By James Simons-
New rules governing how online gambling companies offer and describe deposit limits have come into force across Britain, in the latest regulatory change aimed at giving customers greater control over how much money they put into their gambling accounts.
From today, September 30, licensed online gambling operators must offer customers a form of gross deposit limit, meaning a limit based solely on the amount paid into a gambling account during a defined period. Only this type of financial control can now be described to customers as a “deposit limit”.
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The change is part of an overhaul of the Gambling Commission’s Remote Gambling and Software Technical Standards, specifically the rules governing financial limits on gambling accounts. The Commission says the changes are intended to provide greater consistency and clarity for customers when they set limits on their gambling.
Under the new requirements, operators must make gross deposit limits available alongside any other financial limits they offer. Where several types of limit are available, the gross deposit limit must be given at least equal prominence rather than being hidden or presented less prominently than alternatives.
The rules also require gambling systems to prevent customers from depositing further money once their deposit limit has been reached. Deposits must remain blocked until the relevant limit period begins again or the customer takes action to increase the limit, subject to the Commission’s standard 24-hour cooling-off requirem
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The new framework also establishes the minimum periods that must be available for deposit limits. Customers must be able to set limits covering 24 hours, seven days and one month. Where a customer sets more than one limit covering different periods, the most restrictive combination must apply.
For example, the Gambling Commission says that if a customer sets a daily deposit limit of £10 and a weekly limit of £100, the system should not allow more than £10 to be deposited in a single day or more than £70 over the remainder of the seven-day period.
The regulator has also drawn a clearer distinction between different types of financial controls. Operators may continue to offer alternatives to gross deposit limits, including stake limits, loss limits and net deposit limits, but those alternatives must not be confused with the specific “deposit limit” now defined by the rules.
A stake limit restricts the amount a customer can stake on gambling, while a loss limit is calculated from stakes minus winnings or other returns. A net deposit limit, meanwhile, takes deposits into account alongside withdrawals during the relevant period
The terminology itself has also been changed. The Commission has replaced the term “spend limits” with “stake limits”, saying that the word “stake” is more closely aligned with gambling behaviour and that “spend” could be interpreted in different ways by cus
The changes were originally due to take effect on June 30, but the Gambling Commission gave operators an additional three months to complete the technical work required to implement them. The revised deadline was set for September 30.
The regulator said the extension followed feedback from the gambling industry about the technical development required to introduce the new requirements across gambling systems.
The Commission has also made clear that the changes do not mean every existing customer will suddenly have their existing financial limits replaced today. Its implementation guidance says new customers from September 30 must be offered gross deposit limits using the term “deposit limit”, while existing customers must have access to the relevant financial-limit options from the same date and at required account-review poin
The new rules apply to remote gambling generally, with subscription lotteries excluded from the relevant requirements.
The significance of the changes is therefore not simply that gambling companies are facing a new blanket cap on what customers can deposit. Instead, the rules establish a more precise framework governing the financial controls customers must be offered, how those controls are described and how gambling systems must respond when a customer reaches a limit.
For gambling operators, today’s deadline marks the point at which their systems must comply with the revised requirements. For customers, the stated aim is greater clarity over exactly what a financial limit means and what will happen when that limit is reached.
The Gambling Commission has described the wider changes as part of its efforts to ensure customers can set and maintain meaningful financial limits and have clearer tools to manage their gamb
The new requirements are now in force, placing responsibility on licensed operators to ensure their gambling platforms, customer interfaces and financial-limit systems comply with the revised rules.
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