Updated Casino Regulations in the United Kingdom
The Commission has prioritised enforcement in recent years, particularly around unlicensed operators and consumer protection. The Commission plays an important role in protecting consumers and ensuring gambling is conducted fairly and safely.” Young said she is looking forward to working in the gambling sector and supporting the Commission’s consumer protection role. For players, they signal stronger consumer protections and continued regulatory oversight of the industry.
The maximum annual fee for an adult gaming centre (arcade) is £1,000 in England and Wales, and £700 in Scotland. For example, the maximum annual fee for a large casino is £10,000 in England and Wales, and £7,500 in Scotland. Licensing fees vary by premises type. Therefore, the proposals set out in this chapter will only apply to licensing authorities in England and Wales.
In England, there are currently eight NHS specialist gambling clinics in operation, including a national children and young persons’ clinic (part of the National Problem Gambling Clinic in London), covering London and the North East, North West, Yorkshire, South of England and West Midlands. While treatment of gambling-related harms is not currently mainstreamed across the NHS, limited numbers of people may seek support through existing services such as Mental Health Services and Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT). Others pointed to difficulty accessing operator data without being dependent on the goodwill of the industry. They said gambling research has attracted a narrow pool of researchers, in part because of reluctance to accept voluntary funding originating from industry donations and the consequent low status of gambling as a research area. Unlike for alcohol, substantial funding for gambling-specific research, as well as education and treatment, is available through the system of voluntary donations from industry outlined above.
Under section 6.1.1 of the Commission’s LCCP, operators must put into effect appropriate policies and procedures for accepting and handling these complaints. Where operators breach these rules, they are subject to compliance and enforcement action by the Gambling Commission and consumer complaints are an important source of intelligence to inform this. As outlined in the previous chapter, the existing legislation and the Gambling Commission’s regulatory framework provide protections for individuals in setting rules which operators must follow.
- We envisage that CIAs will be introduced using the same approach as applied in the Licensing Act 2003, for alcohol licensing.
- Note that the different fees currently charged for large and small casinos may be subject to review and harmonisation following the consultation outlined in Chapter 1.
- This was consistent across bingo club operators, arcade operators and gaming machine manufacturers.
- The National Lottery is regulated by the UK Gambling Commission, but there are different legislative components applicable to licensing.
- The sliding scale will also ensure that there remains a link between gambling space and betting terminals so that the electronic offering in a casino does not overwhelm the live table offering.
Some individual operators have also voluntarily introduced bespoke protections for this group in other areas. In 2021, the Betting and Gaming Council introduced a code of conduct for VIP schemes, which included additional checks before enrolling customers aged 18 to 24 onto schemes, for example requiring review by the holder of a Gambling Commission Personal Management Licence. A recent cross-sectional research study found an association between suicide attempts in 16 to 24-year-olds and problem gambling, even after adjustment for other factors.
Option 2 would likely remove any incentive for operators to not abide by ‘available for use’ guidance. For example, a Category B tablet could only be made available for use if there is one other Category C or D tablet that customers can play on in the venue. This proposal outlined in Option 2 would require any such premises to have one Category C or D cabinet for each Category B cabinet it sites.
Figure 9: How did seeing the following types of advertisement/sponsorship impact your gambling behaviour?
A further safeguard to ensure that credit will not be available more widely is the fact that it will be offered at the casino’s risk following extensive anti-money laundering (AML), Know Your Customer (KYC) and Enhanced Customer Due Diligence (ECDD) checks at the point at which credit is offered. Alongside the removal of the prohibition, the casino not on gamestop Gambling Commission will specify in licence conditions and codes of practice the conditions under which credit may be offered, including checks which must be made. The Gambling Commission has made clear that it expects casinos to bank customer cheques in accordance with their normal banking arrangements. Until recently, casinos in Great Britain have been able to accept a cheque from the customer, which is a permitted payment mechanism under the Act.
If gambling is causing you concern, visit our responsible gambling UK guide for support resources. If a casino breaches the rules and you are affected, complain to the casino first. The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) is the sole statutory body responsible for enforcing all UK casino regulations 2026. The table below shows the most significant rule changes introduced by the our tested operators compared to the previous framework. For the best current offers, visit our best casino bonuses UK page, or check no deposit bonus UK deals that comply with the new rules.
