MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport Committee have asked the UK Gambling Commission to explain the evidence behind its planned financial risk checks and to set out how the rollout will work. The request goes to the heart of how many bettors will face document checks, and on what basis.
In a notice issued on 15 July, Parliament said the committee wrote to acting chief executive Sarah Gardner on 10 July. The letter asks for the full dataset, evidence base and methodology behind the policy and its thresholds, and wants to know whether the new regime will require more or fewer recreational bettors to provide financial documents than the system now in place.
The committee also wants a clearer account of stakeholder engagement. It asked how much consultation the regulator had with operators, consumers, sporting bodies and others after being told the process had been insufficient, and requested details of the implementation groups being formed to oversee the rollout, including how members would be chosen and which organisations would be represented.
Committee chair Dame Caroline Dinenage said support should be available for people at risk of gambling-related debt, but any change must also recognise the industry’s economic contribution. She said the commission needs to be clear about how the assessments will work and should work closely with bookmakers so that new obligations do not impose undue burdens on responsible businesses.
The regulator said on 7 July that it will introduce Financial Risk Assessments in stages, aiming to identify customers in financial difficulty and streamline operator processes. It says the checks rely on credit reference agency data, are meant to reduce reliance on document checks some firms use now, and are not “affordability checks” because they do not assess income or how much a person can afford to gamble.
The commission says the policy is backed by evidence that some high-spending customers are not being identified or supported. It says these customers are two to four times more likely to have a debt management plan and two to five times more likely to have a default in the previous 12 months than consumers in the wider population.
Its pilot found that 97% of those spending above the threshold levels could be assessed frictionlessly, a higher rate than the 80% assumed in the 2023 White Paper. The pilot implied that less than 3% of accounts would need an assessment and that fewer than 1 in 1,000 would be unable to receive one.
The first stage will apply to the largest operators and to customers with unusually high spend, defined for most as £5,000 of net deposits in a rolling 24-hour period. The commission says fewer than 0.5% of customers exceed that level.
The timetable for stage one is to be confirmed after engagement with industry and other stakeholders through implementation groups to be established over the summer. Once fully implemented, the checks will apply to customers aged 25 and over who deposit £1,000 in a rolling 24-hour period or £3,000 over 90 days, with lower thresholds of £750 and £2,000 for under-25s. During the early stages, the commission says it will not take enforcement action for a failure to act after an assessment, although all other licence requirements remain in force.
