The UK’s Finance Bill 2026-27 would rewrite how promotional free spins, bonuses, prizes and tournament play are treated for Remote Gaming Duty from April 1, 2027. The measure is designed to narrow exclusions exposed by recent tax litigation, including Jumpman Gaming’s successful challenge to a £13.2 million HMRC assessment.
Published on Nov. 4, the Bill includes the gambling-duty measure as clause 82, “Remote gaming payments, prizes and tournament participation.” It would replace the current Finance Act 2014 section 159A framework with rules governing “restricted play”, the new term for freeplays.
Under the proposed rules, a free spin or bonus would be excluded from gaming payments only where it was itself won through bonus play. A restricted play generated by using another restricted play would remain excluded, but rewards from a game that was free to enter would not receive that treatment.
That distinction would catch the arrangement at issue in the Jumpman case. The operator’s welcome offer required a deposit in return for a free spin on Mega Reel, which could in turn award free spins on other casino games. The proposed definition would treat those follow-on spins differently because the triggering Mega Reel spin was always free to play rather than bonus play.
As we reported in September, the Upper Tribunal allowed Jumpman’s appeal against HMRC’s £13.2 million Remote Gaming Duty assessment for accounting periods from July 2018 through December 2022.
The tribunal case concerned whether duty applied to the initial promotional spin, subsequent spins won from it, or neither. Remote Gaming Duty is broadly calculated from gaming payments received by an operator, less specified deductible prizes. The 2017 rules had been introduced following a consultation in which the government’s stated aim was to tax only the first use of freeplays.
The Finance Bill changes would apply only to gaming beginning on or after April 1, 2027. They would therefore not alter the outcome of Jumpman’s case or other claims relating to earlier periods. The proposed rules also give the Commissioners power to make regulations on when all or part of a gaming payment is waived, intended to address novel situations without further primary legislation.
The Bill also tightens the treatment of prizes. CMS said the package was aimed at incentive arrangements considered in both the Jumpman litigation and L&L Europe’s successful 2024 appeal over cashback. In that case, L&L Europe had offered players who lost all deposits during a session 10% cashback, and a tribunal found the payments deductible as prizes, cancelling an £807,284 assessment.
CMS characterised the changes as reversing the effect of the L&L Europe ruling and adopting HMRC’s preferred reading of the earlier First-tier Tribunal decision in Jumpman. On that view, operators using affected incentives may have to discontinue them or pay more Remote Gaming Duty.
Tournament rules would also change. Free-to-play tournaments themselves would remain outside the duty, but play using free spins awarded by such tournaments would not qualify for the restricted-play exclusion. Tournaments carrying an entry fee would be explicitly within the duty’s scope.
The government has said the amendments will put the treatment of freeplays, prizes and tournaments “beyond doubt.” HMRC said they would provide greater certainty, reduce disputes and protect future revenues, while its stated Exchequer impact for the measure is nil through 2031-32. Remote Gaming Duty has been charged at 40% of remote gaming profits since April 1, 2026.
