HMRC Rewrites Remote Gaming Duty Freeplay Rules After Jumpman Loss

The government will replace the freeplay provision that the Upper Tribunal read in Jumpman Gaming's favour, from 1 April 2027. HMRC calls the measure a clarification that raises nothing, but it narrows the exclusion operators won in September.

• Finance Bill 2026-27 will replace section 159A of the Finance Act 2014 with rules for "restricted plays", the new name for freeplays, from 1 April 2027, according to HMRC
• A free spin won from another restricted play will be excluded from Remote Gaming Duty (RGD) only where no other benefit is offered in its place, close to the reading HMRC argued for and lost in the Jumpman case
• Restricted play will also cover non-withdrawable bonus money, and the measure redefines "prize" and the tax treatment of tournaments
• HMRC scores the Exchequer impact at nil in every year to 2031-32 and calls it "an upstream compliance measure intended to reinforce existing policy"
• The change was published alongside the Machine Games Duty rise and leaves earlier accounting periods under the law the tribunal interpreted

HMRC Will Replace the Provision Jumpman Won On

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) published a tax information and impact note (TIIN), "Remote Gaming Duty: changes to freeplays, prizes and tournaments", on 28 October, Budget day in the United Kingdom. It says Finance Bill 2026-27 will amend the Finance Act 2014 "by replacing section 159A with new provisions for restricted play", and that the measure "will have effect from 1 April 2027".

Under the TIIN, restricted play will cover offers that waive all or part of a gaming payment and "non-withdrawable money provided by or on behalf of the gaming provider". Where a restricted play is won through the use of another restricted play, the won play will be excluded from RGD calculations where "no other benefit is offered in place of it". HMRC's Budget overview of tax legislation and rates says the legislation will "put beyond doubt" the treatment of freeplays, prizes and tournaments.

Something will count as a prize only where it must be paid or provided "under the published rules of the game", and the law will set out when a stake returned after a game is interrupted or terminated can be treated as a prize. It will also change when a tournament entry counts as playing a game of chance, and give HMRC powers to make regulations on when a gaming payment is treated as waived and when a tournament entry fee is disregarded.

The Ruling the New Wording Answers

The Upper Tribunal, Judges Swami Raghavan and Guy Brannan, released its decision in Jumpman Gaming Ltd v HMRC ([2026] UKUT 00364 (TCC)) on 25 September. Jumpman's welcome offer gave depositing customers a spin on its "Mega Reel" wheel, which could award cash, vouchers or free spins on other games. Both tribunals treated the wheel as a game that was always free, not a paid game with a waived stake. The Upper Tribunal held that free spins won from it fell within the exclusion in section 159A(4) and (5), reading "the gaming" as remote gaming generally rather than only gaming under a stake waiver, and reduced assessments of about £13.2 million to nil.

The TIIN does not name the case. It says "different interpretations have arisen" since the 2017 Finance Act added the freeplay rules, and that the change will "reduce the scope for dispute and protect future revenues". It does not say whether HMRC will seek to appeal the ruling, and it mentions no consultation.

Those affected, HMRC says, are RGD-liable operators offering freeplays or running tournaments, and it expects a negligible administrative burden.

The Nil Costing Shows What HMRC Thinks the Law Always Meant

A measure that narrows a relief would normally score a yield. HMRC scores this one at nil because it treats it as restating existing policy, consistent with the case it lost: it argued the exclusion only covered spins won from stake-waived play, and the new test excludes a won restricted play only where it came from another restricted play. On the TIIN's wording, a spin won from an always-free wheel like Mega Reel would not obviously qualify, because no payment was waived to play it. With RGD at 40% since April and receipts doubling in July, that difference costs operators more than when Jumpman was assessed at 15% and 21%.

The Past Stays Under the Old Law

The new rules start on 1 April 2027 and the TIIN gives no retrospective date. For the periods in between, the Upper Tribunal's reading of section 159A stands unless HMRC overturns it on appeal. Stephen Hignett of CMS has said operators that accounted for RGD on such spins should consider repayment claims, which typically must be made within four years.

Bonus Money Moves Inside the Definition

Folding non-withdrawable money into restricted play and tying prizes to published game rules reaches bonus wallets, tournaments and voided games, not only wheel promotions. The TIIN describes the new provisions rather than setting out their text, so operators cannot yet test their own products against the wording.

HMRC has answered Jumpman with legislation rather than a retrospective fix. Operators keep the benefit for past periods, but promotions built on the tribunal's reading have about five months left.