The UK Gambling Commission has announced a major shift in its regulatory approach, adopting a more nuanced and evidence-driven approach to financial risk assessments. The commission will introduce the new framework in stages, with the goal of identifying customers who are spending heavily while facing serious financial problems.
Acting Chief Executive Sarah Gardner emphasized that the regulator wants to strike a balance between consumer protection and the practical realities of introducing a new system. "We found evidence that some high-spending gambling customers are experiencing current financial difficulties and they're not being identified via means that are already open to gambling operators," Gardner said.
The new framework will focus on detecting signs of significant financial distress, including defaults, arrears, and debt management plans. Gardner noted that the vast majority of gambling customers will never require a financial risk assessment, with fewer than 0.5% of customers exceeding the initial threshold of £5,000 ($6,694) in net deposits within a rolling 24-hour period.
One of the key changes is the decision to begin with much higher spending thresholds than initially expected. The first phase will cover only the largest gambling businesses and customers making exceptionally high deposits. Separate, lower thresholds will apply to younger adults.
The regulator also announced that it will create implementation groups bringing together gambling operators, credit reference agencies, and other stakeholders to refine the process before it is expanded more broadly across the sector.
The commission stated that results from its pilot programme gave it confidence that the new process can operate with minimal disruption for most customers. According to Gardner, about 97% of customers who exceeded the pilot thresholds could be assessed automatically using credit reference data without being asked to provide documents.
The commission emphasized that financial risk assessments will not affect a customer's credit score and will replace document requests already used by some operators rather than introduce additional barriers for consumers. It also stated that it has consistently argued that these assessments will not affect a customer's credit score.
Gardner said the regulator will not immediately take enforcement action against operators that fail to act solely because of a financial risk assessment result. Instead, the commission will use a range of proportionate responses, including reducing marketing communications, encouraging customers to use deposit limits, and offering additional support where appropriate.
The announcement follows months of discussion about the pilot programme and comes after research published by the Department of Trust suggested that roughly one-quarter of UK gamblers would exceed lower thresholds, underlining the potential scale of enhanced customer interaction measures.
