Chapter 5: Review of licensing authority fees

UK Gambling Laws 2026 Rules Information & Guidance

We propose to introduce a maximum stake limit for online slots games of between £2 and £15, subject to consultation. Products which are safer by design will help prevent harm at source and reduce the reliance on reactive harm detection systems. With new technologies and payment regulations now in place, the Commission will work with others to consider what more can be done to reduce this risk.

This suggests that, had the operator assessed the customer’s financial circumstances earlier and more effectively, they could have acted to reduce the extent of financial harm suffered. In a similar compliance case study identified by the Commission, a customer lost approximately £33,000 in three months without the operator carrying out any financial risk assessment. As such, the rate and level of spending would have been unaffordable for the vast majority of UK households, and likely to indicate harm. In a case which recently led to compliance activity by the Gambling Commission, a customer lost £36,000 in four days without appropriate financial risk assessment being carried out.

At the same time, it is also important that the ways licensing authorities approach local considerations across the country are consistent and follow the same framework principles. Although there is a workaround available to licensing authorities, and the Gambling Commission has published an advice note setting this out, the Commission also recommends that the legislation is amended to provide further clarity. The Gambling Commission also recommended that some clarifications and technical amendments are made to the Gambling Act 2005 to confirm that certain powers apply to licensing authorities and/or licensing officers in Scotland as they do in England and Wales.

According to the NHS Long Term Plan more than 400,000 people in England are problem gamblers and two million people are at risk. In July 2026, the UK changed how gambling penalties would be collected and allocated. Since 1 December 2014, the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act changes the taxation of remote gambling from a ‘place of supply’ basis to a ‘point of consumption’ basis. Passing on a bet on behalf of another, in any capacity, is generally considered by law to be acting as an agent and would require a licence. Six specific games, Pool, Cribbage, Darts, Bar billiards, Shove-halfpenny and Dominoes could be “played for small stakes on those parts of the premises open to the public”.

As well as introducing measures to protect people from gambling related harm, the white paper package contains proposals that will support the land-based gambling industry to thrive. Our research shows a concerning trend with this age group experiencing an increase in harm arising from gambling and online slots are very high-risk products. The growing popularity of online gambling is clear to see, so this announcement will level the playing field with the land-based sector and is the next step in a host of measures being introduced this year that will protect people from gambling harms. The decision follows a 10-week consultation period in which the majority of respondents agreed with the gambling white paper proposal to introduce statutory limits for online slot games to help reduce the risk of gambling harm. Stake limits for online slot games will be introduced for the first time in September, including lower limits for young adults, as the Government continues to roll out measures to protect people from gambling harms.

• However, due to the exemption, the Gambling Commission currently has an incomplete picture of the risks from underage gambling in premises run by smaller licensees.
• A light-touch check triggers automatically when a player’s net deposits reach £150 in a rolling 30-day window; the operator checks publicly available credit data, and no documents are requested from the customer.
• Children’s advertising exposure and their ability to engage with operators’ content should decrease at the same time as the most recent reforms to the CAP code reduce the potential appeal of gambling content to children.
• The proposals are targeted with the intent of minimising this unintended consequence, and the resultant costs to industry, to be proportionate to the objective of reducing harm.

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.

Chapter 5: Review of licensing authority fees

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.

Gaming machine changes

The modern era of casino regulation in the UK commenced with the enactment of the Gaming Act of 1968, a pivotal moment in the country’s gambling history. Analyzing play live casino no deposit bonus codes provides a glimpse into how the industry adapts to changing regulatory landscapes while maintaining its appeal to players. In this article, we’ll explore the evolution of casino regulations in the UK, tracing the key milestones and developments that have shaped the industry over time. The regulation of casinos in the United Kingdom has a long and storied history, shaped by societal attitudes, technological advancements, and economic considerations. The articles published on SuperCasinoSites are intended to be used solely as informational resources, including our reviews, guides, and casino recommendations. “The ban, which applies to all online and offline gambling products except non-remote lotteries, will provide a significant layer of additional protection for vulnerable people.“

The Information Commissioner’s Office is the supervisory authority for data protection legislation, and maintains a full explanation of these rights on their website DCMS will ensure that we uphold your rights when processing your personal data. You have rights over your personal data under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. Your data will not be transferred outside the UK. We will not use your data for any automated decision making. Your personal data will be kept for one year in line with DCMS retention policy. Information provided in response to this consultation (not including personal information) may be shared with other government departments and arm’s length bodies, such as the Department for Health and Social Care and the Gambling Commission.

