Box 10: Approaches to presenting information on risk and return to player

The Casinos Gaming Machines and Mandatory Conditions Regulations 2025: impact assessments RPC opinion green-rated

Most major consumer banks offer opt-in gambling blocking tools which prevent card payments to gambling firms based on their merchant category code. Similar conclusions were drawn in a separate review, looking holistically at gambling policy and the evidence base around gambling harm reduction strategies. Online operators must already provide customers with limit setting tools, so using these to better effect can be a low cost and scalable intervention to help prevent harm from occurring. Similarly to seatbelts, normalising the use of deposit limits, activity statements or other tools should leave those gambling within their chosen budget unaffected while mitigating the risk of harm in cases where people have lost track or control. Platform design has also been identified as a relevant factor and a recent audit of popular online operators found promotional offers were sometimes advertised alongside the gambling management webpage. However, a number of treatment providers, charities and individuals with personal experience of gambling harms emphasised in their evidence that there are limits to the role that measures reliant on personal responsibility can play in tackling harm for those suffering from a gambling addiction.

This requirement is also subject to guidance issued by the Commission, the policy statement produced by the licensing authority and the three licensing objectives. The Council expects that applicants and existing operators will need to meet the specific GVZ policy and expect enhanced scrutiny from the Council to ensure that the operation is in line with that policy and the principles of the legislation. Westminster City Council recently introduced a new gambling policy statement which includes the designation of several Gambling Vulnerability Zones (GVZs). This enables a local planning authority (licensing authority) to take into account a variety of different factors, such as the balance of uses of an area or high street. Some submissions from licensing authorities suggested the ‘aim to permit’ provision should be removed altogether from the Act.

Each should have its own casino premises licence and its own principal entrance from a street, and it must not be possible to enter one of them from other gambling premises. Currently, a number of 1968 Act casinos operate more than one premises licence at the same physical location. Allowing 1968 casinos to increase their machine offering above their current allowance of 20 could result in greater customer willingness to take breaks, which will likely increase reflection and reduce risk. The rules have also incentivised holders of multiple 1968 Act casino licences to operate them as separate entities in the same premises for the purpose of increasing machine numbers.

Licensing authorities have wide ranging powers to make decisions on licensing gambling premises in their areas. The 59 licensed racecourses in Great Britain require a Track Betting Premises Licence from their licensing authority, with the four racecourses which offer their own betting operation also requiring an operating licence. Some licensed betting offices use a cross-channel digital wallet that can be topped up at cash desks as well as on the operator’s website and used on machines. Commercial clubs which hold a club machine permit can also site three machines, although sub-category B3A machines are not permitted for commercial clubs.

Box 10: Approaches to presenting information on risk and return to player

The review found mostly cross-sectional studies linking gambling to harm, with more longitudinal research needed to isolate the causative role of gambling in the harms people experience in order to estimate a more accurate cost. Conversely, industry argued that calculating the social costs of gambling in order to recoup these costs is inherently complex. Canadian provinces tend to have high levels of expenditure addressing gambling harm paid for out of general taxation; but all have specific proportions of their total revenue derived from specific taxes on gambling. GambleAware also produces national safer gambling campaigns to raise awareness and encourage behaviour change in relation to gambling-related harms.

A statutory levy will help problem gamblers access the right care at the right time, complementing our commitment to provide NHS gambling addiction treatment clinics in every region across the country. Today’s white paper is a huge step towards protecting people from the damaging impacts of gambling. As the detailed implementation of the review now begins, we will also be reiterating to all operators that the Commission will strongly maintain its focus on consumer protection and compliance.

Machine allowances in Great Britain are low compared with other European gaming jurisdictions, with only Poland’s upper limit being below that of a 2005 Act Large licence. Only 4 of the 8 Small casino licences have been developed, and the only Small casino to be newly developed (rather than move over from the 1968 Act system) closed after 18 months. The current regulations and statistics relating to the different types of casino licence are set out in Figure 21 below. Through the call for evidence, some licensing authorities voiced concerns about their ability to protect vulnerable communities and to train staff.

