The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has branded the financial year of 2024/25 as a period of delivery and transition of projects and new compliance set out by its corporate strategy.
Two key developments shaped the year – the transfer of the National Lottery’s fourth licence to Allwyn UK in February 2024, and the continued rollout of compliance and player protection measures of the Gambling Act review White Paper.
Submitting its annual report and accounts to DCMS, the Commission revealed that its enforcement and compliance teams oversaw close to 9,700 compliance actions, more than double the previous year’s total of 4,200.
The sanction of 24 enforcement cases resulted in £4.2m in penalties, down from £7.2m reported in 2023/24. The decline the regulator noted as “potentially positive,” which could reflect higher standards of compliance and greater consistency of compliance by UK licences.
2024/25 accounts detailed a sharp cost escalation. Total operating expenditure rose by 50% from £40m to £60m. Increased operating expenses were largely attributed to ongoing legal costs and settlements related to the transfer of Fourth National Lottery Licence competition.
A breakdown saw legal fees total £13.35m, whilst staff-related costs increased to £28m as the regulator expanded its workforce to expand resources in IT, data infrastructure and upgrading digital platforms and intelligence systems.
CEO Andrew Rhodes acknowledged the scale of work undertaken over the past year, stating: “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.”
UKGC makes good on data promises
A focus on applying greater regulatory intelligence and grounded evidence saw the UKGC launch its new Data Innovation Hub. The project is branded as “the cornerstone of the Commission’s data strategy designed to enhance regulatory insight and analytical capability”.
The hub expands the Commission’s general oversight by allowing it to establish live data flows with licences, to gain real-time visibility over gambling activity and consumer trends.
The Commission has placed data front-and-centre of its regulatory plans and ambitions for many years, and during the Gambling Act review often made comparisons between the betting and finance industries regarding data utilisation – chiefly how the former could learn from the latter.
Other data-related milestones focused on evidence gathered as the Commission brought the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) into play.
The survey maintains UK gambling new methodology or prevalence and monitoring trends and attitudes to gambling, deemed as “the largest and most comprehensive study of gambling behaviour in the world”.
The GSGB sees the Commission overhaul its standard reporting with quarterly regulatory returns to improve market oversight and responsiveness, while piloting a live data feed to test continuous reporting mechanisms from licensees.
The year also featured the launch of the Financial Risk Assessment Pilot, a major step towards introducing proportionate affordability checks for high-spending customers. The pilot aims to strengthen consumer protection while maintaining a frictionless customer experience — a balance the Commission has repeatedly described as key to effective regulation.
No patience for rule breakers
Operationally, the Commission continued to tighten its enforcement regime through both proactive supervision and targeted interventions. Initial reviews found that roughly 80% of licensees met compliance expectations, while action against the black market intensified.
Over the year, 516 cease-and-desist notices were issued to unlicensed operators, alongside 352 warnings to affiliates promoting illegal gambling. Collaboration with major search engines also led to the removal of more than 95,000 illegal gambling URLs.
Rhodes underlined that improving compliance allows for a more mature regulatory relationship between the Commission and the industry:
“As compliance gets better, we can continue shaping more positive partnerships with the industry – to drive improvement, to lift standards, to be sure that the rules are upheld with much greater quality and transparency.”
Looking ahead, the Commission has set out an ambitious agenda for 2025/26. Priorities include completing the final round of White Paper settlements covering gaming machine standards, marketing, and customer care directives.
Levy support
Delivery will further focus on assisting the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in implementing the new Statutory Levy, in effect since April 2025, in which the Commission continues to support the NHS, Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) in the application of a new funding framework for harms prevention, education and research projects/organisations.
Key directives will focus on the rollout a new case-management framework to modernise licensing and enforcement processes, while continuing enforcement proceedings against Allwyn for delays in delivering full National Lottery functionality.
Rhodes reiterated that the focus will remain firmly on execution as the Commission moves into the third year of its corporate strategy:
“Gambling and the National Lottery in Great Britain will remain a safe, fair and crime-free environment, and we are committed to maximising our use of data and building our international partnerships into the future.”
Closing accounts 2024/25 was defined by rising costs to meet new enforcement and oversight demands. However, the year signalled a clear shift in how the Commission intends to regulate moving forward via data, proactive compliance and White Paper delivery bringing the generational change to UK gambling.