Minimum age

Casino guidance update

We have not assumed that offering credit facilities will increase GGY, although it is possible that such a policy will make casinos that serve this type of customer more internationally attractive and help boost GGY above pre-pandemic levels. Typical exchange fees of 0.5% to1% (if negotiated in bulk on large transfers by the casino) would mean the cost of exchange would represent 12% to 25% on top of GGY, and provide a substantial disincentive to gamble in these casinos as opposed to in other jurisdictions. At high-end casinos, there is a relatively low house retention, so typically, a large proportion of stakes return to the gambler as winnings.

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.

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.

Minimum age

However, some identified B1 machines in casinos (£5 stake limit) as a more relevant comparison to online slots. While it is vital that individual operators have effective procedures to protect their customers from harm, online gamblers on average hold 3 gambling accounts and use 1.5 on a monthly basis. Our intention is that the thresholds and checks based on these considerations will be standard across the online sector and allow for financial risks to be monitored alongside the existing obligations on all operators to prevent harm through considering a range of indicators.

Energy costs per machine will be estimated in the final stage impact assessment using an energy calculator. A more detailed estimate of the impact for each option will be presented in the final stage impact assessment, once further data has been collected. This increase is expected to be higher under Option 1 than Option 2, as operators will not be restricted by device constraints. Data on net expenditure per session shows that from April to September 2019, the vast majority of sessions across all machine categories ended in the player either winning money or losing up to £20. A ‘mixed session’ is a single session that takes place on games of different machine categories. Unlike Option 1, it would be much more difficult for an operator to increase the number of B3 cabinets on their premises by increasing the number of Category C or D in-fills and tablets that they site.

Some venues also operate a ticketing system, which allows customers to purchase a ticket with a debit card for use on a gaming machine. The Gambling Act 2005 and the Commission’s Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice permit operators to innovate to some extent, and industry has introduced some cashless gambling. However, it is still the primary way to pay for machines in land-based venues. Please upload any further evidence or any other information that should be considered in this consultation relating to bingo and arcade gaming machine measures.

ARCHIVE UK — Gambling Laws and Regulations 2025

We also received evidence from charities that people facing challenges like social isolation or cognitive dysfunction (such as following a brain injury) could be particularly attracted to remote gambling opportunities and fail to understand or properly assess the risks. This would prevent slots play where there is an elevated risk of rapid losses and/or harm, while leaving the majority of customers who play at low stakes unaffected. This creates compliance risks and potential harms for those experiencing problem gambling and affected others. Individual operators can take steps to prevent harm on their own platform, but people suffering gambling harms often hold multiple accounts. The Gambling Commission will consult on new obligations on operators to conduct checks to understand if a customer’s gambling is likely to be harmful in the context of their financial circumstances.

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.

• Data was also provided on the increase in session times at busy periods in a 1968 Act casino, compared to a 2005 Act casino of comparable size.
• Great Britain has been seen as a world leader in the oversight of gambling, with our comparatively low problem gambling rate but internationally successful gambling sector.
• Ipsos MORI’s research on the impact of gambling marketing on children (aged 11 to 17) and young adults (aged 18 to 24) found that sport was one of the major channels through which children are likely to be exposed to such marketing.
• The government will increase the maximum cap that licensing authorities can charge by 15% through a made negative statutory instrument.

However, between 2005 and 2021, just 112 studies with a focus that included gambling were funded by UK Research Councils or the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) compared with 691 for alcohol. The scope of the issues covered by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Medical Research Council (MRC) are most relevant to gambling as a topic. As with all fields of research, qualified researchers from universities and other organisations such as businesses and charities can apply directly to UKRI to fund research on gambling.

Last month, the Gambling Commission fined William Hill over £19 million for failures including allowing a customer to spend £23,000 in just 20 minutes. If gambling stops being fun, use one of the free independent services below. Independent UK casino reviews and regulatory guides. NHS-funded assessment and treatment, including the National Problem Gambling Clinic. Independent charity providing safer-gambling information and tools.

Since online casino, poker, and sports betting became a popular industry in the UK, the country’s lawmakers have relied on external licensing bodies to regulate sites serving British residents. Although the United Kingdom is home to the world’s best legal online casinos, poker rooms, and sports betting sites, the industry isn’t content to stand still. There are multiple categories for gaming machines based on the maximum prize available.

Due to the age of these machines, operators have also reported that it has become increasingly challenging to procure spare parts and that in reality, they have to oversupply lower stakes machines beyond the numbers required by the 80/20 rule to ensure compliance in the event of a machine breakdown. While this research is now nearly 7 years old, the point that the headline product in retail bingo clubs is live bingo and customers tend to play machines in the breaks remains relevant. It also commits to further investigate the capacity for game labelling on multi-game machines and the visibility and prominence of safer gambling tools and help. Over recent years, operators have also brought in other increased safety measures including regular staff training and safer gambling advertising. AGC operators highlighted that modern B3 machines can incorporate automatic safety measures such as session time and spend limits.

Some lotteries including large society lotteries and licensing authority lotteries are licensed by the Gambling Commission, while small society lotteries must register with a licensing authority. Some respondents pointed to the relatively high test purchasing scores for licensed gambling premises compared to those for the sale of other age-restricted products. There was limited evidence to suggest these measures would materially improve on the current rules, which allow operators to verify age and identity via background checks that are effective in the vast majority of cases and are minimally disruptive to the customer. Bacta argued that further restrictions on children’s access to Category D machines was unnecessary, drawing attention to its voluntarily imposed 18+ age limit for playing Category D cash payout slot machines and measures in its charter that limit access and appeal to children. Evidence came from a wide range of respondents including industry, charities, researchers, campaign groups, Parliamentarians and local authorities. One of the few longitudinal studies of gambling behaviours in the UK found that patterns of problem/moderate risk gambling can often be established by 20 years of age.

