Great Britain will introduce staged financial risk assessments for high-spending online gamblers. The first trigger is £5,000 in net deposits over 24 hours, but the Gambling Commission has not set a launch date.

The Gambling Commission confirmed the thresholds on 7 July 2026. The system will eventually cover net deposits above £1,000 over 24 hours or £3,000 over 90 days for customers aged 25 and over.

The regulator has not confirmed when stage one will begin. The timetable will follow further discussions with operators, credit reference agencies and other stakeholders.

What happens first

Stage one will apply to the largest operators and customers with unusually high deposit levels. The main trigger is more than £5,000 in net deposits over a rolling 24-hour period.

For higher-risk groups, including customers under 25, the stage-one threshold is £2,500 over the same period. The Commission says fewer than 0.5% of customer accounts exceed the £5,000 level.

These are assessment triggers, not automatic deposit caps. An assessment is intended to identify signs of current financial difficulty. It does not by itself require an operator to close an account or stop a customer from gambling.

Lower thresholds are planned

Once the full system is introduced, customers aged 25 and over will face an assessment after exceeding either:

  • £1,000 in net deposits over a rolling 24-hour period
  • £3,000 in net deposits over a rolling 90-day period

For customers under 25, the planned thresholds are lower:

  • £750 in net deposits over a rolling 24-hour period
  • £2,000 in net deposits over a rolling 90-day period

The Commission has not published the intermediate thresholds between stage one and the final stage. It says those levels will be set after further engagement with implementation groups.

Why the checks are being introduced

The Commission says high-spending gambling customers are two to four times more likely to have a debt management plan than people in the wider population. They are also two to five times more likely to have recorded a recent default.

The assessments will use limited credit reference data. The Commission says the checks will not affect a customer’s credit score. Customers will usually not need to submit bank statements or other financial documents.

Pilot results indicated that 97% of customers above the proposed thresholds could be assessed through a frictionless process. The regulator estimates that fewer than 3% of customer accounts would need an assessment once the system is fully implemented.

Operators face uncertainty over possible responses

The assessment can provide information about defaults, multiple arrears, significant arrears and debt management plans. Businesses must consider that information alongside their existing customer-interaction controls.

Possible responses include reducing marketing to vulnerable customers, helping a customer set deposit limits or taking other proportionate action.

The Commission says it will not take enforcement action during the early rollout solely because an operator failed to act after an assessment. This applies provided the operator meets all existing licence requirements.

The policy creates a commercial risk for operators. Customers most likely to trigger checks account for a larger share of gross gambling yield than their numbers suggest.

The Commission accepts that the system may reduce gross gambling yield. It says any reduction should mainly result from customers in financial difficulty reducing their gambling spend.

Industry warns of unintended effects

Industry representatives have raised concerns about customer friction, lost revenue and the possibility that some customers could move to illegal websites.

The British Horseracing Authority told ITV News that stronger affordability controls could reduce betting income linked to racing. Its chief executive, Brant Dunshea, also warned that customers could turn to unregulated markets if they face barriers on licensed platforms.

The Gambling Commission disputes the assumption that the new model will increase movement to illegal sites. It says replacing routine document requests with credit-based assessments could reduce friction for customers who are not in financial difficulty.

What customers should expect

  • The first stage will target the largest operators and unusually high net deposits.
  • The full thresholds have been announced, but the implementation date has not.
  • A financial risk assessment is not automatically a spending ban.
  • Operators may still use other indicators, including time spent gambling, payment methods and account activity.
  • The policy applies to licensed gambling in Great Britain. Northern Ireland operates under a separate gambling framework.

The next formal step is the Commission’s consultation response setting out the stage-one timetable. Until that document is published, operators do not have a confirmed launch date for the first threshold.