Gambling Commission Warns Poor ID Checks Undermined Financial Risk Assessment Pilot

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has provided further insight into the financial risk assessments (FRAs) pilot conducted between 2024 and 2025, warning that weaknesses in operators’ identity verification procedures undermined aspects of the scheme and created additional difficulties for consumers.

In a blog post published on Wednesday, Gambling Commission senior executives Helen Rhodes and Sarah Webster outlined problems identified during the pilot, particularly concerning the accuracy and completeness of customer information collected by gambling operators.

According to the Commission, shortcomings in identity verification contributed to situations in which customers could not be matched with records held by credit reference agencies.

Such matching was considered fundamental to the pilot’s objective of delivering a financial risk assessment with minimal disruption to customers.

The Commission said the rollout of FRAs will take place in stages. It is expected to confirm the timetable for the first phase after further discussions with the gambling industry over the summer.

Identity verification failures

The FRA pilot relied heavily on operators being able to establish customers’ identities accurately by checking their details against information held by third-party sources. When those checks failed, customers were classified as “unmatched” and were consequently subjected to more involved assessment procedures.

Although unmatched customers made up only a small proportion of cases, the Commission conducted a detailed review of those instances and identified several recurring problems.

Among the issues were customers being registered using initials rather than their complete names, while in other cases nicknames were used instead of legal forenames. The Commission also found examples where customers had provided commercial addresses rather than their residential addresses.

The regulator said these inaccuracies did more than reduce the likelihood of successful matching. They could also weaken important consumer protection measures, including GAMSTOP, while increasing potential risks associated with fraud and money laundering.

The Commission has therefore stressed the importance of operators collecting accurate and complete customer information from the beginning of the onboarding process.

More information on the FRA pilot

The latest update offers additional insight into information collected during the Commission’s 2024 FRA pilot. However, the regulator has previously confirmed that its wider data from the pilot will not be published until September.

Tim Miller, the Gambling Commission’s outgoing executive director, confirmed at iGBLive that further information relating to the pilot would not be released until then.

The lack of a complete assessment has generated criticism from parts of the gambling industry and other stakeholders. Industry leaders have previously described the proposed checks as “self-harm on an immense scale”.

Several stakeholders have also called on the Commission to publish the complete findings from the pilot.

Grainne Hurst, chief executive of the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), expressed frustration that a full assessment had not yet been made public despite the Gambling Commission formally announcing plans to introduce the wider scheme.

“The Commission has yet to publish a full evaluation of the pilot, so neither the industry nor the public has seen the evidence needed to justify introducing these checks,” she said.

Hurst added: “These checks cannot be described as genuinely frictionless if they produce unreliable outcomes.”

Commission reminds operators of verification obligations

The Gambling Commission has also used the update to remind operators of their existing obligations under Licence Condition 17.

Operators are required to establish that a customer is a genuine individual, which means ensuring that the customer’s name, address and date of birth correspond to the same person before allowing them to gamble.

The scale of identity-related problems is reflected in complaints received by the regulator.

According to the Commission, more than 25% of complaints handled by its Contact Centre concern identity verification issues.

Identity verification also remains one of the main sources of disputes that subsequently reach Alternative Dispute Resolution services.

The Commission believes that many of these problems could be avoided if operators conducted appropriate verification earlier in the customer relationship rather than waiting for an issue to arise.

Concerns over checks conducted at withdrawal

The regulator has identified what it described as a persistent problem in industry casework: operators sometimes investigate identity flags and financial risk alerts only when customers attempt to withdraw funds.

The Commission criticised this reactive approach, arguing that delaying verification until the withdrawal stage can create unnecessary frustration for customers and contribute to a higher number of complaints.

It also warned that such practices could create regulatory concerns and potentially place operators at risk of breaching licence requirements and anti-money laundering legislation.

The Commission clarified that it does not expect operators to carry out enhanced due diligence on every customer simply when they register.

Instead, operators are expected to establish robust processes capable of confirming that customers have unique and accurate identities.

The latest warning therefore places renewed emphasis on the quality of information collected during onboarding. According to the Commission, ensuring that customers provide accurate names, residential addresses and other identifying details is essential not only for the future FRA system, but also for wider protections against fraud, money laundering and gambling-related risks. 

By fLEXI tEAM