Non-Remote Casino Sector legislative changes guidance
UKGC-licensed casinos are required to segregate player funds, offer responsible gambling tools, and adhere to strict fairness standards. The majority of UK players now access online casinos primarily through a smartphone or tablet. William Hill Vegas is one of the most recognisable names in UK gambling, and its online casino arm lives up to the brand’s reputation. Unlike land-based casinos, online sites are accessible 24/7 and typically offer thousands of games alongside welcome bonuses and ongoing promotions. You can also use the search feature on the UKGC site to see the licence status of any online casino.
Industry has raised some concerns about how areas like bars would be categorised if sports betting terminals were placed in them. If its gambling area is 500sqm or more, its non-gambling area must be equal to or greater than 250sqm. It could also mean that the same gambling facilities are compressed into a smaller gambling area, with potentially a worse customer experience and no player protection benefits.
If you run a gambling business for profit without the relevant licences, you could be committing an offence and you could be prosecuted. We act for businesses throughout the world in applications for UK Gambling Commission Operator’s Licences and UKGC and local authority premises licences. Independent, hands-on reviews of UK Gambling Commission–licensed online casinos.
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However, we want to avoid any regulation that would allow table gaming areas to be placed in obscure or less accessible areas for customers so that a genuinely mixed offering of products remains in the casino. We appreciate that for commercial reasons and for a better customer experience, tables are already grouped together in casinos, often in one large area. The overarching principle is that specific areas in the casino should be separated for the purposes of table gaming.
The Gambling Act 2005 permits the advertising of gambling in all forms, provided that it is legal and there are adequate protections in place to prevent such advertisements undermining the licensing objectives. Local licensing authorities also provide lottery registrations and gambling permits for pubs, clubs and other establishments for low-level gambling. If your equipment is based in the UK or if you offer gambling to UK residents, you need a UK Gambling Commission licence. There are certain exemptions from holding an operating licence for small lotteries and small raffles run not for profit and for fundraising for societies, schools and clubs only. In addition, where the business is based at premises, you will require a premises licence. He leads the firm’s cross-departmental alcohol and gaming licensing teams.
The consultation asked the questions below on whether licensing authority fees should be increased, and if so, by how much. A central component of allowing the land-based gambling sector to develop sustainably is to ensure that it is well regulated and that customers are protected. Many of the measures proposed within this consultation are modernising measures which are intended to support the land-based gambling industry to thrive sustainably.
Breaks in play are designed to stop dissociation/disconnection from the world around them, with research suggesting that best practice is to combine breaks in play with responsible gambling messaging. (Optional response) Sliding scale If No is selected What do you think the maximum committed payment limit should be for the following machine categories (£)? Shown if No is selected What do you think the maximum deposit limit should be for the following machine categories (£)? (Optional response)Sliding scale
As a first step in licensing a casino, the licensing authority will have to invite applications for any casino premises licences that it may issue. 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). Hence, the typical remote gambling business will require three types of British licence to lawfully offer remote gambling to British residents – an “operating” licence, a software “operating” licence and a suite of personal licences for its main personnel. As far as remote gaming and betting is concerned, licences are readily available to suitable applicants.
These powers can apply to all premises licences, or classes of licence, or to licences in specified circumstances. These powers can apply to all premises licences, or classes of licence or to licences in specified circumstances. 443.The Secretary of State and the Scottish Ministers have power to issue mandatory conditions on premises licences, for England and Wales, and Scotland respectively. 437.Sections 206 to 209 set out the appeal rights in relation to a decision of a licensing authority to grant or reject an application for a premises licence. The premises licence issued by the licensing authority must be accompanied by a summary of the terms and conditions attaching to it. 429.The Secretary of State is given the power to make regulations which require an applicant for a premises licence to publish notice of his application, to give notice of it to responsible authorities and other people.
More information on licence applications is available from the Commission’s webpage Operating Licences. Converted casino licensees are advised that those wishing to utilise the new extended entitlements will need to inform the Commission under the Licence Conditions and Code of Practice (LCCP) Ordinary Code Provision 8.1.1 (Information requirements). A series of key proposals specifically relating to the land-based gambling sector were outlined in Chapter 6 of the White Paper, including measures to adjust outdated regulatory restrictions applying to the sector. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) published its gambling White Paper (opens in new tab) in April 2023, which set out the previous government’s plans for modernising the regulation of the gambling sector. Google acts as data processor on our behalf, further information is available in Google Cloud Platform Service Specific Terms (opens in new tab) and Google’s Cloud Data Processing Addendum (opens in new tab).
