Former fraudster emphasizes the ease of accessing unlicensed gambling in the UK

(AsiaGameHub) –   During the Cheltenham Festival, Alex Wood utilized absurd fake identities to place bets.

UK.- Former fraudster Alex Wood, who served an eight-year prison sentence following over 25 years of criminal activity, has carried out an investigation into unlicensed gaming for Flutter Entertainment. The results have intensified worries regarding the unlicensed gambling sector. Wood currently serves as an anti-fraud consultant and the CEO of Reform Courses, a provider of fraud-awareness training. During the Cheltenham Festival in the UK, he illustrated the simplicity of wagering on unauthorized websites by creating accounts with false identities. As part of his study, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4’s Scam Secrets, Wood established an account with the unlicensed operator VeloBet using the personal information of trainer Willie Mullins and subsequently placed bets on races featuring Mullins’ horses.

Other instances involved registering on platforms owned by Santeda International using identities like the nine-year-old racehorse Constitution Hill and the fictional character Little Bo Peep. In one scenario, a live chat agent congratulated one of his aliases on their upcoming 18th birthday, even though his registration details showed he was underage.

Wood also discovered that certain operators permitted him to gamble despite him being registered with GAMSTOP, the UK’s self-exclusion scheme.

At the Deal Me Out’s Illegal Gambling Prevention Conference, Wood presented his findings and warned that illegal platforms are becoming “completely indistinguishable” from licensed ones. He pointed out the use of merchant category codes (MCCs) to prevent banks from identifying gambling-related transactions, a tactic that enables payments to circumvent banks’ gambling blocking tools.

He noted that some applications available in app stores were marketed as “adventure games” or “puzzle games,” yet they offered real-money gambling. Additionally, he asserted that platforms such as Instagram enable illegal betting by permitting influencers to promote it, and that AI-powered chatbots are also directing users to unlicensed gambling websites.

Regarding potential solutions, Wood suggested that targeting payment service providers could be effective; however, the use of cryptocurrency complicates this, as some unlicensed gambling sites provide detailed instructions for crypto transactions. He recommended that further steps be taken to exert pressure on the market and raise public awareness of the issue.