The UK Gambling Commission has suspended the license of VGC Leeds Limited, the company running the Victoria Gate Casino in Leeds city center, stopping all of the company's...
UK Gambling Commission updates financial risk pilot
The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) shared an update on its trial of financial risk checks, which kicks in when someone deposits more than £500.
Introduced in the Gambling Act white paper, the financial risk checks aim to spot players who might be struggling financially and help protect them from excessive gambling by using info from credit agencies without asking for documents or hitting players’ credit scores. Most people don’t even notice it happens.
Since September 2024, the UKGC has been testing this system. 97% of these checks go through without any problems, up from 95%, and better than the 80% target the UKGC set. Only about one in every thousand players gets flagged for a more detailed look.
However, different credit agencies give different information, which confuses operators and slows things down. The UKGC is working on fixing this and helping companies better support players who might be in trouble. Earlier, the UKGC urged operators to train staff to recognize AI-generated materials in their verification processes, as criminals use artificial intelligence (AI) to create fake documents, deepfakes, and manipulated images to bypass diligence checks.
Despite the UKGC’s claims that these financial risk checks are not affordability checks, some legal experts keep stating they are. Starting in 2026, the UKGC plans to decrease the minimum spot number from £500 to £150.
The UK Gambling Commission has introduced new rules that will change how deposit limits are defined for British operators.
Under the new approach, deposit limits will simply...
