The United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) has extended the deadline it is imposing on operators to adhere to new deposit limit requirements, which are designed to give bettors greater control of their spending.
Operators must now ensure the new technical and compliance requirements, outlined in the revised Remote Technical Standards (RTS), are met by September 30 or risk losing their licence.
Gross deposit limits to apply to all remote gambling licences
The UKGC said updated Remote Technical Standards introduced in October 2025 included new deposit limit options, standardized self-exclusion processes and automated reminders for customers to review their accounts every six months.
The regulator said the second phase of the reforms is aimed at strengthening consumer protections by introducing stricter requirements for operators. The changes also require gross deposit limits to be displayed more clearly across gambling platforms.
Beginning Sept. 30, 2026, licensed remote gambling operators must provide gross deposit limits to all customers, including restoring limits that had previously been removed. Operators will also be required to label these controls only as “deposit limits.”
The UKGC said gross deposit limits must appear with at least equal prominence to other financial limits on gambling sites. Companies must also update customer communications, help pages and compliance procedures to ensure the terminology is used correctly and the limits remain clearly visible throughout the customer journey.
Worries persist over UK gambling addiction risks
The move is just one of a series of measures being made by the UKGC, which released its 2024 Gambling Survey for Great Britain in October 2025.
It found that 48% of adults aged 18 and older had gambled in the previous four weeks, although the figure fell to 28% when lottery-only participants were excluded. The survey also found that 42% of respondents viewed their most recent gambling experience positively, compared with 21% who described it negatively.
The chance of winning large sums of money remained the main motivation for gambling, cited by 85% of respondents, while 72% said they gambled because it was fun. The report also found that 2.7% of adults in Great Britain scored eight or higher on the Problem Gambling Severity Index in 2024, a level considered indicative of problem gambling and unchanged from 2023.
Meanwhile, new data from Nationwide Building Society suggests British gamblers increased their spending by 9% in 2025 compared with the previous year, while the number of gambling transactions rose 7%. The lender said the top 10% of gambling spenders among its 15 million members were spending an average of £745 per month, underscoring growing concerns among regulators and welfare groups about the scale of gambling activity in the UK.
The trend is expected to intensify during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which begins on June 11 across the United States, Canada and Mexico. Nationwide’s survey of 2,000 gamblers found that 68% expect to spend more on gambling in 2026 than they did last year, with the tournament cited as the main driver. Globally, betting on the 2022 World Cup reached an estimated $35 billion, and analysts expect wagering volumes for the 2026 event to climb significantly higher.
Gambling ads featuring England captain Harry Kane banned
Elsewhere, Britain’s advertising watchdog has banned two football-themed gambling promotions by Oddschecker after ruling they carried a strong appeal to children. The Instagram posts featured England captain Harry Kane and Manchester City striker Erling Haaland alongside betting-related messages tied to the 2026 FIFA World Cup and Ballon d’Or markets.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the posts breached advertising rules designed to protect under-18s from gambling marketing. The regulator launched an investigation following concerns raised by a researcher at the University of Bristol about the potential appeal of the adverts to younger audiences.
Oddschecker argued the posts were editorial content rather than advertisements and said they were targeted only at users over 18. However, the ASA said age restrictions on social media platforms were insufficient, noting that many children do not use their real birth dates when registering accounts.
The ruling comes amid growing political pressure on the UK government to tighten gambling advertising rules. A recent report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Gambling Reform and Peers for Gambling Reform said betting companies spend up to £2 billion annually on advertising, warning that the scale and sophistication of online marketing is exposing children and vulnerable people to gambling-related harm.
