2 Gambling Commission’s approach to the licensed sector

Compliance

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.

The Commission’s ambitious change to its enforcement approach, coupled with amendments to its investigatory powers, will ensure that it is in a strong position to be able to monitor the industry and take action against operators who fail to meet the required standards. There are currently no products which are regulated both by the Commission and FCA but two operators are separately regulated by both organisations because they offer both spread betting and fixed odds betting products. Due to a range of factors, including the impact of COVID-19 and the suspension of football in March 2020, Football Index collapsed in March 2021 and its licence was suspended.

2 Gambling Commission’s approach to the licensed sector

In most cases, this definition applies to slots, otherwise known as fruit or jackpot machines. The following local licensing authorities are permitted to have large brick-and-mortar casino locations. The UKGC’s purpose is to regulate all commercial gambling enterprises in the UK in conjunction with the proper licensing authorities. It is considered unlawful for any gambling operator to advertise if they are not in possession of a proper licence. Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014 – The Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014 was passed to curtail licensing loopholes being taken advantage of by offshore operators. The United Kingdom is an inclusive country when it comes to both brick-and-mortar and online gambling.

It requires remote gambling operators selling into the British market, whether based here or abroad, to 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 non gamstop 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.

Each should have its own casino premises licence and its own principal entrance from a street, and it must not be possible to enter one of them from other gambling premises. Currently, a number of 1968 Act casinos operate more than one premises licence at the same physical location. Allowing 1968 casinos to increase their machine offering above their current allowance of 20 could result in greater customer willingness to take breaks, which will likely increase reflection and reduce risk. The rules have also incentivised holders of multiple 1968 Act casino licences to operate them as separate entities in the same premises for the purpose of increasing machine numbers.

The maximum transaction limit, aligned with a minimum transaction time, will provide an additional point of friction to the customer if they wish to put more than this amount onto the machine. The maximum amount that can be deposited through money at one time is £50 based on the current maximum note denomination. A couple of respondents from outside of industry stated that a cautious approach should be taken to the maximum transaction value, with one suggesting a £10 limit alongside a limit on the number of transactions a person can undertake in a set period of time. The majority of industry respondents stated that a £100 limit was most appropriate while other respondents, such as academic and local authorities, thought it should be £20 or less. These regulations apply in different circumstances, including when a payer initiates an electronic payment transaction.

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.

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.

In your view, is there any specific safer gambling messaging that should be considered within cashless gambling? This has been voluntarily adopted by BGC members and its objective is to improve consistency when displaying Safer Gambling information across the land-based sector. As previously discussed, an optimal strategy to combat disassociation when gambling combines breaks in play with safer gambling messaging.

• You must be 18 or older to play.What casino games can I play online?
• One study of legal youth gambling products identified a correlative association between adult disordered gambling and recollected use of Category D machines, including coin push, crane grab and fruit machines, in childhood.
• An independent, statutory complaints-handler with binding powers against operators.
• We recognise that the maximum for licensing authority fees has not been updated since 2007, during which time inflation has inevitably reduced its value.
• The initiative follows industry feedback from operators who said they wanted a more consistent way to resolve regulatory questions.

We do not currently have sufficient data to estimate the likely reduction of Category C and D machines under each option. This will include assessing the role of sessions limits across Category B and C machines alongside safer gambling tools. Player protections can be used to mitigate increases in the risk of gambling harm.

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In April 2019, the Commission strengthened the rules, requiring online operators to verify a customer’s age and identity before allowing them to deposit funds, play free-to-play games or gamble with their own or bonus funds. The new requirements will include provisions to ensure any consumer data is effectively protected and only used for the purposes of harm prevention. The intention is for this to be done through the Gambling Commission updating the licence conditions and codes of practice on all remote operators, but if necessary we would consider legislation. Work to commence real-world trials of a SCV solution has been progressing alongside this Review through the ICO’s sandbox process and the sharing of real high-risk player data has now started. Given the privacy implications for the majority who gamble with no ill effect, we do not think the creation of such a system including a national database of all gamblers (even if anonymised) is justified at this time.

