The Gambling Commission in the UK launched a significant public consultation on February 5th, focusing on the future direction of regulatory settlements. This proposal stems from the new statutory levy system that came into effect last year, which has provided unified central funding for research, prevention, and treatment of gambling harms. The Commission believes that the current practice of directly allocating settlement funds to specific charitable projects is "outdated" and could lead to redundant and uncoordinated funding streams outside the new tax regime. Therefore, the new proposal plans to treat future regulatory settlements like fines, directly remitting them to a central government fund, with the government deciding their use. The consultation period will last until April 2nd, seeking opinions from operators, industry associations, and relevant charitable organizations.
The core of the reform: Why change the direction of funding?
Regulatory settlements are alternative payments negotiated with regulatory bodies by operators after violations, typically used to support projects that reduce gambling harms. However, the implementation of the new statutory levy system has changed the game. The Commission explains that the change in direction is mainly based on two reasons:
Avoiding system conflicts: Preventing another set of funding channels that are not uniformly planned and assessed outside the new tax regime.
Enhancing efficiency and consistency: Channeling funds into a government unified fund ensures that their use, like fines, goes through an overall decision-making process.
Simply put, this reform aims to simplify the flow of funds, ensuring the strategic and coordinated use of public resources, and avoiding "too many cooks spoil the broth." According to observations from the PASA official website, this reflects a further evolution of the UK's regulatory approach from "dispersed compensation" to "systematic governance".
Amounts involved and recent cases
This reform is significant as regulatory settlements constitute the majority in the Commission's rulings. Just in 2025, there are several high-value settlement cases:
Paddy Power Betfair: Paid £2 million in settlement for social responsibility failures across multiple brands.
AG Communications: Paid £1.4 million for social responsibility and anti-money laundering deficiencies.
Betfred: Paid £825,000 for issues related to its retail outlets.
These funds are currently used directly for specific charitable projects, but in the future, they may all enter the treasury.
A broader context of industry fiscal reform
The adjustment in the way funds are managed is not an isolated event. It occurs against the backdrop of an overall increase in the financial burden on the UK gambling industry. Just a few months ago, the government confirmed:
Remote gaming duty will be significantly increased from 21% to 40% in April 2026.
General betting duty on remote betting will also be raised from 15% to 25% in April 2027.
Therefore, the re-planning of the flow of settlement funds can be seen as another step in the UK's efforts to strengthen industry regulation and optimize fiscal revenue management under the overall framework.
In summary, this consultation by the UK Gambling Commission aims to better align the flow of regulatory tools' funds with the modern tax system and governance framework. For operators, this means that future compliance costs (in the form of settlement funds) will more purely reflect contributions to the treasury. For the charitable sector, it means that funding will rely more on centrally coordinated statutory levies rather than dispersed settlement funds. This change once again shows that the refinement of regulation is extending to the ultimate use of funds. Follow the PASA official website for more in-depth interpretations of global regulatory policy evolution.
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This article is from "PASA-Global iGaming Leaders," a gambling industry news channel: https://t.me/pasa_news
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PASA official website: https://www.pasa.news
