The Gambling Commission has published the first in a series of reports on the illegal online gambling market in Great Britain, focusing on consumer behaviours, motivations, and user profiles. The report offers new insights into how individuals encounter and engage with illegal gambling websites and the factors influencing their participation. Chief Executive, Andrew Rhodes, highlighted the Commission’s commitment to protecting consumers and maintaining confidence in the regulated sector, noting a ten-fold increase in disruption activity since April 2024. Future reports will cover engagement trends, enforcement efforts by the Illegal Markets Team, and the challenges of estimating the market’s size. The Commission has also launched an Illegal Gambling Hub to consolidate research, enforcement updates, and guidance on identifying unlicensed gambling.

The Gambling Commission has updated its Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) with significant changes that will take effect on 19 March 2026. The updates raise key event reporting thresholds from 3% to 5% for both operator status and relevant persons. The revised provisions expand the definition of 'relevant persons' to include entities without share capital and mandate that all relevant loans be reported regardless of whether written agreements are in place. In addition, the Commission updated its statutory gambling levy guidance which now includes information on non-GB invoices and features updated timing details to assist licensees with their levy payments.

The Gambling Commission has reported that Petfre (Gibraltar) Ltd, which runs Betfred.com and offsking.com, has been fined £2.87m for social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures. The social responsibility failures included a lack of controls to prevent large levels of high velocity spend by new customers and triggers for setting safer gambling interactions were too high. Anti-money laundering failures included not fully taking the money laundering and terrorist financing (MLTF) risks connected to its business into account, not having appropriate MLTF policies in place and failing to implement Money Laundering Regulations measures thoroughly.

The Gambling Commission has reported that Gamesys Operations Limited has been fined £6m for social responsibility and anti-money laundering (AML) failings after a Gambling Commission investigation. The failings occurred between November 2021 and July 2022 and were discovered by a Commission investigation in May 2022.

The Gambling Commission has announced changes to its approach for calculating and imposing financial penalties on gambling operators who breach its rules. Following a public consultation process, the Commission has revised its Statement of Principles for Determining Financial Penalties to enhance clarity and transparency. The changes include the introduction of a seven-step process for assessing penalties, a framework for determining the seriousness of breaches with five levels and a method for calculating penalties based on a percentage of Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) or equivalent income during the breach period. Adjustments will also be made for aggravating and mitigating factors, deterrence, and early resolution. The Director of Enforcement and Intelligence, John Pierce, stated that these changes aim to improve transparency, consistency, and efficiency in enforcement while encouraging early compliance and protecting consumers. For society lotteries, registered charities, and personal licence holders, penalties will not be based on GGY but will use an appropriate alternative. The changes will take effect on 10 October 2025.

The Gambling Commission has taken enforcement action against Genesis Global Limited, which runs 14 websites including genesiscasino.com, casinoplanet.com and casinocruise.com. The Gambling Commission has reported that Genesis Global Limited were suspended from operating in Britain after enquiries revealed significant social responsibility and money laundering failures. The suspension was lifted on 14 October 2020 after the operated showed significant compliance improvements, but the Commission continued their investigation and has now issued the operated with a £3.8m fine, a warning and an additional licence condition demanding further auditing.

Introduced in 2007, its main purpose was to augment the primary advertising regulations which are overseen by the Advertising Standards Authority. Following a government review into all aspects of gambling advertising, the industry code was updated and expanded. The Code is subject to periodic review—the current version (6th Edition October 2020), in force from 1 October 2020, can be found here.

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. This guide to gambling law outlines the legal issues most pertinent to the gambling industry, and is designed for general commercial lawyers looking to familiarise themselves with betting and gaming law generally and the current hot topics affecting the sector. It covers the legal treatment of betting, gaming and lotteries activities, the Gambling Act 2005 (GA 2005), non-gambling activities and international gambling. Gambling activities In the UK, certain forms of entertainment are considered to warrant legal control as a form of gambling. Three basic types can be distinguished: betting, gaming and lotteries. The term 'gambling' covers all three. The current legislation is contained primarily in GA 2005. This major piece of reforming legislation swept away a complex and historical system that had evolved organically for more than 200 years, reflecting changing attitudes to gambling. GA 2005 governs all forms of gambling except the National Lottery and forms of betting which are controlled as financial products. There are more than 70 pieces of subordinate

Public Law analysis: This analysis considers the Technology and Construction Court’s dismissal of a procurement challenge to the award of the Fourth National Lottery Licence and related contract modifications. The judgment reinforces the high threshold for establishing manifest error, confirms the broad margin of discretion afforded to contracting authorities in complex evaluations, and emphasises that the court’s role is supervisory rather than appellate. It also provides important guidance on transparency, equal treatment, feedback obligations, incumbency advantage and contract modifications under the Concession Contracts Regulations 2016 (CCR 2016), SI 2016/273, reg 43. The decision further highlights the importance of causation, procedural discipline and contemporaneous documentary evidence in procurement litigation. Produced in partnership with Ed Williams and Rowan Scarth of DWF Law LLP.

Law360: Third-party video game cheating software should not infringe game creators' copyright in the EU if it only manipulates a gamer's input rather than the game's code itself, a legal adviser to the EU's top court said on 25 April 2024 amid Sony's dispute with a British gaming business.

Arbitration analysis: Law360, Washington: The Hong Kong Court of Appeal has refused to revive contempt of court proceedings sought by a game designer against the company he says reneged on a deal to make his games, finding nothing to justify such proceedings based on contentions of false statements related to underlying arbitration. The court instead sided with the 2014 decision denying contempt proceedings sought by Elijah Saatori and his company, Zebra Industries (Orogenesis Nova) Ltd, against Wah Tong Paper Products Group Ltd.

Claimant suffered gunshot wounds when a wall broke under him and he fell with loaded shotgun. He was an experienced shotgun user aware of ‘best practice’ of unloading the gun when negotiating rough terrain, but employer owed PUWER duty.