Welcome to the Gambling Commission’s fortnightly newsletter.
In this edition:
1) Paddy Power Betfair to pay £2m for regulatory failures 2) Financial key event and consumer legislation changes
3) Illegal WhatsApp bookie sentenced 4) Socially responsible incentives: what operators need to know
5) Early gambling experiences and gateway products: new research findings
6) ‘Inside the Commission’ podcast – new episode out now
7) Young People and Gambling Survey dataset available to download
1) Paddy Power Betfair to pay £2m for regulatory failures
Paddy Power Betfair is to pay £2 million after a Commission investigation revealed social responsibility failures relating to customer interaction.
Four remote operators, trading under the names Paddy Power and Betfair, will pay the money as part of a settlement with the Commission.
2) Financial key event and consumer legislation changes
New rules boosting the Gambling Commission’s knowledge of operators and bringing the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice in line with revised consumer legislation will be introduced.
A man who ran an illegal WhatsApp gambling business and failed to pay a customer’s £269,000 account balance has received a 30-week suspended jail sentence and a 200-hour community service order.
4) Socially responsible incentives: what operators need to know
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.
5) Early gambling experiences and gateway products: new research findings
Gambling Commission Research and Impact Manager Lauren Cole discusses the findings from our recently published Young People and Gambling Survey 2025 and qualitative research with teenage boys and young men.
6) ‘Inside the Commission’ podcast – new episode out now
To coincide with qualitative research published looking at lived experiences of gambling in teenage boys and young men, part one of this two-part episode features George Webster from Humankind Research and Lauren Cole from the Gambling Commission’s Research and Statistics team to delve deeper into the findings, looking at what makes this particular group more susceptible to exposure to gambling related activities than others.
7) Young People and Gambling Survey dataset available to download
The 2025 Young People and Gambling Survey dataset is now available on the UK Data Service.
Since 2011 we have undertaken the Young People and Gambling Survey, a survey of 11 to 17-year-olds across Great Britain which is completed by pupils attending academies, maintained and independent schools in England, Scotland, and Wales using the Ipsos Young People Omnibus.
The survey is designed to understand young people’s attitudes towards gambling and their participation in different types of gambling activities. Data is collected on forms of gambling and gambling style games that children and young people can legally take part in along with gambling on age restricted products.
