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The UK Gambling Commission has announced a ban on bonus offers to cross-sell different forms of gambling to players and a limit on bonus re-staking before withdrawing winnings under new rules that will be introduced later this year.
In a statement detailing the changes, Tim Miller, the Gambling Commission's executive director for research and policy, said the changes “will better protect consumers from gambling harm and give consumers much better clarity on, and certainty of, offers before they decide to sign up”.
Sarah MacDonald, a partner at law firm Wiggin, said this is “yet another thing that will require operators to take stock of their current offers and the terms of those means operators need to have a good look at what they are doing.
“There is going to be attention on their promotions ... [they] are very visible, so they attract attention.
“But with promotions not being the only thing that is in the spotlight at the moment, from a consumer compliance perspective, [this is] yet another thing in the spotlight.
“However, it is a good time to take stock and make the changes ASAP, and it is a good thing for consumers,” she told Vixio GamblingCompliance
MacDonald added that this is a period in which operators need to be careful.
The Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) new consumer enforcement regime, which comes into force next month, further stresses the importance of operators looking at user terms, customer terms and promotional terms, she said.
One potential challenge highlighted by the lawyer is the need for operators to ensure that ongoing promotions that violate the new rules are changed in time, and that affiliates also make necessary changes.
Under the rules announced on Wednesday (March 26), the Gambling Commission will cap bonus playthrough or wagering requirements to a maximum of ten times the initial bonus amount. The commission had consulted on capping playthrough requirements at one, five or ten times the amount.
In their consultation submissions, some operators flagged that a ban, or a limit of less than ten times wagering requirements, would allow sign-up offers to be taken advantage of on a large scale.
The Gambling Commission said in its consultation response that the change was needed as evidence revealed that high levels of wagering requirements attached to bonuses can lead to intensifying gambling activity and complicate offers, thereby increasing the risk of excessive gambling and risk of harm.
Meanwhile, a ban on the mixing of products within incentives will also be introduced.
The changes will prohibit operators from offering bonuses to sports bettors that can only be used if the player also plays casino games on their platforms, or vice versa.
The evidence found these offers to be problematic because they can lead to consumer confusion and the likelihood of harm.
Changes will also be made to the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice's (LCCP) Social Responsibility Code on rewards and bonuses, deleting the section that requires bonus schemes to be structured so that “neither the value nor amount of the benefit is dependent on the customer gambling for a pre-determined length of time or with a pre-determined frequency”.
Compliance engagement and casework highlighted the need for more clarity on the rules surrounding rewards and bonuses, according to the commission's consultation response.
A key part of the consultation was to decide on a new structure and wording to clarify that incentives should not lead to excessive or harmful gambling.
The regulator also decided not to proceed with added proposed wording that would require licensees to “ensure the design and structure of the incentive does not lead to excessive intensity of gambling, which may risk customers experiencing harms associated with gambling”.
The commission stated that it believes such “controls and requirements [are] already in place, within the Gambling Commission’s regulatory framework and advertising regulations, designed to address the risk of gambling harms”.
All changes will come into force on December 19, 2025.
The consultation on proposed changes to LCCP and remote gambling and software technical standards (RTS) was opened in Autumn 2023, following the publication of the 2023 White Paper which mapped out a range of policy reforms for the UK gambling industry.
