International Awareness Week on Illegal Gambling

The International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR) has announced a new international initiative to draw attention to the dangers posed by the illegal gambling market. The campaign, called Illegal Gambling Awareness Week, will run from 9 to 13 November. The message is clear: before placing a bet, check whether the site is licensed where you are.

The initiative was announced at the IAGR annual conference in Lima, Peru. Its goal is to help players tell legal operators apart from illegal ones and to explain the risks of playing with unlicensed companies. For this campaign, the association worked with R&R Partners to prepare the materials.

According to the association, many players do not knowingly play on illegal sites. Often they do not realize a site is unlicensed. The illegal market makes this harder by creating websites that look like genuine ones and can fool even experienced players.

IAGR stresses that unlicensed companies carry risks such as unpaid winnings, limited options for resolving disputes, and misuse of customer information. It also notes that these sites may lack responsible gambling tools and, in some cases, may be used to finance organized criminal groups involved in drug trafficking, human trafficking and terrorism.

As part of the campaign, a new tool called CheckBeforeYouPlay.org will also be introduced. Developed by Sharp Vision, the tool will help users check whether a website is regulated in the market where they are.