Gambling Act 2005
This dataset contains a list of the premises in Great Britain which can provide facilities for gambling. As the response and the SI set out, the stake limits are for online slots only and do not apply to other casino games, such as roulette or blackjack. Please select all the ways you would like to hear from -casinos.com At the top live online casinos you can find popular titles like Lightning Roulette, Bet Stacker Blackjack, Speed Baccarat, and Crazy Time. As detailed in our analysis of the best payout online casinos in the UK, Grosvenor currently leads our payout ranking (97.15%).
Best UKGC Licensed Casinos 2026

Other sections in this Part describe the fee-setting powers relevant to premises licences. A premises licence will not be issued until to an applicant until he holds an operating licence. As responsible authorities they have particular rights to be involved and/or consulted in relation to applications for premises licences and other procedures under this Part. Unmet demand is not to be a criterion that a licensing authority is permitted to take into account when considering an application for a premises licence, and subsection (2) provides for this.
The Gambling Act 2005 permits the advertising of gambling in all forms, provided that it is legal and there are adequate protections in place to prevent such advertisements undermining the licensing objectives. Local licensing authorities also provide lottery registrations and gambling permits for pubs, clubs and other establishments for low-level gambling. If your equipment is based in the UK or if you offer gambling to UK residents, you need a UK Gambling Commission licence. There are certain exemptions from holding an operating licence for small lotteries and small raffles run not for profit and for fundraising for societies, schools and clubs only. In addition, where the business is based at premises, you will require a premises licence. He leads the firm’s cross-departmental alcohol and gaming licensing teams.
Casinos had a similar history, with requirement for licensing from the Gaming Board of Great Britain and for casinos to be members only clubs. This is so that the authority can control the period within which the full casino premises licence application has to be made. The consideration of representations should be the same as that for normal applications for premises licences, detailed in Part 7 of this guidance. As with all deliberations in premises licences, the authority should not confuse planning and building regulation considerations with the matter before it. It is possible that the number of applications that the relevant licensing authorities will receive will exceed the number of licences available.

Industry has raised some concerns about how areas like bars would be categorised if sports betting terminals were placed in them. If its gambling area is 500sqm or more, its non-gambling area must be equal to or greater than 250sqm. It could also mean that the same gambling facilities are compressed into a smaller gambling area, with potentially a worse customer experience and no player protection benefits.
Since 1 December 2014, the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act changes the taxation of remote gambling from a ‘place of supply’ basis to a ‘point of consumption’ basis. Until the Gambling Act 2005, the Betting Gaming and Lotteries Act 1963 prohibited “betting and the passing of betting slips” in licensed premises, that is those licensed to sell alcohol. The commission’s site has details of both licensed operators and applicants. According to the survey conducted by the Gambling Commission, as of March 2010, 10.7% of the 8,000 adults surveyed said they had participated in at least one form of remote gambling in the previous 4 weeks. Simon Stevens, then-chief executive of the NHS, said in 2013 that he “disapproved of eight betting firms” because “they do not pay towards NHS costs in countering gambling addiction.” The total online gambling population in the UK is estimated at 2.1 million customers.
Fair, audited games
“… for the purpose of calculating the Category B machine entitlement in gambling premises, gaming machines should only be counted if they can be played simultaneously by different players without physical hindrance.” (Gambling Commission, 2019 For casinos moving onto the new regime, section 187 of the Gambling Act 2005 should require operators to apply to the licensing authority to vary their premises licence. We agree that operators should be required to notify licensing authorities and the Gambling Commission if they decide to take-up the entitlement to additional gaming machines under the new regime. The majority of respondents (93%) agreed that operators should be required to notify licensing authorities and the Gambling Commission if they decide to take-up the entitlement to additional gaming machines under the new regime. In order for converted casino operators to take advantage of the new entitlements for gaming machines, the casino must contain a table gaming area.

