New Licensing Condition for UK Gaming Machines is One Week Away

British regulator the Gambling Commission is set to introduce a new licensing condition for land-based gambling operators, which will require them to remove non-compliant gambling machines.

From Wednesday 29 July, operators will have to cease trading with gaming machines if they are informed by the Commission that they are lacking the required technical operating license.

The new licensing condition is part of a wider effort from the Commission to further regulate gaming machines, committing £26 million to the plans across the next three years.

Results of a consultation

The announcement of the new conditions followed a consultation that ran from January to June 2025. The consultation proposed changes to the Commission’s Gaming Machine Technical Standards, the Gaming Machine Testing Strategy and the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice.

The new conditions were announced by the Commission in January, and Acting Chief Executive Sarah Gardner spoke about the measures at the Bingo Association’s annual general meeting in May.

Gardner said:

“Even before we launched last year’s Gaming Machines consultation, we had excellent engagement from the [bingo] sector and some really useful contributions during the pre-consultation phase.

“We expect this change will streamline processes and ensure non-compliant machines are swiftly removed from premises - a benefit to consumers and operators. We are targeting getting the rest of the consultation response out this summer, so not too long to wait now.”

A White Paper measure

This is the first measure to be introduced as part of the Gaming Machine Technical Standards, which are part of the implementation of the 2023 Gambling White Paper.

The White Paper was one of the most significant publications in the history of gambling in the UK, setting out more than 60 proposals to update the country’s gambling laws.

Among the terms recommended were affordability checks, in an attempt to protect players spending a certain amount within a certain timeframe, improved identification checks, a statutory levy, and a cap on the maximum stakes on online slots.

The Commission received a total of 1,065 responses to the full consultation, which were sent by representatives across the UK land-based gambling industry. This included gambling businesses, individuals who have worked in a gambling business, trade associations, and a charity/non-profit organisation.

A majority of respondents were supportive of the proposal. Some respondents requested further clarification on how the licensing condition would be enforced, asking if they could have the option to remove machines that have been identified as non-compliant before enforcement action is taken.

Machine games duty in focus

The topic of gaming machine regulation in the UK has been more prominent recently, with cross-party think tank the Social Markets Foundation (SMF) recently recommending machine games duty should be raised to 40% of net takings. The SMF specifically focused on Category B machines.

The SMF wants a tax rate to encompass all Category B machines, arguing the government needs to raise revenue, and that more harmful types of gambling should lead to higher rates of tax.

The SMF’s basis for this is that one in four (27%) casino game users on machines gambles at risky or harmful levels, and that 17% of fruit and slot machine users class as risky, compared to the gambling average of 4.5%.

In response, the Betting and Gaming Council argued the report did not distinguish between taxation by machine category and taxation by venue, and that different regulatory controls are in place for the different types of venues.