UK gambling licensing regime


Produced in partnership with Carl Rohsler of Memery Crystal
Practice notes

UK gambling licensing regime


Produced in partnership with Carl Rohsler of Memery Crystal

Practice notes
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The three main types of licence available to potential gambling licensees within great britain are:

  1. •

    operating licences

  2. •

    personal licences, and

  3. •

    premises licences

Operating licences

An operating licence is required by any person who wishes to provide commercial gambling facilities in the UK. The power to grant operating licences lies exclusively with the Gambling Commission (the Commission), and the provision of gambling facilities without an appropriate operating licence (or other exemption) constitutes unlicensed gambling under the Gambling Act 2005 (GA 2005), which is a criminal offence.

An operating licence may be held by an individual (over the age of 18), a company, partnership or other legal person. The applicant does not need to be a UK citizen or company, provided they have an address for service within the UK.

Types of licence

Section 65 of GA 2005 sets out the different types of operating licence:

  1. •

    casino operating licence (remote or non-remote)

  2. •

    bingo operating licence (remote or non-remote)

  3. •

    general betting operating licence—two sub-categories of licence ('limited' and 'standard') (remote and non-remote)

  4. •

    pool

Carl Rohsler
Carl Rohsler

Memery Crystal

Carl is a partner in Memery Crystal's London office. His practice covers the full range of intellectual property work including patents, trade marks and designs, copyright and confidential information. Carl specialises in contentious intellectual property work and is known as one of the UK's leading exports on gambling law, acting for a number of the leading online and land-based gambling operations in the UK and across the world. Carl also has considerable experience in advertising and marketing regulation, data protection, e-commerce and labelling and packaging law. Carl is Recommended in The Legal 500 UK 2015 for Intellectual Property and as a Leading Individual for Gaming and Betting.

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Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom
Related legal acts:
Key definition:
Great Britain definition
What does Great Britain mean?

A geographical term generally referring to the mainland nations of the UK and certain smaller islands.

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