Gambling regulations Overhaul
In a speech on 27th February 2025 the gambling minister, Baroness Twycross, confirmed that two of the key legislative reforms under the Gambling Regulation White Paper (“the White Paper”), had been approved by both Houses of Parliament and the relevant Orders were made on 25th February 2025.
Implementation of the Statutory Levy
The Statutory Levy (“the Levy”), which will be payable by all holders of Gambling Commission Operating Licences, will be implemented on 6th April 2025 with the first payments being due by 1st October 2025 (for the period from 1st July 2024 to 1st April 2025) and by 1st October for each subsequent levy period with effect from 1st April 2025. The Levy will be collected by the Gambling Commission. The current Social Responsibility Code requiring annual contributions is being removed from the Commission’s Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) now that the legislation mandating payment of the Statutory Levy has been implemented.
The “amount of the levy” payable by Remote Operating Licence Holders, as defined by the legislation, is 1.1% of the leviable amount for all licence types. For Non-Remote Casino Operating Licence Holders, non-remote general betting and non-remote betting intermediaries the amount is 0.5% of the leviable amount. For Non-Remote Bingo, Adult Gaming Centre and Non-Remote on track or on-course Operating Licences the amount is 0.2% of the leviable amount.
The “leviable amount” is defined as follows in Regulation 2:
“(3) In relation to a holder of an operating licence which is not a lottery operating licence, the “leviable amount” in respect of a levy period is—
(a)the aggregate of—
(i)amounts paid during the levy period to the holder of the operating licence by way of stakes in connection with the activities authorised by the operating licence, and
(ii)amounts (exclusive of value added tax) that otherwise accrue during the levy period to the holder of the operating licence directly in connection with activities authorised by the licence, minus
(b)the aggregate of amounts deducted during the levy period by the holder of the operating licence for the provision of prizes or winnings in connection with the activities authorised by the licence.”
Maximum Stakes for Online Slots
The Gambling Act 2005 (Operating Licence Conditions) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 (“the Regulations”) implement the commitment in the White Paper to impose a limit on the stakes permitted for on-line slots games.
With effect from 9th April 2025 stakes for any game cycle will be restricted to £5 for all players with the stake limit being reduced to £2 with from 21 May 2025 for those players aged 18 to 24.
The higher £5 stake will then apply to all players aged 25 or older.
The new requirements will be attached to all existing Remote Casino Operating Licences by way of a “Secretary of State Licence Condition”. The condition will be added during the period between 25th February and 6th April 2025.
The Regulations define a gaming cycle as follows:
“game cycle” means, for an online slots game, the period beginning with the initiation of a game by the individual and ending at the point at which all money staked during the game has been lost or all money won during the game has been delivered to or made available for collection by the individual as the case may be;
“online slots game” means a casino game that is
- a reel-based game, and
- is played online
“reel based game” means a game in which
(a)moving or changing images or text are displayed by the use of visual representations of reels or other means, and
(b) an individual may win a prize or some other opportunity or advantage, as represented by the resulting arrangement of those images or text;”
In her speech, Baroness Twycross stated as follows:
“I am sure many of you will have followed the progress of the statutory gambling levy in Parliament over the last few weeks. The legislation has been affirmed by both Houses and became law on Tuesday [25 February 2025] this week. It will come into force on the 6th of April and operators will be required to make their first levy payments by the 1st of October.
The online slots stake limits statutory instrument was also made into law on Tuesday. I know you are all keen to understand exactly when these stake limits will come into force.
I can confirm the five pound limit will be in force on the 9th of April, while the two pound limit for younger adults will be in force on the 21st of May. I know that implementing these stake limits is a technical challenge and I am grateful for all the work you have done in preparation for this moment.”
Comment
Andrew Cotton, Senior Associate Solicitor in our Regulatory and Criminal Group commented:
“These provisions have a very short implementation period (now less than a month) and whilst the industry has been on notice that the stakes reduction would only have a 6-week implementation period a significant number of operators and software suppliers are not members of the Betting and Gaming Council so may be unaware of the impending implementation.
“The last government confirmed it would implement both of these changes back in the first half of 2024 but the legislation was not laid before parliament before the election last July, however this legislation is one which has seen a swift path through the parliamentary process and affected business will need to act swiftly to ensure they comply with the impending legislation.”
Should you have any queries in relation to how this new legislation will affect you, please contact the team.
