UK Raises Gambling Commission Fees 25% From October
The UK government will raise most Gambling Commission operating licence fees by a headline 25% from 1 October 2026, after the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) turned down all three options it had put to consultation earlier this year. The decision keeps society lottery fees frozen and shifts non-remote general betting limited licences to a gross gambling yield-based model, a change aimed at on-course bookmakers.
DCMS held the consultation between 27 January and 30 March 2026 and received 47 responses, mainly from gambling operators, suppliers and their representatives. The government had consulted on three models: a 30% headline rise, a 20% rise, or a 20% rise plus a further 10% charge ringfenced for illegal market and revenue protection work.
The final decision lands between those options. DCMS said only two respondents supported the 30% proposal, none supported the ringfenced 20% plus 10% model, and four backed a 20% rise. Most operators argued for no increase. They cited duty changes, the new statutory gambling levy and other cost pressures.
Fee Rise Covers Most Licence Types
The 25% rise will apply to most operating licence fees, personal licences, supplementary operating licences, single machine permits, applications to vary an operating licence and changes of corporate control. First annual fees will remain charged at 75% of the relevant annual fee.
Secondary legislation must still pass before the changes take effect. World Casino Directory reported that the Gambling Commission will issue further guidance in the coming weeks, and it will include details of new category assignments based on 2025-26 regulatory return data.
Behind the increase sits a budget problem: the Commission runs annual deficits of about £4 million. Even with the 25% rise, it will still need to find at least £8 million in efficiency savings over the next five years.
The government rejected a phased rollout too. It argued that licence fees still represent a small share of operator GGY. Fees for the largest groups will rise from about 0.1% of annual GGY to about 0.15% under the new structure, and operators with GGY between £10 million and £100 million will move from about 0.18% to 0.22%. More than 1,100 smaller operators with annual GGY under £10 million will see their fees fall in cash terms.
Lotteries Spared, On-Course Bookmakers Moved to GGY
Society lotteries get the clearest exemption. Their licence fees will stay frozen because higher costs would likely cut returns to good causes.
External lottery managers do not share that exemption, since the government treats them as commercial entities. Their fees will rise by 25%. The Commission identified 438 suspected illegal lotteries in 2025 and received 544 reports about society lotteries presented as free draws and prize competitions.
A different form of relief applies to on-course bookmakers. General betting limited non-remote licences will no longer be charged by the number of operating days; fees will instead depend on annual GGY.
Under the new model, operators with less than £100,000 in GGY will pay £252 a year. Those between £100,000 and £200,000 will pay £356, and operators between £200,000 and £300,000 will pay £459. Above £300,000, the fee rises to £563, plus £104 for each additional £100,000 of GGY.
DCMS said 44% of operators in this category will see a fee reduction, while another 53% will face only a £22 increase, from £230 to £252.
Illegal Market Funding Remains Separate
Operators objected during the consultation to funding illegal market enforcement through licence fee increases. Some argued that HM Treasury, the Home Office or other government departments should cover that work instead.
No ringfenced illegal market charge made it into the final package. Instead, the Commission will receive £26 million in additional HM Treasury funding over three years to expand its work against unlicensed operators.
World Casino Directory reported that the Betting and Gaming Council put the total staked on illegal gambling platforms in 2025 at more than £16 million. It also noted that the DCMS Illegal Gambling Taskforce, led by Gambling Minister Baroness Twycross, is expected to examine payment systems linked to unlicensed operators and sponsorship ties between unlicensed gambling companies and English sports teams.
💡TGJ Take
The 25% rise is not the worst-case option operators faced, but it still lands at a bad time. UK-facing operators now have to absorb higher licence costs alongside duty pressure and the statutory levy, although the more than 1,100 sub-£10 million GGY operators that get cash reductions show the burden falls more heavily on larger licence holders. The on-course bookmaker change is the most practical concession, since it replaces a fee model tied to race days with one tied to revenue. For suppliers and affiliates, the real watchpoint is not the headline 25%; it is how category assignments based on 2025-26 returns change the cost base for each partner.