This difficulty is further exacerbated by data availability and the difficulty of measuring changes in gambling harms as explored in the introduction to this white paper. We also recommend that licensing authorities make more use of their powers to attach conditions to premises licences, such as opening hours and security measures. This does not prevent the authority from granting a licence, or allow them to issue a blanket refusal to applications, but a CIA does encourage the gathering of more evidence for assessing applications and requires the operator to evidence how it will mitigate risk. CIAs will complement existing powers by supporting licensing authorities to capture and regularly review a wide range of evidence, such as density of premises in a particular area, health and crime statistics, and residents’ questionnaires.
Measures to increase access to support and treatment services
After paying a licensing fee, the site is free to offer services and games to UK residents. At the core of this legal shift was the desire to regulate remote operators more closely and ensure players were afforded the best protection possible. At the close of 2014 the region introduced a number of regulatory innovations that have since strengthened the country’s iGaming credentials and reconfirmed its status as an industry leader. We help British players find safe, fair, and enjoyable casino sites.
The primary benefit of this measure is increased GGY for casinos that take up additional gaming machines. Gambling operators must ensure that their supervision and monitoring of gaming machines enables them to meet the requirements of the Act and conditions of their licence. Data from the National Gambling Treatment Service shows that a relatively small proportion of patients report participating in gaming machines in casinos. Taken together, the three measures will determine the maximum number of gaming machines that casinos will be entitled to. The sector views an increase to this ratio as essential in order to ensure these casinos’ long term viability by allowing them to site more gaming machines, and this conclusion was reflected in the white paper. It has also meant that none of these casinos are able in practice to satisfy the current conditions which would allow them to offer the maximum number of gaming machines due to the amount of space they take up.
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.
While the risks vary by product and other factors, gambling participation is generally not in itself harmful and may even be positive. A YouGov survey commissioned by GambleAware estimated that 6% of the population are negatively affected by someone else’s gambling (for example through relationship strain or financial hardship) and that women are overrepresented in this category. However, a small proportion do suffer significant harm as a result of gambling, and the PHE evidence review included a detailed quantitative analysis on this issue. It is clear that gambling-related harms can ruin lives, wreck families, and damage communities, with issues including mental health and relationship problems, debts that cannot be repaid, crime, or even suicide in extreme cases. However, Public Health England (PHE) compiled, assessed and reviewed evidence on gambling participation and harm as part of the Gambling-related harms evidence review which was initially published in September 2021, then revised in January 2023 by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities.
In addition to the licence conditions and legislation governing how facilities to gamble are offered, all gambling advertising must comply with the UK Advertising Codes which are set by the Committees of Advertising Practice and enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The change created a ‘point of consumption’ regulatory regime, meaning that any gambling company transacting with British consumers has to have a licence from the Gambling Commission and comply with the licence conditions. Further detail on our initial estimates of the likely or possible impacts of the package, including on sectors related to gambling such as horse racing, is at Annex A.
Category D machines include a range of low stake machines, such as coin push, crane grabs and slot-style fruit machines. Should net position be visible at all times to the customer on machines accepting direct cashless payments? Should session time be visible at all times to the customer on machines accepting direct cashless payments? GamCare, in collaboration with the BGC, Bingo Association, Bacta and other businesses, have developed a land-based industry code for the display of Safer Gambling information. Should there be mandatory limits (default limits for time and monetary thresholds) on machines accepting direct cashless payments?
The cross-industry submission from the Cashless Group cited evidence of technological change and developments in consumer behaviour over recent years to support its argument that enabling cashless payments would meet consumer expectations. If a wider range of games were to be permitted, limits would need to be set on the total number of automated machines to minimise the impact of this change. They propose that new games would be subject to the same player protection measures applied to existing play in casinos. Betting is currently only permitted in 2005 Act casinos, which were intended to offer a wider variety of products as part of the destination casino model. Travel restrictions in the UK and overseas have compounded the impact of COVID-related closures for the high-end casinos, which competes with jurisdictions such as Monaco, Singapore and Macau rather than mainstream British venues.
The greater involvement of UKRI will encourage a multidisciplinary approach to gambling research which will create greater diversity and innovation in knowledge production around gambling. The government, the Gambling Commission, UKRI and the third sector will together work to stimulate interest, capacity and investment in the domestic gambling research field as an area that is attractive and sustainable for researchers. NHS England has also established a new Gambling Harm Clinical Reference Group, providing a forum for sharing learning and best practice across specialist gambling clinics, while providing clinical leadership for the expansion programme under the Long-Term Plan. It will also complement the National Institute of Healthcare Excellence (NICE) clinical guideline on gambling treatment, currently in development, and expected to publish in 2024. The final report is expected in spring and the findings will provide vital evidence to support improvement of current services. The OHID (part of DHSC) is in the process of undertaking a needs assessment of the treatment system in England, looking at both NHS provision and third sector commissioned services.
