Casinoplusbonus investigates the British online gambling market’s Financial Risk Assessments and how far along the UKGC is with its pilot.
At this juncture in the UK online gambling entertainment market, operators do not have to perform mandatory affordability checks.
However, the UKGC is in the process of creating a frictionless system that identifies those who gamble and also have financial issues.
The project’s name is ‘Financial Risk Assessments’, from which the UK Gambling Commission has made it clear that by carrying out these checks, players do not need to provide any financial information.
Furthermore, the UK’s gambling watchdog has also confirmed that the current Financial Risk Assessment pilot is not merely another means of labeling Affordability Checks.
As a result of the Casinoplusbonus team learning this information, we carefully studied how the UK Gambling Commission has described the current Financial Risk Assessment pilot.
We must admit, after reviewing the details involved and considering the thoroughness of the UKGC’s approach, it’s indeed impressive.
To provide some background information, we initially described the project as an Affordability Check pilot, which commenced in August 2024. Yet, the actual name of this project is Financial Risk Assessment.
Since the pilot began, we have learned that the system does not verify full credit ratings; instead, it uses limited, publicly available data (e.g., bankruptcy, County Court Judgments) from credit reference agencies. As a result, it is not a full credit check and does not impact your credit scores.
What is the Aim of the UKGC Financial Risk Assessments
Our source of information is the UKGC Financial Risk Assessments Pilot Update, covering stage two of the project, published on 21 May 2025 by Helen Rhodes. Within the UKGC blog, the aim of the financial risk assessment is clearly identified under the ‘Background’ area as:
“Financial risk assessments are a proposed way of identifying high-spending remote gambling customers who may be in financial difficulties, in order to help support them. Financial risk assessments would be a much more targeted way of identifying customers who are in current significant or imminently worsening financial difficulties by flagging customers who are for example in significant or multiple arrears, defaults or bankruptcy. “
It also states that the pilot is not a live test, so no consumers are affected.
Kudos to the UKGC for its excellent White Paper process, using consultation to gain feedback for each new rule change. We, along with many other iGaming platforms similar to ours, rate the UKGC as the world’s most player-friendly and secure online gambling authority. However, we have to admit we had our doubts when we saw the initial release of the UK White Paper.
One of the rules that caused a huge uproar in the British gambling industry was a suggestion to introduce invasive affordability checks. Even our UK gambling news columns here at Casiniplusbonus have published numerous negative news reports highlighting the risks associated with invasive affordability checks. In particular, I personally wrote reports stating that players would rather play at a black market online gambling platform than reveal personal financial information.
Credit where credit is due, the UK Gambling Commission did not push the Affordability Check agenda any further. They listened to feedback from stakeholders, and instead, the solution has been to investigate a more non-invasive (frictionless) approach.
For us here at Casinoplusbonus, UKGC’s willingness to investigate an alternative and less invasive approach to affordability checks is a sign of a well-put-together regulatory team that understands what works and what does not work in the British gambling market.
What has the UKGC Learned From Stage Two of the Financial Risk Assessments Pilot?
In it detailed UKGC Financial Risk Assessments Pilot blog, the licensing authority has learned that there appears to be a lack of standardisation between CRAs that creates confusion. As a result, the UKGC will work alongside the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) to enhance the outcomes of financial assessments, thereby improving data consistency and risk modeling.
To make life easier, we have summarised the information provided in the UKGC blog into the table below:
• 97% of 1.7 million assessments were frictionless (up from 95%)
• Exceeded 80% target from the 2023 Government White Paper
• Only ~0.1% of active accounts might fail a frictionless assessment if implemented
• Unmatched rate dropped from 5% to 3%
• “Thin files” made up ~3% – low financial risk customers with limited but clean credit data
• Match rates ranged from 95.47% to 98.63%
• Inconsistencies between CRA outputs noted
• Post-Stage Three will examine false positives/negatives and data variation
• High-spending customers were 2–5x more likely to have recent defaults or debt plans
• Under-25s were more likely to be unmatched in CRA data
• Operator data errors reduced in Stage Two
• Improved data accuracy and freshness led to better assessment outcomes
What have we learned here at Casinoplusbonus? The current financial assessments are not affordability checks, and the UKGC currently has no plans to introduce mandatory affordability checks. The goal for the UKGC right now is to identify individuals with poor financial credit who gamble and find ways to provide them with help.
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