Broadcasters also provided evidence highlighting that their sector is vulnerable financially following the pandemic, and a loss of revenue from gambling adverts could impair public service broadcasters’ ability to meet their obligations. Alongside operators themselves, online platforms also have an important role to play in ensuring that advertising is safe and socially responsible. The industry will commence a review of the sixth edition of the IGRG Code, including considering the extent to which 25+ age filtering could be used with regards to other digital advertising where that functionality is made available. Research from Australia also indicates that for young people exposure to more types of advertising is correlated with gambling participation and harmful gambling. Data from the Gambling Commission’s online tracker survey shows that younger adults are more likely to follow operators on social media than older adults, and more likely to spend money as a result of operators’ posts than older age groups.

What measures, if any, do you think venues should adopt to ensure that no under-18s play on ‘cash-out’ Category D slot-style machines if the age limit is introduced? Should ‘cash-out’ Category D slot-style machines be required to move to age-restricted areas in venues? Should the government introduce an age limit on ‘cash-out’ Category D slot-style machines to 18 and over? This does not distinguish between ‘cash-out’ and ‘ticket-out’ machines. The survey found that in the last 12 months, 3% of respondents had spent their own money on fruit or slot machines and a total of 6% had experience of playing on fruit or slot machines.

Non-compliance by affiliates can lead to fines, reputational damage, or licence reviews for the operator. The UKGC holds operators accountable for any breaches committed by their affiliates. Gambling advertising in the UK is subject to strict regulation to protect vulnerable audiences, including minors, and to keep marketing honest.

On society lotteries, industry, campaigners and retailers all supported increasing the statutory minimum age to 18 years. Summaries of evidence and views from different groups are outlined below, but where evidence is pertinent to particular policy proposals it is discussed in more detail in the following sections. In 2022, the Gambling Commission’s Young People and Gambling Survey identified that 74% of young people who have ever spent their own money on gambling were with their parents and/or guardians at the time and 78% say they did so for fun. A recent Gambling Commission survey indicated that problem gambling rates among young adults appear to peak at the ages of 20 to 21.

Some industry stakeholders questioned the necessity of the sliding scale given the numbers of SSBTs where they are currently permitted are low, and this could be seen as adding to an already complex regulatory framework. This would mean any table gaming area would only count towards the minimum table gaming area if it constitutes 12.5% or more of the total table gaming area in the venue. Exempt venues will be prevented from increasing their gambling area further, from 16 May 2024. Those opposed to the reduction preferred a larger minimum table gaming area requirement in place such as 350sqm. With regard to venues currently operating with a gambling area of 1500sqm or more, the strongest preference from consultation respondents was for these venues to be made to reduce their gambling area below 1500sqm.

At the heart of our Review is making sure that we have the balance right between consumer freedoms and choice on the one hand, and protection from harm on the other. We received around 16,000 submissions to our Call for Evidence, and ministers and officials have held hundreds of meetings with a huge range of stakeholders to inform a package of policies which will make our gambling laws fit for the digital age. Our aim is to ensure our gambling regulation meets the challenges and seizes the opportunities which have come with the changes since the Gambling Act 2005 was passed. Punters who bet more than £1,000 online in a 24-hour window sites not on gamstop will have to undergo an assessment, the regulator says.

There is significant detail underneath this population problem gambling rate which the PHE review considered. There are some recent signs of a decrease in problem gambling rates, with the Gambling Commission’s quarterly surveys finding a steady fall over recent years to a low of 0.2% in the year to December 2022. Based on Health Survey data, we now estimate there to be approximately 300,000 people across Great Britain who meet the definition of being a ‘problem gambler’. Firstly, the best available evidence suggests that the large majority of people who gamble suffer no ill effects. Gambling harm is often a result of the interplay between individual susceptibility, environmental factors, the products themselves and operator actions.

The white paper indicated that we would expect industry to strictly adhere to this ratio and we would set out detailed requirements in further consultation. We welcome further evidence on the unmet consumer demand in the consultation response. A number of premises, particularly those located in motorway service stations, chose to retain their existing entitlements. Please explain your answer, including an alternative proposal for SSBT entitlements where applicable. Do you agree with the proposed entitlements for Self-Service Betting Terminals (SSBTs) based on the sliding scale? Casinos that are currently permitted to offer betting may site a maximum of 40 Self-Service Betting Terminals (SSBTs).

This includes many casinos monitoring customer expenditure across all gaming products, enhanced due diligence measures with trigger values for spend and loss applied to customers and algorithmic systems that use predictive models to identify customers at risk. While online operators are able to track play precisely and apply more tailored player protections, land-based casinos have adopted a range of measures in recent years that have enhanced player protections and tracking. As outlined in the white paper, it is our intention to bring greater coherence to the licence system by allowing 1968 Act casinos of a certain size to have the same gaming machine allowance as Small 2005 Act casinos. Unlike most commercial gambling, Category D gaming machines, which include coin pushers and crane grabs, are not restricted by age. In order to future proof the gaming machine industry and adapt to modern payment technologies, we are seeking views on a range of player protections that will ensure players can use modern payment methods whilst mitigating the risk of harm. Measures that we are seeking views on are intended to address inconsistencies between the different types of casino licence, as well as levelling the playing field to an extent between land-based and online operators.