Gambling Commission Reports on Financial Risk Checks Pilot

Pilot Assesses “Frictionless” Checks

The pilot program, a recommendation from the UK’s gambling review white paper, triggers checks when a player deposits £500 monthly.

Although the measure faced initial resistance, the first phase involved credit reference agencies conducting assessments.

According to Helen Rhodes, director at the Gambling Commission, credit reference agencies conducted approximately 95% of the 530,000 checks “frictionless.”

However, about 5% of assessments either did not match or contained invalid operator data.

Data Issues Account for Small Percentage

Data formatting issues, such as invalid dates or duplications, accounted for less than 1% of the invalid assessments.

Rhodes noted that credit reference agencies could not identify the customer in “just over 4% of the assessments.”

The Gambling Commission reported that the first stage of the trial completed successfully. Credit agencies matched data operators shared.

They identified roughly 300,000 accounts as high-spending gamblers.

Commission Calls for Common Data Definitions

Rhodes cautioned against making direct comparisons to predictions in the 2023 white paper. The report anticipated that 3% of customers would undergo checks, with 80% receiving a “frictionless” assessment. The pilot outperformed this assumption.

The Gambling Commission suggested operators establish common definitions for “permitted” data, such as play time periods.

This would “ensure” “commonality” across the scheme and reduce “variations” that some participants found “difficult” to interpret.

Checks Not Affordability Assessments

The Gambling Commission emphasized that these checks are not “affordability checks.” Instead, they intend to “identify high-spending remote gambling customers” facing financial difficulties.

This allows them to receive appropriate assistance. Rhodes concluded, “We do not have any requirements for affordability checks and are not proposing any.”