Committee publication · Correspondence · 22 July 2026

Letter from the Acting Chief Executive of the Gambling Commission regarding Implementation of financial risk assessments, 22 July 2026

From: Culture, Media and Sport Committee

Summary

The Acting Chief Executive of the Gambling Commission responds to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee's follow-up questions on Financial Risk Assessments (FRAs). The Commission defends its decision to implement FRAs to identify and support high-spending customers in financial difficulty, addresses concerns about stakeholder engagement (particularly the racing industry), and commits to publishing full evidence and methodology in an autumn consultation response.

Key findings

High-spending customers are 2–5 times more likely to have debt management plans or defaults than the wider population; FRAs aim to identify and support this group without marketing interference.
97% of accounts requiring assessment will have frictionless FRA checks, exceeding the White Paper's 80% estimate; only the top 3% of spenders will undergo assessment.
Commission conducted extensive stakeholder engagement since 2023 including consultations, pilot phases (Stages 1–3 running 2024–2025), meetings with the British Horseracing Authority, and racecourse visits; implementation groups will focus on technical matters with gambling operators and credit reference agencies.
Full dataset, evidence base, and methodology will be published in autumn consultation response, with some commercially sensitive information appropriately aggregated.
Racing stakeholders will be engaged separately from implementation groups given their particular interest; BHA has accepted offer of meeting to discuss FRA decision and impacts.

Tone

Procedural

Topics

gambling-regulationfinancial-risk-assessmentconsumer-protectionhorseracing-industryconsultation-engagement

Key actors

Sarah Gardner (Acting Chief Executive, Gambling Commission), Dame Caroline Dinenage MP (Chair, Culture, Media and Sport Committee), Gambling Commission, British Horseracing Authority (BHA), Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB), Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), Baroness Twycross (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, DCMS)

Notable line

“High-spending customers are between two and four times more likely to have a debt management plan and between two and five times more likely to have a default in the previous 12 months than consumers in the wider population.”

Key Quotes

“The key aim of introducing FRAs is to identify and then support those high spending customers in current financial difficulties, and to streamline operator processes.”
— Sarah Gardner, Acting Chief Executive · Explaining the rationale for Financial Risk Assessments

“Without being identified, customers in this group who are in current financial difficulties may continue to receive marketing and promotional offers encouraging further gambling despite this financial vulnerability.”
— Sarah Gardner, Acting Chief Executive · Describing the harm FRAs seek to prevent

“97% of accounts that need an assessment will have a frictionless assessment, compared with the 80% estimate in the White Paper.”
— Sarah Gardner, Acting Chief Executive · Demonstrating FRA performance against White Paper benchmarks

“The Gambling Commission is committed to proactively engaging with stakeholders on our work.”
— Sarah Gardner, Acting Chief Executive · Responding to complaints about insufficient engagement

“I was surprised and disappointed to hear of claims that the Commission has failed to engage with this community and I do not think that such claims are borne out by the facts.”
— Sarah Gardner, Acting Chief Executive · Defending Commission engagement with racing stakeholders

View original document →

Source · parliament.uk record ↗