UK bonuses and harm indicators

What the UK rule on bonuses and harm indicators says

The rule is part of the Gambling Commission's remote customer interaction code, LCCP 3.4.3 (opens in a new tab). It is a social responsibility code provision, which means it is a condition of every relevant licence: breaking it can lead to a licence review, a financial penalty, suspension or revocation. Its tenth paragraph is the one that deals directly with bonuses. It says marketing and new bonus take-up must be stopped where strong indicators of harm are identified, as defined in the operator's own processes.

That sentence sits inside a much broader duty. Operators must run customer interaction systems that identify people at risk, act on what they find, and evaluate whether their action worked, as a continuous process. Stopping bonuses is one tool among several, and the code makes clear it is not optional once the indicators are strong. Our hub of UK casino bonus rules lists the other promotion rules that sit alongside this one.

Which harm indicators operators must look at

The code doesn't hand operators a single checklist. Instead, it requires a range of indicators suited to the business's customers and products, and names seven categories that must be included:

1. Customer spend: how much is being deposited and lost.
2. Patterns of spend: for example, sharp increases, deposits made in quick succession, or deposits made straight after losses.
3. Time spent gambling: long sessions, play late at night or a jump in how often someone logs in.
4. Gambling behaviour indicators: such as chasing losses or moving between games quickly.
5. Customer-led contact: what the customer says in chats, emails or calls, including mentions of money worries.
6. Use of gambling management tools: setting, raising or removing limits, or taking time-outs.
7. Account indicators: for example, several failed deposits or changes of payment method.

The examples in brackets are illustrations of each category rather than wording from the code, and each operator defines what 'strong' means in its own processes. Bonus behaviour can feed into several categories at once. Someone who deposits again and again to qualify for daily offers is showing a spend pattern; someone who mentions in a chat that they need a bonus to recover losses is showing customer-led contact. The glossary entry on the social responsibility code explains how these provisions fit into a licence.

How the harm indicator rules developed: timeline

The bonus stop came in stages. The main customer interaction duties started in September 2022, the specific rule on marketing and bonuses followed five months later, and the formal guidance and vulnerability paragraphs arrived in October 2023.

Why bonuses are singled out

Bonuses are built to encourage play. A reload offer arrives after a deposit, a cashback offer softens a losing week, free spins appear just as a session ends. For most people those are small add-ons. For someone already struggling, the same offer can work as a prompt to keep going, deposit again or chase a loss, which is the opposite of what a customer interaction team is trying to achieve.

The Commission's enforcement work shows why it takes this seriously. Many of the larger penalties from 2024 to 2026 cite customer interaction failures, including the £2m Paddy Power Betfair settlement (opens in a new tab) in December 2025 and the £900,000 Petfre (Gibraltar) settlement (opens in a new tab) in June 2026. Our guide to bonuses and gambling harm looks at the ways offers can affect behaviour in more depth.

The maths behind the concern

A bonus doesn't change the long-run cost of play. Take a £50 bonus with 10x wagering, which means £500 of bets. At a 4% house edge, that much play costs about £20 on average, before counting any extra deposits made to keep a bonus going. The 'extra' money encourages more spending, not less, which is why the code treats stopping new bonuses as a basic protective step. Our house edge entry explains the average-cost idea.

What happens if harm indicators stop your bonuses

In practice, a customer flagged for strong indicators may notice several things at once. Promotional emails and texts stop arriving. The promotions page may show no offers, or offers that can't be opted into. A message or call from the safer gambling team may follow, sometimes with a suggestion to set limits or take a break. In more serious cases, the operator can restrict or close the account, which the code lists as 'ending the business relationship where necessary'.

What doesn't change is your right to your own money. The deposit balance remains yours, and Commission guidance says you can withdraw it without unreasonable delay. A bonus that was already active may stay in place under its terms, although operators can go further where risk is high. If your account has been limited and you don't know why, the question page why is my account restricted covers the usual reasons.

Automated decisions and your right to contest them

Paragraph 11 of the code says strong indicators must be acted on promptly through automated processes. That makes sense: a person may not be able to review every account in real time, and a bonus email triggered by a script could otherwise go out before anyone notices a problem. But automation has a check built in. The operator must manually review how those automated actions operate in each customer's case, and it must let customers contest any automated decision that affects them.

If you think a decision was wrong, you can ask for it to be reviewed:

1. Contact the operator's customer support or safer gambling team and ask what action has been taken on your account.
2. Ask for a manual review of any automated decision, which the code entitles you to request.
3. Explain any context the system may have missed, such as a one-off large deposit for a known reason.
4. Keep a record of the conversation, including dates and names.
5. If you remain unhappy, use the operator's formal complaints process, then the independent dispute service it names.

Before asking for a reversal, it is worth pausing to consider whether the indicators were right. If anything in the operator's message rings true, the when to say no to a bonus guide may help you decide.

Financial vulnerability checks and other linked protections

The harm indicator rule works alongside other checks. Since 28 February 2025, operators must run a financial vulnerability check when a customer's deposits minus withdrawals pass £150 in a rolling 30 days. It is a light public-record check for things such as bankruptcy or county court judgments, and its findings can feed into customer interaction decisions. Credit-reference 'affordability checks' are not live; the Commission has said it has no plans for them in that form.

Other protections cover the same ground from different angles. Since 31 October 2025, sites must prompt you to set a financial limit before your first deposit, covered on our page on the financial limit prompt. High-value or 'VIP' schemes carry extra checks, explained on the VIP scheme rules page. And the customer interaction rules page sets out the full code that this bonus rule belongs to.

What the harm indicator rule doesn't do

• It doesn't publish a fixed threshold. There is no single figure, such as a deposit amount, that triggers a bonus stop everywhere. Each operator defines strong indicators in its own processes.
• It doesn't share flags between unrelated companies. A decision at one business doesn't automatically follow you to another. Self-exclusion through GAMSTOP does cover all participating online operators.
• It isn't a penalty for using bonuses. Restrictions for breaking bonus terms, such as using several accounts, are a different matter covered on our page about irregular play.
• It doesn't confiscate money. Your deposit balance stays yours, and withdrawal rights continue to apply.

Steps you can take yourself

You don't have to wait for an operator to act. If you recognise any of the indicators above in your own play, several free tools let you take control straight away. The guide to setting deposit limits explains how limits work and why lowering one takes effect immediately, while increases take longer. You can opt out of all marketing in your account settings, as described in how to stop bonus emails, and you can ask an operator to stop offering you promotions altogether.

For a break across every UK-licensed site at once, GAMSTOP (opens in a new tab) lets you self-exclude from online gambling for six months to five years, free of charge. Our how to self-exclude guide covers that and the separate self-exclusion tools each operator offers. Bank gambling blocks add another layer by stopping card payments to gambling merchants.

Where to get help with gambling harm

If bonuses, losses or the time you spend gambling are worrying you, talking to someone can help. These services are free and confidential:

• National Gambling Helpline: 0808 8020 133, run by GamCare (opens in a new tab), free, 24 hours a day, with live chat and WhatsApp too.
• NHS Wales Helpline: 0808 2819 265.
• NHS gambling clinics: in England you can refer yourself; the NHS gambling addiction page (opens in a new tab) explains how.
• Gamblers Anonymous: peer support meetings across England, Wales and Ulster.
• GAMSTOP: free online self-exclusion from all UK-licensed gambling sites and apps.

Our safer gambling page gathers these services in one place, with more on limits, time-outs and blocking software.

18+. Gambling should be entertainment that costs money, not a way to make it. Decide a budget before you play: set a budget. Free, confidential help: National Gambling Helpline 0808 8020 133.