Personal limits and real-time staff alerts to be mandatory in new UK gaming machine standards 

The Gambling Commission has confirmed a set of new technical standards for land-based gaming machines, aiming to promote fairer and safer play. 

Wednesday’s measures, outlined in the regulator’s response to its 2025 consultation, target new category A, B and certain C machines, with phased implementation dates set between March 2027 and October 2028.

Personal limits to be mandatory

New machines must prompt players at the start of a session to actively choose personal limits on play time and monetary loss or accept default settings. The regulations strictly prohibit playing without limits. The parameters will include consumer-set limits with a maximum of 60 minutes and £450 ($597) net loss. They will also include default limits with a maximum of 20 minutes and £150 net loss.

Upon reaching any set limit, players will receive an alert triggering a mandatory break. Break durations differ depending on whether default or consumer-set limits are used. For default time limits initially selected, the first two breaks will last 10 and 20 seconds respectively. All other breaks, including those from custom-set limits, will be a minimum of 30 seconds.

During these breaks, safer gambling information must be displayed, clarifying the reason for interruptions and options to end the session or update limits.

New machines and new games on multi-game “compendiums” will by default display players’ net positions (winnings minus losses) and elapsed session time. Players can hide this information after at least 10 seconds of viewing.

Staff alerts and no ‘celebration’

Machines will provide real-time alerts to staff when players hit or amend time or loss limits. However, alerts are not mandatory prompts for immediate customer interaction. 

To reduce alert volume and staff fatigue, alerts will not be triggered on players reaching the first two default time thresholds (20 and 40 minutes) if those default limits were selected at session start.

New machines must avoid audiovisual “celebrations” for returns equal to or below the last stake. Additionally, features that accelerate gameplay outcomes, such as turbo modes or quick spin options, will be prohibited. 

While the Commission introduced some relaxations regarding “game links” and allowed for live jackpot gambling only on player initiative and within prize limits, the focus remains on responsible design.

Implementation timetable

The new Gaming Machine Technical Standards (GMTS) apply to newly released category A, B1, B2, B3, B3A and B4 games, specifically those classified as “new” after 30 June 2027 based on final testing dates.

Existing machines are largely exempt due to technical and financial challenges related to retrofitting. The industry estimated approximately 7,770 machines could be at risk of removal if forced upgrades were mandated.

For machines operating “compendiums” with both old and new games, the introduction of any new game requires the entire platform to meet the new standards.

The changes will be introduced in three stages. The first is a session definition, effective 30 March 2027. Most GMTS changes will come into effect on 30 June 2027. Staff alerts will become a legal obligation, effective 3 October 2028.

The cost of consolidation

The Gambling Commission outlined its business impact assessment.

Moderate costs for GMTS consolidation stood at £12,000 with testing strategy coming in at £3,200. Substantial investments of between £500,000 and £1 million are anticipated for implementing limit-setting functionality and £554,000 to £1.154 million for sessional information display, particularly for new games.

Staff alerts will generate the highest costs, estimated between £20.76 million and £41.63 million per annum, mainly driven by data management systems and additional personnel. 

Offset measures, including exemption of existing machines and reduced alerting at lower-risk thresholds, are expected to halve potential alert volumes.

Minor or optional costs relate to design restrictions and game feature adjustments.

The Commission emphasised the significant scale of the machines market, noting a gross gambling yield of £2.6 billion between April 2024 and March 2025, 88.5% from category B machines, and steady growth in machine-based play since 2019.

‘Empower consumers’

Director of Major Policy Projects and Evaluation Helen Rhodes, stated: “These measures will help both to empower consumers to understand and manage their gambling and ensure operators play their part. 

“Consultation feedback from a range of stakeholders helped to inform our thinking and where there was legitimate and evidenced concern, we made changes.”

Rationale and crackdown on non-remote gaming machines

These reforms derive from the UK Government’s 2023 Gambling Act Review white paper, reflecting commitments to safer gambling and transparency. 

The Gambling Commission received 1,065 stakeholder responses during the 2025 consultation, including input from industry representatives, clubs and advocacy groups. 

Feedback prompted modifications such as adopting net position for monetary metrics, refining session definitions to avoid interruptions and exempting existing machines to balance harm reduction with economic considerations.

Speaking at the Bingo Association’s annual general meeting on 7 May, acting chief executive Sarah Gardner announced that, from 29 July 2026, non-remote operators must immediately remove gaming machines if informed by the Commission that they lack the required technical operating licence or fail to meet technical standards. 

The move aims to “streamline processes and ensure non-compliant machines are swiftly removed from premises”.

The Social Market Foundation (SMF) has urged the government to raise Machine Games Duty on higher-risk Category B electronic gaming machines in the forthcoming budget.  

UK industry stalwarts such as Betfred and Entain have urged against the rise, citing a human cost and a detrimental effect on high streets.