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Report

Open banking data modelling of gambling spend thresholds

This report sets out the results of an analysis of a sample of open banking data for the modelling of gambling spend thresholds

  1. Contents
  2. Data and model

Data and model

Open banking protocols enable individuals’ financial data to be shared between banks and third-party service providers.

In 2023, the Gambling Commission purchased a sample of open banking data from YouGov Finance. This dataset includes the details of banking transactions from 4000 individuals in Great Britain, each of whom have given their consent for their data to be used for research. It comprises over 12 million individual transactions, of which 253,916 are non-lottery gambling transactions, by 2034 unique gamblers. At least one year of transactions is available for each gambler, with an average of 966 days and a standard deviation of 222 days. The data spans the period up to August 2023.

The sample was designed to over-represent gamblers and it is not demographically representative. Certain groups, such as men, are over-represented. Others, such as those over 50 years old, are under-represented.

It is not possible to see exact wins or losses in this dataset, as there is no information about gambling account balances. Instead, net deposits to gambling brands over time (debit transactions minus credit transactions) is used as a proxy. Gambling transactions were identified by finding gambling brands and operators in the transaction descriptions. In total, 207 brands, associated with 65 unique operators were identified, including all the largest operators in Great Britain. However, it is possible that not all gambling transactions were identified.

As the exact time that each transaction took place is not available, we consider net spend by calendar day. Thresholds are calculated over one calendar day more than the consulted rolling period to account for transactions occurring either side of midnight. For example, the £1000 threshold is calculated over 2 calendar days and the £500 threshold is calculated over 366 days.

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Introduction - Open banking data modelling of gambling spend thresholds
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Results - Open banking data modelling of gambling spend thresholds
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