Financial Risk Checks

Request

Please can you disclose the method you used to calculate thresholds for financial risk checks in the consultation on 'Remote gambling: financial vulnerability and financial risk', launched in July 2023? In particular, can you provide information on how the three sources of information cited in the consultation document ("Problem gambling rates and other information about harms to help assess the likelihood of harm"; "Population level information about discretionary income to help consider the amount of money people have available"; and "The amount of money customers are currently spending on gambling") were used to arrive at these thresholds?

Response

Thank you for your request which has been processed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

In your email you have requested the method you used to calculate thresholds for financial risk checks in the consultation on 'Remote gambling: financial vulnerability and financial risk', launched in July 2023. In particular, information on how the three sources of information cited in the consultation document ("Problem gambling rates and other information about harms to help assess the likelihood of harm"; "Population level information about discretionary income to help consider the amount of money people have available"; and "The amount of money customers are currently spending on gambling") were used to arrive at these thresholds?

In our advice to government on the review on the Gambling Act 2005 we said that our consideration of possible threshold levels for financial checks included the following three elements:

• the amount of money customers are currently spending on gambling (to help consider proportionality of the threshold and spending patterns that are unusual);
• population level information about discretionary income (to help consider the amount of money people have available) and;
• problem gambling rates and other information about harms (to help assess the likelihood of harm).

Each of these aspects have a statistical element, but it would not be possible to combine them to arrive at a calculated threshold. Therefore, consideration of each of these elements was useful to inform consideration of threshold levels for consultation.

Further detail on this can be found in our advice to government specifically on pages 25 and 26 of our advice.

Package of recommendations for Government and commitments for action by the Gambling Commission

Review of the decision

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Information Management Team
Gambling Commission
Victoria Square House
Victoria Square
Birmingham B2 4BP