UK Gambling Commission data on betting account restrictions

In 2025 the Gambling Commission, Great Britain's gambling regulator, asked some of the largest online betting operators how often they restrict customer accounts for commercial reasons. Across almost 15 million accounts that bet during 2024, 4.31% had some form of restriction, and restricted customers were far more likely to be in profit than customers overall.^[1]

What was measured

The request went out in early 2025 to "some of the largest online real-event betting providers." It counted active accounts: any account that placed at least one bet between January 1 and December 31, 2024, including accounts closed in that period or since. That came to 14,923,840 accounts.^[1]

"Commercial restrictions" are restrictions an operator applies for its own business reasons, as opposed to safer-gambling or anti-money-laundering measures.

The headline numbers

643,779 accounts, or 4.31% of active accounts, were restricted in some way. Because an account can carry more than one restriction, the categories below overlap.^[1]

Other kinds of restriction were "not used or used very sparingly."^[1]

How severe stake factoring was

Among stake-factored accounts, most could bet only a small fraction of the normal maximum:^[1]

Roughly 58% of stake-factored accounts could bet less than a tenth of the normal maximum.

Who gets restricted

The Commission compared lifetime results (settled bets only). 46.78% of restricted customers were in profit, against 25.42% of all active customers. 51.29% of restricted customers were in loss, against 72.54% of all active customers.^[1]

That's consistent with restrictions falling disproportionately on winning bettors, though the data doesn't show what triggered any individual restriction.

What the Commission concluded

• It is "not within our regulatory remit to mandate how individual operators manage their commercial liabilities," and the data request "should not be seen as a change in our position."
• Rates varied significantly between operators, and account counts "should not be equated with number of people impacted."
• Operators may make commercial decisions as long as they don't discriminate on protected characteristics. Being a successful bettor isn't a protected characteristic.
• It is concerned that restrictions could push customers to illegal operators or encourage multiple accounts.
• It plans to engage further with industry, explore better transparency, and expects operators to tell customers about restrictions before they deposit or bet, and to say so where severe restriction is part of their business model.^[1]

What it means if you use betting software

• Restrictions are concentrated on winners. If a +EV or arbitrage tool works for you, expect some accounts to be stake-factored or closed.
• "Restricted" usually means severely. Most stake-factored accounts were cut to under a tenth of normal limits, which can make an account useless for software-driven betting.
• The regulator won't stop it. In Great Britain, this is treated as a commercial decision. Budget for losing access to some sportsbooks over time, and never try to get around restrictions with additional or borrowed accounts; that breaches operator terms.