Gambling Affordability Checks in the UK: The £150 Check and the New Financial Risk Assessments

Image: Gaming Intelligence

"Affordability checks" is the phrase players search for, but the Gambling Commission runs two separate systems and avoids that label for both. The first, a light-touch financial vulnerability check, has applied at licensed online operators in scope since 30 August 2024. The second, a deeper financial risk assessment using credit reference agency data, was confirmed by the Commission on 7 July 2026 and is being introduced in stages, starting with the largest operators and the very highest spenders.

Neither system is a spending cap. Both are triggers that tell an operator to look at your situation, and in most cases nothing visible happens at all. Below are the thresholds, the data each check uses, what a casino may do with the result and what you can do if a request feels out of proportion.

The current trigger is £150 of net deposits in a rolling 30-day period. It has applied since 28 February 2025; between 30 August 2024 and 27 February 2025 it was set at £500 to give operators time to build the process. The Commission's published position is on its light-touch financial vulnerability checks page.

Net deposits means deposits minus withdrawals. The window rolls, so it does not reset on the first of the month. A worked example: you deposit £100 on 1 November, £100 on 10 November and withdraw £40 on 12 November. Your net deposits for the 30 days to 12 November are £160, so you have crossed the £150 trigger. Had you withdrawn £60 instead, the figure would be £140 and no check would be required.

The Commission expected the trigger to catch roughly 20% of active customer accounts, a share it said would move over time. There is no annual threshold, and an operator does not have to repeat the check within 12 months if it has already run a vulnerability check or a financial risk assessment on you in that period.

The light-touch check uses publicly available records only. The Commission lists the categories: bankruptcy orders and related insolvency records, county court judgments (CCJs), individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs), High Court judgments, administration orders, decrees and Debt Relief Orders, or their equivalents. Debt Relief Orders, which apply to people owing under £30,000 with less than £2,000 in savings, were added after consultation.

Two things were deliberately left out. Postcode and job title were dropped from the design after concerns that they produced misleading results and risked discrimination. So a casino cannot decide you are financially vulnerable at this stage because of where you live or what you do for a living.

The check does not affect your credit score. If a third-party provider runs it, it may show up when you view your own credit file, and the Commission has said it will encourage providers to describe it accurately as a check on public data rather than a credit application.

For most players the answer is nothing. The check is designed to be frictionless: if no risk flags come back, play continues without interruption, and the Commission does not require an operator to pause deposits or gambling while the check runs.

Where a flag does appear, the operator must weigh it with everything else it knows and is allowed to use about you, take proportionate action and record why. The Commission is clear that ending the relationship is not the default. Its own example is that a CCJ with no other signs of harm may warrant nothing more than continued monitoring. Other options include deposit limits or other support tools, and where harm looks immediate, pausing the account.

Operators must have policies saying whether these decisions are made by people, by automated rules with an option of manual review, or a mix of both, and when immediate action is needed. That matters if you dispute an outcome: you can ask the operator to explain the decision and to have a person review it.

On 7 July 2026 the Gambling Commission confirmed it will introduce financial risk assessments in a staged approach. These go further than the £150 check: they are provided by credit reference agencies and are meant to identify customers in financial difficulty. Legal analysis of the decision says operators receive an overall result plus four data points: defaults, multiple arrears, significant arrears and whether a debt management plan exists.

Stage one is carried out by the largest operators and targets very high spend: for most customers, net deposits above £5,000 in a rolling 24 hours, or £2,500 for under-25s. The Commission says fewer than 0.5% of customers go over the stage one level. The stage one timetable was to be confirmed after implementation groups were set up over summer 2026, and at the time of writing the Commission had not published a start date.

The final thresholds, due "in due course" after interim stages, are:

• Aged 25 and over: more than £1,000 net deposits in a rolling 24 hours, or more than £3,000 in a rolling 90 days.
• Aged 18 to 24: more than £750 in a rolling 24 hours, or more than £2,000 in a rolling 90 days.

For comparison, £3,000 over 90 days averages out at about £1,000 a month in net deposits, more than six times the £150 trigger for the light-touch check. The Commission's April 2026 post-pilot update describes the triggers as aimed at the top 3% of gambling spenders and stresses that they are prompts to check for financial difficulty, not limits on what you may spend.

The Commission's main argument for the new checks is that most of them should be invisible. In the pilot, 97% of assessments would have been frictionless, needing no documents or action from the customer, against an 80% estimate in the 2023 White Paper. About 1 in 1,000 accounts could not be assessed at all.

The pilot also showed why the Commission wanted the checks. Customers spending at the levels that triggered an assessment were two to four times more likely to have a debt management plan, and two to five times more likely to have had a default in the previous 12 months, than comparable consumers.

Like the £150 check, a financial risk assessment does not affect your credit score. If you are in the small group a credit reference agency cannot assess, the operator must still verify your identity properly and may assess risk another way, for example through open banking or by asking for documents.

