In March 2026, Reuters reported that it had identified Banksy as Robin Gunningham, according to the BBC. Banksy has not confirmed it, and his former manager Steve Lazarides said Reuters was “pursuing a ghost.”
So the answer to who Banksy is has a leading name and no confirmation. This page keeps the record of what has been reported and how an identity bet would settle.
What the Reuters report said
Reuters based its report on public records from New York, the BBC reported.
Lazarides, quoted by the BBC, said the artist changed his name legally decades ago and erased his earlier identities. “The name you’ve got I killed years ago. You’ll never find him.”
Other names linked to Banksy
The BBC lists the names most often linked with Banksy before the Reuters report: Robert Del Naja of Massive Attack, Robin Gunningham, the “Art Attack” presenter Neil Buchanan, and a Bristol art collective. In 2023 the BBC also found an interview in which the artist appears to give his first name as “Robbie.”
None of the others has been confirmed either. What is settled is how Banksy’s work is authenticated: through Pest Control Office, the body the artist set up for verification, sales and copyright. A piece Pest Control does not certify is not an official Banksy.
Banksy identity odds
No price on Banksy’s identity is quoted here, because we do not have a current market we can source and date. The board our earlier version of this page listed had Robin Gunningham at +150 and Jamie Hewlett at +200, and our pick then was Hewlett at +200.
An identity market only settles on the terms the book writes, which can require confirmation from a named source and a deadline. Read those terms before any bet. As a chance, +150 implies 40% and +200 implies 33.3%, and a bet is worth making only when you rate the chance higher than that.
What Banksy has done lately
On April 30, 2026, Banksy confirmed that a large statue in St James’s, London, of a suited man stepping off a plinth with a flag covering his face was his work, the BBC reported. In 2024, eight animal artworks appeared in London over eight days.
The 2010 documentary “Exit Through The Gift Shop” was nominated for an Oscar and a BAFTA, and in 2018 his “Girl with Balloon” was shredded at Sotheby’s moments after it sold for £1 million. Our entertainment articles cover the other novelty markets, and our sportsbook reviews compare the books that post them.