UK marketing consent rules

What the UK marketing consent rules say

The rule sits in the Gambling Commission's licence conditions as social responsibility code 5.1.12 on direct marketing preferences (opens in a new tab). It tells online gambling businesses that hold a remote casino, betting or bingo licence to give customers an opt-in choice for each product they offer and each channel they use to send marketing. The products named are betting, casino and bingo; the channels named are phone calls, email and SMS text messages, in each case where the business actually offers or uses them.

Three details turn this from a box-ticking exercise into a real protection. First, every option has to be set to opt-out by default, so a pre-ticked 'Yes, send me offers' box no longer meets the rule. Second, the choices must be offered during registration, not buried in account settings later. Third, the operator must make clear which of its games fall into which product category, so you know what 'casino' covers on that site.

The final piece is enforcement inside the business: customers must not receive direct marketing that goes against the channel or product preferences they have set. If you said yes to casino emails only, a text about a bingo promotion breaches the code. The rule applies to new and existing customers alike, which matters if your account is years old. It is one of several UK casino bonus rules that shape what offers reach you and how.

When the marketing consent rules started: timeline

The consent rule came out of the 2023 gambling white paper, which asked for consumers to have more say over the marketing they receive. The Commission consulted in summer 2023 and published its decisions on 1 May 2024; the executive summary of that consultation response (opens in a new tab) sets out the move to product-and-channel choices. The original start date of 17 January 2025 was pushed back to give operators time to rebuild their sign-up flows.

Post was dropped from the list of channels during the consultation, so the code names phone, email and SMS only. Land-based gambling and lotteries were left out of this round as well.

Why the Commission tightened marketing consent

Before May 2025 many sites used a single tick box covering every product and every channel. Someone who joined to play slots could end up with free bet texts, bingo emails and phone calls about reload offers, all from one quick click during sign-up. The Commission's view was that marketing should reflect what each person actually wants, and that blanket consent made it too easy for offers to reach people who had not chosen them.

There is a harm angle too. Bonus emails and texts are designed to bring people back, and a message arriving at the wrong moment can prompt a session that wasn't planned. Splitting consent by product and channel lets you keep, say, casino emails you find useful while switching off texts that arrive on your phone late at night. It also fits with the wider set of rules on bonuses and harm indicators, which require marketing to stop altogether when strong signs of harm appear.

How marketing consent affects the bonuses you see

Most casino offers for existing players arrive by marketing: a reload bonus by email, a batch of spins by text, a 'we miss you' offer after a quiet month. Under the consent rule, those messages can only reach you through the channels and for the products you opted into. A tick for casino emails but not casino texts means the same offer may still exist, but you will only hear about it in your inbox or on the site's promotions page.

What consent doesn't change is your access to offers that are advertised openly. A welcome offer shown on a casino's homepage, or a promotion listed in the account's promotions tab, is not direct marketing to you, so you can still find and opt in to it with every marketing box left unticked. Our guide to email bonuses and the page on SMS bonuses explain how channel-only offers usually work and where else they tend to appear.

A worked example in pounds

Picture an emailed offer of 50 spins at 10p each after a £10 slots deposit. The spins have a face value of 50 × 10p = £5. On a slot with a 96% return to player, the average return from those spins is about £4.80, although any one batch can return nothing or far more. Turning off email marketing means you won't be prompted about that £5 of spins; it doesn't cost you anything you already have. Seen in pounds, most marketing offers are small, and the choice to receive them is about convenience and control rather than value.

How to set or change your marketing consent

The code says you must be able to update your choices at any time. The exact menu names differ between sites, but the route is broadly the same everywhere:

1. Log in and open your account or profile menu.
2. Look for a section called marketing preferences, communication preferences or contact preferences.
3. Check each product listed (casino, betting, bingo) against each channel (email, SMS, phone).
4. Untick anything you don't want, or tick only the combinations you do want.
5. Save, then check for a confirmation message or email so you have a record of the change.
6. If messages keep arriving after a few days, contact support and keep a copy of the message as evidence.

Our step-by-step guide to stopping bonus emails covers the unsubscribe link route too, and the question page how do I stop bonus offers deals with offers that appear inside your account rather than in your inbox.

Existing customers and the first log-in prompt

If you opened an account before May 2025, the rule still reaches you. Customers who had not already opted out had to be asked to confirm their marketing preferences at their first log-in after the rule took effect. Where an older setting already matched the product-and-channel format, the operator could carry it over without asking again.

The Commission's implementation update gave examples. A customer who had chosen every product but only SMS had to be asked again, because the old setting didn't record a product choice. Someone who had picked betting and SMS only was already compliant. Single-product sites, such as a casino with no sportsbook, only need to confirm channel choices.

One early draft would have stopped customers from gambling until they set their preferences. The Commission removed that wording, saying it was never intended, so an operator should not block your play because you skipped the preferences screen.

