A number of recent developments have sparked an inspiring debate in the UK gambling industry about the threat of the black market.
On the one hand, the Gambling Commission joined activists and charities arguing that the threat posed by black market operators had been exaggerated by British operators.
However, the Betting and Games Council pushed even harder to highlight the difference between what it considers to be safe, regulated operators and illegal companies.
Gambling Insider decided to ask this question to our readers on social media.
On LinkedIn, the majority of voters voted in favor of the industry.
To the question "Is the threat of black market betting justified or has it been exaggerated by the industry?" out of 147 voters 67% marked an option "It is legal" (99).
A total of 48 people ticked the box "It's exaggerated by the operators", which was 33% voters on LinkedIn.
On Twitter, the results were slightly different (although the total number of votes was smaller).
Out of 40 votes, 22 voted for an option suggesting the threat had been exaggerated ( 55% ) and 18 voted for the reasonable threat (45%).
These early results show that opinions are divided, but overall, more of our readers support the industry's black market warnings.