UK Online Casino Regulations 2026 Guide
As outlined above, we think the player protection measures that these machines will be required to implement will be adequate to mitigate against the risk of gambling-related harm, considering the lower maximum stakes that they are subject to. While we understand the different environments and the higher stakes and prizes available to customers on B1 machines, data received from industry shows that these limits should not impact the majority of players. Non-industry responses predominantly indicated preferences for much lower limits than industry, with some stating it should be £1 and 1 minute, again, reflecting their position that cashless payments should not be introduced for gaming machines.
The information that an ombudsman collates can assist the industry in supporting vulnerable consumers whilst also providing feedback to inform processes aimed at reducing detriment. While we do not expect this overall volume of complaints in gambling, especially as complaints to the FOS around businesses’ customer services accounted for over 35,000 cases alone, a significant increase is likely. We understand, however, that the current number of complaints is not necessarily representative of the quantum of complaints, including those regarding social responsibility, that could be received if a single new body or function was created to handle them and consumers had confidence in it. Separate data on the scale of the issues comes from the Gambling Commission’s contact centre, which received 1,305 ‘Safer Gambling tools / customer interaction’ complaints in 2020 to 2021 (15% of total complaints) and 800 in 2021 to 2022 (14% of total complaints). The Independent Betting Adjudication Service (IBAS) is the largest ADR provider in the gambling sector, handling around 80% of ADR disputes. Of the 5% of complaints made directly to operators that go to ADR, it appears that c.6% related to social responsibility failings and therefore fell outside the scope of the existing arrangement.
Non-remote casino legislative changes
There are various license types, including remote casino, remote betting, and land-based licenses. The Gambling Commission’s Notice essentially makes clear that those B2B operators have a role in assisting the Gambling Commission in tackling unlicensed gambling in the British market and that such B2Bs place their own licence at risk by not taking sufficient steps to ensure that its content is only made available to British consumers via licensed B2C websites. Similarly, a centrally co-ordinated self-exclusion database (“GAMSTOP”) also allows customers to self-exclude from remote gambling offered by operators licensed by the Gambling Commission. In contrast with some jurisdictions, only casinos form part of the “regulated sector” for AML purposes, though all operators are required to conduct detailed risk assessments and implement AML policies, procedures and controls.
In addition, the current GGY derived from betting in casinos where it is permitted, is very small. However, at this stage we do not know precisely what these costs will be, as we do not have any evidence on how casinos will respond to this. All casinos to be permitted to offer sports betting. We would not permit betting in Scottish 1968 Act casinos until Scottish Ministers have had the opportunity to consider what (if any) restrictions or protections they would like to put in place by way of amendments to the Mandatory and Default Conditions Regulations. While permitting betting in 1968 Act casinos is not a reserved matter, as outlined above, we intend to impose a limit on the number of SSBTs that can be made available in a casino.
A further key component of the online advertising landscape is social media, which has been found to have a particular impact on children and young people, and accounts for an increasingly large proportion of their gambling ad exposure. This means it is likely that the minority experiencing serious harm from their gambling are not only seeing more gambling adverts than others, but are also more likely to spend money as a result of seeing them. Evidence submitted by a major charity found that even occasional gambling substantially increased online advertising exposure, with around 40% of those who gambled once a month reportedly being served 4 or more ads a day. Adverts such as TV, radio and online banner ads tend to influence a lower percentage of viewers to begin or increase gambling than those on social media. It is clear that the risks posed by gambling advertising are not uniform across the population, and that people respond to different types of adverts in different ways.
The Gambling Act 2005 creates specific offences around inviting children and young persons to gamble, including sending gambling advertising to them or bringing gambling information to their attention to encourage gambling. The UKGC emphasises that providing gambling facilities to Great Britain consumers without a licence, or a valid exemption, is illegal. Suitability is a core part of the licensing decision and continues through compliance work after a licence is granted. Applicants face significant disclosure requirements covering ownership, management, finances, and operating model, including technical, AML, and safer-gambling controls. Remote gambling in the UK is divided into specific licence categories rather than covered by a single all-purpose remote licence.
