The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has approved the potential sharing of financial data with online gambling operators for proposed financial checks to ensure gamblers are making healthy financial choices.

It is estimated over £3 billion was spent on gambling between April 2022 and March 2023 alone, making it a massive industry, and potential problem, in the UK.

“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,” said Stephen Almond, Executive Director of Regulatory Risk at the ICO.

To combat irresponsible gambling practices among consumers, the ICO has proposed financial checks be done by gambling operators to warn users about spending too much or making unaffordable bets.

The transfer and sharing of personal financial data, however, needed to be investigated to see if it was compliant with the UK GDPR and Data Protection 2018 law.

In a letter to UK Finance, the ICO confirmed the data protection law does not stop gambling companies from conducting financial risk checks on customers, and that lenders can share people’s personal information – but stipulates this must be done transparently and proportionately.

Under the proposed safeguards the ICO is designing with the Gambling Commission, gambling companies would only be permitted to use personal information they receive solely for the purpose of financial risk checks. Customers will need to be told that checks on their financial health may be undertaken where they incur significant losses.

The ICO has also lent its support to plans for gambling companies to share information about customers identified as high risk who are gambling across multiple sites.

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In a report, the ICO set out its advice to the Betting and Gaming Council on the necessary safeguards required to share personal data between different operators.

“Data sharing can be a force for good, enabling organisations to protect people from gambling-related harm. We’ve been pleased to work with the Betting and Gaming Council through our Regulatory Sandbox to help them safeguard gamblers while upholding their rights to privacy,” Almond added.

Following the completion of the Sandbox pilot, the data-sharing project – known as GamProtect – will be implemented across the gambling industry with support from the Betting and Gaming Council.

While the ICO has said the sharing of financial data in these instances would be approved under the UK GDPR, they may need to come under review if the new Data Protection and Digital Rights Bill comes into affect. This bill is set to change certain regulations around data sharing and transfers, but is still undergoing legislative processes.