Further updates linked to the DMCC Act will affect how gambling complaints are handled. On 6 April 2026, the Commission will update several licence conditions to align with the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCC Act). For operators, the higher threshold slightly reduces reporting obligations for small ownership changes, but loan transparency rules become stricter. The service provides a single point of contact for licensing queries, available by phone and email between 10 a.m. The Commission has also launched a Licence Support service, designed to give operators direct access to technical guidance. For players, the change is unlikely to affect day-to-day gambling, but it reinforces the regulator’s focus on keeping gambling safe, fair, and crime-free.

Offences cover the unlicensed offer of gambling, the unlicensed use of premises for gambling, the promotion or facilitation of a lottery and so on. However, the way that British legislation addresses gambling is to set up a whole series of criminal offences and then provide that the possession of the appropriate licence is a defence. Multi-operator self-exclusion schemes are in place to allow consumers to self-exclude from multiple gambling premises in Great Britain. The outcome of that consultation is not yet known.An “economic crime levy” is payable by entities that are regulated for anti-money laundering purposes (currently only casinos in the UK) and which generate more than £10.2 million in UK revenue.

The financial regulation of gambling is set out mostly in the British Finance Acts and provides for various levels of duty upon different types of gambling. Not regarded as gambling where the element of chance is no more than de minimis. Free-to-enter draws and betting competitions may be exempt if they meet conditions for free draws or prize competitions.

United Kingdom – Gambling Laws and Regulations 2026

In spite of this action and the Commission’s stated expectations, some respondents complained that operators made withdrawing money from accounts unnecessarily difficult and subject to artificial delays (especially prior to the Commission’s ban on reverse withdrawals) which do not apply for deposits. Further concerns were raised in areas where the Gambling Commission has previously taken action, including rules around the timeliness of requests for identity documentation. For example, while operators are required to disclose key information on their products, a recent study examining 350 roulette games offered by 26 major operators suggests this can be very onerous for users to access in practice. A reasonably widespread concern in call for evidence responses from consumer groups and private individuals was that friction is unequally distributed across the customer journey in a way that can disadvantage consumers. Such transparency supports consumer confidence in a fair and open market, and should not bring new costs to the industry or consumers. We are reinforcing existing expectations concerning the need for operators to provide clear and transparent terms of service to consumers.

However, some research has been undertaken in addition to the PwC report; for example, the European Commission in 2017 estimated that illegal sports betting accounted for 2.2% of the total online sports betting market in the UK. Secondly, until its recent fees uplift, the Gambling Commission’s resources for responding to the black market were concentrated on acting on complaints and intelligence with a risk-based approach. Responses from some campaign groups, Parliamentarians and academics strongly disagreed and said that the industry was exaggerating the size of the illegal market in order to deter the government from imposing tighter restrictions on the licensed gambling sector. Combined with the changes the Commission has made following its consultation on licensing and enforcement and the legislative changes we have proposed, it will be better enabled through its powers to penalise operators who have not abided by the law.

We want all licensed operators to provide access to the ombudsman to ensure all customers are protected equally. The information that the ombudsman collates through complaints will also help the Commission in planning its enforcement activity and industry to inform processes and support vulnerable customers. The body would adjudicate complaints relating to social responsibility or gambling harm where an operator is not able to resolve these. We will look at how industry, working with all stakeholders in the sector, can create an ombudsman that is fully operationally independent in line with Ombudsman Association standards, and is credible with customers. Between Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) providers and the Gambling Commission’s contact centre, approximately 2,000 customer complaints per year relate to social responsibility, gambling harm and safer gambling. As the Commission’s process for requesting datasets from across the sector to support its regulatory purposes reaches a sufficient level of maturity, greater researcher access to this suitably packaged and anonymised data will lead to new areas of — and approaches to — research on gambling.

