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Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom
Related legal acts

Gambling regulation in Great Britain: GA 2005 overview, licensing (remote and land-based), gaming machines, lotteries, advertising, taxation, enforcement and 2022–2025 reforms

Practice notes
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This overview of gambling law sets out the legal issues most relevant to the gambling industry, aimed at general commercial lawyers wanting to familiarise themselves with betting and gaming law overall and the current hot topics influencing the sector. It considers the legal treatment of betting, gaming and lottery activities, the Gambling Act 2005 (GA 2005), non-gambling activities and international gambling.

Gambling activities

In the UK, some forms of entertainment are regarded as needing legal oversight as gambling. Three core categories are identified: betting, gaming and lotteries. ‘Gambling’ is an umbrella term for all three. The principal statutory framework is GA 2005. This sweeping reform replaced a dense, historic regime that had developed piecemeal over more than two centuries, mirroring evolving attitudes to gambling. GA 2005 regulates all gambling save for the National Lottery and types of betting treated as financial products. Since its enactment, over 70 items of subordinate legislation have been made.

Key terms

Betting, gaming and lotteries are each defined in GA 2005. The definitions are intricate but, in outline:

  • betting is generally described as...
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Carl Rohsler
Carl Rohsler

Carl Rohsler is a solicitor advocate and partner at Keystone Law. He specialises in gambling regulation and intellectual property law. Carl was educated in England and obtained an MA at Merton College, Oxford, before professional qualification at the University of Law, Chester. He qualified as a solicitor in 1995 and solicitor advocate in 2001. Prior to joining He previously worked at Norton Rose (1993-2003), Squire Patton Boggs (2003-2018) and Memery Crystal (2018-2025). Keystone Law is a full-service, Top 100 law firm. Headquartered in central London, it has over 450 partners throughout the UK who advise clients across 25 service areas and 22 industry sectors. Carl is the author of a number of works on gambling law and practice, including Gambling Act 2005: A Current Law Statute, Current Law Statutes Guide to The National Lotteries Act 2007 and Licensing Law and Practice (2008). He is a...

Web page updated on 26/05/2026

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