UK Gambling Commission Publishes Three-Phase Study on Illegal Online Lotteries and Raffles

The UK Gambling Commission has released findings from a three-phase research project that examines consumer engagement with online illegal individual-led lotteries and raffles, many of which appear on social media platforms, and the study supplies detailed data on how participants interact with these unregulated activities.

Scope of the Research Project

Researchers designed the project in three distinct phases to capture different aspects of consumer behavior, beginning with an initial exploration of awareness levels among the general population, moving into detailed interviews with individuals who had participated in such lotteries, and concluding with analysis of transaction patterns and platform usage data.

According to the commission's publication, the first phase established baseline statistics on how many people encounter promotions for these lotteries while scrolling through social media feeds, while subsequent phases drilled down into motivations and decision-making processes that lead consumers to place stakes despite the activities operating outside licensed frameworks.

Key Insights from Consumer Data

Data collected across the phases shows that promotions often appear in targeted advertisements and group posts on major social networks, where operators present the lotteries as community-driven or charity-linked events, and participants report discovering these opportunities through friend recommendations or algorithmic suggestions rather than active searching.

Those who took part in the research indicated that ease of entry through familiar payment apps and the promise of quick payouts played roles in their decisions, yet many also noted limited understanding of the legal distinctions between licensed lotteries and the individual-led variants under examination.

Three-Phase Methodology Breakdown

Phase one relied on large-scale surveys to map exposure rates and initial attitudes, phase two involved qualitative sessions that allowed participants to describe their journeys from first contact to repeated engagement, and phase three aggregated anonymized transaction records to identify common spending patterns and frequency of play.

Findings reveal that social media serves as the primary discovery channel for a significant portion of users, with operators leveraging visual content and urgency messaging to encourage immediate sign-ups, and the commission notes that these tactics mirror those seen in other unregulated gambling environments.

Participants in the later phases described how repeated exposure on platforms normalized the activity, leading some to view it as low-risk entertainment even when they remained uncertain about regulatory protections or prize guarantees.

Consumer Behaviour Patterns Observed

Evidence from the project indicates that users often engage sporadically at first, testing small stakes before increasing amounts over time, and many combine participation across multiple unregulated operators within short periods, a pattern that researchers tracked through the final analytical phase.

Demographic information gathered shows involvement across various age groups, although younger adults appeared more frequently in the social media promotion samples, and payment method preferences leaned toward digital wallets that facilitate rapid transfers without traditional banking delays.

The research also highlights how consumers respond to community elements built around these lotteries, such as shared result announcements and winner testimonials posted directly on social channels, which reinforce continued engagement among existing participants.

Regulatory Context and Market Implications

The Gambling Commission conducted this work to better understand the scale and nature of illegal individual-led lotteries operating in the online space, and the resulting dataset provides regulators with clearer visibility into consumer pathways that bypass licensed operators.

By linking survey responses with observed transaction behaviors, the project offers a multi-layered view that earlier single-method studies could not achieve, and the commission has made the full report available for review at Exploring online, illegal, individual-led lotteries and raffles.

Stakeholders in the licensed sector now have additional context for how unregulated offerings compete for attention on the same platforms where legitimate promotions also appear, although the study itself stops short of prescribing specific policy responses.

Conclusion

The three-phase research delivers a structured account of how consumers locate, evaluate, and repeatedly engage with illegal online lotteries and raffles promoted through social media, supplying regulators and observers with granular data drawn directly from participant experiences and transaction records.

Publication of these findings in August 2026 marks a step toward more targeted monitoring of this segment of the gambling market, and the commission continues to maintain resources for anyone seeking information on licensed alternatives.