New rules empowering consumers and boosting operator transparency
Most spend small amounts which are similar to or less than spending on other leisure activities and do not report experiencing any harm from gambling. We also need to have the right controls in place on the products people can be offered, safeguards covering how those who gamble are treated by operators, and the right safety nets in place to stop harm where it occurs. We recognise that people should be free to spend their money as they choose, but when gambling poses the risk of becoming a clinical addiction the government needs to ensure there are proper protections. Adults who choose to spend their money on gambling are free to do so, and we should not inhibit the development of a sustainable and properly regulated industry which pays taxes and provides employment to service that demand. Millions of us enjoy gambling every year and most suffer no ill effects, so state intervention must be targeted to prevent addictive and harmful gambling. We are enormously grateful to all of those who have contributed to our Review, especially those with personal experience of gambling-related addiction and harms who have spoken out about their own struggles or those of people they love.
By contrast, the largest estimated increase in annual GGY received from arcade operators was in the region of £10m. Cabinet device types are usually the most popular with customers. The majority of industry responses expressed a preference for either Option 1 or Option 3, and were strongly opposed to Option 2. Further details of proposed new operating licence fees will follow in due course.
Currently, gambling treatment services and support in both countries are mainly provided through primary care and the voluntary sector, though those in need of more specialist treatment services may be referred to the National Problem Gambling Clinics in London and elsewhere in England. While the majority agreed that operator data regarding consumer behaviours at the individual account level would be fundamental to any repository, others also argued for datasets around treatment demand and access, complaints, and wider commercial data. There was widespread support for the creation of a data repository which would be available to researchers, though specific proposals as to the extent of the repository and the sort of data it would collect ranged widely. Three researchers account for nearly 40% of all British studies published on gambling in academic journals between 2019 and 2021.
The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) is the independent regulator for all commercial gambling in Great Britain and also oversees the National Lottery under the National Lottery etc. The big 2025–26 moves are the 1% statutory levy on operators (from 1 April 2025) and the 40% Remote Gaming Duty (from 1 April 2026), both enacted via the Finance Bill 2025–26. Those changes are being delivered through updates to the Gambling Commission’s Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) and through the annual Finance Acts, rather than through a new gambling statute.
One operator-led submission to our call for evidence suggested that 25% of people reduced their gambling expenditure after setting a deposit limit, compared to 6% who increased their gambling. As outlined in section 1.1 above, online gamblers already have access to a range of tools to help them control their time and money spent gambling and there are rules governing their use (for instance deposit limit increases must take at least 24 hours to come into effect). Morgan Stanley and NERA Economic Consulting have respectively estimated a £2 fixed limit on online slots would reduce online slot GGY by 22% and 23%, but some of this could be displaced to other online gaming products.
Several operators submitted information on their current approaches to preventing unaffordable gambling, which often already involved some form of financial vulnerability (FV) and enhanced checks (albeit triggered at different thresholds). Also, while PoP research is based on a large sample (around 139,000 accounts), the fact that it comes from 7 ‘high impact’ operators means that it will not perfectly represent the sector as a whole. We build on this research to model volumes of different types of gambling at different levels and then multiply these to reflect the entire size of the Great Britain online gambling market. While key details will be determined through a forthcoming Gambling Commission consultation, our proposal for financial risk checks (Section 1.2 above) is likely to have a significant impact on online GGY. Impacts and costs are baselined in 2022, as this is the most recent available full year gambling GGY dataset. The estimated range depends on factors such as compliance with and findings from financial risk checks, as well as behavioural responses to various reforms where we currently have limited data available.
Therefore, when Parliamentary time allows, we plan to give the Gambling Commission increased powers to support disruption and enforcement activity, such as to pursue court orders which require internet service and payment providers to take down or block access to illegal gambling sites. It is also intended that more regulatory data, suitably anonymised, will be made available in due course to support independent research. We also welcome the commitment from governing bodies across the sport sector to develop a cross-sport gambling sponsorship code, with rules to make sure all sponsorship deals are socially responsible. This should reduce children’s incidental exposure to gambling logos while watching football and particularly via products such as stickers and video games, as well as the direct association with star players. Advertising rules have changed to prohibit prominent sportspeople, in particular Premier League footballers, from appearing in gambling adverts, on the grounds of their strong appeal to children.
