The top and bottom of this answer is, yes! But lets go into a little more detail as to why and hopefully answer any queries you may have.

All gambling in the UK is fully legal. A lot of people often get confused with rules and regulations in the US, where any form of gambling is either banned, restricted or only just coming back into legalisation. As a UK resident you are allowed to use any licensed gambling outlet to place wagers of any sort.

It’s worth noting that these regulations all carry over into mobile gambling. A mobile service offered by a bookmaker, casino or bingo hall is essentially just an extension of their already established gambling outlet. You’re playing on the same site, only it looks a little different than if you were playing online due its design for mobile.

One of the most recent legislations to pass in the UK is that all gambling sites offering their services to players from the UK need to be licensed in the UK. Previously a number of high-powered sites were actually set up and licensed offshore. Places like Gibraltar and the Isle of Man were hotbeds for these types of companies because they could by-pass UK tax laws. The new legislations requires any company that accepts players from the UK to have taken out a UK license and in turn, have to pay UK tax. But you don’t need to worry about tax, which we will discuss later in this article.

How do I know if a site has a UK license?

The first thing that we want to make you aware of is that all mobile sites that are promoted on this site have a UK license. We’ve actually spent a lot of time and effort into making sure that as a the majority of users are from the UK, we’ve made sure that every site is fully licensed in the UK, so you don’t need to go digging to find out for yourself.

But, if there is a site that we haven’t listed on here then you can also go and check by accessing the Gambling Commission site (http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk) and simply do a quick search on there. This will list all sites that have a UK license and also alert you when a site is flagged as not having a license. If you are still unsure then let us know and we will do your best to find out for you.

Do I have to pay any tax on gambling winnings?

One of the perks to being a UK resident is that you do not have to pay tax on any winnings that you receive from either mobile or online gambling. The government see gambling as a game of luck, which means that they don’t see it as a viable way to make a living. They also take their fair share of tax directly from the gambling site itself, so they get more than their fair share of the industry. The laws have been this way for decades now and don’t look like changing anytime in the near future.

Do mobile laws differ to online?

Mobile laws don’t differ from that of online gambling laws. The mobile sector of a site is essentially just an extension of that bookmaker or casino. You’re essentially doing exactly as you would on your desktop, except from a smaller screen on your mobile. Mobile gambling shouldn’t be looked at as different from online gambling, apart from having the ability to play on the go.

The only exception with mobile betting is when you start to access bookmakers from a location outside of the UK (on holiday etc). Some gambling sites ban people from specific countries from playing and if they flag that you are accessing the site from abroad, they ma flag your account. If you are wanting to bet abroad, then it’s worth checking to see if the country that you are going to is accepted on that gambling site and also check the gabling laws for that country to see if it’s legal or not.