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.

Gaming machine allowance for 1968 Act casinos

This section of the consultation received 46 responses, primarily from licensing authorities and gambling operators. In contrast, most industry responses were concerned that customers may use this information to incorrectly determine that a machine is due a pay-out and therefore could lead to people spending more on a machine. Most responses in favour of implementing these features on machines were in agreement with the rationale outlined in the consultation that it would help customers to make more informed decisions and keep track of their spending.

Please upload any further supporting evidence that you wish to share. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport will have due regard to the public sector equality duty, including considering the impact of these proposals on those who share protected characteristics, as provided by the Equality Act 2010. What do you think are the potential impacts of raising licence fees on the local area? Are there any functions that local authorities/ licensing boards do not exercise at present, but could if fees were increased (e.g. a more proactive enforcement policy)?

Similarly, PHE’s evidence review found no substantial evidence to establish that exposure to advertising is a risk factor for harmful gambling, although this may only indicate a lack of evidence rather than a lack of relationship as PHE only examined systematic review level evidence. We are calling on operators to take existing commitments in the industry code further, and use the full potential of available advertising technology to target all online advertising away from children and vulnerable people and those showing indicators of harm. The Commission will also take forward work to strengthen consent for direct marketing for online gambling, with both new and existing customers given more choice on what offers they want (including requiring consent to ‘cross-selling’ new products) and how marketing is sent to them. Although there are no specific laws preventing customers’ use of cryptoassets to fund gambling, operators may only accept them as payment if they can comply with all Gambling Commission requirements, including anti-money laundering, ‘know your customer,’ and safer gambling measures. Not only is self-exclusion an unsuitable substitute for account closure in most circumstances, but it is also a key proxy for harm used by operators to learn how to identify potentially harmful gambling within play data.

• With increased resources in due course, the Commission plans to invest in its data systems in order to better understand consumer behaviour and operator compliance.
• For most people who participate, gambling is a leisure and entertainment activity, as explored in the Gambling Commission’s research into why people gamble and its research into customer journeys.
• The evidence suggests it would be beneficial to develop systematic messaging, independent from industry, to maximise the information available to consumers and enable them to make informed decisions with a better understanding of the risks.
• In October 2020, the Commission published the results of an investigation of BGO, GAN, and NetBet, three UK online gambling operators.

Therefore, the risk of increased gambling harm is assumed to be higher for Options 1 and 3 than Option 2. Although the data on mixed sessions creates some uncertainty, we conclude that overall, Category B machines lead to higher losses than Category C or D machines. This suggests a higher risk of unaffordable spending on Category B machines. On the other hand, the data shows that a substantially higher proportion of sessions on Category B machines ended in a loss over £200, compared to Category C, Category D and mixed machines.

The majority of responses were in favour of mandatory limits being a required feature on machines accepting direct debit card payments. We think that the requirements of account verification, transaction limit, and deposit limits, alongside a minimum transaction time will provide appropriate safeguards for these lower stake machines. The pub sector non gamestop casinos argued that it would be disproportionate, cost-prohibitive and unlikely to be achievable on these types of machines. We are also proposing that this minimum transaction time applies to all machines. Category D machines do not have a committed payment limit.

(Regulation 3 of the 2009 Regulations addresses when a gaming table is to be treated as being used in a casino at a particular time.) Licensees must have and put into effect policies and procedures intended to promote socially responsible gambling, including the specific policies and procedures required by the provisions of section 3 of this code. 2Note that in respect of special category personal data, a further specific basis for processing would also be required. 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. Under GDPR, data subjects may request that their personal data (including data which may be relevant to regulatory compliance) is erased.

