United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Great Britain is one of the most established regulated online gambling markets in the world. Operators are licensed by the Gambling Commission under the Gambling Act 2005, and providing facilities for gambling to British consumers without an operating licence is a criminal offence. The market is fully open across sports betting, casino and poker, and conduct is governed by the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP), which carry the detailed obligations on customer interaction, identity verification and marketing. The period since the Gambling Act review has brought the sharpest changes in two decades. Online slots now carry statutory stake limits of GBP 5 per spin for players aged 25 and over and GBP 2 for those aged 18 to 24. A statutory levy on operators funds research, prevention and treatment, replacing the previous voluntary arrangement. Financial risk assessments have been piloted to identify players at risk without requiring intrusive document checks, and GAMSTOP self-exclusion is mandatory across licensed sites. The headline change for operators is fiscal: Remote Gaming Duty rose to 40% of remote gaming profits on 1 April 2026, up from 21%, a near doubling that reopened the question of whether the licensed market can absorb further cost without losing players to unlicensed supply. The market figures shown here are the Gambling Commission’s own calendar-2025 totals, summed from its quarterly regulatory returns and marked provisional, so they may be revised.
The Gambling Act 2005 (Operating Licence Conditions) (Amendment) Regulations 2025
Figures on this record are drawn from official regulator data.
The duty burden continues to rise. A separate increase to the duty on remote betting is scheduled, and operators should model the higher Remote Gaming Duty into UK margins now. Responsible-gambling conditions, including the online slots stake limits and affordability expectations, are tightening rather than easing.
The Betfred founder has put numbers on the Treasury's option: 45% of his estate, 2,475 jobs, £66.8m of tax and £15.8m of racing funding, in a Sunday Times op-ed and a Financial Times interview in which he says machines are half of shop profit. Betfred has already ended its Super League sponsorship, citing last year's Budget.
The MGA and the Malta Digital Innovation Authority launched a principles-based framework on Thursday for operators using AI in player protection, fraud detection and customer contact. It sits under the EU AI Act, binds nobody, and is a rare instance of a gambling regulator writing down what it expects of a licensee's models. Charles Mizzi: "Our role is not to stand in the way of innovation."
Stella David wants the government's promised ban brought in immediately, "even if that means clubs ordering new kit mid-season", and extended to online advertising, where 22% of unlicensed users first found their operator against 13% through sponsorship. The count is up from eight clubs last season, and the newest deal was signed after the consultation closed.
The state court that granted Spribe an injunction against NSX in April, then revoked it in July when a federal court suspended the developer's trademark, has now ruled on the merits: no trademark infringement, no copyright infringement, no unfair competition. It is the third Brazilian decision in a row to go against the Estonian studio, three days after a Brasília judge ordered it to police its own distribution.
The site compares equivalent contracts across Kalshi, Polymarket, Novig, Underdog, FanDuel Predicts, Fanatics and five others, with a cross-venue engine for multi-leg positions and Genius's live game data underneath. It runs on Legend, the media business whose $1.2bn purchase in February sank the shares. Mark Locke says most prediction-market demand "appears new".
The Gambling Commission's 2025/26 report shows online casino up 14.8% to £5.7bn, adding more than the entire market gained. Online betting fell 6.6%, bingo fell, 208 betting shops closed before this year's cull began. The survey says participation is flat at 49%. The day after the Lords called for an advertising ban, the regulator's own numbers explain why the product mix is the argument.
The Gaming Supervisory Authority opened an account, funded it and bet on sports results, then took the evidence to the Vilnius Regional Administrative Court. Internet providers must block the site and payment firms must stop dealing with Adventure One QSS. It is the first prediction market Lithuania has treated as an unlicensed bookmaker, and the 2,204th site it has blocked.
A University of Toronto and ICES study of 14 years of hospital records finds visits 154% above the expected level among males aged 10 to 29 and 116% above among men aged 30 to 44, with no change in females. The authors call it a caution for Alberta and every province considering private online operators.
The ANJL wants the platforms to run a permanent programme to find, remove, de-index and block the influencers who funnel Brazilians to unlicensed betting sites, and to stop the accounts coming back under new names. It puts the illegal market at 38% to 44%.
HM Revenue and Customs (GOV.UK)
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legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives)
Gambling Commission
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House of Commons Library
Gambling Commission