Gambling Commission Says FRAs Are Not Affordability Checks

The UK Gambling Commission has pushed back against criticism of financial risk assessments, arguing that the checks are narrower than opponents have claimed.

Good to Know

• Ian Angus said FRAs would not set gambling spend limits.
• Pilot data showed fewer than 3% of active accounts would trigger operator action.
• The Commission Board has not yet made a final decision.

Commission Says FRAs Are Not Spend Caps

Speaking at the Clarion Payment Providers Summit in London on May 20, Commission policy director Ian Angus said the debate around financial risk assessments has included “ill-informed or inaccurate content.”

He drew a clear line between FRAs and affordability checks, a distinction that has become central to the UK gambling reform debate.

Angus said:

“Financial risk assessments are not affordability checks by another name. The checks we have been piloting will not even attempt to make an assessment of what each customer can afford to gamble. Nor do the proposed thresholds for an assessment limit or cap customer spend.”

The Commission says FRAs are meant to identify signs of financial difficulty, not decide how much each player can lose. That approach came from the 2023 White Paper and has carried support across Conservative and Labour governments.

Pilot results gave the regulator its main defence. Angus said fewer than 3% of active customer accounts would require any operator action. Within that group, 97% would go through a frictionless assessment, above the 80% expected in the White Paper.

Only 0.1% of active accounts, or one in 1,000, would fail to complete the check frictionlessly. Angus said that figure could fall if operators verify customer details properly when accounts are opened.

He said:

“This is far better than what government estimated when they published the White Paper.”

Politically Sensitive

Even so, FRAs remain politically sensitive. Operators, racing interests and opposition politicians have argued that checks may disrupt betting activity and drive some customers toward unlicensed sites.

Angus did not say implementation was certain.

“No one should hear this and think we have pre-determined to implement FRAs — only our Board can decide that. But the Commission Board will be looking at this very soon.”

He also said that if FRAs go ahead, operators should not ask customers for documents after a financial risk assessment.

“If implemented, FRAs will allow us to give clear guidance to operators that they should not require consumers to provide documents to assess financial risk following a financial risk assessment.”

The regulator also used the speech to update its illegal gambling work. With £26 million in new government funding for 2026–2027, the Commission said it issued 741 cease-and-desist orders last financial year, reported 397,527 URLs to search engines, secured 266,667 removals and disrupted 1,134 websites through takedowns or geo-blocking.

The Commission has also joined the Illegal Gambling Taskforce run by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The group will prepare the first national risk assessment of Britain unlicensed gambling market.

Angus also left room for payments innovation. He invited operators and payment providers to bring ideas within the current rules and confirmed early talks about whether crypto assets could one day be accepted as a consumer payment method for licensed gambling in Great Britain.

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