Great Britain’s Gambling Commission has warned operators that failure to comply with rules for the new statutory levy, including making payments on time, could result in having their licence revoked.
The statutory levy was introduced on 6 April this year, as proposed in the 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 their Gross Gaming Yield (GGY). These rates 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 casinos.
For almost all licensees, the statutory levy will be calculated based on regulatory returns data from July 2024 to March 2025, multiplied by one and one-third. The exception is society lottery licences, which will be based on data from 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 stated. “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 in 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 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.
Licence-holders in Britain must make their first statutory levy payments by 1 October.