Gambling Laws in the UK
The gambling industry has always attracted the attention of the official authorities in many countries. This is because it can generate lots of income. Throughout the years, in many countries, the governing authorities saw a positive effect of regulating the gambling market. First of all, establishing certain law and regulations leads to providing a safer gambling environment. Both players and providers of gambling services benefit from this. Second, the respective authorities can also use the gaming market to increase the national revenues, thus being able to help and stimulate the gaming business in various ways.
Regulation of the gambling market is not new to many European countries, where the official authorities imply strict laws. In this respect, the UK gambling market is one of the most advanced ones. Gambling laws UK has been established a long time ago and since then, the country’s economy is facing the positives of the gambling regulation activities. Official reports estimate that the share of the revenues of gambling in the United Kingdom is quite big. To a certain extent, this was possible thanks to the new gambling laws UK.
But why the UK gambling laws always serve as an example for good management of the gaming industry? Read the paragraphs below to find out. Here are the main topics that we will discuss:
Brief History of Gambling Regulations in the UK
Laws concerning gambling has been established in the UK for a long time ago. The first gambling activities in the country date back in 1539, when the first recorded races were held in Chester. The first horse races in the UK were established in 1711. The famous Jockey Club – the main commercial horse racing organization in the UK, was found in 1750. Its main focus was to control the Newmarket – a popular horse racing venue and to prevent the sports activities from frauds and misdemeanours. These were one of the first acts of regulation the sports venues in the country which back those days walked together with the gambling activities.
As gambling on sports in the UK started to grow rapidly, the government faced the necessity to establish certain regulations to be able to manage the whole market. Different laws were established which aim was to imply regulations to the various kind of gambling activities – sports betting, lotto, bingo and casino games.
But it was not until 1960 when the Betting Gaming and Lotteries Act was established to better organize the gaming processes in the country. New gambling laws UK are created according to the resolutions of the Betting Gaming and Lotteries Act. In this respect, the latest piece of legislation in the country is the Gambling Act 2005. It was also modified to cover also remote gambling services.
The new internet era offered to many sports betting operators and casino game providers to go online. New technologies offered players the chance to benefit from better gambling services online. This was a new challenge to the UK gambling market. Then, the UK online gambling laws were passed. This lead to establishing one of the most strictly regulated iGaming markets.
Official Gambling Authorities in the UK
The UK Gambling Commission is the official authority that regulates gambling activities throughout the territory of the country. All providers of gambling services, both land-based and online should have a license from the UKGC. To gain this license, they have to meet certain requirements concerning the players’ safety, the security of money transactions, the fairness of the provided services and many more.
In general, the licenses that the UKGC issues are considered to be “remote” and “non-remote”. There is one interesting thing that concerns gaining a remote gambling license in the UK. First of all, those who are not gambling operators but develop and provide gaming software have to possess their own “gambling software operating license”. It is different from the one that allows you to provide gambling operations which, on the other hand, should also be issued. Besides, the “main figure” in a company that provides gambling activities must have a personal license as a representative of the business. This means that a given gambling business should possess three types of licenses that are required from the official authorities in the UK to be able to provide legitimate gaming services.
Gambling Taxes in the UK
All kinds of gambling activities in the United Kingdom are subject to taxation. Land-based sportsbooks and casinos, as well as online operators, have to pay a gambling tax in the UK, which is usually a percentage of the revenue or other form, depending on the type of gaming services. The latest amendments of the UK online gambling laws imply a 21% tax on remote gambling operations. At the same time, the general betting duty is obliged to pay a 15% tax on fixed odds, 3% for financial spread bets and 15% for commission charges that were charged by betting exchanges to UK users.
| Gambling Product | Tax Rate |
|---|---|
| General Betting |
|
| Remote Gambling Activities | 21% |
| Land-Based Casinos | Gross Profit | Tax Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Land-Based Casinos | ||
| On the first £1,211,750 | 15% | |
| On the next £835,250 | 20% | |
| On the next £1,462,750 | 30% | |
| On the next £3,087,750 | 40% | |
| On the rest | 50% |
Gambling taxation is a major aspect of gaining revenues for the British economy. According to the UK Gambling Commission reports, the revenues from online gambling only for 2017 were estimated to £2.6 billion. And in recent years the whole industry on the island showed steady growth. Thus the revenues from the entire gambling sector for 2018 were nearly £147 billion.
Gambling Regulation in the UK and Other Requirements
As we mentioned earlier, companies that provide gambling services on the territory of the United Kingdom have to meet the requirements implied by law. This is also strictly necessary for online operators. They have to cover certain criteria before being granted a license and allowed to operate legally.
Among the most important conditions that online sportsbooks and casino sites have to meet is the players’ safety. According to the UK Gambling Commission requirements, online operators have to prove that their services are safe. In this respect, they are obliged to offer customers various tools that will help them fight gambling addiction or prevent them from fraudful activities.
In the UK, some organizations work closely with the government and online operators and deal with matters concerning gambling. Some of them offer support to players that are in a risk of gambling addiction. Others, help customers and online operators resolve various disputes concerning gambling. The best online casinos in the UK offer links to institutions such as BeGambleAware, GamStop or GamCare.
The casino sites that operate legally on the territory of the UK offer quite many online casino games. Every day customers are accessing the gaming platforms to play their favourite gambling games. To strengthen the security features, online operators are obliged to offer legitimate games too. Online casinos should have their games verified by official game testing organizations. This is why, all games at the best roulette websites in the UK, for example, are tested in terms of fairness. All this is nothing but a deliberate action for establishing a safe gambling environment and managing a regulated gambling market on behalf of the UK official authorities.
FAQ
This section aims at providing you with a bit more important details about the gambling laws UK. Here, we have picked the most frequently asked questions concerning the UK gambling laws. We have provided you with brief answers as we hope that they might be useful.
