of the UGC, stressed that regulators must combine technological, legal, and social measures to effectively combat a black market that thrives on digital currencies and sophisticated social media marketing. She pointed to a range of innovative approaches being tested around the world as a potential blueprint for a more effective global strategy.

A Toolkit of International Strategies

Zakrevskaya outlined several different national strategies that are being deployed to fight the black market, each with a different focus:

• Argentina (Infrastructure Control): The country is restricting access to unlicensed gambling websites on public Wi-Fi networks. Internet service providers are required to use filters based on blacklists provided by the regulator, reducing the accessibility of illegal platforms in public spaces.
• Indonesia (Payment Blocking): With gambling being illegal, authorities there have focused on financial supervision, actively identifying and blocking banking and payment tools that are linked to the illicit market.
• United States (The Coordination Challenge): The US, with its decentralised, state-by-state system, provides a cautionary tale. Zakrevskaya cited recent data suggesting the US illegal market grew by 64% in 2024, compared to just 36% for the legal sector. She argued this highlights the critical need for better coordination between federal and state authorities, as well as with major IT companies.
• Ukraine (Platform Cooperation): Zakrevskaya noted her own agency’s efforts to collaborate directly with tech giants like Meta to shut down Instagram accounts used by influencers to promote illegal online casinos.

The Path Forward: A Multi-Layered Defence

The commentary concludes that no single solution is sufficient to tackle the modern black market. The key challenges-the borderless nature of the internet, the anonymity of cryptocurrencies, and the power of social media-require a multi-layered defence.

Zakrevskaya’s analysis serves as a call to action for regulators worldwide to learn from each other and to build stronger partnerships with the technology and financial sectors. Without this kind of comprehensive and collaborative approach, she warns, the legal, regulated industry will continue to fight a losing battle against its unlicensed and unprotected counterparts.