Gambling Commission

This release presents 2 topic reports based on secondary analysis of 2025 GSGB data. The reports contribute to Theme 3 of our evidence priority roadmaps, which focuses on understanding gambling-related harms and who is most vulnerable to experiencing them. Wiggin is a UK-based full-service law firm, headquartered in London, with a dedicated focus on media, technology and intellectual property (IP) matters. The firm guides clients through financing, exploitation and safeguarding their creative and commercial assets within these specialised sectors. Alongside its specialist commercial expertise, the firm provides a full legal service across corporate, tax, finance, litigation, employment and property.

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Again, if you use your phone or computer to gamble, now is a good time to find another activity that doesn’t involve being online. Tell gambling establishments you frequent that you have a gambling problem and ask them to restrict you from entering. Gamblers Anonymous, for example, is a 12-step recovery program patterned after Alcoholics Anonymous. A key part of the program is finding a sponsor, a former gambler who has experience remaining free from addiction and can provide you invaluable guidance and support.

National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health (NCCMH)

The Gambling Commission will take a closer look at how bonuses are constructed and targeted to prevent them being used in harmful ways and its work will inform new rules to stop dangerous practices. The White Paper proposes reforming the fee structure for the Gambling Commission to give it greater flexibility to respond to any emerging risks and challenges posed by the industry. Illegal operators often try to subvert the system, including on player protection requirements, and this move will further strengthen the regulatory environment protecting those most at risk of harm. Duelz Casino is highly recommended for its instant withdrawals, which greatly enhance player satisfaction. When choosing the best online casino UK, personal preferences and feedback from other players are crucial factors to consider. Evaluating your gaming needs and comparing different platforms can help you find the perfect match.

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Offences cover the unlicensed offer of gambling, the unlicensed use of premises for gambling, the promotion or facilitation of a lottery and so on. The legal approach is to completely criminalise gambling but then to make exceptions for persons who comply with the licensing regime, pay the applicable tax, observe the applicable regulation and so on. Alternatively, there are exceptions in the legislation for low-level or private gambling. We relied on review-level evidence to understand risk factors for gambling and harmful gambling, but this proved difficult as the reviews were low quality and relied heavily on cross-sectional studies. The majority of the evidence focused on personal or individual level factors, with limited evidence on family, societal or environmental factors.

Gambling Act 2005

The National Lottery is the most common type of gambling across all age groups, except among younger people where scratch cards are more common. Football pools and electronic gaming machines are more common among people under 35 years of age compared with older age groups. Men are more likely to gamble than women, and this difference is most obvious for online gambling where 15% of men participate, compared to 4% of women. Even though it’s often illegal for children or teens to gamble, many do so anyway. Kids and teens may gamble in-person during card games with friends, at arcades, or online.

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Poorer citizens conducted street gambling, and while this was illegal, enforcement was difficult to administer. Lotteries are centered on good causes as opposed to commercial or personal gains. There is the National Lottery and smaller lotteries promoted within local authorities.

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WHO recognizes that some jurisdictions have developed effective gambling regulatory systems. Efforts to document and distribute these lessons are underway, particularly to support low- and middle-income countries where commercial gambling activity is rapidly increasing. Opportunities to gamble are often disproportionately located in areas of higher disadvantage. High-intensity products including EGMs, high-speed wagering platforms, and casino games, including online versions, are readily accessible almost anywhere. UK online casinos cater to fans of classic games and those seeking new, exciting UK casino online games options.

Greentube has been delivering safe and secure casino entertainment to players around the world for over 12 years. Information on the advice provided by the Gambling Commission to help inform government policy on updates to the Gambling Act 2005 along with gambling legislation in Great Britain. National Gambling Clinic – The National Gambling Clinic, established in 2008, supports people who are experiencing harm from gambling aged 13 to 18 years from anywhere in England, and 18 or over in London. LotteryNational Lottery – The National Lottery offers ways to control your gambling, including limiting your spending and play, sessions reminders, and keeping track of or pausing your play.

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It has one of the top welcome bonuses on the market, giving users a choice between either a £40 bonus bingo or 200 free spins on its slot games once customers have staked £10 online. Our reviews of established online gambling platforms and new casino sites are based on a wide-ranging set of criteria, with operators having to hit all the points on our checklist. There was one low quality qualitative study that looked at gaming in people aged 11 to 24 years old. The young people felt gambling-like activities in gaming (such as loot boxes and skin betting) were addictive. They also said that games were designed to make it difficult to enjoy without buying loot boxes, and they thought that gambling-like activity in gaming was normal.

