Sports piracy surges in UK with 3.6bn illegal streams reported

Published: 15 January 2026. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online.

Sports piracy in the UK has reached unprecedented levels, with illegal streams doubling to 3.6bn, according to a new report. This surge in sports piracy highlights the severe challenges facing broadcasters, leagues, and regulators attempting to protect premium content from criminal exploitation. Experts warn that the proliferation of sports piracy is closely linked to the growth of unlicensed gambling, creating a dangerous feedback loop between content theft and black-market bookmakers.

The Campaign for Fairer Gambling’s (CFG) 2024-25 analysis reveals that 89% of illegal streams in Britain are accompanied by adverts for illicit betting websites, showing a direct connection between sports piracy and illegal gambling. This mirrors trends in other countries but is particularly alarming in the UK given the smaller population and comparatively high proportion of pirated content.

Illegal gambling has boomed alongside sports piracy, with unlicensed operators reportedly earning £379m in the first half of 2025 alone. This represents 9% of the UK’s £8.2bn online gambling market, a dramatic rise from 2% in 2022, indicating that sports piracy is increasingly being exploited as a gateway to illegal betting. Analysts stress that these figures show organized crime is exploiting sports piracy for profit, using it as a commercial engine to target mainstream audiences previously shielded from unlicensed gambling.

Yield Sec, the online marketplace intelligence firm that collaborated on the CFG report, compared the UK and US markets. In the United States, a much larger country, 4.2bn illegal sports streams were detected in 2024. The report emphasizes that, proportionally, piracy is far more pervasive in the UK, demonstrating the significant impact of unlicensed gambling’s infiltration into the market.

Ismail Vali, founder of Yield Sec, explained that illegal streaming is increasingly intertwined with illegal gambling, which deliberately targets underage and self-excluded bettors. “The commercial engine behind illegal streams is criminal gambling activity. Money stolen from sports rights holders funds further criminal operations,” he said. Vali’s analysis underscores the urgent need for a coordinated response by regulators and law enforcement.

The UK government has introduced measures to tackle this issue, including £26m allocated to the Gambling Commission last autumn. However, CFG warns that these efforts may be insufficient, particularly in light of the planned April increase in online gaming duty from 21% to 40%, which could inadvertently encourage more unlicensed operations exploiting sports piracy.

Derek Webb, a former professional poker player and CFG founder, stressed that the UK has become a “soft touch” for organized crime due to outdated regulations. He highlighted that offshore operators were allowed under the 2005 Gambling Act, enabling black-market bookmakers to thrive. Webb urged stronger enforcement and more aggressive action against the networks driving sports piracy, stressing that continued inaction threatens the integrity of the country’s sports and gambling industries.

Premier League clubs, heavily affected by sports piracy, have also partnered with licensed gambling companies, leaving them exposed to losses from both stolen content and diverted betting revenue. The league’s anti-piracy teams have removed more than 230,000 live streams from social media and over 430,000 infringing links from Google during the 2024-25 season. Despite these efforts, the sheer scale of sports piracy remains daunting.

Experts warn that the fight against sports piracy requires collaboration between broadcasters, regulators, and law enforcement. Digital rights management tools, stricter licensing regulations, and international cooperation are seen as critical measures to prevent further growth of criminal networks exploiting stolen sports content. Without decisive intervention, sports piracy will continue to expand, posing long-term risks to the financial sustainability of professional sports in the UK.

Sports piracy is no longer just a nuisance; it has become a sophisticated criminal enterprise intertwining media theft and illegal gambling. The recent surge in illegal streams demonstrates that the UK must urgently address this issue to protect both consumers and legitimate operators from the growing influence of criminal networks. As regulators, clubs, and law enforcement step up enforcement, the coming years will test whether Britain can reclaim control over its premium sports content while curbing the expansion of unlicensed gambling linked to sports piracy.

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