Gaming Commission Mandates New Spend Limits

31 October 2026

The number of people seeking support for gambling debt problems has skyrocketed, with charities warning that stronger consumer protections are needed. A mandatory deposit limit, as proposed by the Advisory Board for Safer Gambling, could help shield players from financial harm.

GamCare and the debt charity PayPlan said referrals to their specialist Money Guidance Help service increased by 112% in 2025. Over 1,950 people turned to the service last year, versus 923 the year before, leaving the service with record caseloads.

Those seeking help in 2025 collectively disclosed £7.2 million in gambling debt - more than £4 million more than the year before. And the demand is rising still: 233 new referrals took place in January 2026 alone, smashing the monthly record.

GamCare and PayPlan said the figures highlight the need for tougher safeguards. Currently, UK operators must try to encourage gamblers to set up financial limits, but there is no mandatory requirement to do so. The result, critics say, is front-loading of pre-commitment tools while those in distress are left without support.

The operators' umbrella group, the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) agreed in Parliament this month that " operators should actively promote and encourage the use of deposit limits to their customers that are experiencing or at risk of gambling harm, including players showing abnormal patterns of play which are markers of harm. A mandatory limit may be appropriate in some cases."

But the stance of regulators - specifically the UK Gambling Commission - is broader. Gambling systems already must offer financial limits, but specific "deposit limits" based only on the amount deposited will be required from 30 June 2026. To try to ensure clarity, the regulator said, from 30 September 2026, systems must offer a gross deposit limit over 24 hours, a week and a month, alongside other financial limits such as loss limits, which take winnings into account.

The BGC rejected a "one-size-fits-all" commitment approach, arguing that its members are already offering deposit limits as a standard harm-minimisation tool. "Gambling operators do not want anyone to suffer from gambling harm, which is why the sector has introduced a comprehensive suite of protections, including tools such as reality checks, deposit limits, and time-outs," BGC's betting industry unit head Andrew Pollard told members of Parliament. "But we also see the phrase 'mandatory deposit limit' as somewhat misleading. This rightly implies that deposit limits will be mandatory, rather than just promoted, and we have concerns that this could create a false sense of security for some consumers," he said.

The Commission sought industry views on an industry-run voluntary scheme to pre-commit remotely at least part of a player's deposit to a set period, advising operators to take a 24-hr time out before increasing the pre-commitment. But the scheme is not yet mandatory.

Seeking to simplify the jargon, the Commission told First Deposit and Gaming Aztec Operator and Software Technical standards that deposit limits now refer solely to the volume of money wagered, excluding the net deposit. Other financial limits, including time-based limits on loss and a "handler" that excludes winnings, will still be offered, but not with the term deposit.

Even so, observers said the debate risked devoting too much to absolute deposit amounts, rather than addressing the causes of out-of-control gambling.