UKGC: No ICO Talks on Customer Financial Data Sharing

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UKGC Confirms No Discussions with ICO on Direct Customer Data Submission

A Freedom of Information (FOI) response has revealed the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has not held discussions with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) about the data protection implications of customers directly providing financial documents to gambling operators.

The response clarifies that regulatory conversations have instead focused on a different method of data collection: operators obtaining financial risk information from third-party credit reference agencies.

Context: The Affordability Debate

This information is significant for UK consumers amid the ongoing implementation of the government's Gambling Act Review. A central pillar of the review is the introduction of 'financial risk checks' (previously known as affordability checks) to protect vulnerable customers.

Many consumers have expressed privacy concerns about being required to submit sensitive personal documents, such as bank statements and payslips, directly to betting companies to continue gambling. This FOI response sheds light on the extent to which this specific data-sharing process has been discussed between the gambling and data protection regulators.

Details of the FOI Request

The request, dated 28 July 2023, asked the UKGC for “all the documentation and discussion with the ICO around customers and individuals supplying financial details to bookmakers and betting companies.”

In its official response, the Commission stated: “I can confirm that no information is held by the Gambling Commission regarding discussions with the ICO around customers and individuals supplying financial details to bookmakers and betting companies.”

However, the UKGC provided a crucial distinction, adding:

“However, we have discussed betting companies obtaining financial risk information about customers from the finance sector, and specifically credit reference agencies.”

This confirms that while the direct submission of documents by customers was not a topic of discussion with the ICO, the alternative model of using data from credit reference agencies was.

Significance: A Focus on 'Frictionless' Checks

The disclosure indicates that the regulatory focus has been on the data protection aspects of so-called 'frictionless' checks. This model, favoured in the government's White Paper, involves operators using data from credit reference agencies to assess financial risk without requiring the customer to manually upload documents.

For consumers, this suggests that the primary path for future financial risk checks is intended to be through these less intrusive, automated systems. The lack of formal discussion with the ICO on the direct submission of documents could imply that this method is not seen as the long-term or primary solution for scaled-up checks. It highlights a clear divergence in the regulatory handling of two different methods for assessing customer financial situations.