The Gambling Commission (GC) announced on Tuesday, 7 July, that it has decided to introduce financial risk assessments (FRAs) despite their widespread unpopularity with operators and gamblers.
In a press conference this morning, the regulator confirmed the controversial proposal would go ahead, after first being mooted in 2023 as part of the white paper into a review to overhaul the Gambling Act 2025.
Acting CEO Sarah Gardner said the Birmingham-based quango had “listened to feedback from a range of stakeholders”.
She went on to note that the FRAs will be “implemented in a “careful, staged way”.
Gardner said there was a need to protect players while also trying to “minimise burdens for the industry and consumers”, and added: “The board took the decision that to do nothing was not an option”.
Director of major policy projects and evaluation Helen Rhodes insisted there was still evidence of some high-spending customers finding themselves in financial difficulties.
The initial stage will see only the largest operators be required to manage FRAs.
The regulator confirmed the initial threshold for intervention will be a £5,000 net deposit within a rolling 24 hours for players aged over 25.
The triggers will eventually be set at £1,000 net deposits in a rolling 24-hour period or £3,000 net deposits in a rolling 90-day period.
There will also be no enforcement action during the initial implementation period should operators flout the soon-to-be introduced requirements.
However, the GC has not confirmed when the initial implementation will begin, nor the timeline for the lowering of the trigger points.
The regulator said “implementation groups will be established over the summer”, with the launch to be confirmed in a consultation response document thereafter.
When asked by EGR about the efficacy of the data and why the full pilot evidence has yet to be published, the GC said more information would be made available in the Autumn, while Rhodes said “a great deal of the evidence is in the public domain.”
Rhodes has also published a blog on the GC website, detailing various FAQs around the launch. One of those points included the consistency of data.
She wrote: “We are confident the credit reference agencies hold the best quality data available on customers in financial difficulties, the same data that is used in the financial sector to inform lending decisions and identify vulnerable customers.
“No other tool has the same relevant data. In contrast, current operator approaches are highly inconsistent – using different data sources and interpreting those differently.
“These assessments are considerably better than the status quo and other available tools.”
The theory is FRAs will be quick and frictionless, undertaken in the background by credit reference agencies, without the need for operators to request information from their customers.
In May, the regulator postponed its decision on implementing FRAs, stating the board had been presented with “an extensive evidence base” but needed more time to “fully complete its assessment of that evidence”.
Part of the research into how the measure would work involved the GC running a pilot, which started in August 2024 and involved a handful of major operators in a closed loop system.
The GC’s results found 97% of checks were “frictionless”, and that only one out of every 1,000 customers would experience a non-frictionless assessment.
However, the regulator hasn’t released the full evidence from the pilot, despite calls to do so from the industry and Louie French, shadow gambling minister and Conservative MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup.
It has been reported that the pilot had problems, with question marks over the consistency of data from credit reference agencies, while the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) said the pilot could not prove that FRAs are “reliable, proportionate or workable”.
James Noyes, who had served as a key adviser to the government on the policy, stepped down from a DCMS panel in May after claiming there had been no “meaningful evaluation” of the checks.
Gambling minister Baroness Twycross said: “I welcome the Gambling Commission’s decision to implement financial risk assessments in a careful, phased way.
“Attention must now turn to successful implementation, so that financial risk assessments work for consumers, gambling operators and the wider ecosystem.
“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.”
Grainne Hurst, BGC CEO, said: “We are deeply disappointed and frustrated that the Gambling Commission has decided to press ahead with FRAs despite the significant concerns raised over the last 18 months by the BGC, operators, racing, parliamentarians and customers.
“The fact that the Gambling Commission has delayed implementation, raised thresholds and abandoned its original timetable is a clear recognition that the concerns raised by the BGC and others were well founded.
“Unfortunately, the central issues around reliability, consumer impact and the practical operation of these checks remain unresolved.
“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.”
With reporting from Julian Rogers
The post Financial risk assessments to be implemented, confirms Gambling Commission first appeared on EGR Intel.
Regulator announces decision to push ahead with controversial checks, including an initial trigger of a £5,000 net deposit in a rolling 24-hour period as part of a “careful, staged” process
The post Financial risk assessments to be implemented, confirms Gambling Commission first appeared on EGR Intel.