UK to introduce online slot spin cap at £5 and staturoy levy

The United Kingdom will be introducing after all changes to its gambling industry, with the government announcing sweeping new measures to several crucial areas of the existing regulatory framework.

Slot spin limits finally kick in

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has confirmed that a rumored statutory levy that was reported earlier this week would indeed be coming into effect, and it will seek to raise as much as £100m in compulsory donations from the gambling industry to help fund addiction treatment.

The levy is expected to exceed this sum, as it’s charged on companies’ gross gambling yield, which has been on an upward trajectory over the past years. In the meantime, the DCMS has confirmed an even more ambitious measure, capping the maximum bet on online slots per round at £5 per spin for those aged 25 and older.

Similarly, players who are between the ages of 18 and 24 will only be allowed to place a maximum value of £2 per spin of an online slot game. The measures, insist the DCMS, are designed to offer the best possible protection to consumers.

This comes at a time when new data from GamCare has revealed that of the people who reached out to the helpline – some 6,697 callers between 2023 and 2024, 45% said they were experiencing problems with online slots.

Commenting on those results, GamCare’s Jon Armstrong said: "These games are highly repetitive, we’ve got lots of examples of people playing them through the night and being able to repetitively gamble over an extended period of time."

Gambling Minister Fiona Twycross has explained that the goal is to seek and protect vulnerable and at-risk consumers, with the new measures designed to achieve just that. A considerable focus has been put on young adults, Twycross noted.

"Gambling harm can ruin people’s finances, relationships, and ultimately lives," she reminded. However, not everyone is happy.

The Betting and Gaming Council CEO Grainne Hurst has said that the government was simply "dancing to the tune of anti-gambling prohibitions" suggesting that the measures, as they were outlined by the DCMS "served no-one."

Not everyone happy with the proposed statutory levy

Hurst and the BGC have long insisted that restrictive measures such as these will directly do harm to the industry, undermining the regulated market, and empowering black market operations.

Out of the money raised this way, 30% will be spent on public health campaigns and other measures designed to prevent harm. Another 20% will be spent on research. Half of the money raised from the levy will go directly to the National Health Service, which will use it in the aforementioned manner.

As to the levy’s actual size, it will vary, from 0.1% to 1.1% and will be based on a gambling stakeholder’s gross gambling yield.

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