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Gambling License England (UK) 

Gambling License in England

As England is a member of the European Union the EU freedom of establishment and the rules of the European Court of Justice concerning the freedom of establishment and the freedom to provide services within the EU apply. Consequently, a gambling company in England can offer its services throughout the EU.

The starting point is the setting up of an English limited company or PLC with business premises in England:

  • location of the senior management in England: a person whose normal residence is in England must appear as a director of the company: either the client or an agent will transfer his normal residence to England or our legal office will appoint a trust director
  • proper place of business in England: having a registered office does not count as a proper place of business, however offices do not need to be large.
  • account on behalf of the company in England

As part of the approval procedure a court hearing will take place in London, at which the director of the limited company will be present. The licence is valid for 3 years and can be extended accordingly. The processing time is 3 -4 months.

The online service offered is consequently hosted on an English server, and the owner of the domain is the English company (a limited company or PLC). Our English legal office will assume responsibility for the measures which have to be taken, from the lodging of the application up to and including the licence, plus bookkeeping, VAT registration, the annual accounts and, if applicable, the settlement of wages, plus the assessments of the gambling taxes that must be paid (“Everything in one hand solution”).

In England, a distinction is made between an “organiser’s licence” (where the organiser offers his own games of chance on the internet) and an “agent’s licence”. In addition, there is a difference depending on whether the company intends to provide the gambling service in Great Britain or only outside Great Britain (“Remote General Betting Licence”).

The taxes on gambling are approx. 15%, with the taxes on earnings of the English limited company or PLC rising progressively from 21-30% .

The documents required are inter alia a business plan and documentation attesting to the reliability of the management.

SCHEDULE 4 Categories of remote operating licences

This schedule has no associated Explanatory Memorandum

Description of licenceUnit of divisionCategory FCategory GCategory HCategory ICategory JCategory KCategory L
Casino operating licenceAnnual gross gambling yieldLess than £0.5 million£0.5 million or greater, up to but excluding £5 million£5 million or greater, up to but excluding £25 million£25 million or greater, up to but excluding £100 million£100 million or greater, up to but excluding £250 million£250 million or greater, up to but excluding £500 million£500 million or greater
Bingo operating licenceAnnual gross gambling yieldLess than £0.5 million£0.5 million or greater, up to but excluding £5 million£5 million or greater, up to but excluding £25 million£25 million or greater, up to but excluding £100 million£100 million or greater, up to but excluding £250 million£250 million or greater, up to but excluding £500 million£500 million or greater
General betting (limited)(virtual events) operating licenceAnnual gross gambling yieldLess than £0.5 million£0.5 million or greater, up to but excluding £5 million£5 million or greater, up to but excluding £25 million£25 million or greater, up to but excluding £100 million£100 million or greater, up to but excluding £250 million£250 million or greater, up to but excluding £500 million£500 million or greater
General betting (limited)(real events) operating licenceAnnual gross gambling yieldLess than £5.5 million£5.5 million or greater, up to but excluding £110 million£110 million or greater, up to but excluding £220 million£220 million or greater, up to but excluding £550 million£550 million or greater
General betting (limited) operating licenceAnnual gross gambling yieldLess than £275,000
Pool betting operating licenceAnnual gross gambling yieldLess than £5.5 million£5.5 million or greater, up to but excluding £110 million£110 million or greater, up to but excluding £220 million£220 million or greater, up to but excluding £550 million£550 million or greater
Betting intermediary operating licenceAnnual gross gambling yieldLess than £5.5 million£5.5 million or greater, up to but excluding £110 million£110 million or greater, up to but excluding £220 million£220 million or greater, up to but excluding £550 million£550 million or greater
Betting intermediary (trading room only) operating licenceAnnual gross gambling yieldLess than £550,000£550,000 or greater, up to but excluding £6.6 million£6.6 million or greater
Gaming machine technical (full) operating licenceValue of annual gross salesLess than £550,000£550,000 or greater, up to but excluding £6.6 million£6.6 million or greater
Gaming machine technical (supplier) operating licenceValue of annual gross salesLess than £550,000£550,000 or greater, up to but excluding £6.6 million£6.6 million or greater
Gaming machine technical (software) operating licenceValue of annual gross salesLess than £550,000£550,000 or greater, up to but excluding £6.6 million£6.6 million or greater
Gambling software operating licenceValue of annual gross salesLess than £550,000£550,000 or greater, up to but excluding £6.6 million£6.6 million or greater
Lottery operating (external lottery manager) licenceAnnual proceedsLess than £550,000£550,000 or greater, up to but excluding £6.6 million£6.6 million or greater
Lottery operating (society) licenceAnnual proceedsLess than £100,000£100,000 or greater, up to but excluding £500,000£500,000 or greater

Gambling License England (UK) Government Charges/Fees

There are 3 types of charges. On the one hand, there is the application fee for each licence and, on the other, the licence for the staff/management.

These must be paid in advance or along with the application respectively. In addition, annual fees arise for the licensee as a third charge as well as 5-yearly processing fees for the staff licences. The licence fee falls due for payment 30 days after the licence has been issued.

Application fee : one-off payment of 20,580.00 pounds sterling per licence application. Staff/ management licence: 330.00 pounds sterling per person.

The annual licence fee depends on the gross turnover:

Category F – turnover up to 5 million pounds sterling

Category G – turnover of 5-100 million pounds sterling

Category H – turnover of 100 – 200 million pounds sterling

Category I – turnover of 200 – 500 million pounds sterling

Category J – turnover of over 500 million pounds sterling

If we assume, as an example, that the client falls into Category I, then the one-off fees as described would fall due for payment and an annual licence fee of 110,820.00 pounds sterling.

Regulatory Requirements

An audit must be carried out (using a UK firm of auditors), if an income of more than 1 million pounds sterling is achieved. In addition, an annual application for the inspection of the conditions is required.

Additional Requirements

If additional or other types of gambling such as bingo should be offered, then these are not covered by the licence and must be applied for and authorised separately.

In addition, there are certain conditions for keeping the licence that have to be fulfilled. Here are the most important of these:

  • the gambling authority must be informed if the distribution of the stakes of the shareholders changes by more than 3%.
  • the general terms and conditions and all the information relevant to gambling respectively must be listed on the website.
  • there are various training standards /requirements in relation to employees
  • requirements of the law on money-laundering
  • the gambling authority must be informed whenever changes occur in the key management.

Gambling License England (UK): Taxation

The “gambling tax”  can be represented as two “duties”:

  1. “Betting duty”, the “tax on betting” falls due for payment on each net contribution taken in from betting – insofar as applicable-
  2. “Remote gaming duty”, the “tax on remote gambling”, falls due for payment on the net profits from gambling – insofar as applicable

This is 15% in both cases.

Costs of Achieving a Gambling Licence in England

Our legal fees depend on the services. We will gladly send you a summary of charges.

Initial capital does not need to be raised. On top of this there are the government fees for registration with the English Gambling Commission.

There may be other fees on top of this, e.g. for the translation of the business plan into English. We can recommend an appropriate translator in this event.

Alternatives to a Gambling License in England

Malta, in particular, suggests itself as an alternative. Malta is also a member of the European Union and offers some advantages compared to England: lower corporation taxes, provided the Malta holding company model is followed, lower taxes on gambling, and the one-off and recurrent fees are also lower than in England.