"Affordability check" isn't a term the UK rules use. Two different checks sit behind it. The one already in force is the financial vulnerability check: since 28 February 2025, an online gambling business has to run a public-record check on you once your deposits minus withdrawals pass £150 in a rolling 30 days. The second, the Financial Risk Assessment, uses credit reference data for the highest spenders; the Gambling Commission announced on 7 July 2026 that it will bring it in, but hasn't set a start date. Our guides hub covers the other UK rules for players.0106
We read the Gambling Commission's licence conditions, its 2024 consultation response, its July 2026 announcement and its 5 November 2026 CEO Briefing speech on 9 November 2026. On the same day we read what four UK-licensed operators we track tell customers about these checks: William Hill, Unibet, Ladbrokes and Midnite. We haven't been through a check ourselves, and this guide isn't legal or financial advice.0103060811161721
The check that's already in force
Social Responsibility code 3.4.4 of the Commission's licence conditions, in force from 30 August 2024, applies to remote licences, meaning online and phone gambling, with exceptions such as remote lotteries that offer no instant-win or high-frequency games. It doesn't apply to betting shops. It requires:01
Element | What code 3.4.4 says |
|---|---|
When | Your "deposits minus withdrawals exceeds £150 in a rolling 30-day period" (from 28 February 2025; £500 from 30 August 2024 to 27 February 2025) |
What is checked | "a customer-specific public record information check": bankruptcy orders, county court judgments (CCJs), individual voluntary arrangements, high court judgments, administration orders, Debt Relief Orders or equivalents |
What the business does with it | Considers it with everything else it knows about you, takes "proportionate action when risk is identified" and records why |
Automated decisions | The business needs a policy on when decisions are manual or automated; a fully automated route has to offer you a manual review where action is taken |
Repeat checks | Not required again if the same business ran a financial vulnerability check or a Financial Risk Assessment on you in the previous 12 months |
The check uses public records only. When it set the rule, the Commission dropped a proposal to use your postcode or job title, and it said the check doesn't affect your credit score, though "the fact of the check may be visible to a customer when they check their own credit score" if a third-party provider runs it. It estimated that around 20 percent of active customer accounts would be checked.03
A flag doesn't mean a closed account. In its consultation response, last updated on 13 June 2024, the Commission wrote that "it is not assumed that the preferred action is to immediately take steps to prevent gambling or to cease the customer relationship entirely", and that where a CCJ is the only flag, no action may be appropriate. Deposit limits, or limits set on your behalf, are the examples it gives.03
The financial check sits on top of the general customer-interaction rule, code 3.4.3, most of it in force since 12 September 2022. It makes every online business monitor your account from the day you open it, using indicators that must include "customer spend", "patterns of spend", "time spent gambling" and "use of gambling management tools". Where harm is identified, the business has to act, and the actions can run from "tailored action at lower levels of indicators of harm" up to "ending the business relationship where necessary". Where the business acts on strong indicators of harm through automated processes, it must review each case manually and let you contest the decision.02
Financial Risk Assessments: decided, not yet live
A Financial Risk Assessment gives a gambling business "access to limited credit reference data for the first time", in the words of Helen Rhodes, the Commission's Director of Major Policy Projects and Evaluation, on 7 July 2026. The aim is to find high-spending customers in current financial difficulty, judged by defaults and "multiple/significant arrears". The Commission says the assessment won't affect your credit rating and the data "must not be used for any commercial purposes".07
The thresholds come in stages:0607
Stage | Aged 25 and over | Under 25 and other high-risk groups |
|---|---|---|
Stage 1 (largest operators first) | More than £5,000 net deposits in a rolling 24 hours ("For most", the Commission says) | More than £2,500 net deposits in a rolling 24 hours |
Interim stages | Not yet set | Not yet set |
Final stage | More than £1,000 in a rolling 24 hours, or more than £3,000 in a rolling 90 days | More than £750 in a rolling 24 hours, or more than £2,000 in a rolling 90 days |
The Commission's figures from its pilot: 97 percent of accounts spending above the thresholds could be assessed "easily and frictionlessly"; fewer than 3 percent of accounts would need an assessment at all; fewer than 1 in 1,000 would need one and couldn't get it without friction. For those, it says, the business has to verify identity properly and "may have to assess financial risk through other means such as open banking or requesting documents". The Commission names people who have recently moved to Britain or changed their name or address, and says some customers in the pilot hadn't had their identity verified properly by the operator.0607
There's no start date. Helen Rhodes's July blog said the Stage 1 date "will be confirmed in the formal consultation response document"; the news release said the Commission "will confirm the timetable for stage one" after working with implementation groups. On 5 November 2026, acting chief executive Sarah Gardner told the CEO Briefing that the Commission was "finalising the consultation response for publication in the coming weeks". On 9 November 2026, the Commission's list of upcoming licence-condition changes (its September 2026 update) carried no Financial Risk Assessment provision. The only licence conditions dedicated to these assessments are 3.4.6 and 3.4.7, which cover the 2024–25 pilot and its analysis phase. During the early stages of roll-out, the Commission has also said it will take no enforcement action against a business for failing to act after an assessment, as long as existing requirements are met.070809040506
