Report: 448 expired domains were repurposed as offshore gambling sites between January 2024 and May 2026

Offshore gambling operators and their affiliates are buying expired domains that once belonged to legitimate organisations, according to research from the independent publication Backlinking.com. The practice exploits the authority that search engines assign to established domains, which can lift a site's visibility before the engines recognise that its content has changed.

Backlinking.com says at least 448 websites sold between January 2024 and May 2026 have since become gambling sites. Examples cited include the site of the Queen's Green Canopy, a tree-planting initiative created for the 2022 Platinum Jubilee, which now directs visitors to an Indonesian online slots page. The site of Every Woman Every Child, a United Nations global health movement, now leads to an Indonesian-themed online casino.

The former Vote Leave website, linked to the campaign for the UK's exit from the European Union, is also reported to have been repurposed. It now promotes gambling to people who have self-excluded from regulated UK operators, targeting search terms such as "websites not on GamStop", a reference to the national self-exclusion scheme.

The research puts a price on the trade. Backlinking.com's analysis suggests that the owners of the 448 domains received a combined $22.3 million from gambling websites and affiliates. A single domain was reported to have sold for as much as $50,000. In a sample of 3,692 websites, domains that sold for more than $5,000 were the most likely to turn into gambling sites, with one in ten of those above that threshold making the switch.

The source suggests the findings could help regulators identify and pursue specific offenders. It also notes that such operations are often associated with weak consumer protection and safety measures, which can leave players exposed to greater harm, particularly when the sites target people who have chosen to exclude themselves from regulated gambling.