Online casino operators around the world are bracing for a swifter and more punitive regulatory environment as recent tax reforms, enforcement actions and anti-money-laundering updates converge to reshape the industry’s business models and market structure.
Big tax changes force strategic reviews
On December 10, 2025, Evoke Group – owner of the William Hill and 888 brands – confirmed it is exploring a potential sale or break-up after warning that new UK Budget measures will add roughly £125-135 million annually to its costs from 2026-27. The Financial Times reported that increases include a rise in remote gaming duty set to jump from 21% to 40% in April 2026 and a higher levy on remote betting scheduled for April 2027, changes that have already driven Evoke to appoint Morgan Stanley and Rothschild & Co to examine strategic options. The company’s move underscores how fiscal policy is now an immediate factor in M&A discussions and capital allocation across the sector. Read the FT coverage here: Financial Times: William Hill owner Evoke explores sale after Budget tax hit.
Those tax shifts are accelerating consolidation risk: smaller, UK-focused platforms face outsized exposure, while globally diversified operators such as Flutter and Entain appear better positioned to absorb the burden.
Regulatory enforcement and legal fallout
Regulators have intensified scrutiny on operator conduct and licensing practices. In early December 2025, former betting executives linked to Entain launched legal action against the UK Gambling Commission, alleging breaches of privacy and wrongful disclosure during a licence investigation tied to a failed 2023 takeover of 888 Holdings. That dispute, which comes amid criminal bribery and fraud charges against several former executives, highlights growing tensions between industry figures and the regulator and signals a likely stretch of protracted litigation and reputation risk for large operators.
At the same time, the UK’s legislative and regulatory apparatus has not been idle. New instruments such as the Casinos (Gaming Machines and Mandatory Conditions) Regulations 2025 (in force July 22, 2025) and the statutory levy that took effect in April 2025 require operators to make mandatory contributions to harm-prevention funds and comply with tighter machine and consumer protections. Regulators are also lowering thresholds for financial vulnerability checks – measures that will affect customer onboarding and deposit flows and could reduce player liquidity for some platforms.
AML, crypto and the offshore crackdown
Enforcement agencies and national risk assessments have flagged online casinos – especially illegal or offshore platforms – as growing money-laundering risks. Government reports and industry analysts have cited increased use of cryptoassets, deepfaked identity documents and in-game currencies as emerging methods for illicit actors to exploit weak controls. Between April 2024 and March 2025 the UK regulator issued more than a thousand cease-and-desist notices and referred hundreds of thousands of problematic URLs to search engines, a sign of coordinated attempts to push illegal operators off mainstream channels.
U.S. states continue to pursue their own agendas: regulators in several jurisdictions have stepped up cease-and-desist orders against unlicensed sites, while states that have legalized online casinos are refining compliance checks tied to payments and verification. The trend is clear – enforcement is moving beyond statements of intent into operational disruption of non-compliant operators.
Why this matters
Combined, tax, regulatory and enforcement pressures are forcing an industry-wide reset. Operators will likely retrench from high-cost, high-risk markets, reduce aggressive promotional spend, and accelerate moves into markets with clearer regulatory frameworks. Investors and executives now face the twin tasks of reworking financial models to absorb higher statutory costs and shoring up compliance systems to meet tougher AML and consumer-protection expectations.
What to watch next
Evoke’s strategic review and any formal sale or asset carve-out announcements in the first quarter of 2026.
Implementation milestones for the UK’s increased remote gaming duty in April 2026 and remote betting levy changes scheduled for April 2027.
Enforcement actions against offshore, no‑KYC crypto casinos and the pace at which search engines and payment providers cut off illegal operators.