Bookmakers ready legal challenge as Gambling Commission prepares to wave through affordability checks

"Industry chiefs say the checks, which would block customers from placing further bets once they cross specific loss thresholds, contain "serious failings" and risk pushing hundreds of thousands of punters into an unregulated black market that is already mushrooming online. With the Gambling Commission expected to decide this week whether to impose the rules unilaterally, the Betting & Gaming Council (BGC) has put the regulator on formal notice that legal action is now firmly on the table."

"Affordability checks - formally known as financial risk assessments (FRAs), sit at the heart of the biggest overhaul of British gambling laws in a generation, introduced under the previous Conservative government in 2023. The intention was straightforward: identify high-spending customers who may be in financial difficulty and intervene before harm escalates. The political promise that accompanied it was equally clear - any such checks would be "frictionless", invisible to the ordinary punter."

"Under the proposed regime, an FRA would be triggered when a customer loses £1,000 or more in 24 hours, or £2,000 over 90 days. Operators that fail to carry out the checks risk regulatory action; customers who refuse to comply face being locked out of their accounts."

"The Commission has leant heavily on the results of its pilot, which ran from September 2024 to April 2025 and used around 800,000 historical data points. According to its own published findings, only 3 per cent of gamblers would face an assessment, and 97 per cent of those would be "frictionless" - meaning the customer would not have"

Britain’s largest bookmakers are preparing a High Court challenge against the Gambling Commission over affordability checks that would block further betting after customers cross loss thresholds. The checks, called financial risk assessments, are part of a major 2023 gambling law reform intended to identify high-spending customers who may be in financial difficulty and intervene early. An FRA would be triggered after losses of £1,000 or more in 24 hours or £2,000 over 90 days. Operators that do not perform assessments could face regulatory action, while customers who refuse could be locked out of accounts. The Gambling Commission relies on a pilot using historical data, claiming only 3% of gamblers would be assessed and 97% would be “frictionless.”

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