UK Gambling Commission publishes findings from first phase of financial risk assessment pilot

The UK Gambling Commission has released an update on the progress of its financial risk assessment pilot, confirming the completion of the first phase. The pilot, which began in September 2024, aims to test a method for identifying financially vulnerable online gambling customers through financial risk assessments. This initiative, which is distinct from affordability checks, seeks to support individuals who may be experiencing financial difficulties without affecting their credit scores.  

The first stage of the pilot involved conducting more than 530,000 assessments across three credit reference agencies, covering approximately 300,000 accounts over a historical annual period. According to the Gambling Commission, around 95% of assessments were successfully matched, with 92% receiving a full assessment and 3% being identified as having no adverse financial indicators.

The remaining 5% of assessments were unsuccessful, with 4% failing due to the inability of credit reference agencies to identify the customers and 1% being rejected due to data issues, such as duplications or errors provided by gambling operators.  

Helen Rhodes, the Commission’s Director of Major Policy Projects, said: "The pilot exercise is proving to be worthwhile in testing how financial risk assessments might work in practice and explore practical implementation issues before final decisions are made."

She stated that taking a phased approach allows the Commission to identify and address challenges, such as ensuring data consistency across credit agencies and improving the accuracy of information submitted by gambling operators.  

“A key part of our work will also be to further support operators to consider how financial risk assessments could be put together with other information about indicators of harm which the gambling businesses already have, to support customers in as frictionless a manner as possible,” Rhodes added.  

The Commission has clarified that the pilot is not being conducted in a live environment and that the findings from the first phase should not yet be compared to previous estimates, such as those outlined in the UK government’s 2023 White Paper. That document projected that 80% of accounts referred for financial risk assessments would be successfully matched, with 20% remaining unmatched.