Gambling-related legislation
However, we are aware of the possibility that some operators may attempt to maximise their number of Category B cabinets above and beyond that intended by the 50/50 proposal by siting tablets which are not genuinely accessible or in-fill machines in their venues. We anticipate that our proposal to allow operators to increase their number of Category B machines to 50 percent will enable operators to better meet customer demand, and in turn minimise the likelihood of ‘available for use’ guidance being subverted. The Gambling Commission has expressed concern that operators currently seek to maximise Category B machine numbers by providing Category C and D games on inaccessible small tablets or via in-fill machines. To ensure a proportionate and evidence-based balance is satisfied, we are seeking views from a range of interested stakeholders to inform the strengths and risks of each option. While the intensiveness of energy expenditure will vary by machine device type and energy efficiency, the costs to industry of maintaining these machines can be significant. Gaming machines account for a significant proportion of energy costs, a substantial number of which are sited by operators purely to meet the 80/20 rule.
This includes all online casinos, both UK-based and offshore, that wish to offer their services to patrons in England, Wales, or Scotland. When it comes to gaming machines, however, the law sets no minimum age for Category D machines. Regional casinos are permitted to have up to 1,250 machines from Categories A, B, C, or D. Small casinos may offer up to 80 machines from Categories B, C, or D, whereas large casinos can host a maximum of 150 machines from those categories.
The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) have provided detailed information on each casino, including floor space and the number of existing machines. Should access to a greater number of gaming machines require compliance with each of the three size requirements outlined above? Do you agree with the proposed (i) minimum gambling area; (ii) table gaming area; and (iii) non-gambling area requirements for 1968 Act casinos under the new regime? Only areas that comprise 12.5% of the minimum table gaming area can be taken into account when determining the total table gaming area for 1968 Act casinos that access the new machine entitlements. Under the sliding scale proposal (Fig 3), this casino would only be entitled to 70 machines due to the size of its non-gambling area in this instance. While the gambling and table gaming area requirements would be enough for an entitlement of 80 machines, its non-gambling area is too small to qualify for this entitlement.
We will amend these regulations so that gaming tables where staff are not present and the player operates or controls the gaming apparatus are also excluded for these purposes. Furthermore, the regulations stipulate that real equal chance gaming tables (e.g. poker) are not considered as gaming tables for the purposes of section 172(3) to (5) of the Act. An example of a wholly automated gaming table is an automatic roulette wheel into which the ball is inserted not by a human dealer but at regular intervals by the mechanism itself, and bets are placed at touch screen terminals. Currently, the Gambling Act 2005 (Gaming Tables in Casinos) (Definitions) Regulations 2009 provide that a wholly automated gaming table is not a “gaming table” for the purposes of s172(3) to (5) of the Act. However, in updating the regulatory framework we intend to ensure that if the preferred setup of a casino changes in future, an appropriate balance of product remains – both in terms of space and product numbers.
Gamblingpedia UK Editorial
These fees are used on a cost recovery basis to enable licensing authorities to undertake their gambling enforcement and administrative duties. To ensure this, we outlined in the white paper our intention to increase the cap on the maximum chargeable premises fees which can be charged by licensing authorities. The government will make inviting, causing, or permitting under-18s to play ‘cash-out’ Category D slot-style machines a criminal offence through a draft affirmative statutory instrument. Bacta currently operates a voluntary age restriction on these machines for all of its members. We believe it is appropriate to make inviting, causing, or permitting under-18s to play ‘cash-out’ Category D slot-style machines a criminal offence. Eighty-two per cent of respondents agreed that it should be a criminal offence for a person to invite, cause or permit children or young persons to play on ‘cash-out’ Category D slot-style machines.
The vast majority (around 80%) of respondents with a Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) score of 0 reported that seeing gambling advertising never prompted them to spend money gambling when they were not otherwise planning to. Equally, higher-risk gamblers are more likely to report spending money as a result of seeing any form of advertising. These reforms will also benefit everyone who chooses to gamble, by giving every customer increased clarity and control over the communications that they receive, and ensuring that bonuses from operators are offered in a socially responsible fashion. The objective to protect vulnerable people from harm is at the heart of this Review and these proposals.
Replacing industry ownership, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department of Health and Social Care will work together with the Gambling Commission, drawing on public health and social marketing expertise, to establish the most effective messaging and how it should be used. The Online Advertising Programme will explore further mechanisms to reduce harm from advertising across all sectors. Certain types of competitions and prize draws which offer significant prizes such as a luxury home or car now operate online in ways which could not have been foreseen in 2005.