We would not object to customers being able to set their voluntary limits during these cooling-off periods. Some trade associations also highlighted the GamCare Code of Conduct for the display of socially responsible messaging, which they adhere to and requires that 20% of screen content displays safer gambling messages. The vast majority of responses stated that specific safer gambling messaging should be considered within cashless gambling. While such alerts will not require an interaction with a customer each and every time a threshold is reached, they should form an important part of the venue’s approach to customer interaction, alongside other types of markers and behaviours that could indicate harm. We expect some parts of the industry to oppose this measure due to concerns around its technical feasibility and burdens it would place on staff, particularly in a pub environment. This proposal will help build a picture of the customer’s play and is already standard in betting shops.
In conclusion, the evolution of casino regulations in the UK reflects the changing dynamics of society, technology, and the economy. Through diligent enforcement of regulations, the government aimed to safeguard the interests of both players and the broader community, setting a precedent for responsible gambling practices. Moreover, the enactment of measures to prevent crime and uphold the fairness of games contributed to enhancing the reputation and credibility of the UK gambling sector. This tension has led to ongoing debates and revisions in regulatory frameworks, with policies evolving to address issues such as problem gambling, money laundering, and underage access to gambling establishments. We publish registers of licensed businesses, individuals, regulatory actions and premises. If you or someone you know struggles with gambling addiction, we recommend you contact the free gambling helplines like those operated by organizations like
The draft Casinos Regulations form part of a package of interlinked statutory instruments which make changes to the regulatory framework for land-based casinos. Draft statutory instruments that form part of the package of measures that will change the regulatory framework for land-based casinos. We believe this is particularly important within the wider context of the modernising measures we are taking to support land-based gambling operators. The respondents received an average of 2 premises licence applications and held an average of 44 live premises licences, per licensing authority, over the same period.
‘White label’ is not a statutory term, but it describes a commercial arrangement which has become more widespread in recent years whereby a licensee offers remote gambling under a brand provided by a third-party which does not itself hold a gambling operator licence. Nonetheless, ensuring customers are treated fairly and easily able to take action in their interest, including the exercise of legal entitlements, will be of clear benefit. Behavioural barriers and friction should only be used to keep customers safe, rather than dissuade customers from acting in their own interest or to frustrate the fulfilment of operators’ other obligations.
Advertising Rules
- However, some betting shop operators were aligned with the non-industry responses and believed that the session time and net position should be displayed at all times.
- In line with our approach to voluntary limit setting, we do not propose that Category D machines will be required to have mandatory limits for time and monetary thresholds.
- GambleAware is an independent charity and has had no industry trustees since October 2018 and the industry has no role in commissioning decisions.
- Small 2005 Act casinos will also experience a reduction in their required minimum table gaming area, from 500sqm to 250sqm.
- Beside the main funding given to GambleAware, some other industry contributions under this licence condition go directly to other bodies which the Gambling Commission recognises as suitable recipients for the purposes of this licence requirement on operators.
- The remaining third are known as “ticket-out Category D slot machines” and are limited to a 30p stake and the equivalent of a prize worth up to £8.
We propose to introduce a stake limit for online slots, consulting on a limit of between £2 and £15 per spin, to structurally limit the risks of harmful play. The Gambling Commission intends to consult on mandating participation in a cross-operator harm prevention system based on data sharing, following assessment of the currently live operator trials which have had input from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and the Commission. Individual operators can take steps to prevent harm on their own platform but people suffering gambling harms usually hold multiple accounts or can open new ones easily. Further information will only be requested from customers as a last resort where it is necessary to complete an assessment, and the use of any data gathered through such checks will be restricted to assessing financial risk and indicators of financial distress.
The following legislation and policies are also applicable to operating licence holders. Personal Management Licences allow people to work in certain roles in a gambling business. Our online fees calculator can help you with understanding the amounts of your application, first annual and annual fees. The fees you need to pay depend on what you are applying for, and what your anticipated gross gambling yield (GGY) is.
