The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has settled on a 25% increase on UK gambling licence fees, but unsurprisingly has noted little to no ‘appetite’ for any fee increase among gambling companies.
A new licensing fee regime will come into effect on 1 October 2026, the beginning of the final quarter in a year when listed gambling firms have been thinking intently about bottom lines after an increase in remote gambling tax introduced in April 2026.
This afternoon, DCMS announced that after mulling over three different options for licensing fee increases, it has decided to introduce and opt for a fourth one – that being the 25% option.
Prior to choosing this course, the department considered headline increases of either 30%, 20%, or 20% plus a 10% extra fee ringfenced for illegal markets, revenue protection and other related activity.
The government noted resistance throughout the consultation, however, summarising feedback from licensed listed operators:
“Almost all of these stated that they did not support any of the three options, and instead favoured no increase at all, with some operators proposing exemptions for their specific category of licence.
“Operators cited the impact of successive cost increases for the industry, particularly in relation to recent changes to gambling duty rates and the introduction of the statutory levy for gambling operators.
“There were also questions about whether the proposed increases accurately reflect the cost of regulation.”
As usual, gambling licence fees will be paid to the Gambling Commission. Also as usual, operators and betting technology suppliers applying for a licence will also have to pay fee.
What gambling licence fees does the government want?
DCMS has reached two conclusions:
- A headline increase of 25% to operating licences
- An increase of 25% for personal licences, supplementary operating licences and single machine permits
- Another 25% increase for applications to vary an existing operating licence and for changes in corporate control
There are two notable distinctions from the headline increase, however:
- Society lotteries, which will see licence fees frozen.
- General betting operating licences, which will adjust to a market share-based approach based on gross gambling yield (GGY) instead of days of operation.
A general betting (limited) operating licence covers on-course bookmakers.
The decision to exclude this from gambling licence fee changes seems to follow the same rationale of the tax increases announced last November and implemented in April by excluding horse racing-oriented operators.
DCMS seems to have the same rationale as the Treasury, putting the financial burden more on casino than sports betting, and particularly online casino, with on-course bookmakers given the most relief.
For sports betting licences fees, we’ve divided the new regime of annual fees in three tables below:
Table 1
| Licence type / GGY | GGY of less than £250,000 | GGY of £250,000 to £875,000 | GGY of £875,000 to £3m | GGY of £3m to £10.5m |
| General betting (virtual) | £7,000 | £12,375 | £19,569 | £27,337 |
| Betting host | £5,750 | £10,406 | £15,694 | £21,937 |
| General betting (real events) | £5,937 | £11,531 | £17,244 | £24,300 |
| Betting host (real events) | £4,687 | £8,719 | £12,981 | £17,887 |
| Pool betting | £1,250 | £1,547 | £2,373 | £5,400 |
| Betting intermediary | £5,562 | £11,897 | £14,919 | £18,225 |
| Betting intermediary (trading room only) | £3,158 | £6,782 | £8,495 | £10,388 |
Table 2
| Licence type / GGY | GGY of £10.5m-£36.75m | GGY of £36.75m-£130m | GGY of £130m-£455m | GGY of £455m -£1.6bn |
| General betting (virtual) | £51,975 | £112,556 | £394,875 | £1.18m |
| Betting host | £38,981 | £89,628 | £299,812 | £914,475 |
| General betting (real events) | £49,612 | £104,219 | £365,625 | £1.13m |
| Betting host (real events) | £31,894 | £80,457 | £267,637 | £744,937 |
| Pool betting | £16,065 | £56,278 | £196,706 | £693,562 |
| Betting intermediary | £24,806 | £68,784 | £225,225 | £744,937 |
| Betting intermediary (trading room only) | £14,140 | £39,207 | £128,250 | £422,362 |
Table 3
| Licence type / GGY | GGY of over £1.6bn |
| General betting (virtual) | £1.45m – plus £272,324 for each complete additional £200m of annual gross gambling yield above £1.6bn |
| Betting host | £1m – plus £167,153 for each complete additional £200m of annual gross gambling yield above £1.6bn |
| General betting (real events) | £1.4m – plus £272,205 for each complete additional £200m of annual gross gambling yield above £1.6bn |
| Betting host (real events) | £911,844 plus £166,907 for each complete additional £200m of annual gross gambling yield above £1.6bn |
| Pool betting | £918,551 plus £224,989 for each complete additional £200m of annual gross gambling yield above £1.6bn |
| Betting intermediary | £951,056 plus £206,119 for each complete additional £200m of annual gross gambling yield above £1.6bn |
| Betting intermediary (trading room only) | £539,849 plus £117,488 for each complete additional £200m of annual gross gambling yield above £1.6bn |
Regarding tax increases, DCMS responded to operator concerns stating that “the government recognises that recent cost increases have created a more challenging environment for operators”.
However, it remains opposed to the idea of phased increase of fee levels. The department maintains that as fees “continue to represent a small proportion” of annual GGY, phasing would “add unnecessary complexity”.
Momentum lost on anti-illegal gambling collaboration?
The UK government and betting are not always on the same page, to put it mildly.
The duo have found themselves at loggerheads in the past, such as the measures proposed by the review of the 2005 Gambling Act, the most controversial of which to the industry was affordability checks, or the during the discussions around gambling taxation last year.
One area they’ve found some common ground in lately is on illegal gambling – but the results of the licensing fee consultation show that all is not sunshine and rainbows when it comes to the black market either.
“A number of operators objected to providing any funding for tackling the illegal gambling market through licence fee increases, instead recommending that funding for tackling illegal gambling should come from central government departments including HM Treasury and the Home Office,” DCMS revealed.
“Some operator groups, including society lotteries and on-course bookmakers, also suggested that their share of illegal market funding should be minimal as there are very few illegal operators within their sectors.”
The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) claims that over £16m was staked on illegal platforms in 2025 alone, and the government has become more aware of the competition this black market poses, and the impact it can have on tax revenues.
After announcing the increase in Remote Gaming Duty (RGD) from April 2026 and General Betting Duty from 2027, the government also revealed that an extra £26m would be given to the Gambling Commission to tackle illegal gambling.
On top of that, it has also created a dedicated DCMS Illegal Gambling Taskforce, headed up by Gambling Minister Baroness Twycross, which has a series of consultations planned around payments and a possible ban on unlicensed companies sponsoring English sports teams.
The industry has, as expected, been very receptive to this progress. The idea that its gambling licence fees should fund such endeavours is not as popular, however.
