Advisor urges UK to pause gambling risk checks until pilot data is published
A policy adviser is calling on the UK government to slow down its rollout of financial risk checks for gamblers, arguing ministers are acting before the full results are available.
Dr James Noyes, a senior fellow at the Social Market Foundation, has written to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy asking for a pause until the Gambling Commission releases a complete evaluation of its pilot.
In a social media statement issued alongside his April 13 (Monday) letter, Noyes said he was “deeply concerned” by what has emerged so far, pointing to limited transparency and open questions about how well the system performs.
Affordability checks were the right idea in principle when they were proposed by reformist politicians and the gambling industry back in 2020. But times change and so too do the conditions and circumstances which inform regulators and determine markets.
“I am reading increasing reports that the pilot scheme has involved inconsistent data, unclear outcomes and unnecessary friction,” he wrote, warning that moving ahead now could weaken trust and fail to protect those most at risk.
Questions over UK gambling risk checks pilot come as market keeps growing
The Gambling Commission has been trialling these checks to identify online gamblers who spend heavily and may be facing financial strain. Regulators have said the system is different from traditional affordability checks and is designed to be more precise.
Data published in May 2025 shows how widely the pilot has already been used. Around 1.7 million checks were carried out across roughly 860,000 accounts during one phase, using information from three credit reference agencies.
That same update said about 97% of checks were completed without asking customers for extra details. Only a small proportion of accounts would need further steps under the proposed thresholds.
The regulator has also acknowledged issues it is still working through. These include differences between credit data providers and the difficulty of assessing how serious a customer’s financial situation may be. The pilot has now moved into an analysis stage after its third phase of data sharing.
Separate disclosures show that financial vulnerability checks are already in place at certain spending levels, starting at £500 in net deposits over 30 days and later reduced to £150.
When the world changes, public policy should be responsive to that change. It is clear that the current situation of financial risk checks is raising serious questions, which should be addressed by Government before any further progress of that policy is made.
Estimates suggest the checks could affect a large share of users, with up to 25% of UK gamblers potentially facing enhanced reviews at certain deposit thresholds.
At the same time, the online gambling market continues to generate significant revenue. Figures show UK online gross gambling yield reached £1.36 billion in 2024, underlining the scale of the sector.
The Commission has said the pilot is focused on testing how credit data can be used in a targeted way and has ruled out requiring open banking or automatically blocking customers who decline to share more information.
Noyes said his earlier support depended on strong oversight and clear evidence that the checks work. He also pointed to unpublished findings, noting reports of a Gambling Commission survey of more than 12,000 people in which 77% opposed the checks.
“My support for affordability checks was done on the basis that there would be adequate oversight and evaluation of their efficacy,” he wrote.
He also pointed out concerns about horseracing, citing warnings from the British Horseracing Authority and hundreds of industry figures about potential long-term effects.
“When the world changes, public policy should be responsive to that change,” he wrote, adding that the current situation raises “serious questions” that should be addressed before further progress is made.
ReadWrite has reached out to Dr James Noyes and the Gambling Commission for comment.
Featured image: Grok
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