It set out over 60 evidence-based proposals to respond to the risks and opportunities which have emerged since the Gambling Act 2005. A series of key proposals specifically relating to the sites not on gamstop land-based gambling sector were outlined in the white paper, including measures to adjust outdated regulatory restrictions applying to the sector. (Gambling industry professional, gambling researcher/academic, gambling treatment provider, personally harmed by gambling, affected negatively by another person’s gambling, recreational gambler, government/regulatory professional, other, prefer not to say) The government is considering raising maximum licence fees for gambling premises. If you are a local authority/ licensing board, how many premises licences were live in your licensing area in the 22/23 financial year?

The maximum number of gaming machines that may be made available for use on the premises remains unchanged at 80. For every gaming table used in the casino, the effect of the amendment is to increase from two to five the number of gaming machines that may also be made available for use. As well as a fixed numerical maximum, the number of gaming machines must not exceed a specified multiple of the number of gaming tables used in that casino. Thanks to recent legislative changes, the UKGC would have the power to regulate and tax not only online casinos physically based in the United Kingdom, but any gambling sites that serves UK players.

Opening Options

Ofcom is given its powers to set fees by primary legislation which requires it to publish the principles behind its approach to setting licence fees and charges, called the ‘Statement of Charging Principles’. The Commission, under new leadership, has also set out an ambitious vision for how it should regulate the industry, which was not factored into the last fees review. This white paper also proposes an ambitious step change in gambling regulation and the regulator must have the funds it needs to match this level of ambition.

The information that an ombudsman collates through complaints will assist the Gambling Commission in planning its enforcement activity and help industry to improve processes and support vulnerable consumers. This means customers seeking personal redress in these areas currently have no choice but to pursue potentially costly and uncertain court action. This aims to build capacity and start filling the key evidence gaps identified by PHE’s evidence review. Government will also co-host workshops with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the umbrella body for the UK research councils, Innovate UK and Research England, to stimulate interest and investment in gambling research.

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.

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%).

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.

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.

One of the most important aspects of gambling regulation in the UK is the advertising and marketing of these products. It introduced several major amendments, most notably the requirement that all offshore gambling companies apply for a license from the Gambling Commission. All casino games, without exception, may be played only by persons aged 18 or over.

Based on the above approach, our estimated GGY drop from a fixed £8.50 slot stake limit is £135 million to £185 million (4% to 6% of online slots GGY). We modelled GGY impact on the basis of a typical online slots Return to Player of 95% (the percentage of money wagered on a game that should theoretically be paid back to players over time). For the purposes of this annex, we have assumed a fixed stake limit of all customers of £8.50, which is the midpoint of the range of limits we will consult on for adults aged 25 and over in summer 2023. This covers 3.95 billion spins on online slot games, and reports how these were distributed across different monetary thresholds (see Figure 28 below). We cannot predict the extent to which the impact of our proposals will change in subsequent years as this will depend on implementation details to be determined through the Gambling Commission’s consultation, such as whether/when customers who have already ‘passed’ a check need to be reassessed. This estimate was derived by modelling the application of our proposal on a single year of data on player spend.

Given likely diminishing marginal returns when a casino already has at least 20 machines, we estimate that the extra machines could increase GGY by £25 million to £65 million (14% to 36% of casino Category B machine GGY). However, gambling space in the average casino is 784m2 (3.1 times larger than the 10 smallest casinos). We used the Gambling Commission data request to operators in April 2021 (validated against previous 2018 data from a report commissioned by GambleAware) to determine current staking patterns. Our approach to modelling the GGY reduction from an online stake limit (section 1.3), including data used and key assumptions, is set out below. We are confident overall that the majority of customers, especially the majority who spend at lower levels, are unlikely to be negatively impacted by the changes we propose to help prevent gambling-related harm.

We propose therefore that these machines are allowed to stay in unrestricted areas in licensed and unlicensed FECs, and other premises including but not limited to pubs and travelling fairs. This change will not only strengthen the existing voluntary commitment from industry, by making it an offence to allow under-18s to play this type of gaming machine, it will also level the field between operators who are signed up to the voluntary code and those who are not. However, due to the lack of substantive research or evidence clearly identifying harms resulting from general Category D machines, we do not support a ban on children accessing other Category D machines, such as those that pay out in tickets, crane grabbers or coin pushers. As set out in the white paper, we believe that a more precautionary approach is justified for slot-style games which mirror the mechanics of adult-only gaming machines, particularly those which pay out cash. Whilst there are some forms of indirect cashless payment methods under the current framework, as well as ATMs near some gambling locations, the lack of future-proofing for payment methods does risk a real decline in gaming machine GGY.

Responses to the call for evidence also set out further background to the current gap and issues that will need to be considered in addressing it. Increasingly, technological solutions are also geared to maximising the learning from complaints data and making access to resolution and redress easier. Dispute Resolution Ombudsman, the operator of both the Rail Ombudsman and Furniture Ombudsman, provides additional data analysis to its members directly, equipping them to identify, respond to and track issues and themes in customer complaints and business practice.