Big spending punters will now be subject to financial risk assessments after the Gambling Commission finally green lit the scheme.
The checks were expected to be implemented earlier this year following what the regulator described as a ‘successful’ pilot scheme.
However, after facing a volley of criticism over the lack of parliamentary or independent scrutiny, Gambling Commission chiefs decided to delay the roll out.
But this morning in a meeting attended by the regulator’s senior officials, it was confirmed that financial risk assessments will now go ahead – although no date for implementation has yet been given.
Ploughing On
It was back in 2023, when the gambling industry white paper was being devised, that the idea of financial risk assessments was first mooted as a way to better protect high-spending punters; many of whom experience considerable losses.
The Gambling Commission embarked on a pilot scheme, which got underway in August 2024 and followed various different stages until its completion in March 2025.
Despite the results of their pilot suggesting that not all checks could be performed in a ‘frictionless’ manner, the regulator has opted to press on anyway.
Revealing the roll-out of their scheme, the Gambling Commission shared that high spending punters are between two and four times more likely to be on a debt management plan – with the threat of defaulting on payments between 200%-500% higher than the average person.
And the regulator went on to claim that of those big-spending customers that were experiencing financial difficulties, not all were being appropriately supported by their betting site of choice.
Confirming the specifics of how the financial risk assessments will look, the Gambling Commission has confirmed that punters aged 25+ who gamble more than £5,000 in a rolling 24-hour window will be subject to a check – that will impact around 0.5% of UK punters, according to the regulator.
This is the first stage of the roll-out, with a second phase then seeing that threshold reduced to £1,000 spent in 24 hours for those aged 25 and older and £750 for those 24 or younger.
An additional threshold will see anyone who bets £3,000 or more over a rolling 90-day period also subject to a financial risk assessment, with a lower amount (as yet undisclosed) for those aged under 25.
Checking In
The financial risk assessments, which will be abbreviated to FRAs, will utilise data that is held on file by various credit reference agencies.
They should, in theory, be frictionless in nature, which means that the check will not appear on an individual’s credit report or affect their credit score.
However, the Gambling Commission is yet to confirm whether or not that 100% of all checks will be frictionless – the pilot study suggested that wouldn’t be the case.
One thing they won’t be is affordability checks – that’s in the opinion of the regulator’s interim leader Sarah Gardner. She has also claimed that the ‘vast majority’ of punters will never face a check of any kind.
“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,” she said.
“We have listened to feedback throughout the pilot process which has led to us deciding to carefully proceed.”
Gardner also promised that the regulator would ‘work with key partners’ to assist with the implementation of the checks – although said partners are, unsurprisingly, less than enthused with the prospect.
The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), the trade body that represents more than 100 bookmakers and operators, revealed that it was ‘disappointed and frustrated’ by the implementation of the checks, which they claim have not been properly tested for ‘reliability, consumer impact and practical operation’.
The BGC’s chief executive Grainne Hurst said:
“We support evidence-led, proportionate regulation that protects vulnerable people while allowing the 22.5 million adults in Britain who bet each month to do so safely.
“But until the Commission can demonstrate these checks are accurate, consistent and genuinely frictionless, our fundamental concerns remain, including the risk of driving customers towards the growing illegal gambling market.”
The government’s gambling minister, Baroness Twycross, welcomed the introduction of FRAs but warned that the checks must ‘work for consumers, gambling operators and the wider ecosystem.’
At the time of writing, no specific dates had been given for the implementation of the checks, but the Gambling Commission has reiterated a desire to introduce them in a ‘very careful, staged way.’