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After years of pleading with successive governments, reforms that will open up new possibilities for the UK’s land-based casinos are tantalisingly close.
In May, the government introduced a trio of statutory instruments that would relax the machine and table games rules for casinos and attempt to smooth an uneven regulatory landscape.
The changes were promised in the 2023 white paper and sector leaders had been calling for reforms to bolster the ailing sector for well over a decade.
With updated legislation now mere months away, there is understandable nervousness that casinos will suffer further political delays.
As they make changes to primary legislation, the amendments need parliamentary time, which gambling has found in short supply in recent years.
There are also fears that any proposals to liberalise gambling laws will meet with fierce resistance from the UK industry’s traditional political enemies.
However, there is little doubt that the sector is struggling, and the Department of Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) may be even more motivated to push forward after news in April that one of the UK’s largest casino operators has entered administration.
Aspers ceased trading in April and several of its former venues remain closed. Sites in Milton Keynes and Northampton are shuttered, with the latter having been acquired and re-sold before a mass staff walk-out in December left its future hanging in the balance.
The former Aspers casino in the Stratford region of London, the UK’s largest casino by floor space, has been acquired by rivals Genting and continues to trade, while the firm’s Newcastle venue was sold to Bally’s in late 2024.
Legal reforms, the sector says, are needed to fix a complex imbalance of regulations, with some casinos relying on laws dating back to 1968 and larger venues created as a result of the 2005 Gambling Act.
“The experiment has been a disaster and resulted in the closure of large numbers of casinos,” said Andrew Cotton, a senior associate at Irwin Mitchell.
Casinos relying on the 1968 Act would also benefit from additional machine entitlements if the amendments are approved.
“Those that have a minimum gambling area of 500sqm will be able to achieve a gaming machine entitlement of 80 machines, subject to compliance with the 5:1 machine to table ratio. Those that have a minimum gambling area of less than 500sqm will have lower machine entitlements calculated by way of a sliding scale. Those that have a gambling area of less than 280sqm will not be entitled to any additional machines above the current cap of 20," Cotton said.
The DCMS says it feels comfortable allowing casinos to expand their gambling options because there have been advances made on player protection since it last examined the sector in 2018.
The government pointed to player tracking, customer risk algorithms and “financial risk profiling on customers who are members based on postcodes and nationally available data”.
Any risks brought about by increasing the provision of gambling services have been effectively offset by higher safety standards, the department said.
“As well as bringing commercial benefits for operators and improving the customer experience, these measures are expected to bring player protection benefits; in particular, a greater willingness amongst customers to take appropriate breaks in play without fearing that they would lose their place at the machine,” the DCMS said in an explanatory note.
Ultimately, there is hope in the industry that these changes will not only stabilise the sector but also allow new casinos to open.
“There is the potential to unlock investment through the enhanced machine entitlements,” said Cotton.
“Of course, the increase in receipts of casino gaming and machines duty will swell the Treasury coffers if new casino developments are progressed.”
It remains to be seen if this relaxation of regulations will allow for smaller casinos to co-exist with their larger cousins that were made possible by the 2005 act.
Since a large casino opened in the North of England, four venues have closed in Leeds and Bradford, noted Cotton, who said that existing but unused licences may need to be reassigned to different regions to fully maximize the sector’s potential for growth.
