Gambling Commission Reviews Initial Financial Risk Assessment Pilot Data
The Gambling Commission has completed the first phase of its financial risk assessment pilot, which began in September 2024. The pilot aims to use data from gambling companies and credit agencies for frictionless assessments.
Pilot Program Overview
Announced in May of last year, the Gambling Commission’s pilot program is testing frictionless financial risk assessments.
This initiative uses data from both gambling companies and credit reference agencies.
The assessments are not being rolled out in a live environment during this pilot phase, which is scheduled to run until April 2025.
Phase One Results
The initial phase, referred to as “a pilot of the pilot,” analyzed historical data of inactive customers.
This included 530,000 assessments involving three credit reference agencies for approximately 300,000 accounts for the relevant year.
According to the Commission, 95% of these assessments met the primary success criterion of being frictionless.
Challenges in Frictionless Assessments
Of the 5% of assessments that were not conducted frictionlessly, just over 4% were due to the credit reference agency failing to identify the customer because no information was available.
Less than 1% were attributed to data formatting issues, invalid data, or duplications in the data. The Commission plans to address these issues in subsequent stages.
Future Steps for Operators
The Commission indicated that future stages will focus on helping operators understand the different credit reference agency systems.
This will aid in better assessing the findings from these assessments.
Helen Rhodes, the Gambling Commission’s Director of Major Policy Projects and Evaluation, provided insights into these financial risk assessments following the completion of the first phase.
Additional Research on Gambling Activities
In related news, the regulator recently published a report examining the relationship between gambling activities and Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) scores.
This report is based on findings from the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB), offering further insights into gambling-related issues.