United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Great Britain is one of the oldest and largest regulated online gambling markets. The Gambling Commission licenses operators under the Gambling Act 2005, and since 2014 any operator whose facilities are used in Great Britain needs its licence, wherever it is based. Sports betting, casino, poker and bingo are all open. Northern Ireland sits outside the Act under its own 1985 Order. Online casino, betting and bingo produced £8.3 billion of gross gambling yield in the year to March 2026, up 6.9%. Online casino accounted for £5.7 billion of that, £4.8 billion of it from slots, with 25.7 million active accounts. The last two years have brought the sharpest changes since 2005. Online slots have statutory stake limits of £5, or £2 for players under 25. A statutory levy of 1.1% of GGY for online operators has funded harm research and treatment since April 2025. Bonus wagering is capped at ten times the bonus, and Financial Risk Assessments are being phased in for the heaviest spenders. The biggest change is tax. Remote Gaming Duty rose from 21% to 40% on 1 April 2026, and online betting moves from 15% to 25% in April 2027, with UK horse racing exempt. The government is now moving on the unlicensed market, consulting on a criminal ban on sponsorship by unlicensed brands from August 2027.
Treating the UK as one market: the Gambling Commission licenses Great Britain, not Northern Ireland. Assuming an offshore licence is enough: any operator whose facilities are used in Great Britain needs a Commission licence. Forgetting the April 2027 remote betting rate when modelling, and that horse racing is excluded from it.
Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014
The Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements (Northern Ireland) Order 1985
The Gambling Act 2005 (Operating Licence Conditions) (Amendment) Regulations 2025
The Gambling Levy Regulations 2025
Finance Act 2026, sections 86 to 88
The Gambling (Fees) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2026
Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP)
Ban on advertising and sponsorship by unlicensed gambling operators
Gambling impact assessments for betting shops, bingo halls and arcades (England)
Remote casino operating licence
Remote general betting operating licence
Remote bingo operating licence
Gambling software operating licence
New General Betting Duty rate for remote bets (excluding remote bets on UK horse racing, which stay at 15%, and bets via self-service terminals in betting premises)
Regulatory settlement for AML failures after its games appeared on six unlicensed sites used from Great Britain
Fine: £4,750,000 as of 23 Jul 2026
Regulatory settlement for social responsibility failures
Fine: £900,000 as of 30 Jun 2026
Regulatory settlement for AML and social responsibility failures
Fine: £609,104 as of 20 Aug 2026
Combined remote operating licence suspended
Figures on this record are drawn from official regulator data.
6 Apr 2025
Statutory gambling levy starts
9 Apr 2025
£5 online slots stake limit takes effect
21 May 2025
£2 stake limit for players aged 18 to 24 takes effect
1 Apr 2026
Remote Gaming Duty rises to 40% and Bingo Duty is abolished
7 Jul 2026
Commission confirms a staged introduction of Financial Risk Assessments
15 Jul 2026
DCMS consults on banning unlicensed gambling sponsorship and advertising
23 Jul 2026
Evolution agrees a £4.75 million settlement
1 Apr 2027
25% General Betting Duty rate for remote bets begins
The 25% remote betting duty arrives on 1 April 2027 and will test margins further after the 40% gaming rate. Watch the government response to the unlicensed sponsorship consultation (ban proposed from August 2027), the timetable for stage one Financial Risk Assessments, the Commission fee rises from 1 October 2026, and whether a new minister and the Lords committee on advertising push for further advertising restrictions.
An independent Regulatory Commission heard the young striker's case that he placed none of the bets himself, and fined him anyway because he opened and funded the six accounts that others used. The written reasons put the total stake at under £2,000 and redact who placed the bets.
A Racing Post count of every British race title shows bookmakers sponsoring 17% fewer races this year, with the cuts deepening after Remote Gaming Duty went to 40% in April. It lands three weeks before a Budget that may raise machine games duty, which would hit racing harder.
Communities Minister Gordon Lyons told the Assembly that a review of the 2022 update to Northern Ireland's 1985 gambling law is expected next year, and that the Bill to regulate online gambling will be for a future Minister. Four years after Royal Assent, the 2022 Act's levy power has still not been brought into operation.
Alex Frost, who led the racehorse owners' purchase of the Tote from Betfred in 2019, will hand over to former GiG and DraftKings executive James Coxon at the end of 2026. In the same announcement the Tote is closing its online gaming and cutting back a consumer digital business that its latest accounts show made an EBITDA loss of £11.9 million.
The Gambling Commission found that staff at Rank's Grosvenor casinos treated customers' wealth or winning streaks as a reason for light-touch safer gambling checks, and that its anti-money laundering rules had not caught up with changes made in 2020. The regulator says risks more often associated with online gambling are equally alive on the casino floor.
IG's core trading business kept more customers and less of their money in the third quarter, and the London-listed broker has cut its 2026 growth outlook to mid-single digits. The US fantasy and prediction-market operator it agreed in July to buy for up to $1.3 billion more than doubled its revenue, but that deal has not closed and the business is in court with six states.
The London-listed events group is paying 11.1 times Clarion's expected 2027 EBITDA, part-funded by a £940 million share placing. The gambling industry's largest trade show is about to pass from private equity to a listed owner that names gaming as a growth category.
At her first policy panel as gambling minister, Vicky Foxcroft told a Labour conference audience that the consultation on scrapping the Gambling Act's "aim to permit" rule is coming "very shortly". She did not say when, or what will replace a principle that has governed every betting shop and arcade licence decision since 2007.
The first month to reflect the higher rate brought in 108% more online gaming duty than a year earlier, more than the rate rise alone explains. The industry says one month proves nothing; the Treasury, three weeks from a Budget that may double Machine Games Duty, may read it differently.
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