UK Gambling Commission urges casinos to speed up casino payouts as online slots activity hits record highs

18 October 2026

The Gambling Commission has warned online casinos to remove any remaining barriers to speedy payouts, as the UK's remote slots sector reaches new heights of play and operator profits.

Figures published by the regulator show online slots gross gaming yield (GGY) surged 10 percent year-on-year in the final quarter of 2025, to £788 million - a new all-time high. The number of spins on remote slots also surpassed 25 billion for the first time, reaching 25.7 billion in the quarter to December 2025.

"These figures show how far the remote slots market has grown, and how reliant operators are on high volumes of play. As such, there's an ever greater onus on them to deliver fast and fair payouts to players who request them," said Neil McArthur, the Commission's Chief Executive.

Existing payout speed has long been a regulatory sore point. In 2021, the Commission introduced a raft of changes to make online slots 'safer by design', including banning spin speeds faster than 2.5 seconds, outlawing autoplay and speedy-play features, and banning reverse withdrawals. The regulator also required operators to verify customers' identities and means of payment, and to clearly display customers' net positions in any session.

The Commission confirmed in 2023 the latest phase in its payout scrutiny, by specifying that, except where enforcing a full cycle duration, no cycle in a slot game could complete in less than 5 seconds. It also raised concerns about operators' payout terms, citing the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)'s finding that some firms were using clever terms to delay withdrawals and prevent players from accessing winnings.

The regulator now expects operators to honour fast payout requests from verified players, save where operators must enforce a short period to ensure the validity of a winnings claim. Operators do typically retain the right to withhold payouts, however, where they are enforcing terms that become active upon a payout request, such as a promotion-tied wagering requirement or if users are attempting to bypass fraud controls.

Operators coming off a period of record activity should be prepared for a surge in payout requests, to which they are expected to respond with swift and clear terms for players to cash out. For large operators in particular, this could put significant pressure on cash flow, even though delays unsupported by anti-fraud checks may attract the Commission's scrutiny.

"Operators of slots in particular need to stay alert, both in terms of compliance and best-practice in payout processing. Bonuses that drive big play volume can also generate a surge in payout requests, and players are demanding quick turnarounds," said Stephen Safer, a gambling industry expert. "These are very competitive markets, where playing around with terms to obstruct payouts will only damage brands in the long run."

For customers, the message on payouts is straightforward. Licensed operators must still perform the necessary verification and due diligence to establish a player's identity and the legitimacy of a payout request. But they should not use these checks as an excuse to delay payouts unnecessarily. For a payout request made from a properly verified customer, the Commission considers a delay of more than 24 hours unacceptable.