While the eyes of the world will be fixated on the on-field battles during the FIFA World Cup, a similarly hard-fought clash is unfolding behind the scenes between licensed operators and the black market.
The brand protection company Corsearch warned that illegal betting platforms are weaponising regulated brand identities through phishing and fake domains to ‘funnel users into the black market’.
It was revealed that betting-related phishing scams often more than double during major tournaments, as the firm said that this figure rose 118% month-on-month during last year’s sporting summer.
This data is particularly concerning for the World Cup, which kicked off yesterday (11 June), given that the tournament is projected to be the biggest betting event in history, with $60bn expected to be wagered.
However, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime last year warned that illegal betting volumes could surpass the legal market based on previous trends, meaning the betting boom expected by operators around the world may well be hijacked by the black market.
According to Corsearch, over half of the enforcement actions it undertook for 12 major online betting and gaming operators related to trademark infringement. Meanwhile, it identified 162 fraudulent betting and iGaming platforms being offered on app stores.
Simon Baggs, Executive Chairman of Brand & Content Protection at Corsearch, told iGaming Expert: “The 118% spike we saw last year shows how quickly fraudsters exploit major sporting moments to impersonate trusted betting brands to mislead consumers.”
Deceptive black market tactics
This data echoes previous concerns raised by Betting and Gaming Council (BGC)-commissioned research released in February.
The report, produced by Alvarez & Marsal, said that black market operators are bypassing marketing filters used by search engines and social media by assuming names and brands associated with trusted organisations.
Most notably, affiliates promoting ‘not on GamStop casinos’, which target players who have already self-excluded from UK-licensed operators, had taken over dormant websites, such as a tourist information page and a news site about the games console PlayStation.
“Illegal operators are advertising aggressively online with no safeguards, no age checks and no consumer protections, posing a huge risk to consumers,” said the BGC’s CEO, Grainne Hurst, in February.
More recently, Entain has challenged the UK Intellectual Property Office over concerns surrounding trademark integrity.
The group questioned why UK trademark rules allow unlicensed gambling brands to claim British trademarks, arguing that this provides ‘commercial legitimacy’ to unlicensed operators, despite it being illegal for companies to offer betting and gaming in the UK without a Gambling Commission licence.