Where these background checks fail to provide sufficient assurance that the account holder is of legal age, operators are required to have alternative age verification methods in place, which could involve requesting documentation. Some campaign groups called for even stronger online age verification measures, such as requiring ID document photos for all accounts or mandatory video calls on account creation. The largest football pools operator already prevents under 18s from creating an online account and supports increasing the minimum age to 18.
It requires remote gambling operators selling into the British market, whether based here or abroad, to casino not on gamestop hold a Commission licence to enable them to transact with British consumers. All online casinos must also display the net spend, essentially the profit/loss for the player, and the time they’ve spent gambling. In gambling circles, it has been predicted that 2025 will be a ‘heavy enforcement’ year for online casinos, so they need to be on their best behaviour. We have been provided with a number of scenarios in respect of which industry has expressed concern that GDPR will prevent them from processing personal data needed to comply with licence conditions and further the licensing objectives. In fact, the UKGC now analyses and assesses everything from random number generators, to the way online casinos hold player funds, to ensure that players won’t ever fall foul of rogue operators. These limits apply to all online slots at UKGC-licensed casinos and are designed to reduce the risk of significant losses from high-speed games.
Unlike the arcade sector, bingo clubs would not remove substantial numbers of tablets as these machines are primarily used for playing the game of bingo itself. We also received a small number of responses from local authorities, charities and gaming machine manufacturers. The supplementary consultation was shared with all of the initial respondents to the land-based gambling consultation who left contact information, and received 16 responses. Do you have any additional insights or evidence relating to recent trends in GGY, profit and costs for bingo and AGC operators?
To install three or more machines, the holder of an alcohol licence (for consumption on the premises) must obtain a Licensed Premises Gaming Machine Permit (LPGMP) from the local authority. A premises licence holder in Scotland is entitled to install up to two machines once the proper notice (Licensed Premises Notification (LPN)) has been given and fee paid to the local authority. These limits apply where any machines offered are Category B. Nearly all machines in casinos are Category B1, which has a maximum stake of £5 and is restricted to casinos only. Despite this, the land-based sector has a significantly larger workforce than online gambling, and in the Gambling Commission’s industry statistics published in May 2020, it was estimated to employ approximately 80,500 people.
Where dispute resolution processes between a customer and operator in relation to a social responsibility complaint are not successful, the primary route for individual customers to seek independent adjudication and redress is through the courts. In these circumstances, customers sometimes report their complaint to the Gambling Commission as the sector’s regulator. Therefore, where a complaint relates to whether the operator complied with the Gambling Commission’s social responsibility requirements to prevent harm, it is out of scope of ADR provision. Licensees’ obligations around preventing harm, which are set out in the LCCP or Gambling Commission guidance, are not generally part of terms and conditions and so do not form part of the contract between a customer and licensee. The current ADR system is based on the Alternative Dispute Resolution Regulations of 2015, which originate from the EU Alternative Dispute Resolution Directive of 2013. Where cases have a value not exceeding £10,000 (the threshold for the small claims court), it is expected that ADR rulings will be binding on operators (if accepted by the customer).
Gaming Machines – The GA 2005 defines gaming machines as a machine designed for use by individuals to gamble. Licensing credentials are strict regarding small versus large venue distinctions, how many gaming machines can be present and more. The effects of this helped keep casinos and other gambling operators in check with new technologies.
Chapter 4: Introduction of an age limit on ‘cash-out’ slot-style Category D machines
The UK Gambling Commission notes a 4.2 per cent drop in online harm since affordability trials began late 2024. Still, industry leaders tread cautiously; the Betting and Gaming Council warns that heavy red tape may nudge bettors toward risky offshore sites that skirt UK safety rules. An online casino guide here shows which brands follow the 2025 rules on game fairness and affordability tracking, and such guides have become a compass for users moving through the tighter online world. Online casino operators have been forced to make major tweaks in order to stay inside the new rulebook. Although the reforms attempt to rebalance gambling freedom with public protection, industry groups still worry about how expensive and practical the changes will prove to be. This article walks through the main 2025 changes, explains the impact on operators and on ordinary players, and charts the industry’s uneven path forward.
