UK-licensed gambling operators are paying their second statutory levy bill this month. The Gambling Commission made invoices available on 1 September 2026, and full payment must reach it before 1 October. Payment is a licence requirement, and the Commission, not HMRC, collects it.
Invoices and deadlines
The levy has been in force since 6 April 2025 under the Gambling Levy Regulations 2025. Each bill is based on the previous financial year: the invoice issued on 1 September 2026 uses regulatory return data for April 2025 to March 2026. Operators download their invoices from the Commission's eServices portal.
The first cycle was slightly different. For most licences it used regulatory return data for July 2024 to March 2025, multiplied by one and one-third to cover a full year. Those invoices went out on 1 September 2025 and were payable before 1 October 2025.
Operators pay by GovPay or bank transfer. The Commission's guidance says the invoice must be paid in full, cannot be split into instalments and must quote the invoice number. Late payment or non-payment can lead to a licence being revoked, unless the Commission is satisfied it was an administrative error.
Rates by licence type
The rate depends on the type of licence, not the size of the business. Remote casino, betting and bingo licences pay 1.1% of gross gambling yield, as do gambling software licences. Land-based casinos and off-course betting pay 0.5%. Adult gaming centres, bingo halls and on-course bookmakers pay 0.2%, and family entertainment centres, lotteries, pool betting and gaming machine technical licences pay 0.1%.
The yield figure is based on gambling revenue from GB customers: stakes plus other income from the licensed activity, minus prizes and winnings paid out. Where a bill comes to £10 or less, nothing is due. The levy applies separately to each kind of licence, so a business with a combined licence can face more than one charge.
What the levy replaced and where it goes
Before the levy, the Commission's licence conditions required operators to make an annual contribution to research, prevention and treatment, but operators chose the amount and the recipient. That requirement ended on 31 March 2025, and voluntary donations made since then do not count towards the levy bill.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport sets the rates and directs the spending. About 50% goes to treatment through NHS England and the Scottish and Welsh governments, 30% to prevention and 20% to research, mainly through UK Research and Innovation. Our guide to how the levy is spent covers each share.
Players do not pay the levy directly. It is charged to operators on their gambling yield, not added to deposits or bets.
Updated 23 September 2026: corrected the payment dates, collecting body, rates and funding split against Gambling Commission guidance and the Gambling Levy Regulations 2025. An earlier version wrongly said the first payments were due to HMRC on 15 May 2026.
