UK Gambling Commission Updates Corporate Strategy for 2025-2027

The UK Gambling Commission has revealed its corporate strategy for 2025-2027, outlining a roadmap for the future of safe, fair, and crime-free gambling in the UK. On paper, the document is packed with all the right buzzwords: protection, fairness, transparency, etc., but at BetterGambling, we’re reading it with a different lens.

So we went through the UKGC’s latest plan with one question in mind: what will this actually change for the people placing bets and dealing with measures that sometimes just lead to more hoops? Here’s what we found.

The Strategy’s Out. Here’s What Caught Our Eye First

The proposed UKGC strategy focuses on 5 main priorities:

1. Protecting children and vulnerable people
2. Ensuring fair products and fairer markets
3. Keeping the gambling market crime-free
4. Collaborating more with other groups
5. Laying down better regulation policies using data and technology

However, strategies only matter when they shift the player experience for the better, at least from the player’s point of view. From our time behind the scenes, we know these goals don’t always turn into the safeguards they initially meant to be.

Instead, they become legal disclaimers, lurking in fine print and used more to protect the platform than the person using it. Here’s a breakdown of what this strategy could really mean for users.

Where the UKGC Wants the Industry to Go (And What’s Missing)

The strategy leans heavily into smarter product design and calls for a better understanding of player behaviour and more responsible game mechanics. We’re all for it, but there’s little mention of player disputes, bonus traps, and vague promo terms. Here’s our quick list of what’s not in the strategy but should be:

• A unified system for players to file complaints
• Penalties for operators with misleading or unclear T&Cs
• Strict bonus guidelines that apply to all UK-licensed sites
• Quicker action on delayed withdrawals and payout stalling

Until these gaps are filled, protection will mostly happen after the harm, not before.

More Data, More Control: The Real Focus of 2025–2027

We’ve looked at the Commission’s data push, and it might be the most serious part of the strategy. They want near real-time insight into how players bet and lose and want operators to intervene sooner. For the average user, here’s what that might look like:

Sources

1. https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/about-us/guide/corporate-strategy-2024-to-2027
2. https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/about-us/guide/page/areas-of-strategic-focus-for-2024-to-2027