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.
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.
The Upper Tribunal has ruled that free spins won on a free promotional game fall outside Remote Gaming Duty, reversing the First-tier Tribunal and wiping out the assessment against the Super Group subsidiary. With the duty now at 40%, the ruling reaches well beyond one operator, unless HMRC appeals or Parliament changes the law.
Polymarket's offshore exchange lists contracts on whether 19 of the world's biggest banks, HSBC and Lloyds among them, will fail by the end of 2026. The sums are small, but a Treasury Committee MP warns that a market on a bank's collapse could help cause one, and Britain's regulators have so far said little more than that they are talking to their counterparts abroad.
Sarah Gardner used Allwyn's player protection conference to welcome the National Lottery's interim chief executive, five weeks after two MPs asked the regulator what it knew about him. She also warned that the Lottery's standing is "a high wire act where one wrong step can cause big problems".
Genting has shut its Coventry casino after a month-long staff consultation, blaming costs and tax rises the sector has already absorbed. The closure lands four weeks before a Budget that may double Machine Games Duty, and both sides of that argument are already using it.
The Department of Internal Affairs opened bidding on 29 September for the right to apply for one of up to 15 online casino licences, with a reserve price it will never disclose and no idea, it says, of what the auction will raise. Alongside it, a draft testing regime spells out what the winners will have to prove about their games and platforms.
A contract from the Casino Secrets leak shows the racing pictures and data supplier agreed in 2022 to serve Santeda's brands for a share of their revenue, according to the Guardian. Its owners include bookmakers that have repeatedly warned about the illegal market, and Entain says it has raised its concerns with SIS.
The regulator has confirmed time and loss limits, an on-screen net position and a ban on turbo and slam-stop features for new Category B machines, after more than 1,000 consultation responses. It dropped the plan to retrofit machines already on the floor, which industry estimated would have put about 7,770 of them at risk.
The Mecca and Grosvenor owner says a doubling would shut about a third of its estate and hit around 2,000 staff. Its own accounts suggest the arithmetic is real: on a rough estimate, the rise on Mecca's machines alone would exceed what its bingo clubs earn. The new gambling minister, touring one of its casinos this week, has so far spoken about bingo licensing rather than tax.
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HM Revenue and Customs (GOV.UK)
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Department for Culture, Media and Sport (GOV.UK)
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Gambling Commission
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Gambling Commission
Department for Culture, Media and Sport (GOV.UK)
Department for Culture, Media and Sport (GOV.UK)
Gambling Commission
Advertising Standards Authority / CAP
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Gambling Commission