Latest UKGC Bonus Crackdowns and What They Mean for You as a Player

Towards the end of March 2025, the UKGC introduced new laws on bonuses and promotions. Forget targeted marketing, insanely high wagering requirements, and vague bonus terms. The UKGC is keen on this now, and its recent moves prove it.

Having worked as a casino bonus designer, I see a rough road ahead for operators but a smooth one for UK players. Let’s talk about these bonus crackdowns in detail below.

The Latest Bonus Rules from the UKGC And What They Actually Say

To make casino bonuses and promotions safer and more straightforward, the UK Gambling Commission introduced these 2 bonus rules in March 2025:

1. No more mixed product bonuses: Some casinos offer bonuses on condition that you try two or more of their products, such as bingo and live casino games. We noted that these offers were commonly given to players who play different products, so it’s targeted marketing. The Commission will no longer allow this.
2. Wagering requirements must not exceed 10x: Casinos have been promoting 20x-35x as low wagering, but the UKGC is not convinced. The Commission now wants maximum wagering to be 10x for all bonuses.

While earlier rules, such as opting into promos and stopping bonuses, give you control over the type of offers you get, the new ones aim to reduce harm, remove complexities and improve fairness.

What happens to those who don’t abide by the rules? The UKGC is known for its firm stance on lawbreakers and doesn’t think twice about fining them.

For example, they fined 32Red £2m in 2023 for offering bonuses to a problem gambler. TonyBet was also not spared when the Commission identified unfairness in the terms. So, any operator who goes against these rules can expect equal or worse treatment.

Why These Restrictions Didn’t Just Happen. They Were Coming for Years

In a 2023 White Paper dubbed “High Stakes: Gambling Reform for the Digital Age”, the Commission says, “We will tackle aggressive advertising practices like using bonuses in ways which exacerbate harms”.

So, operators knew this was coming, and having helped design casino bonuses, I saw how they worked to get more profit before the crackdown began. How else would you describe a £10 no-deposit bonus with a 100x wagering requirement?

The casino management categorically tells the marketing department to come up with a fancy way to write a predatory T&Cs document. First, they know it’s predatory. Second, they don’t want you to know it’s predatory, at least not at a glance. Lastly, they know the outcome – you claim the bonus without thinking about it much, and the casino makes the profit.

The Tactics Casinos Can No Longer Legally Use

With the new rules, what worked before won’t work anymore. The table below summarises the tactics casinos cannot legally use anymore.

How Bonuses Used to Work, And Why Those Days Are Over

In most UKGC-licensed gambling companies, bonuses were entirely the marketing department’s job. Their goal is to create something that intrigues players and makes more profit for the casino.

To intrigue players, they focused more on bonus size and for more profit, they sneaked in predatory terms such as high wagering and low max cashout.

Therefore, more players could claim these deals, and since they rarely met the playthrough conditions and cashed out anything substantial, the house raked in more profit. But with 10x as the max wagering, those days are now over. Bonuses should benefit the player, and that’s what the Commission is currently focusing on.

What Bonus Terms Are Supposed to Look Like Now (But Still Don’t Always)

After the marketing team creates something intriguing, the CRM team figures out who gets what based on playstyle, deposit history, and dozens of behavioural markers. Lastly, the compliance team checks the final draft for anything risky and approves or disapproves.

This is where they scrutinise the rules to make sure:

• Everything is presented in a language all players can understand
• There are no omissions
• Everything is fair – wagering, restrictions, etc.
• There are clear indications on how to opt out of any promo

This is how bonus terms should be, but from what we are seeing in the industry, they don’t always look like that. Casinos still have high playthrough conditions, some omit important details like game restrictions, and others have no opt-out directions.

Wagering Clauses Are Now Target #1: Here’s What Changed

We’ve helped build bonuses designed to catch your eye, boost your balance, and keep you coming back. But the house had to make a profit, so we still had to make sure you don’t get to the withdrawal stage with significant bonus proceeds.

To make this happen, we usually had to put high wagering conditions. This ensured that players had slim chances of profiting financially from the bonus. With the new UKGC rule of 10x max wagering, this trick won’t work anymore.

Payout Caps, Countdown Timers, and Trigger Traps. What’s Still Allowed?

These bonus marketing tools haven’t been made illegal, but the UKGC is keenly observing:

• Payout Caps: A limit on the maximum you can withdraw from a bonus is still allowed, but it must be clear.
• Countdown Timers: While legal, countdown timers should not falsely create urgency.
• Trigger Traps: Offers that unlock only after you meet certain conditions, such as losing £50 on a certain slot, are still allowed.

Given the recent turn of events, the UKGC is trying to fix anything that can harm the player, and some of these will soon be fixed.

Do These New Rules Really Help Players? Or Just Tidy Up the Optics?

We feel confident that the most recent rules will help keep players safe. A 10x max wagering condition will improve the chances of profiting from the bonus, while the banning of multiple-product offers will reduce targeted marketing.

Even so, we’ve seen some casinos do just enough to follow the UKGC rules without truly caring about players. Just because the terms sound clear and the wagering is 10 times doesn’t mean the bonus is fair.

What We’ve Noticed Internally Since the Crackdowns Took Effect

Do you know why most UK casinos don’t have loyalty programs? When the Commission realised VIP programs weren’t always rewarding, they intervened. They specified that for a casino to enrol any player in the VIP scheme it had to:

1. Make sure the person could afford what they were spending
2. See if the person had problem gambling issues
3. Keep checking them for problem gambling signs, among other things.

That’s a lot of work and money to put in the budget, so many UK casinos don’t have loyalty schemes. We have seen the same approach where casinos only offer bonuses to existing players whom they know will continue playing on their platform.

Other casinos are now offering no-wagering bonuses because they are easier to explain and safer to offer. Even then, they still sneak in unfair terms such as low max cashout.

So yes, it’s a bit safer now. But you still need to keep your eyes open because gambling companies are devising other ways to make more profit.

How I’d Approach Bonuses Differently Now, Knowing What I Know

Knowing what I know from the inside, here’s how I’d handle bonuses differently:

Resources

• Online casino 32Red fined £2m for failing problem gambler | Gambling | The Guardian
• High stakes: gambling reform for the digital age – GOV.UK
• Gambling promotions to be safer and simpler