UK LEGAL
R
emote gambling operators are already required to offer easily accessible facilities to allow customers to impose their own financial limits; this has been the case since the Gambling Commission began issuing licences in 2007. However, the White Paper noted that these facilities were used by only 11% of customers, according to Gambling Commission research. Evidence from the ‘Patterns of Play’ research (prepared for GambleAware in 2022 by NatCen and the University of Liverpool) indicated that a higher figure of 21.5% of gamblers had set a deposit limit, however a significant proportion of these had set extremely high limits that were unlikely to constrain their gambling.
The White Paper called for player-centric controls such as pre-commitment tools and activity statements to be strengthened. In response, the Gambling Commission launched a consultation on changes to the Remote Technical Standards (specifically RTS 12) in Autumn 2023, and finally published proposals in February 2025, to come into effect on 31 October 2025. The regulator launched a supplementary consultation in March 2025 with proposals for clarifying the definition of ‘deposit limits’, with new requirements due to come into effect in June 2026. The key upcoming changes are summarised below.
Changes to requirements for customer-led limits for remote gambling
In 2023 the (then) government’s White Paper ‘High Stakes: gambling reform for the digital age’, declared that gamblers should be “empowered to manage their own spending through player-centric controls”. Melanie Ellis picks up the story…
20 NOVEMBER 2025
CUSTOMERS TO BE PROMPTED TO SET FINANCIAL LIMITS – FROM 31 OCTOBER 2025 Remote operators must already provide easily accessible facilities for customers to set financial limits, in the form of deposit, spend and/or loss limits. They must now prompt all customers to set a limit, either when they register or when they make their first deposit. When choosing their limit, the customer must be given a free text box, rather than just a list of drop-down options. Research by the Behavioural Insights Team, cited in the White Paper, found that a free text box lowered the daily deposits limit that customers set by 45%, as compared to when a drop-down list with denominations from £5 to £100,000 was presented. The actual reduction in total customer deposits made in the free text box versus the dropdown condition was 18%. The RTS guidance states that operators may restrict the free text box to specific increments such as whole pounds, with the consultation response indicating that £5 increments would also be acceptable. Although some respondents to the government’s call for evidence proposed requiring all customers to set a limit before being permitted to gamble online, the changes do not go that far. Setting a limit must, however, be presented as the default choice. If the customer chooses not to set a limit, they must be required to take action to confirm that, e.g. by ticking a box.
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