New Rules to Come into Force for Online Gambling Bonuses
The UK gambling market is a highly competitive one. The many operators offer several bonuses as they attempt to attract and retain customers. However, the terms and conditions attached to them are often too strict. As a result, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) have now taken action in this area.
This March, the UKGC announced new rules regarding bonuses and multi-product promotions. The latter were banned as they were considered by the Commission to be “potentially harmful.” Gambling across several products rather than just one also had the risk of confusing customers “because of complex terms and conditions.”
Wagering requirements have now been capped at 10x. The UKGC stated that this would improve the level of transparency and reduce the chances of gambling-harm to customers.
The size of wagering requirements attached to bonuses has been an area of concern. For example, it may be that a £20 bonus received (or any winnings from the bonus) had to be wagered 20x its value before any cash withdrawal can be made.
There have been several instances where the wagering requirement was as high as 50x. This makes it difficult for the player receiving the bonus to be able to withdraw any funds. The wagering requirements have been attached to free bets at sportsbooks and free spins or funds offered at casinos.
There are still plenty of restrictions made on how for example free bets can be used. These include minimum odds on selections, events that the free bets can be used on and not allowing single bets. It is noticeable that many free spins offers now omit any wagering requirements on winnings that are achieved.
There have been calls for action on bonuses for several years. 2023 saw a White Paper on gambling reform and this subject was mentioned. Consultation has since taken place and the findings published. They stated that “most respondents” agreed that changes needed to be made and now new measures have been revealed and they will come into force on 19 December 2025.
Tim Miller is the executive director for research and policy at the UKGC. He stated: “These 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.”
Earlier this year changes were made to the maximum stakes for online slot games. Meanwhile the UKGC recently updated their Social Responsibility Code on direct marketing by consent. This gives customers the chance to opt out of receiving online marketing information.
There are still problems regarding the offering of bonuses. Taiichi Tech Limited who run the Fafabet online gambling site have recently been fined £170,000 by the UKGG. The fine was issued after it was determined that “unfair” bonus terms had been put in place by Fafabet.
A “discretionary" term included in the terms and conditions did not meet with approval from the UKGC. It stated that as the operator they had the right to either see winnings forfeited or accounts closed at their own discretion.
The view of the UKGC was that the inclusion of “without clear justification” was a breach of the fair and open licensing conditions that are in place. They added that the term also led to a lack of transparency and could see unfair outcomes for consumers occur.
In addition to the problems regarding bonuses, Fafabet were also found to have breached anti-money laundering (AML) and social responsibility standards.
The UKGC investigation found that Taichi Tech only held limited amounts of information about their customers. They were also allowing some players to place large amounts of bets in a short period of time.
When some of their customers did show signs of having suffered potential gambling harm, insufficient action was taken to help them. There was also a failure to follow up on cases where customers had ignored emails sent to them regarding their gambling behaviour.
The UKGC say that the company has accepted that their behaviour fell short of the standards license holders should have and certain steps have already been taken. A third-party audit will be carried out on Taichi Tech. This will have the aim of ensuring that better procedures have been implemented by the company.
The director of enforcement and intelligence for the UKGC is John Pierce. Commenting on this case he said: “We expect all operators – regardless of their size or customer base – to comply with consumer protection legislation and ensure their terms and conditions meet regulatory standards.”
He added that licensed operators “must ensure their terms are clear, fair and transparent, so customers fully understand what to expect.
Recently the UKGC announced that they will be strengthening the way in which they calculate and impose financial penalties on license-holders. This comes into force in October 2025 and in the most serious of cases, the fine issued could be at least 15% of gross gambling yield. It sees the regulation of the UK gambling industry becoming increasingly tougher.
