Gambling Commission Issues Clarity on Deposit Limits

14 October 2026

The Gambling Commission launched a major consultation on the definition and application of deposit limits in online gambling, seeking to provide clarity for consumers and standardise rules across the industry.

Definition and Scope of Consultation

In a supplementary consultation issued on 6 March 2024, the Gambling Commission proposed that as a minimum and default, all remote gambling operators must offer gross deposit limits, which cap the total sum a customer deposits into their account over a specified time period, such as 24 hours, a week or a month. The consultation also put forward that operators should use the term "deposit limit" consistently and avoid employing it for other types of financial restrictions.

"In our view, the use of the term 'deposit limit' should be reserved solely for limits that meet the definition of a gross deposit limit," the consultation stated. "This will provide consumers with clarity on the type of limit they are setting."

The Commission was particularly concerned about operator distinctions between gross deposit limits, which include all the amount paid in, and net deposit limits, which subtract withdrawals from the total deposited. This can lead to customer confusion, as the consultation noted: "Some operators are currently using the phrase 'deposit limit' to describe what is effectively a 'net deposit limit'... We consider this to be potentially misleading and wish to take steps to stop this."

The supplementary consultation also laid out the mechanics of deposit limits, specifying that once a deposit limit is reached, online gambling operators must prevent further deposits at least until the end of the designated period or the customer manually increases the limit, which would be subject to the standard 24-hour "cooling-off" period. The consultation unambiguously included 24 hours, 7 days and one month as the required limit periods.

Consultation Timing and Context

The consultation period ran from 6 March to 30 April 2024. The Gambling Commission clarified that input received would help inform enhanced rules, aiming for a June 2025 implementation, to bolster consumer controls and protections around deposit limits.

The Commission noted that in 2023, it had issued a white paper outlining potential reforms to player-set deposit limits, with the goal of making them more robust and easier for consumers to understand and implement. The white paper, titled "High Stakes Gambling Reform for the Digital Age", called for the limits to be mandated by default and opt-out, rather than opt-in, which implied active involvement and purchase to activate a limit.

"Consumers can find player-set deposit limits hard to set up and understand in practice," the white paper said. "We propose putting safeguards in place, including checking whether a customer wants the limit, how much it should apply for, and if it should be opt-out or opt-in."

Later Clarification and Concerns

When the final rules were published on 7 October 2024, some concerns remained. Gambling operators had little clarity coming out of the consultation, for example, on whether all limits had to be set on a fixed time frame. Two industry associations, BGC and IAG, called for the Commission to better define the extent of the new rules' reach.

The final rules, issued on 22 May 2025, clarified that only gross deposit limits needed to be set on a fixed time frame, while other financial limits such as bets placed or cash withdrawn could be set on a fixed or rolling basis. Commissioners who objected to the flexibility of rolling limits were overruled. The rules also replaced spend limits with stake limits and introduced net deposit limits as a complementary tool alongside gross limits.