Minimum age to gamble online: 18 and what it means
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You must be 18 or over to open an account and gamble with an online betting or casino site in Great Britain. Operators must verify your name, address and date of birth before you can gamble. Keep cards, devices and passwords away from children.
The minimum age to gamble with an online betting or casino site in Great Britain is 18, and licensed operators must check your age before you play, not after you win. This guide covers the rule, how age verification works and how to keep children away from betting accounts.
What the minimum age to gamble means
You must be 18 or over to open an account with a licensed betting or casino site. Some other forms of gambling, such as certain lotteries, have different age limits, so check the rules for each product. An account found to belong to someone under 18 can be closed, so nobody should ever use another person’s account, even a parent’s. Younger adults also face lower online slot stake limits, at £2 a spin for ages 18 to 24 against £5 for older players.
How age verification works
Remote operators must verify your name, address and date of birth before you can gamble, according to the Gambling Commission. Most checks are instant and automatic, using data from identity providers, and you are only asked for documents when the match fails. Operators should tell you in advance which documents they might need, and when and how to send them.
What they should not do is spring new demands on you at withdrawal for information they could reasonably have asked for earlier, or take your balance simply because the checks were not completed. Other checks, such as source of funds, can still depend on how much you deposit and win, but the age check applies to everyone.
Keeping children away from gambling
- Lock devices: use passcodes on phones and tablets, and log out of betting apps.
- Keep cards private: never save a card on a device that children use.
- Use blocking tools: install blocking software and switch on parental controls on every family device.
- Check the bank: banks should block gambling on under-18 accounts automatically.
Talk about it as well. Explain in simple terms that gambling is not a way to make money and that the odds favour the operator, and ask what children see on social media and in games. If you are worried that a young person is gambling, call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133.