Following a consultation period, the Gambling Commission have now confirmed the implementation of financial risk assessments through a staged rollout. The commission have stated that “This new financial risk information will identify high spending customers in current financial difficulties. This will supplement information gambling businesses currently use to understand the risk of gambling harm to best support vulnerable customers, streamlining some operator processes to identify customers in financial difficulties”.

“The vast majority of customers will never require a Financial Risk Assessment, which means people who place an occasional bet, are a recent winning customer or even regularly spends hundreds of pounds would be unlikely to need a check. Those who do will have a frictionless, document-free assessment provided by Credit Reference Agencies, with no impact on their credit score”.

It has been identified that high spending gambling customers are more likely to be facing financial difficulties, have debt management plans or recent loan defaults without being identified. Ongoing regulatory investigations continue to highlight these issues, and the commission believe these financial assessments are the most effective way to identify and act upon such customers in an efficient way.

The financial assessments will allow operators to access limited credit reference data without affecting a customer’s credit rating. Highest spending customers will go through a frictionless assessment, which may flag financial difficulties taking account of defaults and multiple/significant arrears, allowing operators to consider whether further support should be offered. Most customers will not be subject to such reviews, with less than 3% have an assessment and less than 0.1 percent (1 in 1,000 accounts) needing one and be unable to have one in a frictionless manner.

To being, the first stage of implementation will see the Assessments carried out by the largest operators, where there is high spend of multiple thousands of pounds over a 24-hour period.

Key Implementation stages

Stage 1:
∙ Consumers aged 25 and over: Checks apply where net deposits exceed £5,000 in a rolling 24-hour period.
∙ High-risk groups (including consumers under 25): Checks apply where net deposits exceed £2,500 in a rolling 24-hour period.

Interim stages of implementation -Yet to be determined.

Final stage:
∙ Consumers aged 25 and over: Checks apply where net deposits exceed £1,000 in a rolling 24-hour period or £3,000 in a rolling 90-day period.
∙ High-risk groups (including consumers under 25): Checks apply where net deposits exceed £750 in a rolling 24-hour period or £2,000 in a rolling 90-day period.

The start date for stage 1 will be confirmed within the formal consultation response, and implementation groups will be set up over the summer to discuss the steps for implementation.

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Read the Commissions full update HERE