The UK Gambling Commission has shared new details about how online betting companies limit customer accounts. Using data from almost 15 million users, the review shows how often these restrictions happen and the types of measures used by operators.
Why Did the Commission Do This Review?
The Commission gathered this data from some of the largest online betting companies to understand how they manage risk. While betting companies are allowed to protect their businesses, the regulator wants to make sure that these practices are fair and that customers know what to expect.
Out of 14,923,840 active accounts, around 643,779 were restricted. This means 4.31% of all accounts had some form of limitation. These included:
- Reduced betting limits
- Account closures
- Complete bans on betting
The number of restricted accounts varied by operator, depending on their business model and risk policies. It’s also important to note that many customers have multiple accounts, so the number of people affected may be lower than the total restricted accounts.
Types of Restrictions Used
The most common restriction was stake factoring reducing how much a person can bet. This applied to 2.68% of all accounts, making up 62% of all restricted accounts. In many cases, this was the only action taken against those users.
Account closures came next, affecting 2.23% of accounts. Most closures happened after a player first experienced stake limits.
Some companies also applied a “zero-stake limit” blocking bets completely without formally closing the account. This happened to 0.83% of users.
Restrictions on specific markets, like horse racing, were very rare, only affecting 0.25% of accounts.
How Severe Were These Stake Limits?
The Commission looked at how strict these limits were. Among those who had stake limits:
- 6.04% could still bet 90–99% of the normal amount.
- 7.50% could bet 50–89%.
- 29.43% were cut to 10–49%.
- 36.22% could only bet 1–9%.
- 22.41% had limits of less than 1%.
This shows that while some players faced small limits, others were nearly completely blocked from betting.
Who Gets Restricted the Most?
Interestingly, profitable bettors were far more likely to be restricted.
- 25.42% of all players were in profit overall.
- But 46.78% of restricted players had made a profit.
Meanwhile, 72.54% of all users lost money, compared to 51.29% of restricted players. This means operators are more likely to restrict winning customers than losing ones.
Also Read: Hong Kong To Launch Legal Basketball Betting By 2026
