Safer Gambling

However, there are still too many instances of insufficient age verification in some venues, particularly those such as pubs, which can offer adult-only gaming machines but are not adult-only venues like many gambling premises. We have seen evidence showing that customers who have claimed online bonus offers are more likely to engage in high-risk gambling behaviour, especially those already at a higher risk of harm who are also likely to be targeted with more offers. The moves come in response to concern over what are known as online slot games – that is, games designed to mimic slot machines in real-life betting shops and casinos. Its remit covers arcades, betting, bingo, casinos, slot machines and lotteries, as well as remote gambling, but not spread betting which is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

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.

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.

• 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.
• We have reviewed and analysed the evidence received through both consultations to arrive at an evidence-based policy position which we believe meets our objectives.
• GamingCasino gaming (including slots and casino table games such as roulette & blackjack)The Gambling Commission of Great Britain (“Gambling Commission”).The Gambling Commission (for Operating Licences).
• Respondents were in favour of venues having to comply with all of the sliding scale requirements in order to increase their gaming machine allowances.

For casinos moving onto the new regime, section 187 of the Gambling Act 2005 should require operators to apply to the licensing authority to vary their premises licence. We agree that operators should be required to notify licensing authorities and the Gambling Commission if they decide to take-up the entitlement to additional gaming machines under the new regime. The majority of respondents (93%) agreed that operators should be required to notify licensing authorities and the Gambling Commission if they decide to take-up the entitlement to additional gaming machines under the new regime. Despite indications from operators that there would not be appetite to site more than 80 machines in a single location, we want to ensure that this is not a possibility, removing the risk that these casinos could site more machines than a Small or even Large 2005 Act casino. For example, a licence for an FEC allows the operator to site an unlimited number of Category C and D gaming machines in premises which are open to all ages.

No income or capital gains tax applies to prizes from casinos, sports betting, bingo, or online gambling, a rule in place since 2001 when taxation shifted to operators. This change aligns online slot limits with those of land-based casinos, with £5 matching B1 machines and £2 for younger adults, due to their higher vulnerability and lower income. Otherwise, payment processing per se is not licensable under British gambling law and the main restrictions are that land-based bingo and casinos may not offer credit for wagers and remote gambling operators may not accept credit card payments (including through money services providers). As well as an operating licence, an operator wishing to make gambling facilities available in a land-based environment (e.g., casino, betting shop, bingo hall or arcade centre) will also need to apply for a premises licence authorising that activity from the relevant local authority.

We would also like machines that use the BGC’s Anonymous Player Awareness System (APAS) to implement these limits and for APAS not to act as a substitute for these thresholds. Furthermore, the average stake size on B1 machines is similar to the stake size on B3 machines and therefore we do not think that the mandatory limits should be different between the different categories. In line with their responses to other questions, the pub sector did not want these limits to apply to Category D crane grab machines.

If they are perceived as permitting ‘risk-free’ gambling by providing a mechanism to subsequently recoup losses, this would risk reinforcing negative and harmful behaviours. Alternatively, we have heard that some operators make payments directly to fund the complainant’s treatment, education regarding the risks of gambling and the support available, or to cover outstanding debts rather than providing a lump sum. A memorandum of understanding between the Financial Ombudsman Service and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), for example, requires that information on complaints data, including any trends and common problems, is shared with the FCA so that both organisations can serve customers effectively. Many stakeholders, including Parliamentary and campaign groups, as well as those with personal experience, said that an ombudsman must be demonstrably independent of the Commission and the gambling industry. We received submissions from a wide range of stakeholders including trade bodies, charities, researchers, treatment and support service providers, organisations in the dispute resolution landscape, and from across the gambling industry. This includes, for example, complaints that an operator allowed a self-excluded customer to gamble, or should have taken greater steps to identify a customer at risk of harm and stepped in earlier to prevent unaffordable gambling.

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.

