UKGC Can't Quantify Under-25 Gambling Complaints

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A Freedom of Information (FOI) request has revealed that the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) is unable to provide specific data on the number of complaints it has received concerning gambling by individuals under the age of 25.

In its response to a request dated 29 April 2025, the regulator stated that retrieving the information would exceed the cost and time limits stipulated by the Freedom of Information Act. This highlights a potential gap in the Commission's ability to easily monitor and analyse trends affecting one of the most vulnerable groups of gamblers.

The Request and The Refusal

The FOI request sought three specific pieces of information for the period between 2019 and 2024:

1. The number of complaints or reports received involving gambling by individuals under 25.
2. Enforcement actions taken against companies for targeting or facilitating gambling among 18-25s.
3. Internal UKGC risk assessments or reports concerning gambling-related harm among young men.

While the UKGC acknowledged it records information from consumers, it explained that it does not have a specific category for complaints related to under-25s. Instead, details are logged in a 'free text' field. Consequently, identifying the relevant complaints would require a manual review of a "large number of records."

The Commission invoked Section 12 of the FOIA, which allows public authorities to refuse requests where the cost of compliance would exceed £450, equivalent to 18 hours of staff time. This indicates that while the data may exist within their system, it is not structured in a way that makes it readily accessible for analysis.

For the other parts of the request, the UKGC directed the requester to its publicly available information. It pointed to its published public statements for enforcement actions and its general statistics and research for data on different age ranges, rather than providing a compiled list specific to the 18-25 age group.

Why This Matters for Consumers

The Gambling Commission's primary role is to ensure gambling is fair and safe. A key part of this function involves using intelligence, including consumer complaints, to understand industry practices and identify potential harms. Young adults aged 18-24 are consistently identified in research as being at a higher risk of experiencing gambling-related harm.

The inability of the regulator to easily search and quantify complaints related to this specific demographic raises questions about its capacity to proactively spot trends and target regulatory interventions. If data on operator conduct towards young people is difficult to extract and analyse, it could hinder efforts to hold companies accountable for failings in player protection for this group.

While the Commission states that all information received helps to "build a picture of the gambling industry," this response suggests that the picture concerning young adults may be less detailed than is necessary for effective oversight. For consumers, it underscores a lack of transparency around a critical area of player protection.