Great Britain: gambling payment rules

Gambling operators licensed in Great Britain may not take credit card payments, must take payments only through regulated payment services, must tell customers how their balances are protected and must not let customers cancel a withdrawal. Their payment providers answer to a different regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority.

By Clera Dukuk · Published 24 October 2026

Coverage

Gambling Commission licensees and their payment providers, Great Britain

Sources checked

24 October 2026

Next review

24 January 2027

Two regulators share the ground. The Gambling Commission sets rules for gambling operators through the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) and the remote technical standards (RTS). The Financial Conduct Authority regulates the payment institutions and e-money firms that move the money, under the Payment Services Regulations 2017 and the Electronic Money Regulations 2011. The Commission's online LCCP page states that the current version took effect on 29 July 2026.

The rules at a glance

Credit card ban

Licence condition 6.1.2 reads: "Licensees must not accept payment for gambling by credit card." It adds: "This includes payments to the licensee made by credit card through a money service business." The Commission's consultation response of January 2020 set the start date as 14 April 2020.

The condition applies to all remote licences (except gaming machine technical, gambling software and host licences) and to non-remote general betting, pool betting and betting intermediary licences. The Commission's player page notes two exceptions: lottery tickets and scratchcards, when bought in a shop alongside non-gambling products or paid for by post.

E-wallets are not named in the condition. They are covered by guidance: operators should accept e-wallet payments only where the wallet provider can assure them that a credit card cannot be used to fund gambling, and the Commission's operator guide on preventing credit card use explains how. Our comparison of credit card bans sets the British rule against other markets.

Which payment providers an operator may use

Remote casino, bingo and betting licensees must accept payment from customers in Great Britain only through a method involving payment services as defined in Schedule 1 Part 1 of the Payment Services Regulations 2017, offered by a payment service provider as those Regulations define it. This is licence condition 5.1.2; its references were updated from the 2009 Regulations to the 2017 Regulations with effect from 31 January 2024. The condition does not use the words "FCA authorised", so read it with care; our guide to condition 5.1.2 explains what it covers.

Customer funds: segregation and disclosure

Remote operators that hold customer money must keep it in accounts separate from their own business accounts (condition 4.1.1). Under condition 4.2.1, licensees must state in their terms whether customer funds are protected if the business becomes insolvent, and how. Customers must acknowledge this before first using their funds. Since 31 October 2025, operators whose funds are rated "not protected" must remind customers every six months, referring to the value of their funds.

The Commission's rating system has four levels:

Withdrawals

Since 31 October 2021, remote technical standard 14B has said: "Consumers must not be given the option to cancel their withdrawal request." The Commission's guidance adds that once a withdrawal is requested, the customer should not be offered the option to deposit using those funds. The rule applies to all remote operators. Our withdrawal guide covers the steps a payout goes through and where delays arise.

Deposit limits and affordability checks

RTS 12 requires operators to prompt customers to set a deposit limit at registration or first deposit, to offer gross deposit limits over 24 hours, 7 days and a month, and to stop deposits once a limit is reached. Increases take effect only after a cooling-off period of at least 24 hours; decreases apply straight away. Setting a limit is the default, and customers who decline must be prompted again at least once a year. These stronger requirements took effect on 31 October 2025.

Social responsibility code 3.4.4 requires a financial vulnerability check when a customer's deposits minus withdrawals exceed £150 in a rolling 30 days (the threshold was £500 from 30 August 2024 to 27 February 2025). The Commission says these checks use publicly available data, not credit reference data.

Fuller financial risk assessments are not yet in force. On 7 July 2026 the Commission announced it will introduce them in stages. Stage 1, initially for the largest operators, applies when net deposits exceed £5,000 in 24 hours (£2,500 for under-25s). The final stage thresholds are £1,000 in 24 hours or £3,000 in 90 days (£750 or £2,000 for under-25s). The Commission said the Stage 1 start date would be set in a formal consultation response, which we had not found when we checked.

Anti-money laundering thresholds

Casinos, including remote casinos, are covered by the Money Laundering Regulations 2017. Regulation 27(5) requires customer due diligence on transactions of £2,000 or more, and regulation 27(6) counts deposits to take part in remote gambling and withdrawals of winnings as such transactions. The threshold was €2,000 until the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/621) converted it to sterling from 30 June 2026, as the Commission's notice explained. The occasional-transaction threshold became £12,000. The Commission's casino AML guidance was last updated on 22 October 2025, before this change.

What the FCA requires of payment firms

Payment institutions and e-money firms are authorised by the FCA and must safeguard the money they hold for users. New FCA safeguarding rules, set out in policy statement PS25/12 and the new CASS 15 chapter, took effect on 7 May 2026. These duties fall on the payment firm. A gambling operator's own customer balances are "customer funds" under the LCCP, a different regime.

Related player-protection rules

Two newer rules touch payments indirectly. Online slots stakes are capped at £5 per game cycle (from 9 April 2025) and £2 for 18 to 24 year olds (from 21 May 2025), under a statutory licence condition explained in the Commission's stake limit guidance. Since 19 January 2026, bonus wagering requirements have been capped at 10 times the bonus amount, and mixed-product promotions are banned, under social responsibility code 5.1.1.

Questions about payment rules in Great Britain