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About Agent 51
Much of the onus for the increasing black market is put on increasingly restrictive policies enforced by regulators across the licensed sector.
Taking a deeper look at these restrictive driving black market activity, up to 46% of the markets covered in the report enforced “significant advertising restrictions” on the regulated market, including in Belgium, Bulgaria, Coratia, Cyprus, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Spain.
Additionally the report cited taxing consumers (in 29% of the 28 markets covered), and banned products (14%), were also propelling growth in illegal gambling. A lack of choice, due to monopolies in place in five markets has also driven the rise.
What is Agent 51?
Just last week, Sunderland announced the crypto casino and sports betting platform Shuffle as its new official sleeve partner, in what was described as a “multi-year partnership”.
Shuffle does not hold a licence to operate in the UK.
Meanwhile, Stake continues to feature on the sleeve of Everton’s kits, despite ceasing operations in the UK in early 2025 amid a Gambling Commission investigation into its advertising.
What is Agent 51?
Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva stated that, if it were up to him, online betting companies would be shut down.
During a livestream on Sunday, he said he had met with “eight victims of online betting”. To reinforce his criticism of the sector and in an attempt to win over conservative voters, he pointed out that one gambler had made 1,400 instant fund transfers (Pix) to a betting site. Lula criticised the Central Bank for failing to detect such a high volume of transactions to a single company.
However, that responsibility does not lie with the Central Bank. It is the role of the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets to monitor and regulate the sector. Betting companies submit detailed daily reports on bettors’ financial transactions with the sites. A specific module within Brazil’s betting management system detects recurring transfers.
