UK Gambling Commission to start staged financial risk assessments with higher threshold

The UK Gambling Commission will proceed with financial risk assessments in a “careful, staged way,” beginning with a narrower first phase and no immediate enforcement action where operators fail to act on assessment results.

Stage one will apply to customers aged over 25 and only at the industry’s largest operators. Checks will be triggered when net deposits exceed £5,000 ($6,682.5) in any rolling 24-hour period, a threshold expected to affect less than 0.5% of accounts.

Sarah Gardner, acting CEO of the UKGC, described the enforcement approach as “really unusual for operators,” saying: “We have decided that we will not take any enforcement action where an operator has failed to act following a financial risk assessment.”

The regulator said it will use the first stage to work with gambling operators, credit reference agencies and other stakeholders to refine the assessments and develop guidance on how operators should respond when customers are identified as financially at risk.

Gardner said: “We are confident that our approach, using high-quality data, will enable support for high-spending customers in financial difficulties, while reducing friction for customers who are not in financial difficulties by removing the need for unnecessary and unpopular document checks to understand financial risk.”

The policy has been delayed by the pilot study and subsequent analysis. The commission had been expected to conclude its assessment by the end of May, but a board meeting on 21 May postponed a decision. No date has been set for stage one, and implementation groups will be formed over the summer to establish a timeline.

Full implementation would still set thresholds at £1,000 ($1,336.8) in net deposits over 24 hours or £3,000 ($4,010.4) over 90 days. UKGC policy director Helen Rhodes said: “We have deliberately not set out a timetable for later stages.”

Rhodes said the commission wanted to “move the conversation swiftly on to what happens after a financial risk assessment has identified that there are financial difficulties. 

Gambling Minister Baroness Twycross

Gambling Minister Baroness Twycross said: “The right balance must be struck so that assessments protect those in financial difficulties from the risk of gambling-related harm but do not create unnecessary burdens for the industry or consumers.”

The proposals date back to the 2023 White Paper, which said checks should be narrowly targeted and frictionless. The White Paper estimated 3% of accounts would be assessed, while Rhodes said in April that the pilot showed 97% of checks would be frictionless.

The Betting and Gaming Council has questioned that definition, arguing customer friction can arise after a flag through further questions, requests for evidence, restrictions or interventions. Critics also warn that added friction could push bettors to the black market.