Standards

Remote gambling and software technical standards (RTS)

Remote gambling and software technical standards under section 89 and section 97 of the Gambling Act 2005.

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Published
2 February 2021

Last updated
29 November 2023 - Changes

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Contents

• Remote gambling and software technical standards (RTS)

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• 1 - Introduction
• 2 - Definition of terms
• 3 - Remote gambling and software technical standards
  • - RTS 1 – Customer account information
  • - RTS 2 – Displaying transactions
  • - RTS 3 – Rules, game descriptions and the likelihood of winning
  • - RTS 4 – Time-critical events
  • - RTS 5 – Result determination
  • - RTS 6 – Result determination for play-for-free games
  • - RTS 7 – Generation of random outcomes
  • - RTS 8 – Auto-play functionality
  • - RTS 9 – Progressive jackpot systems
  • - RTS 10 – Interrupted gambling
  • - RTS 11 – Limiting collusion and cheating
  • - RTS 12 – Financial limits
  • - RTS 13 – Time requirements and reality checks
  • - RTS 14 – Responsible product design
  • - RTS 15 – In-play betting
  • - RTS 16 – Use of third party software
  • - RTS 17 – Live dealer studios
• 4 - Remote gambling and software technical standards (RTS) security requirements
• 5 - Annex

RTS 8 – Auto-play functionality

Applies to:

In respect of requirement RTS 8A and 8B – Gaming (except slots)

In respect of requirement RTS 8C – Slots

RTS aim 8

To ensure that the customer is still in control of the gambling where auto-play functionality is provided and to minimise the risk that the functionality disadvantages a customer or that auto-play or other strategy advice is misleading.

RTS requirement 8A

The gambling system must provide easily accessible facilities that:

1. make available the following three controls, each of which stops auto-play functionality when it is triggered:
1. 'loss limit’, that is, where the player selects an option to not lose more than X from their starting balance, where X is an amount that can be selected by the player. A ‘loss’ in this context equates to accumulated auto-play bets minus accumulated auto-play wins.
2. 'single win limit’ that is, single win greater than Y where Y is an amount that can be selected by the player, and
3. ‘jackpot win’ (where applicable).
2. require auto-play to be implemented in such a way that each time a customer chooses to use auto-play they must select the stake, the number of autoplay gambles and at least the first of the above three controls.

The number of autoplay gambles must not exceed 100 in one batch. During auto-play the customer must be able to stop the autoplay regardless of how many autoplay gambles they initially chose or how many remain.

RTS implementation guidance 8A

1. Auto-play should not override any of the display requirements (for example, the result of each gamble must be displayed for a reasonable length of time before the next gamble commences, as set out in RTS 7E).

RTS requirement 8B

In relation to skill and chance games, strategy advice and auto-play functionality must be fair, not misleading and must not represent a poor choice.

RTS implementation guidance 8B

In implementing this control, the following should be considered, where appropriate:

1. if there is a standard strategy, for example, for well-known games like blackjack, the standard strategy should be used.
2. strategies or auto-play should (theoretically) produce at least the average Return to Player (RTP) for the game over time.

RTS requirement 8C

The gambling system must require a customer to commit to each game cycle individually. Providing auto-play for slots is not permitted.

Previous section
RTS 7 – Generation of random outcomes Next section
RTS 9 – Progressive jackpot systems

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Last updated: 29 November 2023

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Provision 8C reformatted - the panel has been removed as the provision has come into force Formatting changes