UK Remote Casino Licence Fees: What Changes on 1 October 2026
The Gambling Commission has published revised remote-casino licence application and annual-fee tables that take effect on 1 October 2026. Here is what businesse
The UK Gambling Commission has published revised fee information for remote casino operating licences, with the new application and annual-fee arrangements set to take effect on 1 October 2026.
The update matters for businesses that provide remote casino facilities to consumers in Great Britain, as well as for prospective entrants building a market-entry budget. The Commission’s remote-casino licence page was updated on 6 July and now shows the existing fees alongside the tables that apply from October.
A remote casino operating licence is required where a business provides casino gambling to consumers in Great Britain through a website, mobile phone, television or another remote service. The Commission says the category includes casino games such as poker, roulette, blackjack and online slots. A business may need a different licence where it only hosts facilities through another operator’s platform and does not contract with the customer directly, so the precise activity still matters.
New application-fee bands
The October table changes more than the amount payable. It also introduces different annual gross gambling yield (GGY) bands for application fees.
For example, the new remote-casino application-fee table begins with an F1 band for annual GGY below £250,000, shown at £8,185. It then lists F2 for £250,000 to below £875,000 at £14,483, and F3 for £875,000 to below £3 million at £25,628. The table continues through larger GGY bands.
That makes a direct comparison with today’s fee labels potentially misleading. The current table uses a different set of thresholds, beginning with F1 below £550,000. Businesses should therefore avoid simply comparing one named band with another; the relevant GGY range and the applicable date need to be checked together.
The Commission’s page also lists new additional application fees for combined activities. From 1 October, it says a licence combining two of remote casino, bingo and virtual-event betting will attract a flat additional application fee of £2,100, while a combination of all three will attract £4,200.
Annual fees and planning
The page separately sets out annual fees from 1 October. The first annual fee is normally due 30 days after a licence is issued and is reduced by 25%, according to the Commission; subsequent annual fees are due before the anniversary of the licence issue date. Those timing rules make it especially important for applicants and licence holders to confirm which table applies to their own application or renewal date.
This is an administrative update, not a change to the underlying obligation to hold the right licence. But fee changes can still affect commercial planning: cash-flow forecasts, launch timing, legal review and the cost assumptions supplied to investors or partners.
The safest approach is to treat the Commission’s live licence page as the primary reference, check the activity a business is actually conducting and obtain legal or compliance advice where the model includes multiple products or platforms. A summary article cannot determine which licence a particular business needs.
For consumers, these fee tables do not change where to find safer-gambling information or how to assess an operator. A licence is one element of a regulated market; it should not be treated as a guarantee that gambling is risk-free.
