How online casino games are regulated

Every online casino game offered to players in Great Britain has to meet the Gambling Commission’s remote technical standards. They set out what you must be told before you play, how results are produced, and how fast and how continuously a game is allowed to run. This guide explains the rules that matter most to players.

Where these rules come from

The Gambling Commission publishes the remote gambling and software technical standards (opens in a new tab) (often shortened to RTS). Meeting them is a condition of a remote operating licence, and they apply to the games themselves as well as to the casino site that offers them. The version we used was last updated on 31 October 2025. The standards cover betting and lotteries too, but this guide sticks to casino games.

What you must be told before you play

The rules of each game must be easy to find before you commit any money. For each game, the casino must also give you information that lets you make an informed decision about your chances. That means a description of how the game works and how winners are decided, plus at least one of these:

• the house edge (or margin)
• the return to player (RTP) percentage
• the probability of winning outcomes.

The information can be inside the game, on a help or “how to play” page, or elsewhere. But it should be easy to reach, for example from the game lobby or from within the game itself. For progressive jackpots, the rules must explain how the jackpot is funded and won, and eligible players should be able to see the current jackpot amount.

The Commission also says that online gambling businesses must provide a player’s guide to each game they offer. See what a casino must tell you about your account for the wider list.

What RTP and house edge actually mean

The Commission’s return to player guide (opens in a new tab) describes RTP as the part of the money staked that is paid back to players as prizes. It is an average over a very large number of plays, not something that happens each time you play. Its own example: if a machine shows an 85% RTP, you should not expect to win back an average of 85p for every £1 you stake during a playing session.

House edge is the other way of describing the same thing for table games. Roulette, blackjack and punto banco are “bankers’ games” and games of unequal chance: their design gives the casino an advantage. The house edge measures the percentage the casino would expect to keep, on average, from each hand or spin with normal play.

In practice, both figures tell you how a game is built to pay out over time. Neither predicts your result tonight. Over a short session, you can lose much more than the house edge suggests.

Seeing what you are staking

RTS 2 is about making the money side of each game clear:

• Stakes in real money. The amount you are gambling must be shown clearly, including any conversion into credits, chips or tokens at the point of conversion. Credits or chips with no face value should only be used when the matching cash amount is clearly visible.
• Your session net position. Casino games (other than peer-to-peer poker) must display your net position in the currency of your account since the session started. The standards define this as all winnings minus all losses, so you can see at a glance whether you are up or down.
• The state of the game. As a game goes on, it must show what you need to understand where you stand. The prizes and payouts on offer, or how they are worked out, must be available before you stake.

Fair results and free-play demos

• Random results. Games must use random number generation that is acceptably random, and the game must work fairly in line with the rules it shows you. The result has to be displayed clearly, for long enough for you to see it.
• No “compensated” games. The standards ban adaptive behaviour: no automatic or manual intervention may change the probability of outcomes during play. Random numbers must be used in the order they are received and must not be thrown away to steer a result. Bonus rounds with their own rules are still allowed, as long as they are triggered by random events.
• No fake near misses. A game must not swap one losing result for a different losing result that looks closer to a win. Games that simulate a real object must match its real probabilities: a virtual coin has to land heads half the time, every time.
• Rules cannot change mid-game. Rules, paytables and probabilities may not be changed while a game is available, except in ways the game’s own rules describe, such as a growing progressive jackpot. An altered game must carry a notice like “rules changed” or “new odds”. A term saying the rules “may be changed at any time” is not acceptable under the guidance.
• Demo games must be honest. A play-for-free version must use the same game rules as the real-money version on the same site. The operator must take all reasonable steps to make sure the demo accurately represents your chances in the paid game, so a demo cannot be made more generous to draw you in.
• Live dealer games must be fair and independently auditable. The guidance expects trained croupiers, supervision, and video recording of dealer activity.

Game speed and autoplay

Several rules exist to slow play down and keep you making a choice each time:

• No autoplay. Every game must make you commit to each game cycle individually. Holding a button or keeping a finger on the screen must not start a new spin.
• Minimum game cycle times. A slot game cycle must last at least 2.5 seconds before the next one can start. For other casino games (except peer-to-peer poker), the minimum is 5 seconds.
• No speeding up the result. Turbo, quick spin and slam stop features are not allowed in any remote game. The standards still allow “reveal all” on scratchcard-style games.
• One game at a time. Split-screen or multi-screen play, or anything else designed to let you play several games at once, is not permitted.

Separately, the law sets a maximum stake on online slots: £5 a spin, or £2 if you are 18 to 24. There is no equivalent legal stake limit for roulette, blackjack or live dealer games.

No disguised losses, no nudging

A game must not celebrate a return that is less than or equal to what you staked. If you stake £1 and get 60p back, the game cannot play win sounds or flash a win animation; it can only tell you the result. This tackles what are often called “losses disguised as wins”.

More broadly, games must not actively encourage you to chase losses, raise your stake, increase the amount you had decided to gamble, or keep playing after you have said you want to stop. The guidance gives examples: no automatic top-ups or re-buys without your choice each time, no messages urging you to win back losses, and no free game offered when you choose to leave.

Time and reality checks

If a full-screen game hides your device’s clock, it must show the time of day or how long you have been playing, wherever practicable. During casino sessions, the elapsed time should be displayed throughout.

Casinos must also let you set a reality check: a reminder at a frequency you choose that shows how long you have been playing. You must acknowledge it before you can commit money to a new game, and it should offer a way to leave and a link to your account history. Our safer gambling tools guide explains how reality checks fit with deposit limits and time-outs.

If the game crashes or your connection drops

RTS 10 requires operators to have fair policies for interruptions that do not systematically disadvantage players, and to publish how they handle common scenarios. For casino games, the guidance says:

• if the operator had already received your bet and you could no longer affect the outcome, the result should stand;
• if a single-player, single-stage game is interrupted before a result is generated, your stake should be returned to your balance;
• in games with several stages or decisions, such as blackjack, the operator should take all reasonable steps to restore the game to its last known state so you can finish it, including the cards dealt and any tokens collected;
• progressive jackpot values should be restored to what they were before the failure.

Check the site’s help pages or terms for its interruption policy. If you think a crash cost you money, keep a note of the game, time and stake and raise it with the casino.

Poker against other players

In peer-to-peer games such as online poker, you play other customers rather than the house. The standards require operators to have measures to deter, prevent and detect cheating and collusion, and to explain how to report a player you suspect of cheating. Operators must also say whether third-party software is allowed, and warn you if you could be playing against a program (a “bot”). If the operator itself uses such programs, it must tell you clearly.

Withdrawals cannot be reversed

Once you ask to withdraw, the casino must not give you the option to cancel the request, and you should not be able to deposit using those funds. The guidance asks operators to make withdrawals as frictionless as possible. Our withdrawals guide covers checks and timescales.

If a game does not seem to follow the rules

Take screenshots, note the game name, the time and your stake, and complain to the casino first. If it has not resolved things within eight weeks, you can take the complaint to its free independent dispute resolution service. See how to complain to a UK online casino.