The Irish Sun has removed its sponsored online casino review section after it was asked why it promoted offshore black-market gambling sites. The casino and bookmaker review section on the Irish Sun website, containing dozens of reviews, was disabled last week after the News Corp-owned paper launched an internal investigation.This came after The Irish Times asked how a series of online casinos that claim to be regulated in Curacao and Anjouan had received positive reviews, including one site that has been sanctioned in Spain and Australia for breaching their gambling laws. A Sun spokesperson said: “We have been made aware of issues regarding certain reviews which were published online. We take our duties as a responsible publisher seriously and we have removed the relevant articles pending the outcome of an internal investigation.”The reviews are headlined with promotional offers where new users are promised deposit bonuses of up to €7,500. The Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI) has warned that customers who sign up for offshore gambling sites have no way of ensuring they are protected in the way they are with sites regulated in Ireland or other European countries. “Operating without a betting licence, either issued by Revenue under the old system, or by GRAI under the new system, is unlawful,” said the GRAI. One of the reviewed sites, which claims to be regulated in Anjouan, a small island part of the Comoros Islands on the east coast of Africa, was given a score of 4.63 out of five by the Sun’s review.The Sun review linked to the casino’s website. The online article contained a “commercial content notice”. This said: “Taking one of the casino offers featured in this article may result in a payment to The Sun.” The review noted that casino/bookmaker was regulated by the “Offshore Finance Authority of the State of Anjouan” and claimed that “this guarantees a good level of regulatory oversight”.The central bank of Comoros issued a statement earlier this year to say that the entity claiming to issue Anjouan gambling licences was acting “illegally”.“Gambling activities are not authorised in the Union of the Comoros … the island of Anjouan does not have its own laws,” it said.The Sun has repeatedly highlighted the problems caused by black-market gambling sites in news stories. In the UK, it is running a “Save Our Bets” campaign which highlights the dangers of black-market gambling sites and attacks plans to increase regulation of UK-based bookies. A Sun story earlier this year highlighted how Gambana, a bookmaker that claims to have an Anjouan gaming licence, allowed people to register using fictitious names. The now-removed betting section on the Sun website provided a top-10 list of “new” casinos. Nine of the 10 websites listed last week were licensed in Curacao, the small Caribbean island nation which is a haven for secretive offshore gambling companies. The website ranked first by The Sun had the lowest review score all 10 online casinos. The Sun has a betting section page that explains it is overseen by its digital sports editor and its head of betting and gaming editorial.The notice said the section produces “round-up articles” and in some cases “the order the operators appear depends on fees paid”.A recent Investigates Europe report showed that gambling sites regulated in Curaçao were deliberately targeting the 500,000 people in the UK who have self-excluded from regulated gambling sites by signing up for the UK’s Gamstop programme. Across the European Union, illegal online gambling generated more than €80 billion in revenue in 2024.The Sun’s betting section notice said none of its “partners” have any say on content or editorial control. It said the “partners” pay for placements of offers on some pages, and this is “clearly marked sponsored”. It said reviews include sign-up links to the operator, “where we generate affiliate revenue depending on the individual deal”.The notice said the editorial team’s core values include “journalistic integrity”.