TC09643 - [2025] UKFTT 01117 (TC)

The Appellant offers the opportunity to participate in remote gaming to customers (Customers)located in the UK; it is therefore subject to the system of RGD in respect of participation by such Customers.

Gaming on platforms operated by the Appellant is subject to terms and conditions which, so far as relevant, provide:

In accordance with the terms and conditions and pursuant to the Welcome offer, when opening an account and upon depositing £10, a mini screen or pop-up box appears enabling an MR Spin. We were shown three visual configurations of the pop-up. Each identified itself as “Mega Reel” and showed an image of a reel. The prizes visible on each of the reels were free spins on an identified game offered by the Appellant (King Kong Cash, Fluffy Favourites, Chilli Heat). At the bottom of each box in small text is “spin value £0.xx” for the three in our bundle, the values were £0.01, £0.05, and $0.10. Mr Marsden accepted that the spin value was a notional sum fixed by the back office; it could be fixed at any value without affecting the Customer experience of the Welcome offer.

Superimposed over the reel is a “play” icon (a white circle with a green arrowhead triangle in the middle).

Approximately 3 – 4 times per year the Appellant sends customers invitations to participate in Mega Reel on a paid for basis. We were shown what was said to be an email of one such invitation. On examination of the email, we are not convinced it was such an invitation. Whilst it said: “spin for pennies” it also plainly stated that no deposit was required, the customer was invited to “just log in and spin”. Nevertheless we accept the Appellant’s evidence that it sends invitations periodically and infrequently for existing customers to participate in the Mega Reel on a paid basis but that the Mega Reel was not otherwise a standardly available game.

The prizes on the Mega Reel (whether offered for free or on a paid basis) are configured in the Appellant’s back office from a range of variables. We were provided with three lists of such variables. They included different value Free Spins on identified games (as per those referred to in paragraph (3) above) ranging from 10 – 500 together with £10 Amazon Vouchers and on one possible configuration real cash in amounts from £10 to £100. Each reel also has a ‘spin again’ and an ‘unlucky’ segment. The back office will assign an identified prize to each of the 8 segments of the reel. There will always be a spin again and an unlucky segment. The configuration also requires the back office to fix the stated spin value.

Mr Marsden did not know whether the outcome of the MR Spin was determined on a 1 in 8 basis or whether the outcomes were weighted. Unlike standard games, the Mega Reel did not separately disclose the rules of the game, the prize to stake ratio or the set return to player. He accepted that the outcomes of the MR Spin would not vary depending on the spin value attributed to the configuration. However, he believed that a Mega Reel with a higher spin value may have prizes of greater value. We had no corroborating evidence to verify or counter this view and we therefore accept it.

When the Customer chooses to participate in an MR Spin the amount identified as the spin value is credited by the Appellant to the Customer’s bonus cash account as “win”, it is then immediately debited from that account as a “wager”. The “win” and “wager” are thereby instantaneously offset. Where Free Spins are won as a consequence of the MR Spin, they are credited to “free spins”, which are neither part of the bonus cash account nor the real cash account.

RGD is accounted for on the spin value for each MR Spin.

When a Customer is invited to participate in Mega Reel otherwise than as an MR Spin i.e. where participation requires a wager, the wager price is debited from the customer’s account (deposited cash in preference to bonus cash). If the Customer wins Free Spins, those spins, and the wager are credited to “free spins” and “wager bonus” respectively.

Where a Customer participates in one of the standard games, it is on the basis that the gaming payment required to participate is notified to the Customer. When the Customer chooses to participate using a Free Spin won through the MR Spin, rather than by way of wager, the “free spins” account is debited. There are no debit or credit entries to the real or bonus cash accounts unless the Free Spin results in a cash win, at which point the value won is credited to the Customer’s bonus cash account.

We therefore discern that in terms of the account entries there is a difference between an MR Spin and Free Spin.

The Appellant does not account for RGD on the waived wager for a Free Spin.