Gambling Commission

The Gambling Commission was set up under the Gambling Act 2005 to regulate commercial gambling in Great Britain in partnership with licensing authorities. 

In addition, the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014 requires any operator wishing to transact with, or advertise to, consumers in Britain to obtain an operating licence from the Gambling Commission. 

We also regulate the National Lottery under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993. We are an independent non-departmental public body (NDPB) sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

The Gambling Commission Objectives

We permit gambling, in so far as we think it is reasonably consistent with the licensing objectives:

• preventing gambling from being a source of crime or disorder, being associated with crime or disorder, or being used to support crime

• ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way

• protecting children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling.

In respect of the National Lottery, our objectives are to ensure that:

• every lottery that forms part of the National Lottery is run with all due propriety

• the interests of every participant in the National Lottery are protected

• subject to the above two duties, to do our best to make sure that the proceeds of the National Lottery are as great as possible.

And subject to these duties that the returns to National Lottery good causes are maximised.

Licensing Operators and Individuals in Britain

We license operators and individuals in Britain that provide arcades, gaming machines, betting, lotteries, bingo, remote gambling (online, telephone), casinos and gambling software. We are also responsible for awarding the licence to run the National Lottery.

We set requirements for licensees in our Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice and carry out assessments to make sure that licensees are complying with our requirements. Where we find evidence of non-compliance, we act to address this. In many cases, licensees revise  non-compliant behaviour without the need for us to take formal action.

In some cases, however, we use our regulatory powers to take enforcement action. Our Statement of principles for licensing and regulation provides more detail about our approach.

Developing New Regulatory Requirements in Gambling

The gambling industry is made up of more than 2,500 operators. It is a competitive market where the pace of change is often rapid. These changes sometimes present risks and/or opportunities in relation to the licensing and National Lottery objectives described above.

We act to minimise those risks and make good use of opportunities.

With a large number of licensed firms and a wide range of issues, we prioritise our work to achieve the best outcomes for consumers and the wider public. We do this by considering:

• the scale of impact that any issue might have – for example, the extent of gambling-related harm it might cause.

• the scope for us to address that impact by using our regulatory powers – for example, by developing new regulatory requirements or working with regulatory partners and other relevant authorities.