With technological developments, land-based casinos have been able to introduce a greater range of customer protections and the experiences of applying these across each type of licence have provided insight on the likely impact of any proposed changes. Since the Gambling Act 2005, land-based casinos have operated under two licensing regimes with different requirements in terms of the type and volume of product they are able to offer, as well as venue size.
The size of Britain’s land-based casino sector has remained relatively flat in recent years, in contrast to an expanding online market.
The proposals that we are consulting on are outlined below. Restrictions on supply were originally viewed as an important protection in the 2005 Act, but in the light of the availability of remote gambling the characteristics of products and quality of monitoring have assumed greater importance. This included a number of measures to adjust outdated regulatory restrictions applying to the land-based gambling sector.
The Gambling Act Review white paper published in April 2023 set out the government’s plans for modernising the regulation of gambling in Great Britain.