The illegal betting market has been “turbocharged” by technology and the “McDonaldisation” of unlawful websites like Citibet, attendees at the Asian Racing Conference in Sapporo heard on Thursday.

Long the scourge of the racing industry, the unregulated illegal betting market is able to offer better returns to punters than the heavily taxed legal market, all while giving nothing back to the sport.

The rewards for those involved are driving “novel” uses of the likes of Instagram, TikTok and Twitch, according to the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s James Porteous, who is also research head for the Asian Racing Federation’s Council on Anti-Illegal Betting and Related Financial Crime.

“Because the illegals have zero regulatory overheads and zero concerns about reputational or ethical considerations about how they deploy technology to market to consumers, to attract customers and to boost their turnover, we’ve found that the theme of the last two years is that technology has turbocharged illegal betting,” Porteous said.

“It’s turbocharged the marketing of, the access to and the customer base for illegal betting.

“Technology means that it’s easier than ever to become an illegal bettor. This is because the customer recruitment commissions for illegal betting agents are now so potentially lucrative that they are massively incentivised financially to exploit every technological platform in increasingly novel ways.

“It’s bringing illegal betting to the mass market like never before.”

It has previously been claimed that illegal online exchange Citibet turns over north of US$50 billion a year, and Porteous said one illegal website’s monthly traffic saw a 16-fold increase in the past three years.

Citibet turns over nearly as much on Hong Kong racing as the Jockey Club, with illegal betting in the city up 350 per cent since 2015.

“It’s never been easier to become an illegal bookmaker,” Porteous said, adding that illegal operators are providing would-be bookmakers with everything from training, risk management and odds to pirated live streaming and customer relationship management for as little as US$7,000.

“This franchising is what we call the ‘McDonaldisation’ of illegal betting.

“Now, Citibet is not only available on its own network of agent-only websites, but on literally thousands of other URLs via this franchising model.”

Cryptocurrency is also a growing force in illegal markets, which pose a huge integrity threat to racing as well as sucking billions from the industry.

“It’s never been easier for both parties to move money,” Porteous said.

“According to one gambling database, there are 25 per cent more so-called grey-market bookmakers which now accept crypto compared to when we looked at this data in 2020.”