In 2024, the UK Gambling Commission reported that the industry had a gross annual yield of £1.32 billion, an 11% increase from the previous year. During this time, there have also been new changes to rules and regulations on gambling. The Labour government stated it wants to create a regulatory environment that is more “pro-growth and pro-investment” for businesses across the UK¹. Their new and upcoming regulations look to promote growth while increasing customer protection and expanding responsible gambling measures. Along with encouraging growth within the gambling sector, the government is also introducing a number of reforms to make iGaming more secure for everyone. In this article, we’ll look at how these regulatory changes will impact the UK iGaming industry.
What is iGaming?
Interactive gaming, or iGaming for short, refers to any form of online gambling. It includes forms such as casinos, sports betting and virtual events betting. In recent years, slot games have become one of the most popular and quickly growing types of iGaming. Between 2020 and 2024, slots saw an 11% growth in profits for an overall yield of £614 million and had almost double the amount of players than other iGaming sectors combined².
How is the iGaming Industry Regulated?
The UK Gambling Commission is the main regulatory board for the iGaming industry. They ensure that all companies adhere to laws and regulations surrounding iGaming. Operators must meet a number of minimum requirements when it comes to player safety, responsible gambling measures and game fairness. If providers meet these requirements, they are awarded licenses to operate legally.
The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) is the UK gambling industry’s standard body and represents over 90% of all UK-based gambling and betting operators. The BGC works to support and fund members to “raise standards, create a culture of safer gambling and build public trust”. They decide how to implement new legislation across the industry.
What Are the Current Regulations?
Companies must abide by several key laws and regulations to operate legally within the UK. The Gambling Act of 2005 is the main regulation for providers in the UK³. It sets out requirements that must be met for a company to be granted a license and any sanctions that will be taken if they aren’t adhered to. The 2005 Gambling Act made gambling without the correct permissions illegal and introduced the Gambling Commission as the collective regulatory body.
Other key legislation includes the ‘Gambling Commission Licensing Conditions and Codes of Practice’, which is continually updated to reflect new rules and regulations. It also covers legislation on customer protection and anti-money laundering. The codes of practice ensure that licensees conduct assessments on the risk of their business being used for money laundering.
What Are the Recent and Future Regulatory Changes in the iGaming Industry?
There are a number of upcoming and recent changes to regulations that will impact the iGaming industry. The government has proposed new rules on marketing, improved transparency and consumer protections⁴.
Recent Changes to Game Appearance
In January 2025, new rules relating to the appearance of games came into force. They reduce features such as “turbo stops” on slots, a feature which speeds up the rate of spins. The rapid succession of spins doesn’t allow players enough time to absorb results and can lead to overspending as a result. The new rules also prevent auto-play and an increase in the time each spin must take. The new legislation focuses heavily on the psychology of the game’s appearance. For example, music and visuals that celebrate a win below the initial stake will be removed, preventing users from unconsciously viewing an actual loss as a win.
Recent Changes to Marketing and Advertising
As of May 2025, gambling providers must give customers more options to control their marketing choices. The new regulations will allow users to opt-in to which products and channels they want to receive marketing from. This change will also prevent bonus and VIP offers from being sent to those who are at high risk of gambling harm. The new regulations also aim to amplify responsible gambling messages by making them mandatory to include in some advertisements, such as email marketing. In relation to television advertising, sportspeople, such as high-profile footballers, will no longer be allowed to appear in adverts. The UKGC reports that these adverts appeal disproportionately to children and encourage gambling in vulnerable groups. The Premier League has also announced that as of the 2026 season, gambling logos will no longer appear on player’s shirts.
Proposed Future Changes
There are a number of proposed policies which could impact the iGaming industry in the future. The proposed legislation aims to prevent gambling harm through enhanced detection of a player’s level of financial vulnerability. It looks to prevent disproportionate spending limits in comparison to salary and to prevent newly registered accounts from high spending. The proposed changes hope to ensure that those at acute risk of financial harm when gambling are identified before spending. Those with a net loss of over £125 a month or over £500 a year will be subject to financial checks using publicly available data. These trigger levels will be halved for young adults. A check that returns concerning results will likely lead to a player being removed from a site or having lower spending limits imposed.
Another proposed change is lowering the maximum online stake limit. It is likely to be lowered to a maximum of £5-£10 per spin with secondary legislation to limit the stake for young adults to £2. Spending limits would also become mandatory, and people could opt out instead of opt-in. The Department for Culture, Sport and Media began a review in January 2024, measuring the effectiveness of the 2005 Gambling Act within the digital age. The evaluation will consider player and operator feedback and quantitative data to discover how effective the Act has been. The report is expected in 2026 and will shape upcoming policy changes.
BGC 2025 Meeting
NewCasinos.com reported on February’s annual general meeting of the Betting and Gaming Council. The agenda covered various topics, including the industry’s future, changes to advertising and financial stability checks. There was a focus on how operators can adhere to new rules on financial vulnerability while ensuring customer privacy and protection⁵. The changes to advertising and marketing were also discussed with a commitment to ensure that gambling exposure to young audiences is reduced.
The BGC’s CEO, Grainne Hurst, also highlighted the importance of preventing the growth of the illegal gambling black market. A 2024 BGC report found that 1.5 million Brits spend £4.3 billion on the gambling black market every year. Hurst said that to prevent the growth of the black market; the industry must strike a balance between restriction and regulation. Extreme regulation of the gambling industry in Norway led to the development of a black market, which now accounts for 66% of all money staked⁶. Hurst discussed the importance of effective, but not overly restrictive, regulations. The BGC called on the government to introduce new regulatory changes to prevent the gambling black market’s continuing growth.
What Changes Can We Expect to Impact the UK iGaming Industry?
There are a number of upcoming and recent regulatory changes to UK iGaming which will or have had an impact on the industry. The new Labour government has introduced extensive reforms aimed at better customer safety and security. These include low-level credit checks to ensure those at risk of harm are better protected. Other changes tackle the psychology behind games through changes to appearance and marketing. It is also likely that upcoming changes will reduce the maximum stake for individual spins in iGaming. In the future, we may see more legislative changes aimed at preventing growth in the illegal gambling black market, as suggested by the BGC. After the 2005 Gambling Act report is completed in 2026, the findings will likely play a big part in shaping the future of iGaming regulations. The impact of these changes will likely be improved customer service for at-risk players and an expansion of the Gambling Act to reflect the digital age. Overall, these changes will help the iGaming industry become safer for all players.
