Gambling Commission reveals 4.31% of player accounts restricted in some way
“Being a successful bettor is not a protected characteristic in discrimination law.”
Key points:
– 643,779 of player accounts in the UK have some level of restrictions on them
– The most common form of restriction was applying a maximum stake
– Operators did reveal that 46.78% of restricted accounts had made a profit, compared to 25.42% of active accounts
Andrew Rhodes, Gambling Commission CEO, has discussed some major figures when it comes to restrictions imposed by gambling operators on player accounts in the UK.
Out of the 14,923,840 active customer accounts the Commission received data on, 643,779 or 4.31% had some form of restrictions.
Some accounts had one restriction, while others had multiple at once. The most common form of restriction was maximum stake, with 2.68% of all accounts and 62.17% of restricted accounts having this option active.
This is unsurprising, though, as this is the most commonly advertised option and many operators offer this as the only form of restriction on the platform.
The second-most common restriction was account closures, with 2.23% of all accounts and 51.69% of restricted accounts.
However, Rhodes noted that many operators did not report on account closures for “commercial reasons.”
If operators want to prevent players from playing without closing the account, then they will set a maximum stake limit of £0.00 – this happened to 0.83% of all accounts and 19.15% of restricted ones.
Operators also limited specific products or markets for 0.25% of all accounts or 5.72% of restricted ones.
He would also go on to explain that: “As noted in the Gambling White Paper there is no universal service obligation applied to gambling.
“Businesses may take commercial decisions providing they do not discriminate on the basis of protected characteristics. Being a successful bettor is not a protected characteristic in discrimination law.”
Finally, the Commission requested data on customer profit and losses for comparison.
As for profit, 25.42% of active customers were in the green, compared to 46.78% of restricted customers. Meanwhile, 72.54% of active customers had made a loss, compared to 51.29% of restricted customers.
Good to know: The Commission noted that restrictions can push customers to black-market operators as well as open new accounts, which can be troublesome when it comes to wider controls designed to prevent crime, protect consumers and identify integrity threats
To conclude, Rhodes said: “While we recognise such transparency does not alleviate the frustration of those subject to severe restrictions, if this is a feature of an operator’s business model then it is something that they should inform consumers about.
“It is not in our remit to mandate how operators handle their commercial liabilities, but we do have a statutory responsibility to ensure that gambling is conducted in a fair and open manner, to understand potential drivers of illegal gambling, and to ensure that industry practices are not having an adverse impact on the effectiveness of regulation.”
The Commission also recently announced it would be updating guidelines around the penalty process when it came to fining gambling operators.
Gambling Insider delivers the latest industry news, in-depth features, and operator reviews that you can trust. Our team combines rigorous editorial standards with decades of specialized expertise to ensure accuracy and fairness. We are committed to delivering clear, impartial, and dependable coverage across the global gambling sector.