There is a higher prevalence of problem gambling among people with poor health, low life satisfaction and wellbeing scores, and the problem gambling rate is higher among more deprived groups than less deprived groups. However, there are limitations to all of these sources including incomplete coverage and lack of detailed information. In particular, it found men were more likely to be experiencing problem gambling than women and that 16 to 24-year-olds had the highest average PGSI score of any age group.

The Commission’s LCCP currently requires operators to make annual financial contributions to a list of research, prevention and treatment organisations. The changes will help consumers understand which operators protect their funds and which do not – information which will support them in making choices about who they gamble with. From 31 October 2025 operators whose customer funds are ‘not protected’ in the event of insolvency must actively remind consumers once every six months that their funds are not protected. Our work revealed recent changes by some operators on how deposit limits are offered, which could cause confusion for consumers. The Gambling Commission has today announced changes aimed at increasing consumer control over deposit limits and greater transparency of customer funds protection by operators.

It is likely that gaming machine GGY, which was £1.8 billion in 2022, will continue to diminish if gaming machines are not able to offer cashless payment methods. We also look at the impact of removing the prohibition of the direct use of debit cards on gaming machines once increased player protections are approved and mandated by the Gambling Commission. However, the industry has stated that their research indicates a strong customer demand for betting facilities in casinos. The few casinos which already offer sports betting have derived 0.2% of their GGY from this source in the past but the latest data shows that it accounts for 0% of their GGY. The estimate is formed using published accounts of operators and Gambling Commission data about existing machine uptake and casino floor space utilisation.

However, online bingo will still fall under Remote Gaming Duty, and operators must continue to meet Gambling Commission regulations. For players, the levy funds research, prevention, and treatment for gambling harm, so clearer rules help ensure funding is calculated correctly. Following a review, the levy now applies only to gambling revenue generated from Great Britain customers, not income earned from overseas markets. For players, it is intended to ensure machines on the market meet regulatory standards and operate fairly. The goal is to ensure the Commission understands who owns and finances gambling businesses, helping reduce risks linked to crime or financial misconduct.

For operators, they establish higher compliance standards and greater accountability. The UK operates strict gambling frameworks, with the UK Gambling Commission charged with protecting players & ensuring market integrity. It is important to note that illegal gambling activities may not be safe in the UK.

The more recent data from the Gambling Commission’s quarterly telephone surveys suggests that in the year to December 2022, 44% of surveyed adults had taken part in at least one gambling activity in the previous four weeks (29% excluding those who only played the National Lottery). As well as commissioning analyses of Health Survey data and a wider programme of research, the Commission conducts a quarterly telephone survey on participation and prevalence to track trends, but this is less robust than the full Health Surveys. In addition, the Gambling Commission collects regular data on the extent and impact of gambling in Great Britain. Each nation in Great Britain conducts its own annual Health Survey to gather authoritative data on physical and mental health, and these periodically include gambling questions.

The current maximum amount of cash that can be inserted into a machine at one time is £50 as this is the highest denomination of bank note. Regulation 7 ensures that there is a maximum value that players can deposit onto a machine in a single action. Regulation 9 also sets committed payment limits, money which cannot be refunded to the player once it is paid or transferred onto the machine’s credit or play meter. Regulation 7 of the Gaming Machine (Circumstances of Use) Regulations 2007 sets the financial (payment) limit on the amount a person can deposit on a machine in a single action. Completely removing the prohibition could also pose a risk to anti-money laundering compliance.

(Regulation 3 of the 2009 Regulations addresses when a gaming table is to be treated as being used in a casino at a particular time.) Licensees must have and put into effect policies and procedures intended to promote socially responsible gambling, including the specific policies and procedures required by the provisions of section 3 of this code. 2Note that in respect of special category personal data, a further specific basis for processing would also be required. In some cases (for instance, where we are investigating a licensee’s compliance with its social responsibility and anti-money laundering requirements as a result of a gambler stealing funds for gambling over a prolonged period of time), this may involve requesting account data which goes back a substantial period. Under GDPR, data subjects may request that their personal data (including data which may be relevant to regulatory compliance) is erased.