Great Britain’s Gambling Commission has warned operators that do not comply with rules for the new statutory levy, including making payments on time, could have their licence revoked.
The statutory levy came into effect on 6 April this year, having been proposed during the previous government’s Gambling Act white paper in 2023. It has replaced the previous, voluntary system, with the commission overseeing the collection of funds.
Operators will face varying rates, based on GGY. These depend on the types of gambling offered by an operator and whether they are online or land-based. Levy rates will range from 0.1%, primarily covering land-based activity, up to 1.1% for operations offering online casino.
For almost all licensees, the statutory levy will be based on regulatory returns data from July 2024 to March 2025, multiplied by one and one-third. The exception is society lottery licences, with this to be based on data from to 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.
The new levy will thereafter be invoiced on an annual basis, on 1 September, based on the activity from the previous financial year. Payment across all licensees will be due, in full, by 1 October each year.
Those that do not comply, the commission said in a detailed report on the statutory levy, could face losing their operating licence in Britain.
“Payment of the statutory levy is a licence requirement,” the regulator said. “Therefore, non-payment, or late payment of the statutory levy could result in operating licence revocation, unless the Gambling Commission is satisfied that this is due to administrative error.”
The regulator added it will invoice operators separately for British and non-British leviable activity. However, licensees must notify the commission of any errors on calculation related to this before the 1 October payment deadline.
Voluntary payments will not contribute to statutory levy
Meanwhile, the commission’s report sought to address any confusion over the existing, voluntary levy. It said licensees are no longer required to make annual financial contributions to research, prevention and treatment.
Operators can still make voluntary contributions to bodies involved with this line of work. However, it would not count towards their statutory levy, with the statutory levy invoice remaining payable in full.
This ties in with GambleAware’s recent announcement that it will halt all activities by the end of March 2026. GambleAware will transition its work to the British government, as a direct consequence of the new statutory levy.
GambleAware has been supportive of the levy since it was proposed in the white paper. However, with voluntary funding now a thing of the past, the organisation will lose out on funds it previously drew from the industry.
The government hopes the new approach will raise £100 million ($135 million) for gambling-related harm prevention.
Stakeholders have warned the statutory levy needs a robust regulatory framework behind it. In May, Better Change founder Victoria Reed said in an iGB op-ed there must be a fair and unbiased process to determine how levy funding is spent.
“Without this, we run the risk of not only misusing public funds but losing the experience and progress made through decades of work to prevent harm,” she said.
Original article: https://igamingbusiness.com/legal-compliance/gambling-commission-warning-statutory-levy/