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Rawa Kaftan is a regulatory lawyer in Wiggin’s Betting & Gaming team and advises key stakeholders in the gambling industry, including many of the world’s largest online B2C operators, software suppliers, payment service providers and investors. Finally, in June 2025 the UK Government announced that it plans to introduce a “Voluntary Code” for prize draw operators whose offerings do not require a licence under the gambling framework because of the presence of a free entry route. The Gambling Commission’s Notice essentially makes clear that those B2B operators have a role in assisting the Gambling Commission in tackling unlicensed gambling in the British market and that such B2Bs place their own licence at risk by not taking sufficient steps to ensure that its content is only made available to British consumers via licensed B2C websites. The regulator has indicated that it may be less inclined to “settle” regulatory enforcement actions, particularly where operators have been made the subject of prior regulatory enforcement action, leaning towards the imposition of sanctions and penalties or, in more serious cases, suspensions and revocations of licences. For instance, since 28 February 2025, online gambling operators have been required to undertake a financial vulnerability check where a customer’s net spend exceeds £150 in a rolling 30-day period and, following the passing of secondary legislation, since May 2025 maximum stake limits per spin for online slot games are in place (£2 for those aged 18–24; £5 for those aged 25 and over). The main legislation governing gambling in the three forms identified in English law (gaming, betting and participating in a lottery) is the Gambling Act 2005.
In order to slow the speed of direct cashless transactions and provide a break in play, the government proposes that there should be a minimum transaction time for players making direct cashless payment transactions on gaming machines. What should the maximum transaction value be for direct cashless payments on gaming machines? Should card account verification (such as chip and PIN or Face ID on mobile payment systems) be required if direct cashless payments are permitted on gaming machines? The authorisation required by the account holder in these systems mitigates against the risk of cashless payments facilitating crime through stolen cards being used on gaming machines. The risk would be that some forms of direct cashless payment (such as contactless) lack account verification and could allow stolen cards to be used on gaming machines.
From above-average deposit bonuses to ongoing promotions, this casino knows how to reward players. With such wins as “Best Online Casino Operator” and “Best Mobile Operator,” we see Casumo as a leading UKGC casino. We explain our picks further down with thoughts from our seasoned casino team. These brands offer more than your average casino, whether in the quality of their game portfolio, unique features, interfaces, or promotions. By choosing a licensed site, you also choose a casino that can help you if need be.
- Most operators allow you to browse the lobby without creating an account, which gives you a sense of how the interface performs.
- To obtain a UK gambling license, you must pay initial fees, duties, and taxes.
- The following guidance is specific to casino games, and is relevant to those who hold a casino licence.
In order to obtain a casino premises licence, you must first be the holder of a casino operating licence. There is a high-level cap on the number of casino licences available throughout the UK, which is set down in regulations under the Gambling Act 2005. A casino operating licence allows the holder to provide casino gambling facilities. Some of these conditions apply to casino licences only, but some apply to all types of operating licence. Nigel Farage has made a safe gambling message for online-casinos.co.uk players. New casino premises licences issued under the Act will fall into one of two categories namely large casino premises licence or small casino premises licence.
See our top UK casinos or full reviews for casinos we’ve already checked. Licensed operators must keep player funds separate from operating money and disclose the level of protection, so your balance is safeguarded. That accountability is exactly why we only ever feature UKGC-licensed casinos on CasinoReg. All casinos reviewed are UKGC licensed.
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. Until the Gambling Act 2005, the Betting Gaming and Lotteries Act 1963 prohibited “betting and the passing of betting slips” in licensed premises, that is those licensed to sell alcohol. The commission’s site has details of both licensed operators and applicants. According to the survey conducted by the Gambling Commission, as of March 2010, 10.7% of the 8,000 adults surveyed said they had participated in at least one form of remote gambling in the previous 4 weeks. Simon Stevens, then-chief executive of the NHS, said in 2013 that he “disapproved of eight betting firms” because “they do not pay towards NHS costs in countering gambling addiction.” The total online gambling population in the UK is estimated at 2.1 million customers.
However, while Option 1 was the most common secondary option for many of these respondents in the original consultation, the majority of respondents to the supplementary consultation were supportive of Option 2(b) above Option 1. Another operator stated that both options could, over time, potentially lead to a 20% to 25% increase in Category B cabinets and would likely lead to the reduction of tablets and in-fills to at most a nominal level. The reason provided for this preference is that Options 2(a) and 2(b) would provide greater commercial flexibility over the long-term – with Option 2(b) providing the greater flexibility of the 2 options. These options supplanted their stated preference for Option 1 in the original consultation.
Under Option 1, the vast majority of industry respondents projected that there would be an increase in GGY for arcade and bingo operators. A summary of these responses is outlined below. Licensing authority responses were predominantly in favour of Option 2, though a number restated their original position that the current 80/20 ratio should not be changed in the liberalising manner proposed. The majority of industry responses expressed a preference non gamstop casinos for either Option 1 or Option 3, and were strongly opposed to Option 2. This section of the consultation received 40 responses.
Operator licence fees are different for 1968 Act and 2005 Act casinos. We do not intend on changing any of the requirements placed on operators for when a variation to a premises licence may be required. Currently, the Gambling Commission’s guidance to licensing authorities states that an application for a variation of a premises licence will only be required where there are material changes to the layout of the premises.