Gambling Age in the UK – How Old Do You Have to Be to Bet?
Why Do These Age Limits Exist Anyway?
The British attitude towards gambling is pretty mainstream in comparison to other European nations, with online casinos and betting operators advertising their services to exhaustion across the TV, sports games, newspapers, and social media. With such an abundance of betting adverts bombarding us daily, does this mean children are more likely to be influenced by these adverts?
This topic has been one of the many focuses of online casino research for some time. In fact, research into the topic would suggest that underage gamblers are more at risk and between two and four times more likely to develop a gambling addiction than an adult just starting out is. Therefore, the UK Gambling Commission decided to set specific rules to protect British youths from becoming problematic gamblers.
Still, the question exists, why is that some types of gambling are considered fine for teenagers whilst others are forbidden? Why is it that one form of gambling is seen as more harmful than others?
Four years after the UK’s National Lottery began in 1994, Oflot, the country’s lottery regulator found that 5% of under 16s had a gambling problem whilst 2% were addicted to scratchcards. If these behaviours are harmful even to them, why isn’t the legal lottery age set to 18? Does the state consider gambling to be as heavy a topic as substance abuse issues?
In 2005, the UK Gambling Commission conjured up the Gambling Act, in a step to regulate all betting activities throughout the land. This was a major step in ensuring player protections against preying, manipulative online operators and casinos. Another product of this law is that it set the legal age to gamble in the UK is 18.
In Comparison to Other Countries
By comparing Britain’s legal gambling to those of their European neighbours and those across the pond, we can learn a lot about the UK’s cultural perspective towards betting and how this could potentially sway the minds of children to gamble as they get older. As an interesting tidbit, the UK didn’t make gambling legal until 1960.
As we said, the minimum UK gambling age is 18, which means you must be legally an adult to visit a a local casino or to to bet on horse races. In the UK, sports betting in general and lotteries are immensely popular. So how do other countries fare in comparison?
To help you easier visualise how the UK gambling age fares in comparison to other countries, we’ve made a quick list of the legal ages across the world.
- Austria – 18
- Belgium – 21
- Canada – 18-19
- Belgium – 21
- France – 18
- Germany -18
- Ireland – 18
- Italy – 18
- Netherland – 18
- Portugal – 18
- Spain – 18
- USA – 21
As you can see, the minimum age to gamble in Western nations sits between 18 and 21. Most countries also adopt 18 as the standard legal age to gamble, particularly European nations. Therefore, you could say the UK gambling age is fairly run-of-the-mill. While the casino age UK is also 18.
Across the UK
While it may seem fairly standard practice to have the UK gambling age as 18, there are a few more nuances to the debate that we should cast our sights on too. For instance, the age limits depend entirely upon the betting activity that you’re hoping to wager on.
Gambling Laws for 16 Year Olds
If you wish to enter a casino, or simply visit the UK’s best online casinos, you must know that casino age UK is 18. The Gambling Act is also very strict and clear in its condemnation of offering free versions of games to minors. Teenagers are also forbidden from playing any type of casino game.
However, the age limit for other betting activities such as the National Lottery, football pools, or scratch cars currently sits at 16 years old. For example, a 16-year-old in the UK can legally spend over ￡100 on the National Lottery, scratch cards, or football pool betting, but they can’t spend a single penny in a casino, otherwise, they would be breaking the law.
Is the UK Gambling Age Uniform?
With 16-year-olds being able to bet in certain manners of speaking may make England and Wales seem comparatively liberal to their gambling attitudes, the reality is that these gambling age attitudes aren’t uniform across the UK.
In comparison, Scotland isn’t too dissimilar to the gambling age of England, requiring players to be 18. However, in Northern Ireland the law is stricter on the legal gambling age than the rest of the UK. For instance, only the lottery is legally authorised, with casino games remaining outlawed at the time of writing.
Legal Ages across Different Gambling Types
If this all sounds too confusing and complicated, don’t worry because we’re here to help! To help you better understand the situation, we’ve compiled a list that summarises the UK gambling ages concerning a particular form of betting and what the legal age limit for that activity is.
- Visting a Casino or Licenced Premises – 18
- Gaming Machines – 18
- National Lottery – 16
- Scratch Cards – 16
- Football Pools – 16
- Private Betting – No Age Limit
- Entertainment Arcades – No Age Limit
- Prize Gaming or Traveling Fair – No Age Limit
Consequences and Penalties
With all of these factors in consideration, you may be asking yourself at this stage of the discussion, ‘What are the penalties for illegal gambling in the UK then?’ and ‘Will I get in trouble if I break them?’. After combing through the Gambling Act 2005 in our research, we can safely advise that you should tread carefully when gambling.
Despite being signed into law over a decade, the list of offences outlined in the Gambling Act is pretty extensive and covers a lot of ground. Should you tread on the wrong side of the law, you could face serious fines and potential jail time depending on the severity of the offence.
For instance, if you are a young person who gambles somewhere that you know you shouldn’t be and you get caught by the Old Bill, you could face a ￡1,000 fine for this underage discretion. On the flip side of the coin, if you employ an underage person to your gambling facility, you can be fined ￡5,000 and/or face 51 weeks in jail.
Not Just Operators
This isn’t to say that advertisers aren’t in the clear either if they entice young adults to gamble. Advertisers found to breach the regulations surrounding advertising to children whether it be on mobile apps or websites popular with children can also face hefty fines from at least ￡5,000 and rising. So gamble aware and be careful about what you see out there!
Frequently Asked Questions
We hope that you’ve learned a whole new perspective on the particularities of the UK gambling age and can stay on the right side of the Law going forward. For other fresh perspectives, be sure to check out some of our other informative guides to the ever-evolving world of gambling. For now though, here are some of the most commonly asked questions that we receive from our readers. Best of luck out there!
Can you gamble at 17?
Yes and no. While certain gambling activities such as scratch cards, football pools, or even the National Lottery are legal for 16-year-olds to bet on, many of the classic forms of gambling are illegal to anyone under 18. As such, visiting many of the UK's online casinos or land casinos is forbidden to 17 years by extension.
Can you bet at 16?
In a manner of speaking yes. Certain betting activities in the UK require that you’re 16 or over. For example, you must be at least 16 to take place in the National Lottery. However, the most popular gambling forms such as poker, roulette, or blackjack require you to be 18 to engage with them or to enter a casino. Otherwise, you’d be breaking the law, which can have serious consequences.
