BGC’s voluntary affordability code sets £5,000 and £25,000 net deposit thresholds

The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has revealed a voluntary code on customer affordability checks to sit alongside the Gambling Commission’s (GC) confirmed six-month pilot scheme for “financial risk assessments”.

The trade body confirmed it had worked with the regulator and the UK government to provide operators with guidance in what efforts must be taken to protect consumers.

The code will see operators affiliated with the BGC deliver a “consistent approach when spending is the trigger for action”.

These checks will start with net deposits of more than £5,000 in a rolling month, at which point operators must undertake a risk assessment to determine if there are evident markers of harm.

This assessment may include an estimate of a customer’s income or wealth, as well as a safer gambling interaction which must include a self-declaration of the customer’s income and/or wealth.

The assessment could also see operators review open-source information such as Companies House filings or previous winnings, a review of “relevant material” obtained from the customer and financial insights from a “third-party whose business is subject to statutory regulation”.

The BGC insisted that the £5,000 level checks will not require customers to produce private financial documents.

Additionally, the £5,000 threshold is reduced to £2,500 in a rolling month for customers aged between 18 and 24.

The more comprehensive assessments of affordability come into effect when a customer makes a net deposit of £25,000 in any rolling 12-month period.

At this point, operators must undertake a thorough check, often requiring documents as part of an Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD).

The code does not specifically detail what type of documents could be requested by operators in these circumstances.

The thresholds laid out in the voluntary code represent a shift away from the previously planned methodology for checks based on net losses.

Initial interventions were planned upon a net loss of more than £1,000 in a 24-hour period or more than £2,000 in a 90-day period.

Today, 1 May, the GC confirmed a six-month pilot scheme to test out these enhanced checks, which it insisted would not be implemented until data-sharing was truly frictionless.

While the GC did not provide any guidance on the thresholds for checks, the voluntary code from the BGC may well help inform any final decision.

Michael Dugher, BGC CEO, said the code should be “particularly welcomed by British horseracing” and that he wants to see more progress made to protect consumers.

He said: “This code is good progress towards solving an issue that has generated such heated public debate. It will significantly increase the consistency of safer gambling standards while removing intrusive document checks for many who are currently subject to detailed checks.

“It is vital to note that this new code sits on top of a host of other safer gambling measures our members already conduct, and which only exist in the regulated sector.

“While this is good progress in the right direction, we are acutely aware more needs to be done.”

The former Labour MP said he hopes to see a code on anti-money laundering (AML) checks introduced to complement the announcement.

Andrew Rhodes, GC CEO, said: “We think this code will help address the varying approaches from operators to customer spend triggers today, whilst we conduct a pilot on the use of the frictionless financial risk assessments that the government proposed in their white paper.”