Progress here will help strengthen the evidence base around gambling and gambling-related harms, and buttress work to increase investment and capacity in the gambling research field. Separately, to support the development of effective treatment interventions, OHID has commissioned the University of Sheffield to calculate harmful gambling treatment needs and demand at local, national and regional levels. Through working collaboratively with NHS and other key delivery partners, including GambleAware, it wants to ensure those experiencing gambling-related harms receive high-quality treatment in a timely manner. It would not be appropriate for the Commission to be responsible for a repository of all data relating to gambling in Great Britain, including on areas such as treatment which fall outside of its remit. Collecting more data will provide rich datasets to assess compliance but will also allow for an increased understanding of consumer behaviour and operator practices which, suitably anonymised, could in turn inform research and understanding of gambling-related harms.

If you are leaving the British gambling market, the Gambling Commission has expectations of licensees in these situations. If you no longer need your licence, you can surrender it, partially or in full. This is a condition of your licence under LCCP Condition 8 – Display of licensed status. When you are issued a licence, we will display the details of your licence on the register. We provide details of all businesses and individuals we licence on our Public Register service.

The current industry voluntary code allows these machines to remain alongside all other types of Category D machines. The industry has said that they are primarily used by family members who are 18 or over, while children non gamestop casinos play machines like crane grabs and coin pushers in the same area. If we required ‘cash-out’ slot-style Category D machines to be moved to age-restricted areas in licensed FECs, it is likely that operators would no longer site these machines. Unlicensed FECs are entitled to make only Category D machines available, once they have successfully applied for a permit from the licensing authority (local authority in England and Wales, licensing board in Scotland). However, Category C machines must be in a segregated part of the premises that is supervised to prevent children and young people accessing those machines. Licensed operators are required to place Category B and C machines in age-restricted areas to ensure that under-18s do not have access to them.

Tenobet earns the sports-and-casino crown by actually committing to both. The bonus £40 sat in the casino wallet, and a separate £10 free bet token landed for the sportsbook. Tenobet is the casino for the bettor who also wants a flutter on Saturday football. UKGC licence is current and visible in the footer. Kaasino is the go-to if you love a proper fruit machine and want your deposit to stretch.

Some responses argued that product ratings according to a risk index such as ASTERIG could be used to inform product-specific risk warnings. One regularly referenced study found that only 46% of online gamblers are able to correctly interpret ‘return to player’ — the most commonly used metric to convey the chances of winning in online slots. Our proposals in this area are only a small part of the government’s overall vision for stronger regulation of online advertising. These proposals are predominantly an expansion of work that operators are already taking forward to reduce children and vulnerable people’s exposure to advertising, and as such impact on operators should be limited. The Gambling Commission continues to keep this area under review and will not hesitate to take action if there is evidence of standards slipping. These have led the House of Lords Select Committee and others to argue that affiliates should require their own licences from the Gambling Commission to operate in this country.

We also acknowledge the costs, not only of servicing the older Category C and D machines, but also in making (predominantly unused) Category C/D machines available to meet ratio requirements. The Commission’s advice is that the government should always ensure there are clear rules or measures in place that ensure a balance of higher and lower stake machine games is always available in high street venues to provide genuine customer choice and allow for lower stakes gambling. Operators have also highlighted the energy and operating costs of machines, noting that older machines are less likely to be energy efficient and more likely to break down. It pointed to research from 2016 which found that 28% of patrons of retail bingo clubs who visited at least once a month played fruit or slot machines and the majority of those who played these games did so for less than 30 minutes. While machines have always been allowed to have multi-stake options, in practice, most earlier machines had a set fixed stake.

UKGC-Licensed Casinos We Trust in 2026

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.

The Access to Cash review, an independent study commissioned by the body that runs the UK’s ATM network, finds that cash use could fall to just 10% of all payments by 2035. Using an estimated energy cost per machine of approximately £1,600 per year, this could result in an approximate annual energy saving of £16 million to £19 million. For two key proposals where we have not been able to quantify the impact due to limited evidence, we have made reasonable inferences instead.

