Remote gambling and software technical standards (RTS) guidance
Gambling software and remote operating licence holders (including ancillary remote betting are required to comply with our remote technical standards (RTS) and requirements relating to the timing and procedures for testing.
Remote gambling and software technical standards details the specific technical standards and the security requirements that licensed remote gambling operators and gambling software operators need to meet.
It comprises of:
- technical standards
- security requirements (which are a subset of the ISO/IEC 27001: 2013 standards (opens in new tab).
Updates to RTS effective 30 June 2026
In March 2025 we launched a supplementary consultation which set out proposals for clarifying the definition of ‘deposit limits’ and other financial limits in our Remote Gambling and Software Technical Standards (RTS). All changes arising from the consultation relate to RTS 12B – Financial limits, and introduce new requirements and implementation guidance. Changes also include some relatively minor changes to the existing RTS wording.
These changes are set out as follows:
- Proceed in line with the policy intention set out in the supplementary consultation to implement the following requirements in RTS 12B:
- only limits that meet the definition of a ‘gross’ deposit limit can be referred to as a deposit limit, and limits meeting this definition must be described to a customer as a deposit limit
- the gambling system must prevent a customer from further depositing funds once a deposit limit is reached, until the defined period of the limit restarts or the customer takes action to increase the limit (subject to standard 24 hour cooling off period).
- Following consideration of the consultation feedback, we are introducing the following revised wording to the requirements in RTS 12B:
- as a minimum, the gambling system must offer gross deposit limits - where the amount a customer deposits into their account is limited over a particular duration. This is a change post consultation from ‘as a default, the gambling system must offer gross deposit limits - where the amount a customer deposits into their account is limited over a particular duration’. This allows operators to continue to offer other forms of limits to customers and ensures that gross deposit limits are offered as a minimum
- where more than one type of limit is made available in the gambling system operators must ensure that ‘gross’ deposit limits are offered to customers with at least equal prominence to other limit types. This is a change post consultation in order to ensure that where deposit limits are not the default, they are given equal prominence. This maintains customer choice
- where a customer sets simultaneous time frames, for example a daily deposit limit and a weekly limit, the most restrictive must always apply. This is a change following consultation to ensure clarity of wording.
- Following consideration of consultation feedback we are introducing the following to RTS 12B implementation guidance:
- the term 'spend limits' to be replaced with 'stake limits' to provide clarity to customers as the term ‘stake’ is better aligned to consumer gambling behaviour than ‘spend’ because the term ‘spend’ can be interpreted in a number of ways by a customer
- the definition of loss has been amended to: loss limits: the total value of stakes placed on gambling products minus the total value of any winnings or returns from those stakes is limited for the period or duration of the limit applied. This change provides further clarity to make this type of limit easier to understand
- a new term 'net deposit limit' which will allow for a limit where 'the amount deposited into the account minus any withdrawals made for the period or duration of the limit applied'.
The new elements of RTS 12B requirements and implementation guidance will come into effect on 30 June 2026. The full wording of the requirement can be found in the Definition of deposit limits in the Remote Gambling and Software Technical Standards - Response.
Updates to RTS effective 31 October 2025
We consulted in Autumn 2023 on changes to the remote gambling and software technical standards. All changes arising from the consultation related to RTS 12 – Financial limits, and are a combination of:
relatively minor changes to the existing RTS wording
‘elevating’ some parts of the implementation guidance to requirements
introducing new requirements and implementation guidance.
We will publish a short supplementary consultation to further consider issues that arose regarding the definitions of different types of financial limits. The provisions included in the supplementary consultation currently form part of implementation guidance 12A, and this implementation guidance will remain in place until any outcomes of the supplementary consultation are implemented.
The sections of implementation guidance 12A that have been amended following the Autumn 2023 consultation are reflected elsewhere in the revised standard and will come into effect from 31 October 2025. Numbering will be updated to accommodate changes as a result of the Autumn 2023 consultation.
The revised and new provisions include the following RTS requirements:
- all customers must be prompted to set a financial limit as early as possible and be able to set limits at any point thereafter (RTS 12A)
- financial limits must only be offered using free text and financial limits must be applied at the account level (RTS 12B)
- financial limit-setting facilities must be provided via a link on the homepage and deposit pages or screens and clearly visible and accessible, and the number of clicks or pages that must be navigated to reach these facilities must be minimised (RTS 12C)
- all customer requests to decrease a financial limit must be actioned immediately, and the previous wording of the requirements around actioning customer requests to increase limits has been strengthened (RTS 12D)
- customers must receive a prompt to review their account and transaction information, that this prompt must be provided at a minimum of six-monthly intervals, and that customers should be able to set more frequent reminders to review their account information (RTS 12D)
- setting a financial limit must be presented as the default option, and customers must take action to decline and confirm a decision not to set a limit, and customers without limits must be prompted to review this at least annually (RTS 12E).
