UK Gambling Commission warns operators

Sami Kurvinen

Published on: 13 August 2026

3 minutes

The UK Gambling Commission has reminded online gambling operators, including UK slot sites, that customer identity checks must be carried out properly and at the right stage of the customer journey in a blog post on its site.

The regulator’s message is straightforward: operators should verify their customers’ identities when they open an account, rather than waiting until those customers want to withdraw their money.

Under existing rules, online gambling companies must verify that a customer is a real individual and that their full name, residential address, and date of birth match that person before they are allowed to gamble.

Why Identity Checks Matter

The Commission says its recent work has found examples where some operators have not been meeting these requirements effectively. In some cases, customers have been registered using only an initial, a nickname, a commercial address instead of a home address, or even a middle name instead of their first name.

These may appear to be minor details, but they can have serious consequences. Inaccurate or incomplete information can make it harder for operators to identify customers correctly and can interfere with important safeguards, including preventing underage gambling, identifying self-excluded customers and supporting anti-money-laundering and fraud controls.

The issue can also create problems for customers themselves. According to the Commission, people can become frustrated when they are allowed to register, deposit and gamble without problems, only to be asked for additional identity information when they later try to withdraw their winnings.

The Problem With Late Verification

The regulator says this should not happen when the information could reasonably have been requested and verified earlier. More than a quarter of the complaints received by the Commission’s Contact Centre relate to this area, while identity verification is also among the most common disputes referred to alternative dispute resolution providers.

The Commission’s financial risk assessment pilot also highlighted weaknesses in some registration processes. A small number of customers could not be matched with information held by credit reference agencies, and the Commission found that incomplete or inaccurate identity information was sometimes a contributing factor.

Another concern is the use of “fuzzy matching.” This is when systems are allowed to accept slightly different versions of a customer’s details, even when there is insufficient certainty that they belong to the same person. The Commission says operators need to be careful when relying on third-party verification providers and should not allow overly flexible matching to replace proper identity checks.

What Operators Need to Do

However, the Commission has made clear that it is not asking operators to carry out enhanced due diligence on every new customer. Instead, it expects them to be sufficiently thorough at registration to establish that they have verified a unique individual.

The message is therefore less about introducing a new rule and more about enforcing existing rules. Operators are being encouraged to review their registration and verification procedures, address weaknesses, and resolve unresolved identity concerns as early as possible.

For customers, the aim should be a simpler and more predictable experience. If identity checks are completed properly at the outset, there should be a lower likelihood of unexpected verification requests and withdrawal delays later.

The Gambling Commission says it will continue to monitor how operators respond. Companies that fail to meet the existing requirements could face compliance action.

In short, the regulator’s message is simple: get the customer’s identity right from the start, don’t rely on incomplete information, and don’t wait until withdrawal to fix problems that could have been dealt with when the account was opened.