Report

Annual report and accounts 2024 to 2025

The Gambling Commission's 2024 to 2025 annual report and accounts. For the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.

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Published
15 October 2025

Last updated
15 October 2025 - Changes

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Contents

• Annual report and accounts 2024 to 2025

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• Foreword
• Performance report
• • Introduction
  • The organisation
  • Financial performance analysis
  • Complaints
  • Sustainability
• Accountability report
• • Overview
  • Corporate governance report
  • Remuneration report
  • Staff report
  • Parliamentary accountability and audit report
  • The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General to the Houses of Parliament
• Financial statements
• • Statement of comprehensive net expenditure
  • Statement of financial position for the year ended 31 March 2025
  • Statement of cash flow for the year ended 31 March 2025
  • Statement of changes in taxpayers' equity for the year ended 31 March 2025
• Notes on the accounts
• • Statement of accounting policies
  • Statement of operating costs by operating segment
  • Expenditure
  • Income cash receipts
  • Property, plant and equipment
  • Right of use assets
  • Intangible assets
  • Financial instruments
  • Cash and cash equivalents
  • Trade and other receivables
  • Trade and other payables
  • Provisions and charges
  • Retirement benefit obligations
  • Lease liabilities
  • Contingent liabilities disclosed under IAS 37
  • Related party transactions
  • Amounts of income to the Consolidated Fund
  • Events after the reporting period
• Appendices
• • Annex A - Key operational data
  • Annex B - Performance by Business Plan Deliverable in 2024 to 2025

l. Reserves

The Gambling Commission holds reserves as a matter of prudent financial management, principally so that it can fund legal action in furtherance of its regulatory objectives, manage short-term fluctuations in its licensing income and provide for foreseeable but not yet certain liabilities such as other provisions. This also allows the Commission to manage its in year financial position accurately. Following an update to our Reserves Policy during 2024 to 2025, the Commission calculates that reserves of £4.0 million are needed to meet this requirement. The Commission set its budget for 2024 to 2025 to start drawing down on the reserve, to fund additional activities and growth, to enable the organisation to continue to deliver on the Gambling Act Review (GAR) and other key areas of work such as illegal markets and data. As an arms-length body, the Commission does not hold reserves to cover terminal liabilities as these would be met by Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS).

We have built up reserves over a number of years. This is due to static fee levels set through legislation, uncertainty, lower than planned spending towards the end of the pandemic and delays in the publication of the GAR White Paper. The Board and DCMS are aware of the reserve excess and approved our plans to start to utilise the reserve from 2024 to 2025 onwards, resulting in utilisation of £3.5 million, against a planned drawdown of £4.1 million. We have also reviewed and updated the reserves policy this year, reducing it to £4.0 million from the previous level of £7.0 million.

The Pensions reserve of £168,000 relates to an inherited pension liability from the merger of the Commission and the National Lottery Commission. It is decreasing annually as the pension is disbursed.

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Last updated: 15 October 2025

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