Push notifications and gambling marketing

How push notifications and gambling marketing fit together

A casino app can reach you in two ways once it’s on your phone. The first is the app’s own push notification channel, which only works if you’ve allowed notifications for that app in your iPhone or Android settings. The second is direct marketing tied to your account: emails, texts and calls about offers.

UK rules focus heavily on the second layer. The Gambling Commission requires operators to ask what you want to hear about and how, but it didn’t create a dedicated push option. That means the phone’s permission switch does most of the work for in-app alerts, and your account preferences do the work for everything else.

Knowing which layer a message came through tells you which switch to flip. A banner on your lock screen is a push. A message in your inbox or SMS app is account marketing. Both can carry offers, and both can be turned off without closing your account.

UK gambling marketing rules for casino app accounts

The main rule is social responsibility code provision 5.1.12 in the Commission’s licence conditions, which came into force on 1 May 2025 after being moved from 17 January 2025. It applies to remote casino, bingo and betting operators, which covers every UK-licensed casino app. You can read the condition on the Commission’s direct marketing preferences page (opens in a new tab).

Under it, operators must let you opt in by product and by channel when you register. The products are betting, casino and bingo. The channels are phone, email and SMS. The options must be opt-out by default, so you shouldn’t find yourself signed up to everything because you didn’t untick a box.

Existing customers weren’t left out. Anyone who already held an account was to be asked to confirm their marketing preferences at their first log-in after the rule started. If you saw a preferences screen in an app around May 2025, that’s the reason.

The Commission’s summary of its position on direct marketing choice (opens in a new tab) explains what it left out. Post was dropped as a required channel, and a separate push-notification option was considered unnecessary. There’s more on the wider rule in our marketing consent explainer.

What casino app push notifications can be used for

Push alerts aren’t only about offers. An app might use them for account events, such as a withdrawal moving forward or a verification request. Whether a particular app does this, and what it sends, depends on the operator, so look at the app’s notification settings rather than assuming.

For our three closest partners, the store listings don’t describe their notifications at all. The App Store and Google Play pages for Coral Casino, Ladbrokes Casino and PlayOJO talk about games, rewards and safer gambling tools, but say nothing about which alerts they send. That’s a gap worth knowing about before you tap Allow.

One practical approach is to allow notifications at first, see what arrives for a week, then decide. If the alerts are mostly offers you don’t want, switching them off costs you nothing: your balance, limits and account work the same either way.

Promotions sent by push must follow the same advertising rules as any other gambling ad. A push that hides a deposit requirement or calls a spin offer “free” without the condition next to it falls short of the CAP Code.

Turning off gambling app push notifications on iPhone

On an iPhone, notifications are controlled app by app. The first time an app asks to send them, iOS shows a prompt and you can say no. If you said yes and want to change it, follow these steps.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap Notifications.
3. Scroll to the casino app and tap its name.
4. Switch off Allow Notifications to stop every alert from that app, or keep it on and turn off Lock Screen, Banners or Sounds to make alerts quieter.
5. Repeat for each gambling app you have installed.

A Focus mode can also silence chosen apps at set times, which suits people who want pushes for account events but not late in the evening. Our iPhone casino app guide covers other device settings, and blocking casino apps with Screen Time goes further if you want the apps out of reach altogether.

Controlling casino app notifications on Android

Android phones also ask for notification permission on recent versions, and every phone lets you change it later. Menu names vary between Samsung, Google Pixel and other makers, so treat these steps as a guide.

1. Open Settings and tap Notifications, then App notifications (some phones put this under Apps).
2. Find the casino app in the list.
3. Turn off notifications completely, or open the app’s notification categories and switch off only the promotional ones if the app labels them separately.
4. As a shortcut, press and hold an alert when it arrives to go straight to that app’s notification settings.

Google’s Digital Wellbeing tools add another option. Its Focus mode pauses chosen apps and their notifications, and app timers close an app once your daily allowance is used, as Google’s Digital Wellbeing help page (opens in a new tab) explains. See blocking casino apps with Digital Wellbeing for the full set-up.

Changing gambling marketing preferences in your account

Turning off pushes doesn’t touch emails or texts. For those, you need the marketing or contact preferences in your account, which the rules require every operator to offer. Exact menu names differ, so look for the marketing or contact preferences option in your account settings.

1. Log in to the casino app and open your account area.
2. Find the marketing or contact preferences section.
3. Untick each channel you don’t want: email, SMS and phone.
4. Check the product choices as well. A sportsbook-and-casino account may list betting, casino and bingo separately.
5. Save, then expect a short delay while any messages already scheduled clear.