Reports suggest that an estimated 2.5% of adults in the UK have experienced problem gambling. Your peace of mind matters, and we’re here to help you make informed choices for a secure and enjoyable gaming journey. We’ve done the legwork to ensure that your gaming experience is not only entertaining but also risk-free. So, the fastest options you can choose are e-wallets like PayPal, Skrill, and Neteller, which allow same-day withdrawals.
- However, as set out in the white paper, there are concerns that ‘cash-out’ slot-style machines share similarities with higher stake machines, restricted for adults.
- As the SI sets out, all games which meet the definition of an online slots game will be subject to a maximum stake per game cycle.
- If you are a local authority/ licensing board, do you currently charge the maximum fees as set out in the Gambling Act 2005?
- By signing up to Gamstop, you are given the opportunity to prevent access to all participating UK licensed online casinos in the system for a period of time.
The UKGC maintains an up-to-date public register of all their licensed operators. Here, you can use their search feature to look up the casino by name. First thing to do is to check the casino’s footer for the UKGC logo. This allows us to give you a balanced and transparent overview of each casino. The ratings are based on comprehensive UK casino reviews carried out by Bojoko’s casino experts. It offers games, ranging from slots to table games and live casino, from over 50 game suppliers.
If more applications are received than the number of available licences, the authority must determine whether each application would be granted a licence if there were no limit on the number of licences that the authority could grant. Authorities should think carefully before entering into any agreements or arrangements with potential casino operators which might be perceived to affect their ability to exercise their stage two functions objectively and without having prejudged any of the issues. However, the law does not prevent unlicensed casinos such as Stake – and a host of other brands that chiefly target football viewers in east Asia – from sponsoring British clubs.
From above-average deposit bonuses to ongoing promotions, this casino knows how to reward players. With such wins as “Best Online Casino Operator” and “Best Mobile Operator,” we see Casumo as a leading UKGC casino. We explain our picks further down with thoughts from our seasoned casino team. These brands offer more than your average casino, whether in the quality of their game portfolio, unique features, interfaces, or promotions. By choosing a licensed site, you also choose a casino that can help you if need be.
Therefore, allowing casinos to provide sports betting services will open up a new section of the market to them. In addition, the current GGY derived from betting in casinos where it is permitted, is very small. All casinos to be permitted to offer sports betting. We would not permit betting in Scottish 1968 Act casinos until Scottish Ministers have had the opportunity to consider what (if any) restrictions or protections they would like to put in place by way of amendments to the Mandatory and Default Conditions Regulations. While permitting betting in 1968 Act casinos is not a reserved matter, as outlined above, we intend to impose a limit on the number of SSBTs that can be made available in a casino. We intend to place some restrictions on the number of SSBTs to avoid a scenario in which the product offering becomes unbalanced and a large number of these machines are sited in a relatively small gambling area.
Have a gambling area, the floor area of which is no less than 200m², and Subsequent payments will be required before the anniversary date; that is the date of issue of the licence10. Licensees should also be aware of the changes and matters they must keep the Commission informed of whilst they are the holder of a licence9. Once a licence has been granted and issued, it is important that licensees read through it to check that the details on the licence are correct and that they are familiar with the conditions attached to the licence. Where the Commission is minded to make a decision to refuse the application, grant in part, or to attach specific conditions to the licence the applicant will be given the opportunity to make representations before that decision is finalised. Therefore applicants must disclose relevant offences even if they would normally be spent and the Commission may refuse a licence on the grounds that the applicant (or a person relevant to the application) has a conviction for a ‘relevant offence’.
There was not a uniform view on what an alternative deposit limit should be, with responses ranging from £50 to £500. Industry’s perspective was mixed, with some responses stating that the limits for cashless payments should mirror the current ones to minimise the risk of delay to implementing the relevant legislation. There were a range of responses to the questions relating to maximum deposit and committed payment limits. In relation to taking a cautious approach, we think that a £100 limit is appropriate considering that our aim is to try and replicate the process by which someone uses cash to play on a machine.
We’ll show you non gamstop casino how to check a casino’s licence in 5 simple steps. Online casinos licensed by the UK Gambling Commission are required to meet important safety and fairness standards. From September 2025, online slots will have a maximum stake of £5 per spin to reduce gambling harm. For operators seeking long-term growth, these benefits make the licensing process well worth the investment. Even experienced gambling operators can make errors during the license application process or after approval. Online operators must meet strict security standards, including encryption, data protection compliance, and fair game certification.
Non-remote linked licences gambling software Non-remote 2005 Act casino operating licence Non-remote 1968 Act casino operating licence Non-remote pool betting operating licence

Operator licence fees are different for 1968 Act and 2005 Act casinos. We do not intend on changing any of the requirements placed on operators for when a variation to a premises licence may be required. Currently, the Gambling Commission’s guidance to licensing authorities states that an application for a variation of a premises licence will only be required where there are material changes to the layout of the premises.
Therefore both wholly automated gaming tables and table games of equal chance do not attract any gaming machine allowance for the purposes of meeting the machine to table ratio. Furthermore, the regulations stipulate that real equal chance gaming tables (e.g. poker) are not considered as gaming tables for the purposes of section 172(3) to (5) of the Act. In updating this ratio, we intend to amend the definition of “gaming table” for the purposes of section 172(3) to (5) of the Gambling Act 2005 so that only tables where the apparatus is controlled or operated by casino staff count for the purposes of the ratio. These respondents would prefer to see table games as the most common activity under a casino licence, highlighting that table games are more likely to lead to breaks in play. An examination of the responses shows that respondents were of the view that the maximum entitlement would apply per licence, with no restrictions on the overall maximum per physical location. More respondents were opposed than in favour, but this largely stemmed from those who are opposed to any increases in the supply of gambling opportunities, rather than operators and industry stakeholders.