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Guidance

Guidance to licensing authorities

The Gambling Commission's guidance for licensing authorities.

Published
1 April 2021

Last updated
1 May 2024 - Changes

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Contents

Proposal 1: Player-led 'spin stop' features

Proposals

We proposed widening the Remote gambling and software technical standards (RTS) prohibition on features designed to reduce the time for the result to be known (quick spin, turbo) to all online gambling products.

Consultation question

To what extent do you agree with the proposed change to prohibit features designed to speed up the result? Please give your reasons for your answer.

Respondents’ views

The majority of respondents agreed with the proposal. Views from gambling operators were mixed due to 2 main issues around ‘crash games’ and the ‘scratch all’ or ‘reveal all’ feature.

Respondents commented as follows:

  • some gambling operators were concerned that the proposal prohibits ‘crash games’, which is a type of game where customers wager on the flight of a rocket (or other such virtual object) with the aim of cashing out for a profit before the rocket crashes and any remaining participants lose their stake
  • some gambling operators sought clarity on whether the proposal prohibits the 'reveal all' or 'auto scratch’ button for scratch card style games
  • games should be allowed to be sped up and/or skip animation providing they do not breach the minimum speed
  • may make games less appealing
  • such features facilitate the potential to lose money faster
  • should be up to the consumer
  • stake restrictions should be considered alongside speed restrictions
  • casino games are the real issue (not horse racing), and they should either be banned, heavily restricted or kept separate from betting (including in shops)
  • the gambling system should mandate breaks in play and auto withdrawals after big wins.

Our position

We proposed removing features that can contribute to greater intensity of gameplay, such as features that reduce the amount of time a consumer has to wait until a result is displayed, usually by reducing or removing altogether the reel spin animation.

Such features have the potential to:

  • deliberately speed up play
  • provide consumers with an artificial illusion of control
  • encourage dissociation from playing the game itself.

We note that with ‘crash games’ the customer is required to choose when to end their bet and if this is not before the ‘rocket’ crashes, they will lose their stake. This does not appear to be a feature designed to speed up an existing game as the game would not exist if the functionality was removed.

This proposal was not intended to remove game types, such as ‘crash games’. We have added implementation guidance that makes clear where a game requires the customer to make a decision to end the game (and not doing so guarantees a loss of stake) it will not be caught as a feature designed to speed up play.

The 'scratch-all' feature found on ‘instant win’ type products was not in scope for this proposal. We have also included implementation guidance that makes clear that this feature is not caught.

We did not consult on introducing breaks in play as some have suggested however we will continue to monitor online casino games and the evidence base relating to breaks in play to consider whether the introduction of such pauses would be beneficial.

We have decided to introduce the proposed requirement as it was written whilst being clear that it does not capture ‘crash games’ or the ‘scratch-all’ feature (new guidance d and e). This requirement will apply to casino from the commencement date.

Final wording

This requirement will come into force on 17 January 2025.

Applies to: Casino.

RTS requirement 14E

The gambling system must not permit a customer to reduce the time until the result is presented.

RTS implementation guidance 14E

  1. Features such as turbo, quick spin and slam stop are not permitted. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list but to illustrate the types of features the requirement is referring to.
  2. This applies to all remote games, regardless of game cycle speed.
  3. This requirement does not apply to bonus and/or feature games where an additional stake is not wagered.
  4. This requirement does not prohibit the ‘scratch-all’ and/or ’reveal-all’ feature.
  5. This requirement does not prohibit games where the customer will lose their stake unless they take action to end the game.

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