Please share any evidence or information that is relevant to the proposed amendment to the definition of gaming tables since the government stated its intention to make this change in 2018. Only tables for multi-player live gaming, operated by a casino dealer, will qualify for the purposes of this ratio. We do not intend on making any changes to when a gaming table will be treated as being ‘used’ for the purposes of the machine to table ratio as set out in the current Regulations.
Sports gambling has a long history in the United Kingdom, having been controlled for many decades, and more recently relaxed. In 2007, then Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that the Government would not be proceeding with the super casino in Manchester. On 29 March 2007, the House of Lords urged the Government to review plans for the super casino in Manchester. On 30 January 2007 Manchester was announced as the winning bid to be the location of the first super casino. On 8 December 2020, Nigel Huddleston MP announced a call for evidence to begin the Gambling Act Review.
Using someone else’s account
“stake” means to pay or risk an amount in connection with an online slots game. (3) Where this condition is attached to a remote casino operating licence which was issued before this regulation comes into force, the condition has effect from the date on which this regulation comes into force. As the response and the SI set out, the stake limits are for online slots only and do not apply to other casino games, such as roulette or blackjack. The SI has the effect of adding a new condition to all remote casino operating licences. We are responsible for issuing personal gambling licences for individuals and gambling operating licences for businesses operating in Great Britain.
This enables the requirements to be more detailed and to be amended more quickly over time to respond to technological change or new risks to consumers. This section takes stock of the existing protections in place for online gamblers to contextualise the proposals outlined later in this chapter. Equally, customers can be easily empowered with a range of tools like financial limits which are inherently harder to implement offline.
As mentioned above, the existing regulations prohibit the use of debit cards for direct payments to gaming machines, and prohibit any use of credit cards. Over this same period, the weighted average weekly income from gaming machines for Landlord & Tenant pubs fell from around £215 to approximately £190, whilst for Managed pubs this fell from around £230 to approximately £180. Between 2019 and 2021, there was a decrease in the percentage of Landlord & Tenant pubs with gaming machines (from 60% to just over 40%), as well as a decrease in the percentage of Managed pubs with gaming machines (from 80% to around 65%).
Industry also argued that current numbers of machines in alcohol licensed premises would not be expected to increase substantially if the threshold were to be increased. Some parts of the industry made a case that the system for changing gaming machine numbers within individual pubs was bureaucratic. Whilst a change to the ratio does not necessarily remove these difficulties, the potential reduction in the required overall number of machines could bring about a more workable alternative, while maintaining a balance of machine types available to customers. We also expect a small increase in the number of Category B machines, particularly in licensed bingo premises where players use machines in short breaks between bingo games. We strongly encourage operators to continue to improve player safety controls on B3 machines, for example by introducing controls to alert staff where a player meets spend or time limits. The Gambling Commission’s advice points to examples non gamstop of operators intentionally subverting the 80/20 rule for machine games, for example by providing inaccessible Category C and D machines in order to have more Category B machines, and to their updated guidance to operators on this issue.
We will use the responses to this consultation as well as wider engagement with the sector to gather data to estimate the likely uptake of additional machines and removal of existing machines under each option. These machines can also offer customers Category C or D content on the same device. Industry trade bodies have provided evidence which suggests that the removal of the 80/20 rule would result in a large-scale reduction of tablets and in-fill machines, although the extent to which tablets will be removed will vary by operator. In addition, there would be limited opportunities for operators to meet customer demand for Category B machines and increase GGY. Consequently, under Option 2 industry as a whole would have the flexibility to reduce the number of Category C and D machines and/or increase the overall number of Category B machines across the sector, saving energy and/or increasing overall GGY. It is possible that operators could use inaccessible tablets and in-fill machines to increase the overall number of Category B3 machines in their venues, undermining the principle of a balanced offer of higher and lower stake machines giving genuine choice to the customer.
Gambling harm campaign groups said that land-based premises are easily accessible and can be a gateway to harmful gambling and therefore should be made safer. Land-based industry operators, manufacturers, campaign groups, local authorities and trade associations, and individuals submitted evidence to the Review. It also assumed that restrictions on machine availability and numbers of casinos were important protections for customers. There are examples of authorities providing significant evidence on local risks (e.g. clustering of premises), including spatial analysis.
