The Gambling Commission (GC) has confirmed to SBC that the implementation of Financial Risk Assessments (FRAs) in the UK will be delayed, as further evidence still needs to be assessed.
It has not been confirmed how long the delay will last. However, the development follows industry-wide discussion and, in some cases, backlash to the proposed measures, with some blasting the checks as not being ‘fit for purpose’.
In response, the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) said that it welcomes the regulator’s decision to continue considering FRAs evidence, but work must be done to guarantee that future proposals are ‘genuinely frictionless’.
This comes after the GC’s Director of Policy, Ian Angus, noted in a speech that less than 3% of active customers would trigger any steps by an operator and of those, 97% would successfully receive a frictionless assessment process.
Evidence assessment not yet complete
The GC board met yesterday with an agenda of deciding whether FRAs should be rolled out across the UK gambling space.
The GC has previously stated that “such checks could be for a range of reasons, such as anti-money-laundering, commercial reasons or where there were safer gambling concerns from the gambling business”.
However, potential legal action is being considered by the BGC should the regulator press ahead with the rollout of FRAs without further scrutiny, but that may be on the back burner, at least for now.
A Commission spokesperson told SBC: “The Gambling Commission Board met to consider next steps on Financial Risk Assessments.
“It was presented with an extensive evidence base but has not yet fully completed its assessment of that evidence. We will communicate further in due course.”
BGC welcomes FRAs implementation delay
Given the talk of potential legal action, it should come as no surprise that the BGC has welcomed the delay to the implementation of FRAs.
The BGC spokesperson said: “We welcome the Gambling Commission’s confirmation that it is continuing to consider the extensive evidence submitted on Financial Risk Assessments.
“This is an important and constructive step in the process, and recognition that the evidence provided by industry, stakeholders and experts deserves careful consideration.
“However, there is still more work to do to ensure any future proposals are genuinely frictionless, proportionate, and do not drive customers towards the growing unsafe gambling black market.
“We look forward to continued engagement with the Commission in the weeks ahead.”
“We look forward to continued engagement with the Commission in the weeks ahead.”
Betting and Gaming Council spokesperson
It is worth noting that this doesn’t mean the implementation of FRAs has been abandoned. Far from it. The checks could still be given the green light as a means of identifying high-spending online gambling players who may be experiencing financial problems and offer them support.
However, the way in which these checks take place still looks to be a question up for debate.
The GC says assessments would be automatically triggered if a customer spends a certain amount and would utilise data from credit reference agencies.
However, many industry stakeholders believe customers could be reluctant to share their data and may instead wager with black market operators to avoid FRAs entirely.