Top Online Gambling Sites Open To UK Players In 2026
There was some concern that this would create a safety risk for customers using gaming machines in pubs as it would increase the potential for their PIN to be observed by other customers. In regards to the second objective, under Option 3, the evidence provided suggests that over time it is likely that many operators would reduce their offer of Category C and D cabinet gaming machines substantially and offer predominantly Category B cabinet gaming machines. As highlighted in Chapter 2 of the land-based gambling consultation, we are aware that Category B gaming machines on average result in greater customer losses per session than Category C and D gaming machines. “… for the purpose of calculating the Category B machine entitlement in gambling premises, gaming machines should only be counted if they can be played simultaneously by different players without physical hindrance.” (Gambling Commission, 2019 Of those who didn’t answer ‘I don’t know’, 80% of respondents favoured operating and premises licence fees being the same for Small 2005 Act casinos and 1968 Act casinos that elect to increase their gaming machine entitlement.
All casinos listed on UKVerifiedCasinos.uk are manually checked against this register as part of our editorial process. You can verify any casino’s licence status for free at the UKGC Public Register. In 2025 alone, the UKGC levied over £100 million in penalties against licensed operators for regulatory failures — demonstrating that the UK casino regulations 2026 carry real consequences. The UKGC has the power to issue fines, suspend licences, or revoke them entirely for operators that fail to comply. All seven casinos reviewed on this site comply with the current rules. Under the the casinos in our table, a £20 bonus now requires a maximum of £200 in wagering before you can withdraw.
Over 70% of gaming sessions on a single product type that lasted over 3 hours were on slots, and slots had the highest proportion of players (5.5%) who ever played for longer than three hours. This work will be particularly informed by the Commission’s planned assessment of the changes made to online slots. The Gambling Commission will therefore build on its work on online slot design rules and consider the wider design codes for other online products. Following the Gambling Commission’s work on online slots, we think other products should also be considered with a view towards establishing a coherent system of safer product design standards.
However, we do not intend on changing any of the requirements placed on operators as we think that the current regulatory framework will ensure that licensing authorities and the Commission are notified when changes are proposed to premises under these circumstances. It will not be possible for a licensee to rely on an ancillary remote betting licence, even where the SSBT offer is alongside a non-remote offer as the ancillary licence is bound to a betting premises licence. 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.
We believe that these proposals will meaningfully reduce harms without disproportionate impacts on the sector’s ability to compete. Our intention is that these measures will directly address the advertising and marketing practices that are most strongly linked to harm. These measures will be in addition to the forthcoming introduction of requirements to not target any direct marketing at those showing strong indicators of risk, as outlined in the Gambling Commission’s requirement 10. For example, a horse racing bettor may wish to receive updates from an operator on the latest odds for upcoming races, but not online slots spins, or a sports bettor may consent to promotional offers around major events, but not want to receive marketing for bingo games.
- We will ask you to provide information about you and your business as part of your licence application.
- There are existing limits which can be set on machines, as well as cooling-off periods for when these limits are hit.
- 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.
- The four high-end casinos that this issue primarily affects contributed between £80 million to £100 million per annum in tax revenue to HMRC prior to COVID-19, and an industry report in 2017 indicated an additional £120 million GVA in tourism spend from casino visitors and those accompanying them.
- 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.
The Gambling Commission does not currently license crypto-primary casinos. Charged on remote gaming profits from UK customers. Alongside the financial-risk tiers above, operators must comply with the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 as amended. Name, address and date of birth are checked against electronic data; further documents (passport, driving licence, utility bill) are requested if the electronic check fails. Every UKGC-licensed operator must run tiered financial-risk checks on its customers.
This data was collected by the Gambling Commission from two of the major gaming machine manufacturers in Great Britain, representing approximately 35% of the machines in the bingo and arcade market. For comparison, these rates are above the at-risk and problem gambling rates for bingo games (12.9% and 3.3% respectively), but lower than the at-risk and problem gambling rates for online gambling on slots, casino or bingo games (44.2 % and 8.7% respectively). In addition, while customers could stake lower than the maximum on a multi-stake Category B machine, evidence suggests that on average players tend to stake more on Category B machines than Category C and D machines. Adherence to ‘available for use’ guidance is a key mechanism for ensuring a genuine balance of higher and lower stake gaming machines across arcade and bingo venues.