• Any offers or odds listed in this article are correct at the time of publication but are subject to change.
• For others, gambling can harm their physical and mental health, relationships, performance at work or study, get them into trouble with the law and leave them in serious debt and possible homelessness.
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The financial regulation of gambling is set out mostly in the British Finance Acts and provides for various levels of duty upon different types of gambling. Any offers or odds listed in this article are correct at the time of publication but are subject to change. MrQ has been recognised as one of the top slot spots by the industry, winning the EGR Slot Operator of the Year award and its library features over 900 titles, covering a huge variety of slot types. Below, we’ve broken down the best gambling sites on the market according to different categories. Parliament issued the Gaming Act of 1845 and Betting Act of 1853, both of which effectively ceased all commercial gambling. However, on-course betting was permitted at horse tracks, but only the upper class could partake.

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• For every person who gambles at high-risk levels, an average of six others (usually non-gamblers) are affected (6).
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The harder it is for you to engage in the behavior, the more time you’ll have to recognize and defuse a craving. Plan to rely on close personal connections, peers who understand what you’re going through, and professionals who can offer guidance. You may gamble until you’ve spent your last dollar, and then move on to money you don’t have—money to pay bills, credit cards, or things for your children. Blaming others is one way to avoid taking responsibility for their actions, including what is needed to overcome the problem. Gambling problems affect people of all levels of intelligence and all backgrounds. Previously responsible and strong-willed people are just as likely to develop a gambling problem as anyone else.

If you recognise any of these harms in your own behaviour, you should try to seek help. Often people don’t recognise that these are also a type of gambling and struggle to acknowledge that they have lost control. Gambling disorder can have a big impact on your personal and family life, your work and education, and the things you enjoy.

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• We relied on review-level evidence to understand risk factors for gambling and harmful gambling, but this proved difficult as the reviews were low quality and relied heavily on cross-sectional studies.
• IGB’s latest report breaks down the numbers behind football’s biggest betting event.
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• Understanding how different players decide what is ‘normal’ in terms of gambling is a key consideration for communicating with these audiences, bearing in mind that many overestimate what is normal.
• Try reaching out to colleagues at work, joining a sports team or book club, enrolling in an education class, or volunteering for a good cause.
• If you think you have a problem, advice and support is available for you now from BeGambleAware or Gamcare.
• The UK Gambling Commission regularly revises industry standards to address consumer safety and responsible gambling UK.

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• Men are more likely to gamble than women, and this difference is most obvious for online gambling where 15% of men participate, compared to 4% of women.
• Life situations, such as struggling financially and living alone, also seem to be risk factors.
• ‘Problem gambling’ or ‘problematic gambling’ is defined as gambling that is disruptive or damaging to an individual or their family, or interferes with an individual’s daily life.
• Players must acknowledge that online gambling involves some risk and should approach it with a healthy mindset.
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• A 2020 YouGov treatment and support survey reported that 13% of the population were experiencing some level of gambling harm, compared to 4% from HSE (combining surveys for England, Scotland and Wales).
• The commercialization of gambling in many countries – which also drives normalization – is increasing the incidence of gambling harm.
• Furthermore, bookmakers are free, under current British legislation, to offer bets on lottery results other than the British National Lottery.
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• Nationally representative quotas were applied on age, gender, and region to ensure a representative spread of gamblers in the sample.

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Having a gambling problem is just a case of being weak-willed, irresponsible, or unintelligent. Explore the warning signs and symptoms of compulsive gambling and learn how to stop. Gambling happens when you play any game of chance or skill, in which you stake something valuable that has potential for a prize win. Understanding how gambling works will help protect you from the risks of gambling. If you think you shouldn’t have been allowed to gamble you can complain to the Gambling Commission. They can take action against a gambling company if they think the company hasn’t followed the rules.

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The Gambling Survey for Great Britain will provide a robust source of evidence for decision making, and from 2024 will be the new source of official statistics on gambling behaviours in Great Britain. It is anticipated that the Voluntary Code, which aims to improve transparency, accountability and consumer protection, will be published by the end of 2025. Operators are expected to have in place measures to detect self-excluded persons who might wish to re-register using different details. Multi-operator self-exclusion schemes are in place to allow consumers to self-exclude from multiple gambling premises in Great Britain. Similarly, a centrally co-ordinated self-exclusion database (“GAMSTOP”) also allows customers to self-exclude from remote gambling offered by operators licensed by the Gambling Commission.

This is important because some of the questions in the survey cover sensitive topics. This book has been carefully reviewed, edited and audited by Oliver Chang, a member of ICLG in-house editorial team to ensure relevance and house style. Anti-plagiarism and AI-detection tools have also been applied to confirm originality. Not regarded as gaming where there is no prize offered in “money or money’s worth”.

