The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) issued a blog post on Wednesday detailing findings from its financial risk assessments (FRAs) pilot, conducted between 2024 and 2025. Senior executives Helen Rhodes and Sarah Webster identified significant shortcomings in identity verification practices among gambling operators, which have undermined the pilot’s effectiveness. These deficiencies have also negatively impacted consumer experiences by increasing friction, complaints, and regulatory compliance risks.
The Commission noted that failures in customer onboarding, particularly the gathering of inaccurate or incomplete personal information, were significant reasons some customers could not be matched with credit reference agency records essential for the FRAs. This matching process is critical for achieving a ‘frictionless’ financial risk assessment, which the pilot aimed to deliver.
The rollout of the FRAs will occur in phases, with the Commission set to announce the timeline for phase one following additional consultations with the industry during the summer.
The failure to match customer identities stemmed from operators' reliance on accurate identity verification against third-party data sources. When matching failed, customers were labeled as ‘unmatched’ and faced more complicated assessment processes. Although these unmatched cases represented a small portion of the total, the Commission examined them closely and found recurring problems. These issues included the use of initials instead of full names, nicknames replacing legal forenames, and incorrect addresses being submitted.
Such inaccuracies hindered matching efficiency and compromised key protections like GAMSTOP, while also heightening the risks of fraud and money laundering.
Tim Miller, the outgoing executive director of the Gambling Commission, confirmed at iGBLive that no further updates on the pilot data would be available until September. This update has faced criticism from industry leaders who labeled the checks as “self-harm on an immense scale.” Many stakeholders are calling for the Commission to release the complete data report from the pilot. Grainne Hurst, CEO of the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), expressed her frustration over the absence of a full evaluation to justify the implementation of these checks, stating, "These checks cannot be described as genuinely frictionless if they produce unreliable outcomes."
The Commission reminded operators of their responsibility under Licence Condition 17 to ensure customer identity verification through matching individuals' names, addresses, and dates of birth before permitting them to gamble. Currently, more than 25% of complaints received by the Commission's Contact Centre pertain to identity verification issues, making it a leading cause of disputes referred to Alternative Dispute Resolution services.
Analysis of casework by the regulator indicated an ongoing issue within the industry: identity flags and financial risk alerts are often only addressed when withdrawal requests are made. The Commission criticized this practice, noting that deferring verification until the withdrawal stage not only breeds customer frustration but also risks violating licence conditions and anti-money laundering laws. While the Commission does not expect every customer to undergo enhanced due diligence at registration, it insists that operators implement rigorous checks to verify individual identities.
