UKGC Study Reveals Concerns Over Account Restrictions and Fairness in Online Gambling

The UKGC conducted a study that included data from nearly 15 million active gambling accounts across major online operators. The study revealed that restrictions were placed on approximately 640,000 active accounts in 2024, which equates to around 4% of users. These restrictions varied in severity, with some accounts facing only low-stake caps, while others had their entire accounts closed.

Applying stake caps was the most common course of action, with over 60% of accounts receiving this restriction. The study found that just over 20% of these accounts were limited to between zero and 1% of the standard maximum stake, ultimately removing the entertainment from online play.

The more severe restriction affected 2.2% of active customers, who saw their accounts closed entirely. Sometimes, operators allow users to keep their accounts but place blocks on specific sports bets instead.

Andrew Rhodes, UKGC’s CEO, said, “As stated in the Gambling White Paper, gambling operators are entitled to act in their commercial interests and manage liabilities. It is not within our regulatory remit to mandate how individual operators manage their commercial liabilities.”

After further examining the data, the UKGC found that nearly 47% of restricted players were in net profit, compared to approximately 25% of all active bettors. This emphasises the point that winning players are more likely to be restricted, raising concerns that players could potentially be pushed towards black market operators.

Rhodes added: “We do need to understand the dynamics of the market we regulate, however. As outlined in my 2024 CEO Briefing, understanding the nature and prevalence of commercial restrictions is one area where further insight on how the gambling market is functioning was required.

“We do need to understand the role that commercial restrictions may be playing in pushing customers to illegal gambling operators [and] driving customer behaviours such as ‘multi-accounting’ which undermine wider controls designed to prevent crime, protect consumers and identify integrity threats.”

The UKGC is seeking ways to improve operator transparency regarding restrictions. The current guidelines outline that operators should inform users about potential restrictions before they make any deposits on the site. The data gathered from this report demonstrates that there needs to be more stringent and straightforward rules and regulations in place.

Rhodes added: “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.”

There is uncertainty surrounding the regulations that will be rolled out to address this issue, but it will be interesting to see how strict the new guidelines will be.