What the white paper means for UK operators

Well, it is finally here. The wait is over. Or is it?

Today the UK Government’s gambling white paper was finally published. Much of it was as expected, some was more of a surprise. And whilst it doesn’t provide perfect clarity by any stretch of the imagination, it should certainly help an industry that has been crying out for some direction when it comes to precisely what is expected in player protection.

So what are the headlines (with an unapologetic focus on affordability checks), and what do they mean for operators?

First and foremost, the whitepaper has confirmed that the Government backs the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC). Going by one interpretation, the UKGC has taken the view that losses in excess of typical disposable income require some form of affordability check, and one that uses real financial data, as opposed to guesswork via credit or ONS data. 

Based on our reading of the white paper, this hasn’t changed. We just have some of that much-needed clarity mentioned above. Specifically, checks that give a “much greater insight into a customer’s financial situation by accessing more personalised data to consider factors like discretionary income” are now expected to be conducted when losses are greater than £1,000 in a day (seen as “binge gambling”) or £2,000 in a 3 month period.

There is only one way to determine “discretionary income”, and that is with real financial data shared by the customer via Open Banking, or alternatively the old-fashioned manual way.

That said, there is an unusual, and to our eyes unhelpful, suggestion that there may be some way to do this via “frictionless” checks via credit reference agencies in the future. There just doesn’t happen to be one toda