Great Britain’s Gambling Commission has launched a consultation on proposed changes to how its regulatory settlements should be managed and directed, following last year’s introduction of the new statutory levy.
Regulatory settlements are payments agreed with operators as part of compliance enforcement action, often as an alternative to formal financial penalties. Current rules determine that funds are sent to socially responsible purposes such as harm-reduction projects.
However, the regulator said the approach has become outdated under the new statutory levy and risks creating parallel funding routes outside the statutory model. The levy came into effect last April after being included within the previous government’s Gambling Act white paper in 2023. It replaced the existing voluntary system for funding gambling harm research, prevention and treatment.
The consultation proposes treating future regulatory settlement payments in the same way as fines/financial penalties, with funds paid to the central government, rather than being allocated to specific projects or charities.
“This would ensure that any future regulatory settlements, which are an important option in the Commission’s regulatory toolkit, are paid quickly to the Consolidated Fund and government could decide on its use as it does with financial penalties,” the regulator said.
“It would avoid the risk of activity separate to the new levy system taking place outside of proper commissioning and evaluation processes or developing in an uncoordinated manner.”
The consultation launched on 5 February and is due to run through until 2 April. Responses are being sought from licensees, trade associations, third-sector organisations involved in gambling harm research and treatment and other interested stakeholders.
Millions of pounds of settlements at stake
Regulatory settlements make up the majority of rulings made by the Gambling Commission. The regulator tends to take this approach over fines due to the actions of operators in the wake of regulatory breaches.
The largest settlement received by the commission in 2025 was from Paddy Power Betfair, as the operator was ordered to pay £2 million over a series of social responsibility failures relating to customer interaction across a number of leading brands.
Other major settlements in 2025 included AG Communications, operating under AspireGlobal, paying £1.4 million for social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures.
Meanwhile, the Done Brothers, trading as Betfred, was told to pay £825,000 for failures relating to social responsibility and anti-money laundering at its retail shops.
Should the switch go ahead, it would represent the latest change on the British gambling scene. In November, it was confirmed that UK-licensed operators would face higher remote gaming duty and a new general betting duty. Remote Gaming Duty will rise from 21% to 40% in April, while General Betting Duty for remote betting will increase to 25%, up from 15%, by April 2027.
Original article: https://igamingbusiness.com/legal-compliance/gambling-commission-overhaul-regulatory-settlement-destinations/
