UK Gambling Commission announced new rules empowering consumers and boosting operator transparency

A further change to the Commission’s Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) will also pave the way for implementation of Government’s upcoming statutory levy (opens in new tab).

The changes follow a consultation and are consistent with the 2023 White Paper High stakes: gambling reform for the digital age (opens in new tab).

New customer led tools

New rules will give consumers more effective ways to manage their gambling by making it easier to set and maintain deposit limits on their online accounts, in ways that work best for them.

From 31 October 2025 all gambling businesses must prompt their customers to set a financial limit before they make their first deposit and make it easy to review and alter this limit at any point after.

These rules will take good practice already offered by some operators and expand that so customers can expect the same standards across the industry.

Gambling businesses will also be required to remind consumers every six months to review their account and transaction information – this will help consumers consider if they want to change existing, or set new, deposit limits.

Our work revealed recent changes by some operators on how deposit limits are offered, which could cause confusion for consumers. As a result, we will launch a short supplementary consultation on proposals to improve consistency and transparency for consumers on how financial limits work.

Transparency of protection of customer funds

Operators who hold customer funds must already set out in the terms and conditions whether these are protected in the event of insolvency, the level of such protection and the method by which this is achieved. They must also make this information available at the point at which a customer first deposits money.

The level of protection must be described as either ‘not protected – no segregation’, ‘not protected – segregation of customer funds’, ‘medium protection’ or ‘high protection’.

From 31 October 2025 operators whose customer funds are ‘not protected’ in the event of insolvency must actively remind consumers once every six months that their funds are not protected.

Whilst there is no legal duty on gambling operators to protect customers funds in the event of insolvency, many of them do so voluntarily. The changes will help consumers understand which operators protect their funds and which do not – information which will support them in making choices about who they gamble with.

Changes connected with the new statutory levy

The Commission’s LCCP currently requires operators to make annual financial contributions to a list of research, prevention and treatment organisations.

This requirement will be removed close to the introduction of the government’s statutory levy (opens in new tab) (expected to come into force on 6 April 2025) as it will become obsolete. We will notify licensees of the date of implementation as soon as the Parliamentary process is complete.

Tim Miller, Commission Executive Director for research and policy, said: “These changes illustrate our commitment to ensuring gambling is fair and open by improving consumer empowerment and choice.

“These changes will help consumers decide on deposit limits, enable them to keep track of their spending and ensure they are fully aware of what happens to their funds should an operator become insolvent.

“We will now continue our work to deliver our remaining White Paper commitments, including our programme of evaluation.”

Read the full Commission Autumn 2023 consultation response