What four UK operators tell customers
We searched the help centres and terms of the seven UK-licensed operators we track on 9 November 2026. Four loaded with their text. None of the pages we read uses the terms "financial vulnerability check" or "Financial Risk Assessment". What they describe instead are their own limits and document requests:11121314161719202122
Operator | What it calls the check | Data it says it uses | What it may ask you for | If you don't provide it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
"Affordability Checks"; "Source of Funds"; a monthly net deposit limit on new accounts | Information shared with third parties; "won't affect your credit score in any way but may appear as a search on your credit file" | P60, 3 months' wage slips or bank statements, tax return; an occupation and salary form | "a temporary suspension will be applied to your account", including withdrawals | |
A monthly "Net Deposit Limit Cap on every player account" | "publicly available information and data from TransUnion, a third-party credit reference agency" | ID, proof of payment method, 3 months' payslips or P60 to raise the cap | The cap stays; you can't raise or remove it yourself | |
"source of funds check" | Open Banking through TransUnion, or a form and documents | Bank statements, payslips, tax return, proof of inheritance, property sale or dividends | "we may apply certain restrictions on your account" after 28 days | |
Deposit and loss limits "Set by us"; source of funds | Its terms (6.4) allow sharing your details with credit reference agencies "for use in identification and credit checks" | Bank or savings statements, proof of earnings, employment documents | "your account may be temporarily restricted or suspended" |
Some details matter more than the table can show:1213151617181921
William Hill says "We only request documents in exceptional circumstances" and that over the last year this was "around 2% of William Hill customers". Its new-customer limit counts deposits minus withdrawals over a rolling 30 days; you can lower it at any time, but raising it needs "documentation to establish that you can afford to spend at your desired levels". Clause 5.1 of its UK terms (dated 30 September 2026) lists "affordability and financial wellbeing" among the reasons for its Verification Checks, and 5.4 lets it stop withdrawals until they're done.
Unibet says its cap applies across all your accounts with its other brands, doesn't affect your credit score, and can be raised only after an affordability review: "The maximum we allow is 30% of your average monthly income." Its help centre also describes a behaviour-monitoring tool that can set "Customer-tailored deposit or loss limits".
Ladbrokes gives 28 days to send documents and says review takes "2 - 3 business days". A limit "may apply across all Entain companies and brands"; the page lists 13 sites, Coral and Gala among them. Clause 6.4 of its UK terms mentions "external credit/affordability checks" when you open an account.
Midnite says its own deposit and loss limits work on a rolling window (for the loss limit, "typically the last 30 days"), and that they're "mandatory": the loss limit "can't be changed or removed" and the deposit limit "can't be changed or turned off". Its source-of-funds page says the checks "Are required by the UK Gambling Commission" and are triggered at "certain deposit or withdrawal thresholds", without naming the thresholds.
bet365 and Betfair returned errors on every page we tried, and Betway's UK site was unavailable, so we couldn't re-read them on 9 November.
Where the rules and the operators part ways
Code 3.4.4 asks for a public-record check, not your documents. The payslips and bank statements in the table come from the operators' own policies and other duties. Ladbrokes and Midnite tie their source-of-funds requests to confirming where money comes from, and Unibet cites the "European Anti-Money Laundering Directive". The Commission says Financial Risk Assessments will reduce "reliance on the document checks that some operators currently use to seek to identify financial risk and that are unpopular with many consumers".0116172106
Withdrawals are the other tension. The Commission's player page says "You can withdraw your money at any time without unreasonable delay or restriction", and also that you "may be stopped from withdrawing" if unusual activity is spotted. William Hill's terms and source-of-funds page both allow withdrawals to be restricted until a check is complete. If that happens to you, ask the operator in writing which check is open and what it needs, then use its complaints process. Our guide to complaining about William Hill and IBAS shows how that works for one UK operator, and what the Gambling Commission does for players covers what the regulator can and can't do.101315
What our operator cards show
The seven UK operator cards on BullsRank hold 66 current, sourced facts (SELECT on 9 November 2026 at 09:59 UTC). None of them is a fact about affordability or financial checks. Two come close. Betfair's terms, read on 23 September 2026, said new UK customers "may deposit up to £1,500 within the first 30 days following registration" and can't withdraw until fully verified; we couldn't re-read that page on 9 November. Midnite's verification line, read on 21 September 2026, says checks may repeat "where particular financial thresholds are reached". The help-centre pages above, read on 9 November 2026, are not yet on the cards.
The four operators' UK licences were all Active on the Commission's register on 9 November 2026: WHG (International) Limited, account 39225; Platinum Gaming Limited (Unibet), account 45322; LC International Limited (Ladbrokes), account 54743; Midnite Limited, account 101839.23
What we couldn't check
Which check an operator ran on you. None of the four help centres says whether its "affordability check" is the code 3.4.4 public-record check or something of its own.
The thresholds operators use. William Hill, Unibet and Midnite don't publish the starting amount of the limits they set, and Ladbrokes and Midnite don't publish the spend that triggers a source-of-funds request.
When Financial Risk Assessments start. The Commission hadn't published its consultation response by 9 November 2026.
