The Gambling Commission Announces Staged Rollout of Financial Risk Assessments for High-Spending Online Punters

21 September 2026

The regulator insists the checks are not affordability assessments as a phased regime enfolds the gambling industry

The Gambling Commission has announced a staged rollout of new financial risk assessments (FRAs) for online gambling customers. Beginning with the highest spenders at the largest operators, a regime of checks will gradually widen and tighten out to identify vulnerable customers. However, the regulator insists that these are not "affordability checks" and will not assess customers' abilities to gamble.

The Commission revealed its intention in a July 21, 2025 blog post. The first stage will apply a £5,000 net deposit threshold in a 24-hour rolling period for consumers aged 25 and older, and a £2,500 threshold for those at higher risk, such as under-25s.

What Does the Commission Say the Checks Are for and What Do They Do?

"The checks are not affordability assessments," the Commission said in its blog post.

Instead, the regulator's approach uses data from credit reference agencies to find customers who are already in financial difficulty. This aims to allow targeted intervention, such as reducing marketing or encouraging the setting of deposit limits. The Commission says the vast majority of occasional or even frequent bettors will not require FRAs, and for those who do, the checks will be seamless and free of documents.

Why Does the Commission say They Are Needed?

The Commission's evidence suggests that high-spending gamblers are more vulnerable. Figures given to Prospect magazine in June 2025 showed that such customers are between two to five times more likely to have defaulted or have a debt management plan than the wider population.

Commission chair Pete Ferrari said: "I feel strongly that for a sub-set of those who lose most, there does seem to be evidence that these harms are connected to, if not driven by, negative financial outcomes."

However, Ferrari insisted on the BBC that this did not mean the industry is "making gamblers who can't afford to gamble go broke." According to BBC gambling reporter Ross Knox, Ferrari argued: "We can all think of people in life who are well off who gamble a lot, but equally obviously where people who are vulnerable do have some financial difficulties, and they make the wrong decisions and lose a lot of money and potentially get in catastrophic debt as a result of that. That's the group that we're trying to protect and support."

What Is the Rollout Timetable and Which Operators Are Involved?

The Commission has announced the initial stage, which will apply to the largest operators and customers with the most extreme 24-hour spending. It will also introduce credit agency data sharing for gamblers.

The middle stage thresholds are yet to be announced, but the Commission confirmed they would operate a £1,000/£3,000 threshold for over-25s and a £750/£2,000 threshold for under-25s. It also said that more operators beyond the largest would join the regime.

However, it did not specify when the phased approach would begin, although it did confirm that there will be no enforcement action taken during the early stages of implementation.

The Betting and Gaming Council Criticises "Drastic" New Measures

The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) told Prospect: "The changes to the financial risk assessment regime being proposed by the Gambling Commission are drastic, premised on a very narrow subset of risky customers, with minimal safeguards on misleading enforcement by operators. These changes will harm regulated operators, well-intentioned customers, and the Commission's overall objectives."

The BGC shared its concern that by discouraging marketing to customers, the measures could push some toward unregulated operators. An investigation by Prospect in April 2025 found a significant jump in traffic to unlicensed sports-betting websites linked to Far Eastern-based operators during the previous year.

In Comparison to Earlier Financial Vulnerability Checks

The Commission introduced two rounds of checks on customers in August 2023 and February 2024. Current measures rely on data from regulators' own assessments and do not take in a full range of credit information. Experts have long called for regulators to engage more on financial risk, but have had reservations about the technical aspects.

The Commission had previously announced its intention to introduce a further stage of checks in February 2023, after a consultation process. Those plans envisaged two new checks, a background check when customers lost £125 in a month or £500 in a year, and an enhanced check when they lost £1,000 in 24 hours or £2,000 in 90 days.

However, as late as November 2024, a spokesperson told Gambling.com: "At this stage, we can confirm that a pilot programme among licensed operators has been underway, but no final decisions on any changes to the current checks or thresholds for consumers have been settled. We'll have more to share should that change."

The Commission has not yet released a full post-pilot analysis of this programme.