Extra Time On Deposit-Limit Rules
The UK Gambling Commission has extended the implementation date for the second phase of its new deposit-limit requirements, giving remote gambling operators until 30 September 2026 to complete technical and compliance changes. The deadline had previously been set for 30 June 2026.
The regulator said the extension follows stakeholder feedback and is intended to give operators more time for technical development. The change applies to the second phase of updates to the Remote Technical Standards, which form part of the Commission’s wider work on customer-led tools and safer gambling controls.
From the new September deadline, operators must offer gross deposit limits to customers. In some cases, the Commission said this may require operators to reintroduce gross deposit limits where they are not currently available as an option.
What Operators Must Change
The updated requirements are designed to make the meaning of “deposit limit” more consistent across gambling sites. From 30 September 2026, only gross deposit limits may be labelled as “deposit limits”. The Commission has said these limits must also be offered with at least equal prominence to other types of financial limit.
A gross deposit limit is based on the amount a customer pays into their gambling account over a set period. This differs from a net deposit limit, where withdrawals can be taken into account when calculating how much a customer can still deposit. The Commission previously noted that similar descriptions for different limit types could be confusing for customers.
The regulator has also updated its consultation response to clarify that, for consistency across the market, only gross deposit limits must be offered over fixed time frames. Other financial limits may still be offered using either fixed or rolling time frames.
Part Of Wider Customer-Control Reforms
The deposit-limit changes sit alongside other customer-led controls that were introduced in earlier stages. The Commission said the first phase of improvements was introduced into the Remote Technical Standards in October 2025.
Those wider requirements include prompting customers to set a financial limit before their first deposit, making financial-limit tools clearly visible on homepages and deposit pages, reminding consumers every six months to review account and transaction information, and actioning requests to reduce financial limits immediately unless a technical failure prevents this.
The Commission has directed operators to use the updated consultation response and the linked RTS 12 annex when preparing for implementation. It also advised operators to disregard any downloaded or offline copy of the annex saved before 22 May 2026, after an earlier version published in October 2025 was found to contain small errors and was temporarily removed.
For consumers, the practical effect of the change is not the introduction of a universal mandatory spending cap. Instead, the rules are intended to standardise how deposit-limit tools are presented, labelled and made available across licensed online gambling operators.
For operators, the extension moves the compliance focus from the end of June to the end of September, but does not remove the requirement to make deposit-limit tools clearer and more consistent.
