British Gambling Commission report shows steep rise in enforcement actions (and legal costs)
The British regulator has published its annual report.
UK.- The British Gambling Commission (UKGC) has published its report and accounts for the 2024/25 financial year. Considering that the period in question closed over eight months ago, little in the report is news, but there are some notable figures.
The accounts show a sharp increase in operating expenditure, which rose 50 per cent from £40m to £60m. Much of this escalation was linked to legal costs and settlements associated with the National Lottery licence competition, which resulted in Allwyn taking over operations from February 2024.
Richard Desmond’s Northern & Shell is suing the Gambling Commission because it lost the tender in a legal battle that began in October. Legal fees alone reached £13.35m, while staff costs climbed to £28m as the regulator expanded its workforce to strengthen IT, data infrastructure, and digital intelligence systems.
Gambling Commission enforcement action
The regulator also reported that its enforcement and compliance teams carried out nearly 9,700 compliance actions in the period, more than double the 4,200 recorded in 2023/24. Sanctions were issued in 24 enforcement cases, generating £4.2m in penalties.
Some of the largest included have recently been handed out to the likes of Paddy Power Betfair, Betfred and Videoslots.
This figure was down from £7.2m the previous year, a decline the Commission described as “potentially positive,” suggesting fewer major compliance breaches and greater consistency among licensees. Initial reviews showed that around 80 per cent of licensees met compliance standards. However, the figure for the current year will be higher as the Gambling Commission recently issued a £10m fine against Platinum Gaming Limited and a £2m fine against Paddy Power Betfair.
Action against the black market was also stepped up, with 516 cease-and-desist notices issued to unlicensed operators and 352 warnings to affiliates promoting illegal gambling. Collaboration with search engines resulted in the removal of more than 95,000 illegal gambling URLs, the Gambling Commission said.
Gambling Commission licence fee collection
The Gambling Commission received £25.2m from licence fees, up from £23.9m the year before. Application fees totalled £1.47m, up from £1.21m. Some 32 per cent of operator fees were paid by betting brands, 30 per cent by casino operators and 22 per cent by machine operators.
Other highlights of the year included the regulator’s launch of its Data Innovation Hub, which enables real-time data flows from licensees, giving the regulator live visibility of gambling activity and consumer behaviour, and the new Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB), hailed as “the largest and most comprehensive study of gambling behaviour in the world.”
The year also saw the launch of the Financial Risk Assessment Pilot, designed to test proportionate affordability checks for high-spending customers.
Reflecting on the year, CEO Andrew Rhodes commented: “Great work was done in 2024/25, and it is fair to say the Commission will be looking to take great strides in moving the work forward and in making gambling safer, fairer and crime-free. For that, we as a Commission now view it as a chance to seize this year.”