Figure 10: Proposed sliding scale limit on number of Self-Service Betting Terminals (SSBTs) in casinos

Affiliate marketing is a form of marketing whereby a third party receives a commission for promoting a company’s products or services, typically paid per customer referred or with a share of revenue generated by referred customers. It might also risk unintended consequences such as reducing the ability of consumers to distinguish licensed from unlicensed operators. While it is likely that this would reduce the limited level of children’s exposure to gambling adverts, there would be a negative impact on the ability of lotteries to fundraise for good causes, and a risk of adverse consequences from increasing the volume of late-night gambling adverts. It is also clear that children’s exposure to broadcast advertising has declined over the past decade, in all sectors including gambling.

We have not quantified the impact of the resulting machine ratios on overall GGY due to limited evidence about how gamblers will change their behaviour in response. Following the relaxation of the ratio, we expect the number of Category C and D machines to fall as venues remove predominantly unused machines. Firstly, the relaxation of the 80/20 ratio which restricts the balance of Category B and Category C and D machines in bingo and arcade venues is expected to increase GGY and reduce energy costs. We note that there may also be a small reduction in sports betting online due to this measure causing spend to be displaced. Given that the Category D machines are the highest stake and prize machines on which under 18s can legally play, they are likely to appeal disproportionately to that age group. Sites operated by Bacta members already have a voluntary ban on under 18s using these machines, so have been excluded from the GGY drop calculation.

Current UK Gambling Laws & Casino Legislation

They collect fees for applications and annual renewals to cover the costs of gambling licensing and enforcement (and the fees can only be used for such costs). We do not propose that these machines should be required to be moved to an age-restricted area. We propose to move the voluntary commitment into legislation, introducing a legal age limit of 18 on Category D ‘cash-out’ slot-style machines. To achieve this, we are consulting on options for amending the 80/20 rule to a new requirement that 50 percent of machines must be Category C or D. This included a number of measures to adjust outdated regulatory restrictions applying to the land-based gambling sector.

This will take into consideration that there is likely to be diminishing returns, such that the more machines you have, the less GGY would be generated per machine. This will be used to model the estimated total increase in GGY for casinos in the final impact assessment. Combining this with the number of machines, this yields an average annual GGY of £57,500 per machine. These generate 11% of all GGY generated from Category B machines.

This opposition was primarily from industry stakeholders, who argued that the other space requirements and the imposition of a machine to table ratio would ensure a balance between table gaming, machines and non-gambling space. For example, safer gambling functionality is now available and widely used on many gaming machines. This consultation relates to land-based gambling provided to customers in Great Britain, by operators who are consequently required to hold the appropriate licence from the Gambling Commission. The five types of licences included within this are casino premises licences, bingo premises licences, adult gaming centre premises licences, family entertainment centre premises licences, and betting premises licences. The GGY impact of this measure will depend on the take up of cashless gaming machines by operators, but also on the player protections.

As set out in section 151 of the 2005 Act and in the Gambling Act 2005 (Premises Licences and Provisional Statements) Regulations 2007, the operator will also need to submit an up-to-date plan showing their table gaming area, other gambling areas and non-gambling areas. Respondents pointed to the need for authorities to undertake appropriate licence checks, and therefore it is essential that operators are transparent about any changes of circumstances. This will enable casinos to meet customer demand and bring Great Britain’s casino product offering more in line with international jurisdictions. They did however indicate that the presence of sports betting in venues would likely lead to an increase in revenue from non-gambling products such as sports bars.

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.

We currently estimate that the key proposals we can quantify will lead to between a 3% and 8% reduction in Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) across the gambling sector, with the main decrease being in online gambling (where we estimate a reduction of between 8% and 14% of GGY). It is likely that the proposals will come with costs to the gambling industry, both in terms of upfront delivery cost but also in reduced revenue compared to current levels. Measures in this white paper are designed to increase existing protections against gambling-related harm in a proportionate and targeted way.

The Gambling Act’s criminal penalties apply to operators providing facilities, not to individuals using them. A recurring consumer misconception is that if an offshore gambling site is accessible in Great Britain, it must be lawful. Advertising unlawful gambling to Great Britain consumers is also a criminal offence. A remote licence application typically takes up to 16 weeks depending on business complexity. The table below summarises the main licence types and what each one covers in practice. An overseas licence does not authorise Great Britain-facing operations.