We support allowing trials of linked gaming machines in venues other than casinos, where prizes could accrue from machines linked in a community. The government is also concerned by the low pass rates in test purchasing for racecourses and gaming machines in alcohol licensed premises, which are both significantly lower than at other land-based venues. This would provide licensing authorities with greater powers in respect of gaming machine entitlements in premises with alcohol licences, in the event of underage gambling.
Some land-based operators proposed that players in venues other than casinos should be able to choose to allocate a small proportion of their stake towards an additional prize pot. A number of proposals from the land-based industry related to concepts of new machine games and categories of gaming machine which do not currently fit into existing regulations or current technical standards. In response to this, we received a number of proposals for changes to rules surrounding gaming machines in venues. We agree that operators should maintain a range of payment options, including cash, to allow for customer choice and ensure that gambling harm is kept to a minimum.
If you are a local authority/ licensing board, how many premises licence applications did you receive in the 22/23 financial year? We expect that wider benefits will arise from the increase in oversight and enforcement activity by licensing authorities of gambling premises in their area and are seeking further information to better understand these benefits. The primary cost of this measure is the additional costs incurred by gambling operators resulting from the increased licensing fees. Note that the different fees currently charged for large and small casinos may be subject to review and harmonisation following the consultation outlined in Chapter 1. The Gambling (Premises Licence Fees) (England and Wales) Regulations 2007 established the maximum level of fees that local authorities in England and Wales can charge for gambling premises licences. This activity may include inspecting gambling premises to ensure that they are complying with their licence or dealing with complaints from residents or neighbours.
These rates are lower than the majority of other gambling products, although remain above the at-risk and problem gambling rates for ‘any gambling activity’. We would like to understand whether these types of protections are already available on these machines, or whether it would require investment in new machines or software. Therefore, this option would need to be accompanied by a requirement that Category B3 machines in these venues would have certain player safety controls, such as staff alerts where a player meets spend or time limits. For example, as previously highlighted, evidence provided by Bacta shows that the average stake placed on a Category B3 game is between £1.20 – £1.30, compared to 40p – 60p for a Category C machine.
Premier League clubs will still be able to maintain other forms of gambling sponsorship, such as in stadiums, providing it adheres to existing rules on social responsibility and provisions in the forthcoming sponsorship Code of Conduct. We welcome this step taken by the League, which will reduce children’s exposure to gambling logos, particularly when reproduced in children’s products such as stickers and video games, and will help to break the association children may form between gambling brands and their role models on the pitch. In line with changes to the advertising rules, the Premier League has agreed that from the end of the 25/26 season gambling logos will no longer appear on the front of players’ shirts. However, we recognise that sports sponsorship remains an environment where children may be exposed to gambling brands. A commitment only to accept sponsorship from firms operating under licence from the Gambling Commission. A proportion of sponsorship inventory to be used for dedicated safer gambling messaging, compliant with the programme of work at section 2.4 of this chapter.
Protections for this group will be increased, for instance through earlier interventions to assess financial risks, and structural controls such as a lower stake limit for online slots games. This will create a clear distinction between gambling products for adults and lower risk products accessible to children (such as crane grabbers or coin pushers) which have non-cash prizes or are entirely unlike an adult gambling product. We will also give legislative backing to the current voluntary measures preventing the use of Category D cash out slot machines by under 18s. We nonetheless challenge other providers to adopt this precautionary measure, so that there is no online or widely and easily accessible gambling for under 18s. We expect all operators to take steps to offer appropriate redress to customers where needed and if the ombudsman does not attract sufficient cooperation or deliver the protections as we expect, we will legislate to put its position beyond doubt.
The commitment made in 2020 by four major operators to direct increased contributions to the independent charity GambleAware, including a cumulative £100 million for treatment services, will continue to be delivered in full to provide funding certainty and support the delivery of planned programmes of work. When Parliamentary time allows, we will seek to further tackle illegal online operators by legislating to give the Commission powers to require for example internet service providers (ISPs) and payment providers to stop providing their services to black market websites. We are challenging the sports and esports sectors and the industry to set a high standard for social responsibility, with the potential not only to improve standards in gambling sponsorship but also to provide a model for responsible sponsorship by other sectors. We will engage with video games stakeholders such as industry bodies, tournament organisers, and publishers of popular esports games to develop and implement ground rules, for example potentially limiting gambling sponsorship in competitions that are accessible to under 18s. Options might include individual sports governing bodies’ rulebooks incorporating the Code’s provisions or through inclusion in the gambling industry’s IGRG Code.