UK financial vulnerability checks

What UK financial vulnerability checks are

A financial vulnerability check is a look at publicly available records for signs that a customer may be in financial difficulty. The requirement is set out in licence condition LCCP 3.4.4 (opens in a new tab), part of the Gambling Commission's licence conditions and codes of practice, and it is one of the protections collected on our UK casino bonus rules hub. It applies to online gambling accounts held by customers in Great Britain.

The records involved are the kind that appear in official registers: bankruptcy, county court judgments (CCJs), individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs), debt relief orders (DROs) and similar markers. The check doesn't look at your salary, your bank statements or your credit score. It is designed to be light and quick, and for most customers it happens without them noticing anything at all.

The £150 trigger for financial vulnerability checks

The trigger is based on net deposits: the money you have paid in, minus what you have withdrawn, over any rolling 30-day window. When that figure passes £150, the operator must run the check. Between 30 August 2024 and 27 February 2025 the threshold was £500; it dropped to £150 on 28 February 2025.

Because the window rolls, there is no fixed month that resets. Each day the operator looks back 30 days. Some worked examples:

The threshold is a point at which the operator checks; it is not a limit on what you may deposit, and it says nothing about what is affordable for you. Your own budget may be well below or above it.

Why you may not be checked again for 12 months

The rule doesn't require a fresh check every time you cross the line. If a financial vulnerability check or a financial risk assessment was carried out in the previous 12 months, the operator doesn't have to repeat it at the threshold. In practice that means a regular customer who passes £150 net in several months of the year may only be checked once in that period by that operator.

Each operator runs its own checks on its own accounts. If you hold accounts with several companies, each one counts your deposits with it alone, which is one reason deposit limits you set yourself across every account are a more complete picture of your spending than any single operator's check.

What happens after a financial vulnerability check

For the large majority of customers, nothing visible happens: the records show no concerns and play carries on. Where the check does find a marker such as a recent bankruptcy or a debt relief order, the operator has to take it into account under its wider duty to spot and act on signs of harm. That duty is set out in the customer interaction rules, and the action must be timely and proportionate.

Depending on what the operator finds alongside your account history, you might experience some of the following:

1. The operator reviews the check result alongside your play, spending pattern and any contact you have had with it.
2. It may get in touch to ask about your circumstances or to point you to safer gambling tools.
3. It may ask for information about where your money comes from; see what is a source of funds check.
4. Where there are strong signs of harm, marketing and new promotions must stop, as explained in bonuses and harm indicators.
5. The operator may restrict or limit the account; our account restriction entry explains what that can mean.
6. Automated decisions on strong indicators need a manual review, and you can contest a decision you think is wrong.

If an account has been limited and you don't know why, why is my account restricted covers the usual reasons and how to ask.

Financial vulnerability checks are not affordability checks

The phrase 'affordability checks' is used widely in news coverage, but the Gambling Commission says it is inaccurate and that it has no plans for affordability checks. What exists today is the public-record financial vulnerability check described on this page. A second, more detailed type of check, the financial risk assessment, was tested in a pilot and has not been switched on.

The pilot ran under LCCP 3.4.6 (opens in a new tab) from 30 August 2024 to 31 March 2025, with the option to extend to 30 April 2025, using data from the three credit reference agencies Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. In its April 2026 update on the post-pilot analysis (opens in a new tab), the Commission reported that 97% of assessed customers were frictionless and that no consumer had had action taken against them on the basis of an assessment. As of October 2026 no decision has been made to bring the assessments in; the findings sit with the Commission's Board.

Our guide to how affordability checks affect bonuses looks at the wider debate.

White paper proposals that were never brought in

Much of the confusion comes from the government's 2023 gambling white paper, which floated a two-tier system: light checks at £125 net loss in a month or £500 in a year, and enhanced checks at £1,000 net loss in 24 hours or £2,000 in 90 days, with the figures halved for 18 to 24-year-olds. Those numbers were proposals only. They were never implemented, and articles that quote them as current rules are out of date.

Note also that the live rule counts net deposits, while the white paper talked about net losses. They are different measures: you can deposit £200 and lose nothing, or deposit £50 and lose all of it.

Why UK financial vulnerability checks were introduced

Operators already had a duty to look for signs of harm, but public-record markers of serious money trouble were not always picked up early. A check at a fairly low threshold gives the operator a basic piece of information soon after an account becomes active, without asking customers for documents. The Commission's financial risk checks update (opens in a new tab) sets out how the threshold was phased in from £500 to £150.

The approach also reflects a balance. A public-record check is quick and needs no paperwork, so it avoids the friction of asking every customer for payslips while still flagging the people most at risk of financial harm.

What UK financial vulnerability checks don't do

• They don't cap your spending. There is no rule that stops deposits at £150; the figure only triggers a check.
• They don't read your credit file. Credit-reference data was used only in the separate pilot, which is not live.
• They don't replace your own limits. Only you know your budget, and the financial limit prompt asks you to set one before your first deposit.
• They aren't the same as identity checks. Age and identity verification, covered under KYC rules, happen before you can deposit or play.
• They don't reach Northern Ireland. Commission rules apply in Great Britain; see Northern Ireland gambling law.

If your spending or a check result worries you

Being checked is not a sign that anyone thinks you have a problem; it is a routine step at a fixed threshold. But if you recognise yourself in the circumstances the check looks for, or gambling has started to affect money for bills or debts, help is free and confidential.

• National Gambling Helpline: 0808 8020 133, run by GamCare (opens in a new tab), free and open 24/7, with live chat and WhatsApp too. In Wales the NHS Wales Helpline is 0808 2819 265.
• NHS support: the NHS gambling addiction page (opens in a new tab) explains how to refer yourself to an NHS gambling clinic in England.
• Blocking tools: GAMSTOP for online self-exclusion, and card blocks from most banks; see the Barclays gambling block guide as one example.
• Peer support: Gamblers Anonymous runs meetings across England, Wales and Ulster.

Our safer gambling page brings these together, and the guides on how to self-exclude and bonuses and gambling harm cover the practical steps. The GAMSTOP rules page explains how the national scheme works.

Timeline of UK financial vulnerability checks

18+. Gambling should be entertainment that costs money, not a way to make it. Decide a budget before you play: set a budget. Free, confidential help: National Gambling Helpline 0808 8020 133.