The Commission says customers assessed as being in financial difficulty may see proportionate action such as reduced marketing or help to set deposit limits. It has said it will back operators that act on what they know about a customer.

During early implementation, the Commission will not take enforcement action against an operator for failing to act after a financial risk assessment. Every other licence requirement still applies, including the existing duty to interact with customers who show signs of harm, so a casino cannot ignore obvious warning signs simply because the new regime is bedding in.

Most players will never meet one of these assessments. The Commission lists occasional bettors, recent winners and many regular high spenders among the people who will not need one.

Requests for bank statements or proof of where money came from usually stem from anti-money laundering duties or a wider review of a customer, not from the two checks above. The Commission's age and ID verification guide says operators may ask for bank statements to check that your source of funds is legitimate, and may ask about income patterns such as a pending house sale.

The same guide says operators should ask for identity information promptly, not only when you try to withdraw, and that delaying a withdrawal over ID that could have been requested earlier may breach licence conditions. Our guide to withdrawal document requests and complaints covers how to respond to a request step by step.

The simplest way to stay well clear of the thresholds is to set your own limit at a level you can comfortably afford. See how gross and net deposit limits and their reset dates work at UK casinos.

Start with the operator. The Commission's how to complain guide asks you to check the terms, contact the business, follow its complaints process with dates, times, amounts and copies of evidence, and wait for a response. The business has 8 weeks from receiving your complaint to resolve it.

If you are still unhappy after the operator's process, you may be able to escalate to an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) provider, which is independent of the casino. You can only do this after using the operator's own complaints process.

Before you deposit anywhere, check the casino holds a UKGC licence. Unlicensed offshore sites that skip these checks also sit outside the UK complaint routes and the wider player protections a licence brings.

A question about your finances can be an unwelcome surprise, but the checks exist to catch people who are spending money they do not have. If a check, a limit or a conversation with a casino makes you uneasy about how much you gamble, treat that as a useful signal. Gambling should only use money set aside for entertainment, never money for bills, debts or savings, and it is never a way to make an income.

You can self-exclude from every UKGC online casino through GamStop in one step, and set deposit limits at any licensed site. Gambling is for adults aged 18 and over only.

• Gambling Commission: Our position: light-touch financial vulnerability checks
• Gambling Commission: Commission to introduce Financial Risk Assessments in staged approach
• Gambling Commission: Financial risk assessments pilot, update on post-pilot analysis
• Gambling Commission: Age and ID verification
• Gambling Commission: How to complain
• Mishcon de Reya: Gambling Commission confirms introduction of financial risk assessments

What triggers a gambling affordability check in the UK?

Today the trigger is £150 of net deposits, meaning deposits minus withdrawals, in a rolling 30-day period. That starts a light-touch check of public records such as CCJs, IVAs, bankruptcies and Debt Relief Orders. Deeper financial risk assessments are being phased in from £5,000 net deposits in 24 hours, falling eventually to £1,000 in 24 hours or £3,000 over 90 days.

Do gambling affordability checks affect my credit score?

No. The Gambling Commission says neither the £150 light-touch check nor a financial risk assessment affects your credit score. If a third-party provider runs the light-touch check, it may appear when you view your own credit file, but it is a check of public records rather than an application for credit. Financial risk assessments use credit reference agency data.

Is there a limit on how much I can deposit at a UK casino?

No legal monthly deposit cap applies. The £150, £1,000 and £3,000 figures are triggers for checks, not limits. A casino may restrict your account if a check shows a risk of harm, and it may help you set a deposit limit, which you can choose yourself at any licensed site. Separately, online slot stakes are capped at £5 a spin, or £2 if you are under 25.

What are the financial risk assessment thresholds for under-25s?

They are lower. In stage one, assessments for under-25s start at £2,500 of net deposits in a rolling 24 hours, against £5,000 for older customers. Under the final thresholds an 18 to 24 year old would be assessed above £750 in 24 hours or £2,000 over 90 days, compared with £1,000 and £3,000 for customers aged 25 and over.

Why is a casino asking for my bank statements?

Usually because of anti-money laundering rules or a wider review of your account, not the light-touch check. The Gambling Commission says operators may ask for bank statements to confirm your source of funds is legitimate, and should request identity information promptly rather than only at withdrawal. If a request seems disproportionate, use the operator's complaints process, which has 8 weeks to resolve it.

When do financial risk assessments start?

The Gambling Commission confirmed the staged approach on 7 July 2026. Stage one covers the largest operators and net deposits above £5,000 in 24 hours, or £2,500 for under-25s. Its timetable was to follow implementation groups set up over summer 2026, and no start date had been published at the time of writing. Lower thresholds follow in later stages.

18+ only. Gambling can be addictive; set limits and never chase losses. Free, confidential support: BeGambleAware.