Casino, betting and bingo: why the product split matters

The product split is most noticeable at businesses that run several products under one account. Coral and Ladbrokes, for example, are both run by LC International Limited and offer sports betting alongside their casinos, so a customer can say yes to casino offers and no to betting offers, or the reverse. PlayOJO lists slots, live casino and bingo among its products, so the casino and bingo choices are the relevant ones there.

The split works alongside the mixed-product promotion ban, in force since 19 January 2026. That rule stops a single incentive from combining more than one type of gambling product, such as 'bet on football, get casino spins'. Together they mean a betting customer who has only opted in to betting marketing shouldn't be nudged towards casino through either a combined offer or a casino message they never agreed to. The Commission's announcement on safer and simpler promotions (opens in a new tab) explains the reasoning behind the mixed-product change.

What the marketing consent rules don't cover

The code is specific, so it is worth knowing its edges. It covers direct marketing by phone, email and text from remote casino, betting and bingo licensees. It does not mention post, which was dropped during consultation, and the Commission's update didn't address service messages such as password resets, withdrawal confirmations or security alerts. Those are not offers, and you should expect them whatever you choose.

• Offers on the site itself. Banners, the promotions page and in-account pop-ups are not direct marketing channels under this code, although advertising rules still apply to them.
• Publicity. Separate Commission guidance says bonus terms must not force you into publicity, and agreeing to data protection terms is not consent to appear in marketing.
• Promotion opt-in. Marketing consent is different from opting in to a promotion. You can receive no marketing at all and still opt in to a specific promotion.
• Affiliates and advertising. Ads on TV, social media and sites like ours follow the advertising codes rather than this consent rule.

When marketing must stop regardless of consent

Consent is a floor, not a licence to market without limits. Under the customer interaction code 3.4.3 (opens in a new tab), operators must stop marketing and new bonus take-up where they identify strong indicators of harm, a requirement in force since 12 February 2023. Your opt-in doesn't override that: if an operator's monitoring flags a strong risk, the emails and texts should stop even though your boxes are still ticked.

Self-exclusion works the same way. If you register with GAMSTOP (opens in a new tab), participating operators must remove you from their marketing as part of their self-exclusion duties. Our page on the GAMSTOP rules explains the scheme, and the customer interaction rules page covers the monitoring that sits behind these decisions.

If you are receiving gambling marketing during a self-exclusion, keep the message and report it to the operator. You can also raise it with GAMSTOP. Support is available free, 24/7, from the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133.

What to do if a casino ignores your marketing choices

Start with the operator. Every licensed business must have a complaints procedure, and a clear record makes your complaint quick to resolve: the date you changed your preferences, a screenshot of the settings and copies of the messages that arrived afterwards. Ask the operator to confirm in writing that your preferences are now applied.

If the business doesn't resolve it within eight weeks, it must tell you about its alternative dispute resolution provider. Our guide on how to complain about a bonus walks through that process, and the complaints and ADR rules page sets out the timings. The Commission doesn't resolve individual complaints, but it does want to hear about operators that break licence conditions.

How consent fits with the other UK promotion rules

Marketing consent decides whether an offer reaches you. Other rules decide what that offer may look like once it does. Since 19 January 2026, the 10x wagering cap limits wagering on any bonus to ten times the bonus amount, and an offer can't be changed or made bigger because you reach the qualifying spend faster than the offer period. Advertising rules require significant conditions in ads to be shown up front, and a marketing message that says 'free' must state the condition next to it, a point covered on our page about the word 'free' in gambling ads.

If you want the broader picture of how direct marketing is regulated, including the advertising codes that apply to emails and texts, see our separate page on direct marketing rules.

Marketing consent and our partner casino offers

None of the welcome offers we list depends on marketing consent. Each is claimed through the casino's own sign-up and deposit steps, so you can leave every marketing box unticked and still take part. All are for new customers aged 18+, and terms apply.

• Coral Casino: deposit (certain payment types excluded) and bet £10+ on slots to get 100 free spins at 10p each, worth £10 in total. Accept within 48 hours, use within 7 days, no wagering on free spin winnings. Runs 1 October 2026 to 1 February 2027. See the Coral casino bonus page.
• Ladbrokes Casino: deposit and spend £10+ on slots to get 50 free spins a day for 10 days (up to 500 at 10p, up to £50 in total). Claim each day before 23:59, spins valid 7 days, no wagering. Details on the Ladbrokes casino bonus page.
• PlayOJO: 80 free spins on Big Bass Bonanza at 10p (£8 in total) with a first deposit of £10 or more; no wagering, winnings paid as cash. Excludes Northern Ireland. See the PlayOJO casino bonus page.

Coral and Ladbrokes exclude some payment methods, including PayPal, Skrill, Neteller, Paysafe and prepaid cards, so check the offer terms before you deposit. Because both are run by the same company, one person may not be able to open new accounts at both; read the terms first. Gambling costs money, and losses are likely over time.

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.