With over 30 years of experience in Payment Fraud Prevention, GPayments has committed itself to developing solutions that are globally interoperable and built on industry standards. Our advanced software automates the process by assessing vast amounts of data and producing detailed reports that highlight any red flags. Consequently, this guideline encompasses all aspects of gaming law in the UK.
Evidence from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows that young adults can be particularly vulnerable to gambling related harm, with under 25s having the highest average problem gambling score of any age group. We also know that young adults can be more vulnerable when it comes to gambling related harms, which is why we committed to addressing both of these issues in our white paper. This age group has the highest average problem gambling score of any group, as well as lower disposable income, ongoing neurological development impacting risk perception and common life stage factors like managing money for the first time. The same survey revealed 31% of British punters had placed bets on unregulated betting platforms, including prediction markets platforms like Polymarket. To fully comply with this provision, operators are required to refrain from placing ads that promote betting on websites that target children. The industry recruits staff to target VIPs and get them to spend more, to contact VIPs who have not gambled for some time and get them to restart gambling, to identify less serious gamblers who could become VIPs and get them to gamble more.
The Gambling Act 2005 created a partnership between the Gambling Commission and 368 licensing authorities in England, Wales and Scotland for the regulation of land-based gambling. Please upload any further evidence or any other information that should be considered as part of this consultation relating to an age limit on ‘cash-out’ Category D slot-style machines. Do you think premises should adopt voluntary test purchasing as a way to monitor under-18s activity on Category D ‘cash-out’ slot-style machines? While under-18s may make up a small proportion of total players, there is evidence that they do play on these machines. Granular data is not available on how many of these are ‘cash-out’ slot-style machines, which are in scope of this measure.
This information is available in the casino’s terms and casino not on gamestop conditions and on the UKGC register. UKGC-licensed operators must protect player funds so that, in the event of insolvency, your balance can be returned to you. Understanding these protections helps you appreciate why playing at a UKGC-licensed casino is so important.
Similarly, the existing rigorous checks on sources of funds for operating licence applications ensure standards are not undermined. The regulator’s case-by-case contentment would be contingent on assurances that adopting cryptoassets would not pose any risks to compliance. As the ‘Key Event’ reporting requirements on operators extend to any changes to payment systems within 5 days, cryptoassets cannot be adopted as a way of accepting customer deposits without the Commission’s notice. Cryptoassets also have implications for operators balancing liabilities from open bets, and can be disadvantageous to consumers because of wait times and fees. There have been no instances of licensed operators making this declaration and accepting deposits directly in cryptoassets.
Operators must maintain balanced ratios between high-risk (Category B) and lower-risk (Category C/D) machines. Online gambling is legal in Great Britain when offered by operators that hold the appropriate remote operating licences from the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) and comply with its licence conditions, codes of practice, and technical standards. If the regulator sends written notification, the machines must be removed from the premises. For operators, the update ensures gambling businesses follow new UK consumer protection law covering online services and marketing.
Some stakeholders proposed an expanded pre-release product testing regime where each new game would be tested to appraise its potential to cause harm. Most respondents to the call for evidence discussed product controls in the context of limits on structural characteristics, for example limits on stake and speed of play. These reported indicators cannot be used to directly infer reductions in harm, but they do suggest a moderation in play brought about by the changes.
We also consider that allowing a smaller increase in machines where this is proportionate to overall size and non-gambling space (a sliding scale) would also be appropriate, and allow a proportionate increase for smaller casinos whilst maintaining a balanced offer of gaming products. In the last Gambling Review in 2018, the government acknowledged that machine allocations in casinos were low by international standards and said the question would be revisited if additional measures were put in place to manage the risk of gambling-related harm effectively. In line with its 2018 advice to government, this is on the basis that a larger complement of gaming machines should be available only in premises which are also required to provide non-gambling leisure facilities, so as to achieve a balance in the leisure provision.
This is the legal age at which one can purchase products such as alcohol and tobacco, and access the full range of gambling activities. Similarly, we cannot yet pre-empt the outcomes of the Gambling Commission’s consultation on unsupervised premises and the impacts this could have. We challenge these industries to take further measures to urgently improve age verification measures, including by obtaining commercial verification of increased pass rates. While this does not in itself indicate that large numbers of children are accessing gambling illegally, it suggests that these sectors have not taken sufficient action to ensure appropriate processes are in place. While we welcome these improvements, this is still far lower than other gambling venues and other age restricted products. According to test purchasing operations conducted by one respondent, the pass rate was 26% in early 2020, before premises were closed by COVID-19 restrictions.