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A new stake limit for online slots will be introduced with the default maximum stake of between £2 and £15 per spin, subject to consultation. The measure will help prevent runaway and life-changing losses and level the playing field between the online and land-based sectors. As it stands there is no limit on bets for online slots whereas in-person slot machines in pubs, arcades, bookmakers have a limit of £2 and casinos have limits of up to £5. Without the right support in place gambling can easily become harmful – especially for at-risk players – leading to devastating impacts on people’s savings, relationships and health. Millions of people enjoy gambling every year – whether that be rocketcrashgame.com putting money on a horse, playing at a casino, or a bet on the football – and much of this is now done through smartphones. Technology has transformed the industry and people can bet 24 hours a day through ‘mobile virtual casinos’ in their pockets.

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This can lead to food insecurity, housing problems and difficulties accessing healthcare and education. Gambling ‘for the chance to win big money and ‘because it’s fun’ remain the most popular reasons given as to why respondents gambled. Approximately one fifth of respondents (21 percent) only took part in lottery draws (either National Lottery or other charity lottery draws) in the past 4 weeks. This means when we exclude those who only took part in a lottery draw in the past 4 weeks from the overall gambling participation rate, gambling participation falls to 27 percent.

Currently, the most effective are long-term cognitive behavioural therapy or motivational interviewing. Self-help, pharmacological interventions and mutual support have less evidence of efficacy, although the latter are among the most used interventions. Some evidence supports internet-based therapies, although attrition is a significant issue. People experiencing significant life events including separation, retirement, injury or the death of a loved one may be at increased risk. Social stressors such as poverty, discrimination or other disadvantage also increase risks. Heavy promotion of gambling online and through sport also poses risks of normalizing gambling for children and young people.

• It takes tremendous strength and courage to own up to this, especially if you have lost a lot of money and strained or broken relationships along the way.
• These general mentions of harm accounted for 50% of all harm-related references.
• Offences cover the unlicensed offer of gambling, the unlicensed use of premises for gambling, the promotion or facilitation of a lottery and so on.
• If you think you have a problem, advice and support is available for you now from BeGambleAware or Gamcare.
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• By understanding players in more detail, we can understand which interventions are preferred by which types of players.
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• IGB’s latest report breaks down the numbers behind football’s biggest betting event.
• The in person gambling participation rate (in the past 4 weeks) was 27 percent, which falls to 18 percent when lottery draw only players are removed.
• It should be noted that in April 2025 HM Treasury opened a consultation (which closed on 21 July 2025) on a proposal to introduce a single remote gambling duty that would apply to all remote gambling activities targeting the UK.
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• Those seeking to better control or cease gambling should be provided with tools to support them.
• So, if there are no interventions to improve this situation, harmful gambling is likely to make existing health inequalities worse.

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Our response confirms the introduction of light-touch financial vulnerability checks, and a pilot of enhanced frictionless financial risk assessments. In line with the Government’s white paper aims, these enhanced checks will only be introduced if the pilot proves they can be done in a frictionless manner, based on data-sharing. Substantial fines have been imposed, individuals have been sanctioned pursuant to their “personal management licences” and licences have been suspended.

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As much as you may want to, and as hard as it is seeing the effects, you cannot make someone stop gambling. However, you can encourage them to seek help, support them in their efforts, and protect yourself. Distract yourself with another activity, such as going to the gym, watching a movie, or practicing a relaxation exercise for gambling cravings.

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The lack of evidence meant that we could not cost all of the harms identified in the review, and we could not cost the economic and social burden of gambling felt by affected others. The third theme related to the measures required to prevent and reduce gambling- related harm. Commercial stakeholders thought the focus should be on individual interventions and treatment.

A similar review focused on adults is needed for a clearer understanding of risk factors for adults. There is also a need for research that looks beyond personal factors and explores the impact of broader structural and environmental factors that can be modified. This lower confidence was in part due to methodological limitations (for example, most studies in the reviews were cross-sectional) despite some having large numbers of studies. For other factors (including risk perception or family influences), there was either very low confidence in the evidence or insufficient evidence to determine if these are risk factors for gambling or harmful gambling. We identified 39 reviews examining possible risk factors for gambling and harmful gambling. Only 5 of these included longitudinal studies which are essential to determine the direction of a relationship, and only one was rated as high quality.

• Given the correct powers and resources, the Gambling Commission can continue to make gambling safer, fairer and crime free.
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• But we expect that the true costs are higher because the lack of evidence meant that it was not possible to cost all types of harms or the wider harms to individuals or society.
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