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  3. Licences and fees

Surrender your operating licence

If you want to give up or surrender your operating licence in full or partially, you can do this in the following ways.

Telephone:
0121 230 6511 (option 2)

Email:
licensing@gamblingcommission.gov.uk

Online:
You can partially surrender your licences in eServices.

Partial surrender

If you hold a non-remote and a remote licence at the same time, but only want to surrender one of them, this is a partial surrender.

A partial surrender will mean you cannot offer gambling activities under the licence you are surrendering but can continue to offer gambling under the remaining licence.

You can submit this change using the variation application service in eServices.

You can also make changes to the activities you hold and the category you are licensed for using eServices. Find out more about making changes to your operating licence.

Surrender all your operating licences

We will only accept surrender requests from key people in the organisation, we will carry out checks to ensure it is a genuine request to surrender the licence in full or partially.

When we receive your surrender request, the Gambling Commission account manager responsible for your account will contact you to ensure that the following actions are completed:

  • outstanding regulatory returns are submitted
  • outstanding lottery submissions are submitted.

We will not complete the process of surrendering your licence until all outstanding returns are submitted.

If you are a customer facing business, we will ensure our contact centre is aware of the surrender in case we receive any queries about your business.

Once we are satisfied all outstanding reporting requirements are submitted, we will proceed with surrendering your licence. Once this is complete we will write to you confirming the completion of your request.

Personal licence holders and Annex A associated with your business

If you are surrendering your licences in full, we will update any individuals who have an associated Annex A to inactive. We won’t change these where there is a partial surrender.

Personal Functional Licences and Personal Management Licences are issued to individuals; therefore, these licences will remain active.

Public Register

Once the surrender request has been processed, we will update the Public Register of businesses to show the licences that have been surrendered. This will stay on the register for 3 years from the date of surrender.

Last updated: 8 February 2023

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