As much of the risk relates to online gambling, we propose that people aged 18 to 24 should have lower trigger points for the enhanced spending checks outlined in Section 1.2, and our consultation on online slot stakes will include options for extra protections for this group (Section 1.3). However, the evidence shows that people aged 18 to 24 years old are generally more vulnerable to gambling-related harms than the wider population. These usually entail a more sensitive calibration of player monitoring systems to detect harm, but some operators take more direct action, for example requiring customers aged 18 to 24 to set their own deposit limit before they are permitted to gamble or unilaterally implementing a mandatory maximum loss limit.
Advice to Government and gambling-related legislation
However, even when accounting for device type (i.e. cabinet, in-fill or tablet), the responses suggest that Category C and D gaming machines generate less GGY than Category B machines. For example, one large arcade operator projected a 20% increase in the number of Category B gaming machines under Option 1, which corresponded to a projected medium increase in GGY. Industry responses suggested that the projected uplift in GGY under Options 1 and 3, and conversely, the decrease or no impact in GGY under Option 2, corresponds directly with the ability to site Category B gaming machines.
There is ongoing work in the sector to develop ways to ensure cashless gambling has safer gambling controls, which we explore further below. The legislation also requires ATMs to be positioned so that any customer who wishes to use them must stop gambling in order to do so. Cash-only gambling was assumed to give players more control over their play by providing natural interruptions in play to obtain more cash, helping players play within budget limits. We would need to do further work to ensure that robust player protections were in place to mitigate any harms, particularly taking into account the issues raised by the Gambling Commission about appropriate legislative safeguards on stake and prize levels, game speeds and the ability to set technical standards. Operators would like to be able to adapt their existing terminals to offer a wider variety of electronic casino games, using RNG technology. Casinos may use electronic terminals to offer games which are based on real events but only games based on the spin of a roulette wheel are currently available.
57% of men compared to 51% of women had participated in some gambling activity within the previous 12 months according to Health Survey England (2018). We will consider the case for measures proposed by the sector, such as including overseas races in the scope of the levy and/or increasing the overall level of contribution and/or basing the calculation on gross amount staked rather than GGY. The government has committed to review the horserace betting levy by 2024, and we are now starting that process. However, nothing in the Review affects the ability of operators to sponsor racing and the incentive to promote and differentiate their products will remain. NERA Economic Consulting, the Social Market Foundation (SMF) and other studies have assessed potential displacement effects of gambling reforms.
The Gambling Commission will launch a consultation on the proposals for financial risk checks outlined in Box 3 below, with the aim of introducing changes in the licence conditions and codes of practice. It is clear that a financial risk model must also pay especially close attention to those who lose unusually large sums relative to both other customers and other likely outgoings. This aligns with recent research into online gambling specifically, which found 22% of regular online gamblers with annual losses over £700 were experiencing ‘problem gambling’ according to the PGSI two years later. Equally, while high losses are not necessarily harmful, it holds that the higher the gambling spend (particularly in a short period of time), the smaller the proportion of the population that can afford it without negative consequences. We received a number of anecdotal accounts from individuals with personal experience of gambling harm that illustrated the relationship between gambling harm and financial vulnerability – both as a cause and/or effect.
Chapter 5 ‘Review of licensing authority fees’ outlines proposed changes to premises licence fees for Small 2005 Act casinos, which 1968 Act casinos that elect to move onto the new regime will also be subject to. The government intends for operating and premises licence fees to be harmonised between 1968 Act casinos and Small 2005 Act casinos. This measure will also bring greater consistency to the different licensing regimes and greater parity between online and land-based casinos.
We will not accept licensees simply stating that GDPR means that they are unable to comply with an aspect of gambling regulation, or otherwise take certain steps to protect the public interest. Thorough consideration of transparency requirements will also assist data subjects, and assist data controllers to demonstrate compliance with obligations relating to accountability. We do not anticipate that the need for such measures will cause a significant barrier to complying with gambling regulation.