The Gambling Commission collects data on the outcome of individual gaming machine sessions (e.g. whether customers have won or lost overall and their net position). Legislation was subsequently enacted to reduce the maximum permitted stake on B2 gaming machines from £100 to £2, from April 2019. Debit card payments, including contactless, have emerged as an alternative to cash in the wider retail economy, but gambling premises have largely remained cash-based. Secondary legislation (the Gaming Machine (Circumstances of Use) Regulations 2007) prohibits the use of debit cards for direct payment on gaming machines, and prohibits any use of credit cards. Members’ clubs and miners’ welfare institutes may offer up to three gaming machines if they hold a club gaming permit (CGP) or a club machine permit (CMP).

See the house edge at all popular casino games, like baccarat and roulette, which will help you to pick the game that gives you the best chances of winning. Foreign regulatory bodies that were able to prove that their licencing requirements exceeded the UK Gambling Commission’s own standards were added to a whitelist of gambling jurisdictions. Although the Gambling Act 2005 prevented foreign operators without a valid UK Gambling Commission from advertising their service to UK players, the legislation did include an important exception. Rather than wait for the government to get their collective act together, savvy bettors pointed their web browsers to reputable offshore sites in regions were gambling was already fully regulated. If you aren’t familiar with spread betting, it’s a speculative wager of the price of a stock, fund, or other security.

In smaller sports such as darts and snooker, a substantial amount of sponsorship revenue also comes from gambling operators. A parallel change in gambling operators’ approach to advertising has been the increasingly visible integration with sports. The sector will have continued to change since this estimate, and the COVID-19 pandemic caused the advertising market to shrink overall, but it is likely that the dominance of data-driven online advertising has been further cemented over recent years. Marketing online now accounts for well over half of operators’ advertising spend, with social media and paid-for online ads in particular having seen growth in recent years. Children’s exposure is lower but still significant, with 66% of the 11 to 16-year-old respondents to the 2022 Young People and Gambling Survey reporting their exposure to adverts or promotion about gambling happens offline and 63% stating they had seen advertising online or on an app. Since its implementation, gambling marketing has become highly visible and lucrative, with analysts Regulus Partners estimating that in 2017 gambling operators spent around £1.5 billion across all advertising channels in the UK — accounting for around 7% of the £22.2-billion UK advertising sector that year.

We will work with the relevant trade bodies and operators to understand the feasibility of this proposal and the frequency of any reporting to DCMS. We also propose that industry fund, conduct, and, crucially, report on the outcomes of voluntary test purchasing to DCMS. In addition, operating costs have risen significantly over this period, especially as a result of rising energy costs, which have increased by over 225% for some operators. This is in addition to improvements in monitoring and staff supervision of customers. The characteristics of land-based products have substantially improved since the introduction of the Gambling Act 2005.

There will be some financial impacts for non-Bacta members which are not currently subject to the voluntary ban (Bacta represents 70% to 80% of the operators of seaside arcade/family entertainment centres where Category D cash payout slot machines are most commonly located). Preventing children interacting with adult-style, cash gambling play will reduce the opportunity for them to engage in activities which could potentially result in increased risk of harm. Putting ticket payout slot machines in this category could exacerbate the impact on seaside arcade economies by making these venues inaccessible to adults accompanied by children.

All UKGC-licensed casinos are required by law to verify your age before you can deposit or play for real money. We list only trusted casinos with transparent bonus terms. Most UK casinos support Visa and Mastercard debit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, Skrill, and Neteller. Every casino we recommend is fully UKGC-licensed and independently tested for safety and fairness.Which is the best online casino for me? The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) oversees all online gambling activities in the UK. You must be 18 or older to play.What casino games can I play online?

The gambling industry should work with financial service firms to enable the blocks to be extended to other payment methods like bank transfers. While GAMSTOP is the principal means of online self-exclusion, we welcome that banks and payment providers offer opt-in gambling transaction blocks. This will include options of a £2 limit per stake; a £4 limit per stake; or an approach based on individual risk.