Gambling marketing consent rules

What the gambling marketing consent rules say

The core requirement sits in the Commission’s LCCP condition 5.1.12 on direct marketing preferences (opens in a new tab). It applies to online operators that hold remote casino, bingo or betting licences, and it came into force on 1 May 2025 after the Commission pushed back an earlier start date of 17 January 2025. Under it, a licensee must let you choose, when you register, which kinds of gambling you want to hear about and which communication methods it may use.

There are three product choices (betting, casino and bingo) and three channel choices (email, SMS and phone). Every one of those choices must start in the ‘off’ position. A casino can no longer pre-tick a single box marked ‘send me offers’ and treat that as permission to promote everything it sells through every channel it has.

• Product by product: saying yes to casino news does not mean yes to sports betting or bingo promotions.
• Channel by channel: agreeing to email does not authorise texts or phone calls.
• Opt-out by default: if you skip the marketing step, you should receive nothing promotional.
• Existing customers: people who already had accounts were asked to confirm their preferences the first time they logged in after the rule started.

Post was dropped from the list of channels during the consultation, and land-based gambling and lotteries are outside this particular rule for now. The change is one of the online measures that flowed from the 2023 gambling white paper, and it sits within the wider licence conditions and codes of practice that every licensed casino must follow. For the full list of dated changes, see our UK casino rules hub.

Why the Commission tightened marketing consent

Before May 2025, consent at many gambling sites was one broad tick. A player who joined a sportsbook to bet on a single football match could then receive casino spin offers, bingo promotions and texts, all justified by that one agreement. The Commission’s summer 2023 consultation response (opens in a new tab) set out the aim of giving people more control over what reaches them and stopping products they never chose from being pushed at them.

Cross-selling was a particular concern because someone who only bets occasionally on sport may react very differently to fast casino games. The direct marketing rule tackles that from the messaging side. The mixed-product promotions ban, in force since 19 January 2026, deals with it from the offer side by stopping a single promotion from requiring play on more than one type of gambling. Our page on gambling cross-selling rules explains how the two fit together.

Marketing consent rules in practice: three player examples

The easiest way to understand the rule is to follow different people through a registration form. The examples below are illustrations of what the rule requires, not descriptions of any particular casino’s screens.

Look at Ben. If he later receives an email about a football acca offer, the operator has sent marketing for a product he did not choose. If he receives a text about casino spins, it has used a channel he did not choose. Either message falls outside his consent. Chloe’s case shows why the re-confirmation step mattered: whatever she agreed to years ago no longer counts once she has set her preferences under the new system.

When consent is overridden: harm signs and self-exclusion

Ticking every box doesn’t give a casino unlimited permission. Under the Commission’s customer interaction rules, where an operator identifies strong indicators of gambling harm it must stop marketing to that customer and stop them taking up new bonuses. That requirement has applied since 12 February 2023, more than two years before the per-product consent rule began.

Self-exclusion goes further. A licensee must remove a self-excluded customer from its marketing within two days, and every online operator has had to take part in GAMSTOP since 31 March 2020. Registering through GAMSTOP (opens in a new tab) therefore cuts off marketing from every participating British site, whatever boxes you ticked before. Our self-exclusion rules page covers the exclusion periods and what operators must do, and how to use GAMSTOP walks through registration.

If you are trying to cut back, opting out of marketing is a sensible first step but not a substitute for limits or a break. A gambling time-out or deposit limit acts on your account directly. Free, confidential help is available 24/7 from the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133.

How to change your gambling marketing preferences

Your choices aren’t fixed at sign-up. Licensed casinos keep marketing settings inside the account area, usually under a heading such as ‘communication preferences’ or ‘marketing settings’. The exact wording varies, so look in your profile or privacy menu.

1. Log in and open your account or profile menu.
2. Find the communication or marketing preferences section.
3. Check each product (casino, betting, bingo) separately and switch off anything you don’t want.
4. Check each channel (email, SMS, phone) separately in the same way.
5. Save the changes and take a screenshot showing the date and your new settings.
6. If a promotional message arrives after a reasonable period, keep it as evidence and contact customer support.

For step-by-step help with specific inboxes and phones, our guide to opting out of casino marketing goes further, and casino marketing emails and texts explains what typically appears in those messages and how to read the terms they link to.

