Operators are reminded that all gaming machines — including but not limited to tablets offering gaming machine content — must be available for customer use without staff assistance.  

If you rely on tablets to meet your category B machine requirements under the 20% rule, those tablets must be freely accessible to customers. Tablets stored in locked or secured cabinets that require staff assistance are not considered available for use under our guidance. This practice may place you in breach of Section 172 of the Gambling Act 2005.   

To ensure compliance, you should: 

• review how tablets are made available on your premises 
• ensure that customers can access and use tablets independently, without staff involvement 
• where security is a concern, explore alternative solutions that maintain compliance with availability requirements.  

Gambling Commission Senior Policy Manager Pradeep Rajania sets out the principles that help operators be compliant with new requirements coming into effect from 19 January 2026. 

Promotional offers designed on the basis that a consumer plays different gambling products will no longer be allowed in Great Britain.

To coincide with qualitative research published looking at lived experiences of gambling in teenage boys and young men. In part two of this two-part episode, we continue our conversation with George Webster from Humankind Research and Lauren Cole from the Gambling Commission’s Research and Statistics team. 

The ‘Inside the Commission’ podcast is available on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.