The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has updated requirements around customer deposits which will substantially change the payments dynamic for bettors.
British betting firms will have to prompt customers to set financial limits before making a deposit from 31 October 2025. This limit will have to be made easy to review and to be altered at any point afterwards.
Affordability has been a defining issue for the UK betting industry over the past couple of years, with concerns mounting that many consumers may be gambling with more money than they can afford.
Much of this conversation came in the context of the UKGC and government’s review of the 2005 Gambling Act, aiming to make it more applicable to today’s modern, digital-heavy era.
Setting deposit limits is often touted as one of the more efficient ways the industry can ensure people keep track of payments and spending on gambling sites.
In addition to setting deposit limits, the UKGC will also require operators to remind customers to review account details and payments information every six months. The UKGC said that this will help customers with setting new deposit limits if needed.
An unintended, though not negative, consequence of this could be that some customers are becoming more flexible with payment methods, depending on their preference at the time.
Upon being prompted to update their transaction information, they may be tempted to change payment methods altogether, from debit card to pay-by-bank, for example.
The UKGC has an added goal of ensuring transparency around player funds. Specifically, consumers will need to know the level of protection their funds are afforded in the event a bookmaker or casino becomes insolvent.
Operators will be required to set out in terms of conditions what level of protection customers can expect, ranked across ‘not protected – no segregation’, ‘not protected – segregation of customer funds’, ‘medium protection’ or ‘high protection’.
Customer funds classed as ‘not protected’ in either of the two categories will have to be reminded once every six months that funds are not protected in the event of insolvency.
The addition of these new requirements adds another lawyer to the KYC and payments relationship between British betting companies and their customers. This builds on the launch of finance risk checks, a flagship Gambling Act review policy to address affordability, which partly relies on the use of Open Banking.
Tim Miller, Commission Executive Director for Research and Policy, said: “These changes illustrate our commitment to ensuring gambling is fair and open by improving consumer empowerment and choice.
“These changes will help consumers decide on deposit limits, enable them to keep track of their spending and ensure they are fully aware of what happens to their funds should an operator become insolvent.
“We will now continue our work to deliver our remaining White Paper commitments, including our programme of evaluation.”