Stopping unwanted casino texts and emails

The Gambling Commission’s guidance on stopping gambling marketing texts and emails (opens in a new tab) says a gambling business should only send marketing texts or emails if you have consented, and should stop once you opt out. It points to a short sequence of actions:

• Texts: follow the opt-out instruction in the message, usually replying STOP to the number shown. You can also forward spam texts to 7726, the free reporting number used by UK mobile networks.
• Emails: use the unsubscribe link, or contact the business and ask it to stop.
• Still arriving? Report the problem to the Information Commissioner’s Office, which deals with electronic marketing rules.

Be careful with messages that claim to come from a casino you never joined. A licensed operator can’t market to you without consent, so an unexpected text promising spins or cash could be from an unlicensed site or a scam. Don’t click the link; check the brand on the public register first, as explained in our guide to spotting a fake casino.

What the marketing consent rules do not cover

The rule is narrower than some people assume. It controls direct marketing aimed at you personally, not every gambling advert you might see.

Adverts in public spaces and online feeds fall under the UK gambling advertising rules policed by the Advertising Standards Authority, including the strict rule against content with strong appeal to under-18s. How your personal data is stored and shared is covered in our online casino data privacy guide, and our questions section answers the commonest worries about data sharing.

How to complain about gambling marketing you didn’t agree to

Start with the operator. Explain which product or channel you didn’t consent to, attach screenshots of the message and of your preference settings, and ask it to confirm the fix in writing. Licensed businesses must have a published complaints process, and our casino complaints and ADR page explains the eight-week timetable that follows. For general help drafting the message, see how to complain about a UK casino.

If the casino keeps messaging you, the Information Commissioner’s Office is the next stop for electronic marketing problems. You can also tell the Gambling Commission. It doesn’t resolve individual disputes, but reports help it spot licensees that aren’t following their conditions.

Does opting out mean missing casino offers?

Opting out stops promotions reaching you; it doesn’t remove them from the site. Welcome offers and current promotions still appear on the operator’s promotions page, where you can read the terms before deciding anything. Since 19 January 2026 those offers have also been limited by the 10x wagering cap, so the terms you find there are simpler than they were a couple of years ago.

Some players worry that saying no to marketing makes them ineligible for a welcome bonus. Under the rule, consent is a separate choice from creating an account, so you shouldn’t have to accept marketing to join. If a site’s terms make an offer conditional on marketing consent, that is worth querying with support. For a plain-English outline of how promotions are structured, read how casino promotions work.

Gambling marketing consent rules timeline

The marketing rows sit alongside the promotion changes because the Commission designed them to work together: one controls what you are sent, the other controls what an offer can ask of you.

What could change next for casino marketing

The Commission said land-based gambling and lotteries were left out of the direct marketing rule for now, which leaves room for it to be extended later, but no proposal with a date has been published in the sources we checked. We will add any new consultation to this page with its date when it appears. In the meantime, the protections that already apply are worth knowing: per-product and per-channel opt-in, the stop on marketing when there are strong signs of harm, and removal within two days after self-exclusion.

Licensed casinos that follow the marketing consent rules

Every casino licensed by the Gambling Commission must follow LCCP 5.1.12, so the rule itself won’t separate one brand from another. What you can do is set your preferences carefully at sign-up and check them in the account area afterwards. Coral is run by LC International Limited (UKGC account 54743, part of Entain) and PlayOJO by Skill On Net Limited (account 39326).

Both offers below are for new players aged 18+ and terms apply. Coral: deposit (some methods excluded) and bet £10 or more on slots between 1 October 2026 and 1 February 2027 to receive 100 free spins on selected games at 10p each, accepted within 48 hours and valid for 7 days, with no wagering on spin winnings; Neteller, PayPal, Paysafe, Skrill, prepaid cards and certain debit cards don’t qualify. PlayOJO: make a first deposit of at least £10 for 80 free spins on Big Bass Bonanza at 10p each, with winnings paid as cash and no wagering; Northern Ireland is excluded and it can’t be combined with other offers. Gambling costs money, and over time the house edge means you are more likely to lose than win.

18+. Gambling should be entertainment that costs money, not a way to make it. Set a deposit limit before you play: how to set deposit limits. Free, confidential help: National Gambling Helpline 0808 8020 133.