A previously utilised domain of Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party, a surging UK political group that has since rebranded as Reform UK, is now being used to promote unlicensed casinos outside of the GAMSTOP network.
Upon entry to thebrexitparty.org website, visitors are welcomed to a “dedicated source for discovering and understanding the world of non-GAMSTOP casinos for UK players”.
Drawing criticism and confusion from corners of the gambling industry, the Brexit Party website features a ranking list of the top 11 non-GAMSTOP casinos in the UK, and similar to affiliates for the licensed sector, it offers casino reviews, guides, tutorials, and casino comparisons.
The Brexit Party, previously led by Nigel Farage, was set up ahead of the 2019 European Elections in a bid for a “clean-break Brexit”, and it officially rebranded to Reform UK in January 2021.
Since its rebrand, the Reform Party has experienced something of a recent surge, enjoying success from both the Conservative Party and the Labour Party in recent council and by-elections.
It is unclear how long the Brexit Party domain has been used to promote unlicensed casinos. Historic posts on X by Nigel Farage advertising the Brexit Party now link directly to the domain promoting the illicit casinos.
Help make history and become a registered supporter of The Brexit Party today: https://t.co/O4pHVCtrrF pic.twitter.com/2CAQEoGjKz
— Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) May 28, 2019
GAMSTOP is widely considered as a crucial service within the UK safer gambling ecosystem. It’s a free service that allows users to self-exclude from all UK licensed gambling websites and apps, however, there has been a growing trend of unlicensed casinos specifically advertising that they are operating outside of this system.
The advertising of non-Gamstop has previously been slammed as “shameless” by the UK Gambling Commission, when a spokesperson emphasised to SBCNews that the regulator is “aware of the shameless advertising of unlicensed gambling that is clearly targeting vulnerable people”.
Responding to the advertising of these websites being distributed on the Global Newswire, the UKGC stated: “We do, and will continue to, take action to disrupt the unlicensed market – working with technology platforms such as search engines, other enforcement agencies such as HMRC and key facilitators such as payment providers and advertisers.
“Since April last year, our enforcement team has issued over 1,150 cease and desist, and disruption notices.
“Over that same period, the Commission has referred over 118,000 URLS to Google and Bing. Over 81,000 have been removed by the search engines. This is more than a tenfold increase in URL takedowns in comparison to the previous year.”
Buying previously popular domains that have expired is a common strategy for rogue affiliates, with it being highly likely that the brexitparty.org, was once utilised and had expired, has subsequently been picked up by an affiliate to promote illicit gambling operators.
The Gambling harms awareness and prevention campaigners, Deal Me Out, has warned that a rethink is needed to stop the general public from engaging with black market operators encroaching on the UK’s regulated market.
In its report, the Evaluation Report on Black Market Gambling, the charity states that it is becoming “increasingly concerned” about the prevalence of illegal gambling in the UK, particularly among children and vulnerable people.
According to Deal Me Out, 67% of participants in its survey accessed black market websites to evade GAMSTOP’s self-exclusion restrictions. One extreme case reported depositing £129,000 in just 14 days while receiving universal credit.
“To effectively protect consumers and prevent further migration to the Black Market, we must move beyond enforcement alone,” said the report. “A balanced approach that combines sensible regulation, robust education, and cross-sector collaboration is essential. The future of gambling harm prevention depends on our ability to adapt — not just react.”
