Gaming in pubs and other alcohol licensed premises

This guidance is intended to provide a general explanation of the regulatory regime under the Gambling Act 2005 and its subordinate legislation.

It does not deal with every detail of the legislative provisions, or with the individual circumstances of a particular case. This guidance does not constitute legal advice and is not a substitute for the legislative provisions.

If you are in any doubt about the legality of any gambling activities that you intend to promote or for which you intend to provide facilities, you are strongly advised to seek independent legal advice, as well as visiting the Gambling Commission (gamblingcommission.gov.uk) who regulate all gambling in Great Britain.

Which premises are eligible to provide gaming?

Any premises that have an alcohol licence, and which have a bar at which alcohol is served for consumption on the premises without a requirement that alcohol is served only with food.

What about clubs?

There are separate provisions covering gaming in clubs and miners' welfare institutes

What kind of gaming can pubs and other eligible premises provide?

Section 279 of the Gambling Act allows pubs and other eligible premises to provide what the Act calls 'exempt gaming'. There are a number of conditions:

• It must be equal chance gaming (examples would be bingo, bridge and certain poker games)
• Stakes and prizes must comply with the limits prescribed in regulation
• No amount may be deducted or levied from amounts staked or won
• No participation fees may be charged
• The games played may only take place on one set of premises, that is there may not be any linking of games between premises
• Children and young people must be excluded from participation

What limits are there on stakes and prizes?

Different limits apply to different types of gaming:

• For dominoes and cribbage, there are no limits on either stakes or prizes
• For all other types of equal chance gaming there is a limit on stakes of £5 per person, per game
• For poker, a stakes limit of £5 per player per game (not per hand) applies, and the aggregate stakes limit for pub poker is £100 per day for each premises. So, for example, a pub could run a daily poker game involving 20 players staking £5 each. The maximum prize for a game of poker played in a pub is also £100

What about pub bingo?

Pubs that wish to provide facilities for bingo may do so under the act's exempt gaming provisions. The following rules apply:

• The maximum amount that may be staked by a player in a game of bingo is £5
• No amounts may be deducted from sums staked or won
• Players may not be charged a fee for taking part
• There should be no linking of games between premises
• Nobody under 18 may participate

As with clubs, pubs that wish to offer high turnover bingo (that is where stakes or prizes exceed £2000 per week) will require a bingo operating licence from the Gambling Commission. See the Commission's website for further information.

Casino nights

A non-commercial casino night can be run without a licence, or any other form of permission, providing the operation of the gaming falls into one of two types.

Type one: Non-commercial prize gaming - good causes

A non-commercial casino night can be run without a licence, or any other form of permission, providing the operation of the gaming falls into one of the three types:

• The players must be told what good cause will benefit from the profits of the gaming before placing a bet
• The prizes must be advertised in advance and must not depend on the number of people playing or the stakes raised
• The casino gaming determines the individual winner or winners, for example by counting who has the most casino chips at a set time

The winners are then awarded the  prizes that have been advertised in advance.

Type two: Non-commercial equal chance gaming

Casino nights can be held as non-commercial equal chance gaming.

Equal chance gaming includes games such as poker or bingo, where the chances are equally favourable to all participants and players are not competing against a bank.

In non-commercial equal chance gaming, the charitable funds are usually raised through an entrance fee, participation fee, or through other payments related to the gaming.

No matter how many games you run or a participant expects to play in, they must not make more than one payment (whether as an admission or participation fee, stake or other charge, or a combination of those charges), and this payment must not exceed £8 (per person).

The total amount or value of prizes for all the games played at your event must not exceed £600. If you are running more than one event on the same premises and on the same day, you must still comply with the £8 participation fee and £600 total prize limit.

If you are running a series of events held on separate days, the limits of £8 and £600 apply separately to each event.

In the final event of a series, where people have qualified by playing at previous events in the series, the total amount or value of prizes for all the games played at the final event can be up to £900.

Money’s worth

Please be aware that for stakes and prizes, the maximum values include both money and money’s worth. 

Money’s worth is the fair or full equivalent of the money that is paid and includes: payment in-kind, vouchers, goods, donated items, goody-bags, or other items which have a value.

Last updated:‎07‎/‎02‎/‎2024‎ ‎10‎:‎45‎