The UK Gambling Commission has set out a staged system of financial risk assessments for some online bettors, beginning with over-25s who spend more than £5,000 in a rolling 24-hour period. The regulator says the aim is to identify customers who may be in financial difficulty while keeping the process light-touch for everyone else.
The assessments will be based on data held by credit reference agencies, and the Commission has said they are not “affordability checks”. Customers who trigger them would get a frictionless, document-free process and see no change to their credit score, while the regulator says the thresholds are triggers for a check, not spending caps.
BBC reporting said the regime would also apply to anyone spending more than £3,000 over a rolling 90-day period. It said the daily threshold would eventually fall to £1,000, or £750 for under-25s, and that the first stage will apply only to the largest gambling companies and affect less than 0.5% of customers.
The Commission says the case for the rules is that high-spending gamblers are between two and four times more likely to have a debt management plan and two to five times more likely to have defaulted in the previous 12 months than consumers in the wider population. It also said there is evidence that some high-spending customers are experiencing financial difficulties but are not being identified or supported by bookmakers.
The move builds on a 2023 white paper that recommended enhanced checks on customers experiencing very high losses. In consultation material, the Commission said the proposals were meant to strike a balance between freedom to gamble and protection from harm, and that most customers would not undergo checks.
The regulator has also separated these proposed risk assessments from the lighter financial vulnerability checks already required of remote gambling operators. Those checks were introduced in August 2024, started at a £500 net deposits threshold over 30 days and later dropped to £150, using public-record information to flag customers who may be especially vulnerable.
In April, the Commission said a pilot suggested 97% of assessments would be frictionless and that no consumer had any action taken during the test. It also said the system is not meant to impose spending limits, and that it would work with operators on guidance so support can be proportionate when financial risk is present.
The Betting and Gaming Council called the announcement “disappointed and frustrated” and warned the changes could push some players towards the black market. Its chief executive, Grainne Hurst, said the central issues around reliability, consumer impact and the practical operation of the checks remained unresolved, and that the Commission had not provided enough accurate, reliable or consistent data.
The Commission said it has still seen failures in enforcement, citing one case in which a customer deposited £25,000 in 25 days before being interacted with. It said the vast majority of customers would never require an assessment, and that the first stage will be rolled out this summer.
