About us
Apply to the Gambling Commission for a personal gambling licence or a gambling operating licence if you run or manage a gambling business. The Gambling Commission regulates arcades, betting, bingo, casinos, gaming machine providers, gambling software providers, lottery operators, external lottery managers and remote gambling (online and by phone) that use British-based equipment.
The Gambling Commission was set up under the Gambling Act 2005 to regulate commercial gambling in Great Britain. The Gambling Act 2005 came fully into force on 1 September 2007.
We are an independent non-departmental public body (NDPB) sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
We have over 200 employees, mostly based in Birmingham. This includes over 60 compliance and enforcement managers working across Great Britain.
Our work is funded by fees, paid by the operators that we license.
Gambling activities we regulate
We regulate commercial gambling in Great Britain including:
arcades betting bingo casinos gaming machine providers gambling software providers lottery operators and external lottery managers British-based remote gambling operators. Gambling activities we do not regulate
We do not regulate spread betting. This is the responsibility of the Financial Services Authority.
We do not regulate the National Lottery. This is the responsibility of the National Lottery Commission.