Gambling Commission Confirms Phased Financial Risk Checks

July 13, 2026

4 min read

The UK regulator will phase in Financial Risk Assessments for customers who spend heavily, and British racing warns the policy could cut betting turnover, push bettors toward illegal sites and reduce levy income.

The UK Gambling Commission has confirmed it will proceed with the phased rollout of Financial Risk Assessments (FRAs) for customers who spend heavily, despite sustained opposition from the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) and the wider betting industry. The decision advances a measure set out in the 2023 Gambling White Paper and renews concerns about its impact on licensed operators and British racing.

Under stage one, the largest gambling operators will assess customers aged 25 and over whose net deposits exceed £5,000 within a 24-hour period, a level fewer than 0.5% of customers exceed, according to the Commission. For customers under 25, the stage one threshold is £2,500. The Commission has not yet confirmed a start date for stage one; that will follow talks with implementation groups due to meet over the summer. Once the policy is fully in place, it will apply more broadly: customers aged 25 and over who deposit more than £1,000 within 24 hours or £3,000 over a 90-day period, with lower thresholds for customers under 25.

According to the Commission, 97% of customers who exceed the thresholds can be assessed through credit reference agencies, with no need to submit financial documents and no effect on their credit score. Fewer than 1 in 1,000 accounts will be unable to get a standard assessment. For those accounts, operators must verify the customer’s identity properly and may need other methods, such as open banking or document requests, to assess financial risk.

Acting Chief Executive Sarah Gardner said the new process would let operators identify financially vulnerable customers and cut reliance on the document checks many consumers dislike. The regulator also confirmed no enforcement action will follow if an operator fails to act on an assessment alone during the early implementation phase, though existing licence conditions will still apply.

Racing Questions the Evidence Behind the Policy

The BHA said it is “hugely disappointed” by the decision, and argues the Commission approved implementation before it published key evidence from the pilot programme, including NatCen’s independent review.

Chief Executive Brant Dunshea said racing had repeatedly warned ministers and regulators that the policy could reduce betting activity, weaken levy income and push customers toward unlicensed gambling sites. He added that operators still lack clear guidance on how to respond when an assessment flags financial risk.

Beyond the pilot itself, the BHA took aim at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), and said a policy with such broad economic implications should have faced parliamentary scrutiny rather than regulatory action alone.

Regulus Partners’ model, cited by the BHA, puts the potential cost to British horseracing revenues at £250 million over five years. The Betting and Gaming Council estimates that around 120,000 racing bettors could face enhanced affordability checks, and roughly 96,000 of them are expected to refuse to provide financial documents. The BHA says that shortfall could cut annual Horserace Betting Levy receipts by more than £13 million a year.

Opinion Column Highlights Breakdown in Government Relations

An opinion column published in the Racing Post after the announcement paints a wider picture of deteriorating relations between the racing industry, DCMS and the Gambling Commission.

Per the column, an April 29 meeting between BHA representatives, Betting and Gaming Council Chief Executive Grainne Hurst and Gambling Minister Baroness Twycross failed to shift the government’s position, despite repeated warnings from the industry. It separately alleges that Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has not held a direct meeting with the BHA at all.

The column also states that racing’s governing body submitted a Freedom of Information request for correspondence between the Gambling Commission, DCMS and NatCen, after the BHA said contact with the regulator had largely stalled.

The Gambling Commission declined to release the requested correspondence after it classified the BHA’s request as “vexatious,” a decision the column argues reflects a wider lack of trust between the regulator and British racing.

The Commission maintains the new system will cut friction compared with current affordability checks. The BHA, however, says unresolved issues remain, such as inconsistent results from different credit reference agencies, and uncertainty over how operators should respond once a customer is flagged.

💡TGJ Take

The debate has moved from whether Financial Risk Assessments will happen to how operators put them into practice. Sportsbooks should expect months of guidance and system checks before the £5,000/£2,500 stage one thresholds even get a launch date, let alone the wider £1,000/£3,000 rollout. For racing, the real issue is no longer the checks themselves but the political relationship. An FOI request from its own governing body to the Gambling Commission, and a Culture Secretary who reportedly has not met the BHA, point to ties well beyond routine friction. Expect pressure for an independent evaluation once stage one launches.