The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS) has approved changes that will increase the annual UK remote gambling license fee by 55% from 1 October 2021.
Posting feedback on a previous UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) consultation on license fee changes, DCMS said it had received 24 responses from trade associations, licensed gambling operators, members of the public, academics and representatives from the House of Lords (gambling peers). Reform).
Of the 24 responses, six expressed their support for an increase in annual fees, while the rest, including industry representatives, questioned the timing of implementation, with many highlighting the closure of non-remote gambling establishments during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Annual license fees for online casinos, sports betting and bingo will increase by 55%, while the previously existing 5% discount applied to operators with multiple licenses will be removed.
With regard to the fee for the remote (online) license, eight responses were received, and only three of them expressed their support for an increase. Many of the negative responses stated that while the increase was appropriate to support the UKGC, the level of the increase was not.
Of the 15 respondents who answered the question about the abolition of the 5% discount, six supported the proposal, and nine did not.
There was broad support for simplifying the fee structure to allow for lower administrative costs, but some respondents felt that this should be achieved by reducing the number of operating licenses overall rather than removing discounts.
“A number of operators believe that the regulation of combined operators still provides economies of scale, and therefore discounts should be maintained,” writes DCMS.
“One respondent believes that discounts should be retained for dual licenses, but not for combined licenses, to reflect the different economies of scale in the two situations,” the government added.
In addition, DCMS has approved an increase in the so-called "flat" additional annual fee paid by remote operators with a combination of online casino, bingo or virtual event betting licenses.
If a combined license includes any two of these types of licenses, the fixed additional annual fee payable will increase from £2,500 to £5,000. If the combined license includes all three of these types, the additional fixed annual fee will be between £5,000 and £10,000.
Annual fees paid by white-label operators will also increase by 55%, with additional annual fees for licenses combining two or three types of host licenses (betting, casino, bingo) being doubled as proposed.
Fees will increase from £1,875 to £3,750 for licenses that combine two types of host licenses, and from £3,750 to £7,500 for those that combine all three types.
The proposed annual non-remote license fee increase, which would result in a fee increase for 15%, will be deferred to April 1, 2022, as confirmed by DCMS.
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