Remote gambling customers in Great Britain can control direct marketing in a more granular way than a single “yes” or “no” switch. Since 1 May 2025, licensed remote casino, bingo and betting operators covered by the rule must let customers opt in by both product and channel. Casino email can therefore be a different choice from betting email, and text messages can be treated separately from phone calls.
The rule is about direct marketing sent by the gambling operator. It does not remove every gambling advertisement a person may see online, on television, through sponsorship or on a website. That distinction matters because opting out of operator email is not the same as blocking gambling advertising across the internet.
Product and channel choices are separate
The current LCCP 5.1.12 direct marketing rule requires options on a per-product and per-channel basis. Product categories must include betting, casino and bingo where applicable. Channel options must include phone calls, email and text messages where the operator uses them.
Imagine an operator offering casino and sports betting. A customer may want service-related account messages but no promotional casino email, while still choosing to receive betting promotions by email. The marketing-preference screen must support relevant product/channel combinations rather than collapsing everything into one broad permission.
The operator also has to make clear which of its products fall within the categories. That matters for brands with multiple verticals, because a customer should not have to guess whether a particular product is being treated as casino, betting or bingo for marketing purposes.
Opt-out is the default
The options must be set to opt-out by default. In other words, the customer is not supposed to arrive at registration with every promotional box already selected. The rule applies to new and existing customers and the preferences must be updateable when a customer changes their mind.
The Commission’s consultation response on direct marketing confirms that the requirement came into force on 1 May 2025. It was designed to increase customer control over product types and channels rather than force a single marketing preference across an entire remote gambling relationship.
If an operator uses an additional confirmation step after a customer chooses preferences, the wording cannot push the customer to reverse the choice. The code says the step should simply confirm the selected preferences, with one-click progression and no encouragement to change them. That is intended to prevent a “confirm” page from becoming a second marketing pitch.
What the operator may still send
Direct marketing preferences concern promotional contact. They do not necessarily stop operational messages that are required to run the account, such as security notices, transaction information, regulatory notifications or responses to customer service requests. The content and legal basis of a message matter.
For example, a customer who opts out of casino marketing email should not then receive an email advertising new casino promotions in contradiction of that preference. But an email confirming a password reset is not promotional marketing merely because it comes from the same domain.
This makes it useful to separate “unsubscribe from offers” from “close all communications.” A gambling account cannot function securely if essential messages are treated as optional advertising. The player’s marketing screen should focus on promotional contact by product and channel.
Direct marketing is not the same as advertising exposure
A customer can opt out of direct email, SMS and phone marketing and still see a gambling advertisement on a sports site, social network, television broadcast or search page. The LCCP rule controls the operator’s direct-marketing relationship; it does not create a personal filter across the wider advertising ecosystem.
That difference is especially important when players believe an opt-out has “failed” because they continue to see ads. The first question is whether the ad was a direct communication based on the operator’s marketing list or a general advertisement served through another channel. The regulatory and technical controls are different.
GambleRoad’s comparison of gambling advertising rules looks at broader advertising regulation. The direct-marketing preference rule is narrower but more actionable for an individual account because the customer can set and change the choices directly.
How to audit your marketing settings
A practical audit starts with the account’s marketing or communication settings. Review every available product category and every listed channel. Do not assume that unchecking “casino” automatically changes “betting,” or that turning off email also turns off SMS. The whole point of the rule is that these are distinct choices.
- Check casino, betting and bingo preferences separately where offered.
- Check email, SMS and phone-call choices separately.
- Save or confirm the selection and, if useful, keep a screenshot or dated record.
- Recheck the settings after major account or brand migrations.
- If unwanted direct marketing continues, compare the message with the recorded preference before contacting the operator.
Operators must not send direct marketing that conflicts with the recorded product/channel preferences. If an issue persists, the evidence is more useful when the player can identify the exact product category, channel, date and preference that was active.
Why granular consent matters
A single global opt-in creates an all-or-nothing choice. Granular consent lets a customer decide that one form of contact is acceptable while another is not. This is particularly relevant for gambling because product categories can have different appeal and risk for the same person. Someone who wants betting updates may deliberately avoid casino promotions, or vice versa.
The rule does not guarantee that marketing will be harmless or personally appropriate. It gives the customer clearer control over whether the operator may send it through specified direct channels. The content itself remains subject to other advertising and social-responsibility standards.
For readers evaluating whether a gambling message is misleading rather than merely unwanted, GambleRoad’s guide to misleading online casino advertising addresses claims, presentation and evidence. Marketing consent answers a different question: did the customer choose to receive this category of direct promotion through this channel?
A useful final check is to separate preference management from account closure. A customer does not need to close an account merely to stop promotional contact, and an operator should not make marketing consent a condition of ordinary account access. The preference system is meant to preserve that distinction: the gambling account can remain usable while promotional casino, betting or bingo contact is switched off by channel.