The UK Gambling Commission Wednesday revealed it conducted about 1.7 million assessments in the second stage of its pilot checking on financial risk among bettors, with 97% considered “frictionless”.

Last August, the Gambling Commission launched the first stage of its financial risk checks pilot, as one of the major recommendations highlighted in the UK’s gambling review white paper.

The checks are triggered when a bettor’s net monthly deposit reaches £500 ($671.29), with operators able to trigger checks with credit reference agencies.

The first phase of the pilot was seen by the Gambling Commission as a success, with 95% of assessments reported as frictionless.

The second phase has seen that percentage edge up to 97% across approximately 1.7 million checks, relating to around 860,000 accounts, across three credit reference agencies.

The 97% figure is well above the 80% rate estimated in the 2023 white paper, which sparked concerns over generating additional levels of friction and the protection of player privacy.

The commission noted the increase in the percentage of frictionless checks could be due to stage two using more up-to-date data from operators.

“These further findings from the pilot have helped us understand the extent that assessments could be conducted in a frictionless manner,” said Commission Director of Major Policy Projects Helen Rhodes.

“Building on our staged approach to the pilot, we will now further explore data consistency across credit reference agencies, as well as how to support operators to identify the severity of financial difficulties that a customer may be experiencing and how they could support these customers.”

Financial risk checks analysis

The Gambling Commission is understanding more about the financial risk profile of players who trigger assessments in the pilot.

Two of the three credit reference agencies shared data that showed customers meeting the thresholds for the pilot were more likely to trigger a direct risk flag, which would allow operators to receive data.

Although results vary across operators, customers that triggered assessments were between two and four times more likely to have a debt management plan, and between two and five times more likely to have a default in the 12 months prior, when compared to the wider UK population.

Stage three of the pilot under way

The Gambling Commission revealed stage three of the pilot is at reporting stage, with the commission planning to use the phase and its post-pilot analysis to explore more deeply how checks can be targeted to those at the highest financial risk.

“We will also explore how any unnecessary inconsistency between credit reference agencies could be reduced and how operators could be supported in any future implementation,” the commission added.

The commission said data-sharing for stage three ended on 30 April and it will now move to an analysis phase which will run into the summer.