The increase in Category B machines will enable bingo halls to better meet customer demand and will likely result in greater GGY. This would result in an overall decrease of over 900 cabinet machines across these venues, predominantly consisting of legacy Category C cabinets. Also, Category C and D gaming machine device types made available for use must be of similar size and scale to Category B. For example, some options may place further emphasis on achieving commercial flexibility than achieving customer choice of higher and lower staking machines, and vice versa. Gambling Commission data, from April to September 2019, indicates that across all land-based sectors, 1.8% of Category B sessions result in a loss of £200 or more.
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Ban on Gambling with Credit Cards
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Many of the legacy Category C and D machines that still remain in venues do not have these capabilities. To further improve player safety on machine games, the arcades and bingo industries have committed to ensuring B3 machines in all venues allow players to set their own time and spend limits, or default to a £150/20 minute limit. A wider rollout could include potential restrictions, for example on the number of machines or where they can be located. We do not wish to risk increasing harm by introducing untested, new concepts other than on a time-limited basis and with appropriate safeguards in place.
1968 Act casinos will move to the new regime once they elect to increase their enhanced entitlement to gaming machines, becoming subject to the mandatory premises licence conditions and fee scales of a 2005 Act casino. Depending on the type of casino licence an operator holds, they are able to site a different number of gaming machines, and may be bound by other restrictions including a maximum machine-to-table ratio and limitations on their size and non-gambling area. Subsections (3) to (5) of section 172 of the Act make provision as to the number of gaming machines which may be made available for use in a casino by the holders of different types of casino premises licences issued under the Act.
- Online casino operators now pay 40% tax on gross gaming revenue, rising from 21%.
- In terms of game design, new rules focus on reducing the speed and intensity of online games.
- GDPR should not be improperly used as an excuse to avoid taking steps which enable compliance with licence conditions, promote socially responsible gambling, and promote the licensing objectives.
- Whilst this document does not constitute legal advice, it will assist gambling businesses by setting out some factors they should consider when assessing their processing of personal data.
- Furthermore, The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (building on PHE’s report) has estimated the direct cost to government of gambling harm to be £413 million per year.
Some submissions highlighted that gambling blocks on debit cards could make it easier to prevent harmful gambling and track customer spend. However, evidence from these groups was typically directed towards other areas of the Review such as online player protection, children and young people, and advertising. We received evidence from a range of stakeholders in response to whether new types of casino created by the 2005 Act meet the Act’s objectives for the sector. We also received submissions from campaign groups and academic research highlighting the risks of cashless gambling and possible mitigations. Some submissions also made the case that the triennial review process (a formal feature of gambling regulation before the 2005 Act) allowed a regular review of the rules applied to machine games and therefore enabled a process for stake and prize limits to be amended to reflect inflation or wider changes.
This was higher than the Health Survey for England (HSE) 2018 estimate but could be due to a number of factors, including the pilot having somewhat higher rates of past year gamblers than the HSE. This new way of collecting data was successful in attracting participants and generated a good response rate across the whole of Great Britain. In June 2020, following a consultation, the Commission started piloting a new set of survey questions designed to better understand the incidence, nature and severity of harm experienced by gamblers and non-gamblers. Collecting and disseminating information relating to the extent and impact of gambling in Britain forms an important basis for this advice. Under section 26 of the Gambling Act 2005, the Commission is responsible for advising the Secretary of State on the manner in which gambling is carried on as well as the incidence, effects and regulation of gambling in Great Britain. The work it is doing to improve collection of participation statistics and its future work to make more data available to researchers will also be important contributions and are outlined further below.
We will also consult on slot-specific measures to give greater protections for 18 to 24-year-olds who the evidence suggests may be a particularly vulnerable cohort. The Review launched with a call for evidence which ran from December 2020 to March 2021 and received 16,000 submissions. The package of measures outlined in this white paper will significantly increase protections with the aim of preventing harm.
Providing facilities for gambling otherwise than in accordance with the terms and conditions of a licence is a criminal offence. Whilst this document does not constitute legal advice, it will assist gambling businesses by setting out some factors they should consider when assessing their processing of personal data. The integration of technology and the focus on responsible gaming practices will be key drivers in shaping a sustainable future for the industry. By employing decentralized systems, casinos can increase player trust and reduce fraud scenarios.