We have also reviewed existing and introduced new implementation guidance:
- operators could offer links to tools or resources to support limit-setting
- operators could also continue to offer financial limits at the product or channel level
- operators should clearly communicate to customers how product and channel limits work and inform customers about how limits set across multiple timeframes work, if chosen by the customer
- links to limit-setting facilities from communications to customers should link directly to the facilities unless security settings require an intermediate log in
- operators should inform customers when limits will take effect, if that is not already automated or is delayed due to technical issues
- operators should monitor engagement with prompts and/or alerts to customers to review account activity, in order to inform best practice
- operators could mitigate against user error by enabling the gambling system to only receive specific monetary increments for free text limits
- guidance on how financial limits could be presented and forms of action taken to decline limit-setting, and that operators could provide information and resources to customers who choose to opt out.
The new provisions are contained in the Autumn 2023 consultation – Proposed changes to LCCP and RTS: Consultation Response.
Updates to RTS effective 17 January 2025
We consulted in 2023 on changes to the remote gambling and software technical standards (RTS).
The following sections contain new or updated requirements that came into effect on 17 January 2025.
- features which speed up the time for a result to be shown or can give the illusion of control such as ‘turbo’ or ‘slam stops’ (RTS 14E)
- autoplay (RTS 8A)
- celebrations of returns less than or equal to stake (RTS 14F)
- operator-led functionality which facilitates playing multiple simultaneous products (RTS 14C)
- display of transactions - net spend and net time information (RTS 2E and RTS 13C)
- a minimum spin speed for casino games of 5 seconds (excluding peer-to-peer poker) (RTS 14G)
- security requirements.
We have updated the supporting testing strategy to incorporate any new standards and changes made to the numbering of existing requirements as a result of this consultation.
The new provisions are contained in the updated RTS.
Updates to RTS effective 31 October 2021
We consulted in 2020 on changes to the remote gambling and software technical standards (RTS).
The following new requirements were introduced or updated for remote slots and cancelling and or reversing withdrawals was prohibited.
- features which speed up the time for a result to be shown or can give the illusion of control such as ‘turbo’ or ‘slam stops’ (RTS 14E)
- autoplay (RTS 8A)
- celebrations of returns less than or equal to stake (RTS 14F)
- operator-led functionality which facilitates playing multiple simultaneous products (RTS 14C)
- display of transactions - net spend and net time information (RTS 2E and RTS 13C)
- a minimum spin speed for slots games of 2.5 seconds (RTS 14G)
- removal of reverse withdrawals (RTS 14B).
Updates to RTS effective 1 April 2018
The following sections contain new requirements that came into effect on 1 April 2018.
- display of transactions
- gambling account history
- display of net deposits
- financial limits.
We have updated the supporting testing strategy to incorporate any new standards and changes made to the numbering of existing requirements as a result of this consultation.
Customers must be able to choose whether to accept price fluctuations that occur after their bet is requested.
From the 1 April 2018 the remote technical standards (see RTS 2C) require that operator’s systems enable customers to choose whether to accept price fluctuations (in either direction) that occur after their bet is requested.
Providing consumers with greater control and consistency
This requirement applies to both fixed odds betting and betting exchanges. It was introduced because we were aware of concerns that bets were sometimes subject to price fluctuations caused by time delays and market movements. Consumers were not always aware that event odds may be subject to price fluctuation and the way in which licensees handled fluctuations differed.
Players should be presented with options to control whether a price change should be accepted or not.
These options must be presented on a per bet basis, except in circumstances where a customer has requested a default account setting to disable price change alerts prior to bet acceptance. Where the functionality is offered at an account level the default option should not be set to accept all fluctuations.
Where a customer chooses not to accept price changes automatically any bet where the price changes must be reoffered before it is accepted. Information sufficient to explain the options to the customers should be provided.
An optimum solution would enable consumers to choose to automatically accept price movements within a particular margin range. Account level options offered to consumer could include accepting all bets with higher price, accepting all bets with shorter price or accepting all bets regardless of price movements.
This requirement does not intend to capture currency fluctuations.
Remote betting operators must ensure that their systems are compliant with these requirements.
Last updated: 23 October 2025
Show updates to this content
RTS updates effective 30 June 2026 added.