Jurnii: how casino bonuses changed after the RGD hike to 40% on 1 April 2026

On 1 April 2026 the remote gaming duty (RGD) rose from 21% to 40% of gross gaming yield. Jurnii 360, Jurnii’s promotional-intelligence platform, compared March (the last month before the increase) with the eight weeks that followed and with the period from late May to mid-October, and concluded that casino operators cut value in promotions for existing customers without reducing the number of offers.

Data and methodology

Jurnii 360 recorded every promotion and price-improvement from all UK operators day by day between 1 March and 12 October 2026. The analysis compares three windows: March 2026; the eight weeks after 1 April; and the period from late May to mid‑October 2026. The platform treated bookmakers as a control group because the general betting duty remained at 15% until April 2027.

Changes to offers for existing customers

In the eight weeks after the RGD rise, the daily mean of offers for existing casino customers per brand rose 26% versus March; in the same brands and months, sports offers fell 2%. From late May to October, casino offers remained 17% above March levels, and sports were 1% above.

Most of the increase in casino offer count consisted of drops valued at £1 or less and of loyalty-coin style offers with no declared cash value. Offers with value greater than £1 did not increase.

Measured brand by brand, the mean valued offer for existing casino customers fell by 16% in the eight weeks after 1 April and by 19% in the late-May-to-October period. Among the eight casino brands with sufficient valued offers, the mean moved from £5.66 in March to £4.25 and stayed at that level.

The mix explains much of the decline: in April and May 53% of offers for existing casino customers were worth £1 or less, versus 42% in March. The median offer fell from £2 to £1 before returning to £2. The sports median stayed at £5 throughout the period.

Five of the eight casino brands cut value in the first eight weeks; six remained below March levels from late May onwards.

What did not change

Acquisition offers were not affected. All welcome offers with free spins that were active in March remained live from late May onwards, including bet365’s £50, BetMGM’s £40, Sky Bet’s £25 and Unibet’s £20. The median value of welcome free-spins offers later fell to £10 only because more brands added new £10 offers, not because existing offers were cut.

In the ten bookmakers Jurnii tracked for daily price boosts, the mean margin conceded on a single boost rose from 2.98 to 3.13 percentage points in the eight weeks after 1 April. The typical boost moved from 17.9% to 18.7%, and singles were boosted more often rather than less. Only bet365, Betfred and William Hill reduced margin on singles in that window.

Jackpots gained share versus prize draws: their share of live-casino offers rose from 2.4% in March to 4.7% from late May, and the number of brands promoting a casino jackpot rose from four to seven in May. Many of these are pooled or networked pots, for example Unibet’s £1m Hot Drops, rather than operator-funded bonuses.

One figure that at first glance looked to implicate the RGD does not withstand scrutiny: new casino launches fell 22% in the eight weeks after 1 April, but sportsbook launches fell 43% in the same period, suggesting calendar effects — with events such as Cheltenham in March — explain part of the variation.

Interpretation and comment

Casino operators’ response was to protect acquisition value while reducing the "drip" of value to existing customers. Many small offers keep visibility in the lobby but shift cost from the value per offer to the number of players who claim them.

Mitch Vidler, chief commercial officer at Jurnii, leads several of the company’s products, including Jurnii 360, the promotional-intelligence platform for global sports-betting and casino markets.

For related reading, Jurnii 360 covers promotional inventory and can be consulted within our coverage of casino and regulation.