Regulator Clarifies FRAs; No Comment on Affordability Checks Backlash

The Gambling Commission’s Director of Policy attempted to make clarifications about financial risk assessments (FRAs) at a payments industry conference, without commenting on recent opposition to affordability checks.

Ian Angus, speaking on behalf of the British regulator at the Clarion Payment Providers Summit, stressed FRAs are not another name for affordability checks. Affordability checks were proposed as part of the government’s 2023 White Paper.

Light touch vulnerability checks were initially triggered when a player spent £500 in a month as part of a trial that began in August 2024, and from February 28, 2025, this decreased to £150 spend in a month.

Difference with FRAs

However, FRAs are also proposed as a means of identifying high-spending remote gambling players who may be in financial difficulties. The assessments would not assess a player’s income or how much an individual could afford to gamble.

Angus said:

“On financial risk assessments (FRAs), it’s fair to say they have attracted some attention in recent months as well as plenty of coverage. Sadly, much of that has included ill-informed or inaccurate content.

“Financial risk assessments are not affordability checks by another name - the checks we have been piloting will not even attempt to make an assessment of what each customer can afford to gamble.

“FRAs were identified in the 2023 White Paper as the best way to bring a frictionless and consistent method for gambling firms to check whether a consumer is in financial difficulties. This proposal was supported by the former government then and is also supported by the current government today.”

Affordability checks causing anguish

Angus did not touch upon the recent backlash against affordability checks, which could be passed as soon as this week. While the Commission has not yet signed off on the final implementation of the checks, its board is due to meet on Thursday, and is expected to be asked to approve the rollout of the checks.

A collective of 19 MPs who represent British racecourses recently wrote to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, calling for a postponement to the implementation of the checks. The racecourses represented among the signatories include Aintree (Dan Carden, Labour), Ascot (Jack Rankin, Conservative), Epsom (Helen Maguire, Liberal Democrats) and Newmarket (Nick Timothy, Conservative).

The MPs argue not enough information has been released regarding the pilots of the checks. The Racing Post has quoted the letter as saying:

"We do not believe there has been sufficient parliamentary scrutiny of this policy and neither has there been a sufficient level of transparency around the results of the Gambling Commission’s pilot of these checks.

"We ask that you urgently intervene to reconsider this policy which was introduced by the previous government in its 2023 Gambling White Paper. The betting landscape has changed significantly since then, with a booming illegal market fuelled by increased regulation and taxation on the licensed betting sector.”

Operator threat

The letter being sent by the MPs followed a threat from operators to mount a legal challenge against the implementation of the affordability checks. The operators are claiming they would be required to request financial documents, such as payslips, from as many as 480,000 players.

The pledge was made in a separate letter written to Gambling Commission Interim Chair Charles Counsell and also addressed to Nandy, Gambling Minister Baroness Fiona Twycross and the Gambling Commission's Acting Chief Executive Sarah Gardner.

Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) Chief Executive Grainne Hurst claims the checks would be “disproportionate and potentially open to legal challenge."