The Gambling Act 2005 permits and regulates online gambling of all kinds and the provision of gambling software as part of its regulation of all gambling in the United Kingdom, apart from spread betting and the National Lottery which are regulated separately. The Gambling Commission has regulatory and enforcement functions covering UK gambling, both terrestrial and online (or “remote” as the 2005 Act calls it) but again also excluding spread betting and the National Lottery which have different regulators
It should be noted that although, for convenience, this chapter refers to the “United Kingdom” and the “UK,” in fact, the province of Northern Ireland has separate laws relating to gambling from those applying in the rest of the UK. Thus, the 2005 Act and the regime discussed in this chapter only apply in Great Britain (i.e. in England, Scotland and Wales).