Global Regulators Target Gambling Traffic Through Payment Channels

14 October 2026

As online gambling traffic surges, a handful of high-visibility platforms attract record volumes, even as regulators increasingly focus on restricting payments and controls rather than ads.

The most visited gambling website globally drew 107.76 million monthly visits in August 2023, far ahead of its competitors. Stake.com's extraordinary reach exceeded 100 million monthly visitors.

But Stake.com also caught the attention of gambling regulators, particularly in light of September 2023 traffic data that showed stake.com drawing 98 million visits per month, followed by roobet.com at 93.5 million, stake.us at 85.1 million, and sportybet.com at 57.3 million.

The focus of regulators is increasingly on the financial infrastructure behind online gambling rather than ad content. Where once regulators worked to reduce gambling messaging in the media, now they concentrate on controlling how money flows in and out of gambling accounts - and cracking down when operators don't comply with refund policies or withdrawal limits.

Brazil's Crackdown Sets the Tone

Brazil's online gambling crackdown provides a vivid example. On September 25, 2023, after taking down a significant number of illegal gambling sites, the government reported an eye-popping BRL 1.325 billion remaining on various deposit accounts. That money, awaiting refund to some 2.65 million bettors, starkly illustrates the sheer scale of gaming on sites with free-spending but unhappy clientele. The situation left Brazil scrambling to provide refunds while investigating accounts holding more than BRL 500,000.

Still, Brazil's effort is only one part of a global shift toward restricting money movement in the gambling industry. In the United Kingdom, a rapid evidence review looked at player visits to websites where gambling is conducted with skins - virtual assets awarded for use in online games. Unlike Brazil's broad site takedown, the UK's investigation identified 45 skins gambling sites drawing 6.9 million visits in February 2023 alone. Many of these sites that record high skin gambling visits listed a large proportion of users as young, male and from the US and the UK.

European Regulatory Responses

The risks and costs of illegal gambling aren't confined to take-downs and refunds. On October 6, 2023, the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland submitted a national gambling risk assessment and 30-point action plan covering gambling sector supervision, payment system controls, and the risk of money laundering.

The Irish regulator found remote bookmakers and private gambling clubs were particularly prone to financial crimes. To fight the problem, Ireland is moving from a free-flow model where a player might deposit 100 Euros and withdraw 200 Euros, to a closed-loop scheme requiring 100 Euros deposited and 100 Euros withdrawn.

The Dutch government went a step further, targeting operators who allow players to circumvent deposit-to-withdrawal ratios. The Netherlands Gambling Regulatory Authority (KSA) told the press a licensed operator was improperly requiring customers to wager through deposited money before withdrawing.

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The Norwegian regulator, Lotteritilsynet, is taking steps to block money movement from illegal gambling sites altogether, after sending DNS-blocking notices to 62 sites, including Stake, Betway, and other major operators. The regulator also alerted banks to cut off the flow of money to and from illegal betting companies, warning players they might lose access to funds should accounts be blocked.

The Cryptocurrency Challenge

One key issue behind many of these controls is cryptocurrency, which allows transactions without traditional financial intermediaries. From Bitcoin to Tether, crypto wallets have increasingly been adopted for international online gambling. Statistics show 43 percent of illicit gambling operators accepted crypto in 2023, up from 25 percent in early 2020, with many offering bonuses for using it.

The payments raise money transfer and tracking challenges – one report suggests Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether are held by 88 percent of some 400 gambling sites. More than $80 billion from cryptocurrency gambling wagers flowed through these channels last year, a number some project could reach $200 billion by 2030.

Without a central regulatory body, crypto transfers prove harder to track than traditional bank transfers, making them appealing to illicit operators who can use mixing services to obscure transaction trails.

Industry Responses and Future Outlook

Facing these challenges, the regulated gambling industry is developing solutions to crypto payment issues. In Malta, Estonia, and the Philippines, operators now require cryptocurrency to be converted to fiat before playing. This promising model is being adopted progressively, as only 5% of regulated sites currently allow direct crypto gambling.

Behind the regulatory changes, gambling traffic continues to concentrate. As of September 2023, the four leading websites received over 300 million monthly visitors, a significant rise compared to 2020. While major platforms like Bet365 still draw significant traffic, regulatory pressure continues mounting for stricter money transfer controls and deposit rules.

Irish authorities have set a 30-step plan, representing some of the most comprehensive gambling regulatory changes since the U.K. introduced its framework for regulating e-gaming in 2005. Without such interventions, regulators fear the proportion of gambling revenue flowing through unmonitored crypto channels would only grow, exacerbating oversight challenges across global jurisdictions.