What is a Category D machine?

What is a Category D machine? The definition

Under the Gambling Act 2005, every gaming machine in Great Britain is placed in a category according to its maximum stake and prize. Category D is the bottom rung. It exists so that low-value machines, many of them traditional amusements, can operate in places like seaside arcades and travelling fairs without the controls that apply to bigger machines. Despite the low limits, a Category D machine is still a gambling machine: you stake money on an outcome you don't control in return for the chance of a prize.

Unlike other categories, Category D is defined by the type of prize as well as the stake. The Gambling Commission's categories guidance (opens in a new tab) lists five versions, set out below. Our Category D glossary entry has the short definition.

The five types of Category D machine and their limits

The cash part of a prize is always the tightest limit: £5 on most machines and £10 on a coin pusher. Goods prizes can be worth more, up to £50 on a crane grab machine. Pusher machines have their own row because the falling-coin design is so widespread at the seaside.

Where Category D machines are allowed

Category D machines can legally go in more places than any other category: casinos, betting shops, tracks, bingo halls, adult gaming centres, clubs, licensed and unlicensed family entertainment centres, pubs and travelling fairs. In practice, the Commission notes, using them outside arcades, family entertainment centres, pubs and travelling fairs is unusual.

• Unlicensed family entertainment centres (with a gaming machine permit from the council) may have any number of Category D machines and nothing higher. See family entertainment centres.
• Licensed family entertainment centres may have Category C as well, kept for adults.
• Travelling fairs may have any number of Category D machines.
• Pubs may count D machines within their entitlement of 1 or 2 Category C or D machines, or more under a permit.

Our pages on seaside arcade machines and arcade slot machines explain how these venues are set out and supervised.

Category D age rules: who can legally play

This is the part of the Category D rules most often misunderstood, so here it is plainly:

1. The law today: Category D is the only category with no statutory minimum age. Categories A, B and C are 18+.
2. The industry rule: since 2021, Bacta, the trade body for the amusement machine industry, has applied a voluntary ban on under-18s using cash-paying Category D slot-style machines.
3. The announced change: on 16 May 2024 the government said it would make it a criminal offence to invite, cause or permit an under-18 to use cash-out Category D slot-style machines. As of 21 October 2026, no regulation creating that offence had been found, so it is announced, not in force.
4. What the plan doesn't cover: ‘ticket-out’ machines with prizes up to £8 are treated separately in the government's response and are not covered by the planned offence.

We write about these machines for adults. Because a coin pusher or a cash-paying reel machine works on the same principle as any other gambling machine, adults should think carefully before encouraging anyone young to play. Our Category D age rules page and our answer to can under-18s play arcade machines go into detail, and parents may find our guide for parents useful.

How a Category D machine pays out

Most Category D machines must display a return to player percentage, but crane grabs and penny falls don't have to. No minimum return is set for any category. Low stakes can make the cost feel trivial, yet the same arithmetic applies as on any slot: a share of all money played is kept.

Worked example: a 10p money-prize machine shows a return of 80% (illustrative). Play 300 games, perhaps 20 minutes or so, and you have staked £30. The long-run average cost is 20% of £30, or £6. On a coin pusher, your 2p or 10p coins are the stake, and the machine's design decides how many fall; a ledge of coins that looks about to drop does not change the odds of the next coin.

Our answers to are coin pushers gambling and are crane grab machines rigged look at those two machine types in more depth.

Category D compared with Category B and C machines

Next to a Category C machine, with its £1 stake and £100 prize, Category D is far smaller. A Category B machine goes much further still, up to £5 and £10,000 on B1. The other big difference is age: B and C machines are strictly 18+, while D relies for now on the industry's voluntary policy for cash-paying slot-style machines. Our UK slot machine categories page has the whole ladder in one table.

Category D technical and tax rules

Low-value machines still have technical standards. The Commission's 2025 draft standards set a 1.5-second minimum game cycle for complex Category D machines costing 60p or less, with a 2.5-second average. For tax, a machine costing 20p or less with a top prize of £10 or less pays Machine Games Duty at the lower 5% rate, according to GOV.UK's Machine Games Duty rates (opens in a new tab); that fits a 10p money-prize D machine. Players pay no tax on winnings.

Playing Category D machines as an adult: a sensible approach

1. Decide on a fixed amount of change for the visit and stop when it's gone.
2. Read the stake and prize panel so you know which Category D subtype you're using.
3. Treat cash and tokens as spending, not as a way to get money back.
4. Ignore near-misses on reels and overhanging coins on pushers; neither predicts the next result.
5. If arcade play has become hard to control, ask the venue about self-exclusion.

Many arcades run self-exclusion schemes; see can I self-exclude from arcades. The National Gambling Helpline, run by GamCare (opens in a new tab), is free and open 24/7 on 0808 8020 133.

Category D rules timeline

Online slots are not Category D machines

Online slots have no category and are strictly 18+, with stakes of up to £5 a spin (£2 for 18 to 24-year-olds). Our partner offers are for adults opening an online casino account. At PlayOJO, new UK customers aged 18+ (excluding Northern Ireland) who make a first deposit of at least £10 get 80 free spins on Big Bass Bonanza, each worth 10p, with no wagering on winnings. Coral and Ladbrokes offers appear below; terms apply and availability of games changes. More short answers are in our questions hub.

18+. Gambling should be entertainment that costs money, not a way to make it. Decide a budget before you play: plan a slot budget. Free, confidential help: National Gambling Helpline 0808 8020 133.