When it comes to gambling, the UK has a great tradition. The first time his area of life was regulated by law was way back in the 16th century. Since then, this country has always been characterized by a quite affirmative approach toward gambling. These days, things aren’t any different, as we are talking about a country that has completely legalized all forms of gambling, including online casinos, land-based casinos, betting shops, lotteries etc.
Therefore, you may presume that there is a lot of legislation material that regulates this sphere. Moreover, the government has also established the United Kingdom Gambling Commission, which regulates almost complete gambling in the UK.
This commission is responsible for many things. It was founded in order to provide a healthy gambling environment, so it’s responsible for so many things. It is an independent body, which is financed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Among many activities, the UKGC also issues licenses to prospective businesses, so you may presume that there are all kinds of conditions and requirements that have to be met in order to start a business. This is completely regulated by the Gambling Commission and an important thing to know is that these requirements are constantly changing and updating, in order to provide the best possible protection to vulnerable groups. This particularly refers to online gambling, which develops at rapid speed. Such dynamics require pretty frequent updates, so we can say that the newest version has been published just a couple of weeks ago.
The whole gambling market has been controlled through this licensing system. That’s why the process of getting the license can take a very long time and can be very complicated. Simply, the future operator has to meet all the requirements before it starts with providing gambling services.
These requirements can be divided into two main groups – license conditions and codes of practice.
When it comes to license conditions, there are four main groups. First, there are general license conditions applied by the Gambling Commission, which refer to a certain class of operating licenses. Then, there are individual license conditions, which refer to an individual operator and its activities.
Besides conditions that are applied by the Gambling Commission, there are also two more things that may apply to a class of operating license. The first ones would be amendments of the law, while the second ones would be regulations from the Gambling Act 2005.
Another thing that should be mentioned is that there are different types of licenses. The three main licenses an operator needs to get are operating license (from UKGC), a personal management license (from UKGC), a personal functional license (from UKGC). These licenses cover the following things:
- Arcades
- Betting
- Bingo
- Casino
- Gambling software
- Gaming machines
- Lotteries
Also, local licenses for gambling activities would be required as well, if we are talking about establishments like land-based casinos, pubs, clubs etc.
If you wonder about the costs of getting a license, it’s very hard to tell the exact sum, as it may vary from case to case. On the other side, there are many agencies that advertise consultant assist, which covers not only licenses administration and application but also things like a business plan, financial prognosis, system documentation etc. This whole package goes around 20-25.000 pounds, roughly.
Speaking of costs, another thing we should mention is maintaining the UK gambling license. This is paid on a yearly basis and depends on several factors, such as annual gross receipts, the type of establishment, the number of establishments, and so on. When it comes to online casinos, it mostly depends on yearly income. If the income goes between 500.000 and 5 Million British Pounds, yearly costs would go around £7200.