Expected reading time 4 mins
Last Updated: December 19, 2025
Written by Jon Bryan
Jon Bryan reviews what this year has been like for those involved in gambling, and what we might expect in the next twelve months.
A YEAR TO FORGET?
For most people involved in gambling, 2025 has not been great. Those expecting (or hoping for) a period of stability will have been bitterly disappointed.
While you should not judge an entire year simply on what has happened in the last few weeks, it is difficult to see past anything other than the Chancellor’s budget announcement of big tax increases on gambling last month. It has already had a big impact, and there’s going to be more to come.
But at this time of year, we should try not to focus on the negatives. It might be difficult to be positive, but Christmas is the time of miracles, and it is always worth thinking optimistically about the next twelve months and what could happen.
SO, WHAT CAN WE LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2026?
I asked this question on social media to try and inject some positivity into current discussions about gambling. After all, there is nothing wrong with wishing for things, it is what gamblers do all the time!
The Bookmaker and commentator on gambling, Geoff Banks, would like to see the Gambling Commission disbanded and for the industry to tackle ‘incoherent regulations and tax’. Others would like their experience of gambling to be improved, which both Billy and Dave expressed a wish for. Further comments on the thread I started included improving customer satisfaction, and scrapping the friction that exists between gambler and their ability to gamble – e.g. getting rid of burdensome regulation such as affordability checks.
TAKING ON THE ANTI-GAMBLERS
But there is also a desire to take on those who don’t like gambling, which both Chris Fawcett (Gambler and Coder) and Caan Berry (full-time Betfair Trader and Blogger) mention in their wishes for the new year.
Standing up for gamblers and gambling is going to be a bigger project, and not one where you can get an easy win in a short period of time. But if we do not start making in-roads into the anti-gambling narrative which runs deep into significant parts of the media, parliament, and the commentator class, our ability to gamble will continue to be curtailed.
One way to do this is to talk to others about gambling. To increase the number of people who share the view that gambling should not be overregulated, and that it should be up to us to decide what we do with our money. While there are some people out there who simply do not like gambling, there are others who do not have strong views either way. We need to find ways of talking to them, and (at the very least) getting them to understand that the restrictions we gamblers face are a concern for everyone.
2026: STANDING UP FOR GAMBLING
This past year has ended badly, and we need to recognise that. But we should also set ourselves the task of doing something positive to stop the rot. That means standing up for gambling and the gambling industry in 2026 and finding ways to get that message across. Otherwise, it will not just be a few bets and a bit of money that we end up losing; we will lose the ability to have any sort of bet and wish lists will become a thing of the past.
Gamblers by their nature are a disparate group and are often not united. Finding ways to change that will be a challenge for all of us who want to turn things around. There is no simple fix for this, and if there was it would have been done by now, but there is plenty that can be done to change that dominant narrative. Christmas and the New Year are a time to be thinking big and to think positive. Let’s hope that 2026 provides more opportunities to turn things into a better direction for all of us who care about gambling.
Merry Christmas everyone, and a Happy New Year!
Jon Bryan is a Gambling Writer and recreational Poker Player who writes regularly on his Substack, as well as for SlotsHawk, which you can find here: Jon’s articles for SlotsHawk.
Follow him on social media:
