Privacy watchdog backs plans allowing financial data to be shared with gambling firms

The legal basis for one of the key aspects of proposals to introduce affordability checks on punters has been given the backing of Britain's privacy and data watchdog.

Data protection law does not stop gambling companies from conducting the so-called financial risk checks, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has said, while banks can share people’s personal information as long as it is done "transparently and proportionately". 

The introduction of checks was among the proposals set out by the government in its gambling review white paper in April.

What were described as "background checks" would take place at thresholds of a £125 net loss within a month or £500 within a year, while a second enhanced tier of checks would come in at proposed thresholds of a £1,000 net loss within 24 hours or £2,000 within 90 days.

Ministers claimed the checks would be "frictionless", adding they would be conducted through credit reference agencies (CRAs) or open banking, with requests for documents used only as a last resort. 

The ICO's executive director of regulatory risk Stephen Almond said: "Problem gambling has devastating consequences for people’s finances, relationships and health. We are keen to see the financial sector share data to protect people from unaffordable losses and spiralling debt."

The Gambling Commission welcomed the news, describing it as an "important step" before the publication this month of its consultation on affordability checks.

The Gambling Commission welcomed news of financial risk check backing by the privacy and data watchdog

The ICO said it had been working with the Gambling Commission on the design of privacy safeguards for the checks, adding that operators will be permitted to use the personal information they receive solely for that purpose. 

Customers will also need to be told in advance that checks might take place if they incur "significant losses".

In a letter sent this week to UK Finance, Almond responded to a request for "a steer" from the financial industry body regarding the sharing of credit risk data by CRAs with gambling operators. 

Almond said it was the ICO's view that GDPR does allow the sharing of such information for enabling checks but the information "must be limited to what is necessary". 

He added that gambling companies must safeguard any additional personal information they receive from CRAs "and use it only for the purposes of carrying out the financial risk checks". 

Almond said that only the personal data of the person wishing to gamble should be processed and not that of their "financial associates" (someone with whom they have a credit agreement such as a mortgage). Additionally, the use of data by gambling operators for commercial gain would be "strictly outside of the purposes for which the data is being shared".

The ICO has also given its support to plans for gambling companies to share information about customers identified as high risk who are gambling across multiple sites, also known as the single customer view (SCV).

Trials of an SCV solution have been carried out under the auspices of the Betting and Gaming Council.

Punters have been suspicious of the SCV concept fearing it might lead to more account restrictions and closures, although the government said in the white paper that it did not believe the creation of a wider database of customers was justified given the privacy implications for those who gamble with no ill effect.

The ICO has set out its advice to the BGC on the necessary safeguards required to share personal data between different operators and said that following the completion of the pilot the data-sharing project – now known as GamProtect – will be implemented across the gambling industry.

Almond added: "Data sharing can be a force for good, enabling organisations to protect people from gambling-related harm."

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