If you hold accounts with two brands from one operator, set the preferences in each. Coral and Ladbrokes are both run by LC International Limited, yet each account has its own settings. Our partner pages on Coral’s settings and notifications, Ladbrokes’ settings and PlayOJO’s settings go through each app.

What a lawful casino offer notification must tell you

An offer that lands as a push is still a gambling advert. The Advertising Standards Authority’s guidance on free bets and bonuses (opens in a new tab) says an offer shouldn’t be described as free if you must risk your own money to qualify, and significant conditions such as deposit or wagering requirements must be clear and prominent under CAP rule 8.17.

Two newer limits also apply. Since 19 January 2026, bonus wagering can’t exceed 10 times the bonus, and promotions that mix products are banned, so a message offering casino spins for placing a sports bet shouldn’t appear. Our pages on the 10x wagering cap and the mixed-product bonus ban explain both.

Here’s a worked example of reading an offer alert. “Bet £10 on slots, get 100 free spins” at 10p a spin means £10 of your money buys £10 of spins at face value. The £10 you stake is exposed to the slot’s house edge, and the spins’ actual return depends on the game, so the offer is entertainment value rather than a profit.

Our guide to reading casino app bonus terms goes through each condition in detail.

When gambling marketing has to stop

Some situations switch marketing off whatever your preferences say. If you register with GAMSTOP, every GB-licensed online operator must refuse you service, close accounts, return funds and remove you from marketing within two days. Self-excluding with a single operator works in a similar way for that brand, as our self-exclusion guide explains.

Operators must also watch for signs of harm under the customer interaction rules. Where there are strong indicators, such as spending or time patterns, marketing and new bonus take-up must stop. That provision has applied since 12 February 2023.

If you keep receiving offers after self-excluding, that’s a serious failure. Raise it with the operator first and keep screenshots, then follow how to complain about a casino app if it isn’t resolved.

Notifications, urges and staying in control

A well-timed alert can prompt a session you hadn’t planned. If you notice that pushes lead you to open a casino app when you weren’t thinking about it, switching them off is a simple, kind step to take. Our page on notifications and gambling urges looks at this in more depth.

• Turn off pushes for every gambling app, not just the one you use most.
• Opt out of marketing emails and texts so offers don’t reach you through another route.
• Set a deposit limit in each app before you need it.
• If gambling is causing worry, the National Gambling Helpline is free and open 24/7 on 0808 8020 133, run by GamCare.

There’s a full list of support services on our gambling help and support page.

Still getting casino offers? Troubleshooting checklist

If offers keep arriving after you’ve changed your settings, work through this list.

Data questions are a separate matter. Our guide to how casino apps use your data explains privacy labels and what operators collect, and casino app permissions explained covers the other prompts you’ll see. For a plain switch-off walkthrough, see how to turn off casino app notifications, and browse the rest of our casino app guides for more.

Casino apps with clear offer terms and marketing controls

As UK-licensed operators, all three partners below must give you the product-and-channel marketing choices described above, so claiming an offer doesn’t mean accepting a stream of messages. The offers below are the only ones we promote. All are for 18+ new customers and terms apply.

• Coral Casino: bet £10 on slots and get 100 free spins on selected games at 10p each (£10 face value). Deposit with a qualifying method (Neteller, PayPal, Paysafe, Skrill, prepaid cards and certain debit cards don’t qualify), accept the spins within 48 hours and use them within 7 days. No wagering on free spin winnings. Runs 1 October 2026 to 1 February 2027.
• Ladbrokes Casino: play £10 on slots and get 50 free spins a day for your first 10 days, up to 500 at 10p each (up to £50 face value). Claim before 23:59 each day; spins last 7 days; no wagering. Prepaid cards, PayPal, Paysafe, Neteller, Skrill and Moneybookers deposits don’t qualify.
• PlayOJO: 80 free spins on Big Bass Bonanza at 10p each (£8 face value) with a first deposit of at least £10. No wagering, so winnings are paid in cash. New UK customers only, excluding Northern Ireland; not combinable with other offers; only through the designated offer link.

Coral and Ladbrokes share an operator, so you may not be able to open new accounts at both. Free spins are slot offers only, and the house edge applies to the £10 you stake to qualify.

18+. Every casino game has a built-in house edge, so over time you should expect to lose what you stake. Set a budget before you play and stop when it’s gone: safer gambling tools and support. Free, confidential help: National Gambling Helpline 0808 8020 133.