E-petition debate on financial risk checks for gambling

E-petition 649894 calls on the Government not to implement proposed financial risk checks for online gambling. It says:

We want the Government to abandon the planned implementation of affordability checks for some people who want to place a bet. We believe such checks – which could include assessing whether people are ‘at risk of harm' based on their postcode or job title – are inappropriate and discriminatory.

The proposed checks could see bettors having to prove they can afford their hobby if they sustain losses as low as £1.37 per day. We accept the need to help those with problem gambling but more intrusive checks triggered at a higher threshold risks bettors moving to the black market where there are no consumer protections or safer gambling tools. We are concerned there will also be a negative impact on British horseracing’s finances due to a reduction in betting turnover and resulting fall in Levy yield.

The Government published a response on 16 November 2023 which explained:

the proposed system will be a significant improvement in having clear and proportionate rules which all operators are held to, and allowing for financial data to be shared seamlessly with operators instead of burdening customers with information requests.

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this needs to be proportionate, which is why the proposed checks are only on the very highest spending online customers, conducted frictionlessly using data sharing, and do not come with blanket rules for operator interventions if there are no signs of harm.

This debate pack covers current gambling regulation in Great Britain, an overview of proposed financial risk checks for remote gambling operators, and stakeholder responses to these proposals.