A streamlined approach to identifying and supporting high-spending customers in financial difficulties is to be introduced in the UK.

The UK Gambling Commission will introduce Financial Risk Assessments (FRAs) in stages to identify customers in financial difficulties and streamline and improve operator processes.

There is evidence that some high-spending gambling customers are experiencing current financial difficulties but are not being identified or supported by gambling businesses.

High-spending customers are between two and four times more likely to have a debt management plan and between two and five times more likely to have a default in the previous 12 months than consumers in the wider population. Without being identified, they may continue to receive marketing and promotional offers encouraging further gambling despite being financially vulnerable.

Following extensive consultation, engagement with stakeholders and piloting, the Commission has decided on a staged approach to implementation. Financial Risk Assessments will provide operators with a new, more effective and proportionate way of identifying customers in significant financial difficulty, while reducing reliance on the document checks that some operators currently use to seek to identify financial risk and that are unpopular with many consumers.

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.

The pilot showed that 97 percent of those spending above the threshold levels could be easily and frictionlessly assessed for financial difficulties – significantly higher than the 80 percent estimated in the 2023 White Paper. This means that less than 3 percent of accounts would have an assessment and less than 1 in 1,000 accounts would be unable to get one. For those 1 in a 1,000 accounts, operators will have to verify identity properly and may have to assess financial risk through other means such as open banking or requesting documents.

Once fully implemented in due course, Financial Risk Assessments will be applied to customers aged 25 years or older with net deposits exceeding £1,000 in a rolling 24-hour period or £3,000 over a rolling 90-day period; for those under 25 these thresholds will be reduced to £750 in a rolling 24 hours or £2,000 in a rolling 90 days.

Sarah Gardner, Acting Chief Executive of the Gambling Commission, said: “We are confident that our approach, using high-quality data, will enable support for high-spending customers in financial difficulties, while reducing friction for customers who are not in financial difficulties by removing the need for unnecessary and unpopular document checks to understand financial risk.

“We have listened to feedback throughout the pilot process which has led to us deciding to carefully proceed. We will work with key partners to make sure that they are implemented in the most effective way for consumers and operators.”

Gambling Minister Baroness Twycross said: “I welcome the Gambling Commission’s decision to implement financial risk assessments in a careful, phased way. Attention must now turn to successful implementation, so that financial risk assessments work for consumers, gambling operators and the wider ecosystem.

“The right balance must be struck so that assessments protect those in financial difficulties from the risk of gambling-related harm but do not create unnecessary burdens for the industry or consumers.”