Customer interaction rules in gambling

What the customer interaction rules in gambling say

Customer interaction is the regulator’s term for how a gambling business spots that someone may be at risk and then does something about it. The duty sits in social responsibility code 3.4.3 of the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice, so a failure is a breach of the operator’s licence. The text of LCCP 3.4.3 (opens in a new tab) frames it as three linked tasks: identify, act and evaluate, carried out continuously rather than once.

In plain English: the operator has to watch what is happening on your account from day one, step in when the pattern suggests harm, choose a response that fits the level of risk, and then check whether the response helped. It can’t outsource the responsibility; even when a third-party supplier runs part of the monitoring, the licensee stays accountable.

The customer interaction code paragraph by paragraph

The seven signs operators must look for

Paragraph 5 lists the indicators every operator has to use. The examples in the right-hand column are ours, to show what each might look like on a real account; each operator defines its own thresholds.

If any of these describe your own play, our page on the signs of problem gambling is a good next read, and the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 is free and open 24 hours a day.

How operators must act on signs of harm

Paragraph 9 requires action to be tailored to the number and level of indicators, escalating if earlier steps don’t work. A typical ladder looks like this, although each operator designs its own:

1. A tailored on-screen message or email with your spending and time figures and links to support.
2. A prompt to set or lower a deposit limit, or to take a time-out.
3. A conversation by phone or live chat about how your gambling is going.
4. Reducing or stopping marketing and preventing new bonuses.
5. Restricting the account, for example by applying limits, pending a review.
6. Ending the business relationship and closing the account.

For strong indicators of harm, paragraph 10 removes the discretion: marketing and new bonus take-up must stop. If your account has been limited, our guide to a restricted casino account explains the usual reasons and how to ask for a review.

Customer interaction in practice: a worked example

Take a player who has deposited about £25 a week for a year. Over one weekend they make seven deposits totalling £640, mostly between midnight and 4am, raise their deposit limit twice and message support asking why their withdrawal is slow. That is four indicators at once: spend, pattern of spend, time and use of tools.

Under the rules, an operator would be expected to flag this promptly, contact the player, stop any marketing and new bonuses if it treats the signs as strong, and consider limits or ending the relationship if the pattern continues. Separately, because net deposits have passed £150 in a rolling 30 days, the operator must also have run a public-record financial vulnerability check (opens in a new tab) unless one was done in the previous 12 months. That check looks at records such as bankruptcy and county court judgments; it is not a credit score. Our page on affordability checks explains why the Commission calls that term inaccurate and what is actually live.

Automated decisions and your right to contest them

Large operators use software to spot risk across thousands of accounts, and paragraph 11 accepts that: strong indicators must be acted on promptly through automated processes. But each automated decision must be reviewed by a person, and customers must be able to contest it. If an automatic block or limit has been applied and you think it is wrong, ask in writing for a manual review and for the reasons, as far as the operator can give them.

Vulnerability and the 2023 additions

From 31 October 2023 paragraphs 2 and 3 required operators to follow the Commission’s customer interaction guidance and to consider vulnerability factors, acting promptly when indicators of vulnerability appear. Vulnerability can be temporary, such as bereavement, illness or a sudden drop in income, and it doesn’t have to show up as unusual spending first. If something in your life makes gambling riskier right now, telling the operator, or using a time-out, gives it a reason to adjust. The gambling and mental health guide covers where to get support.

Related rules that work alongside customer interaction

• Financial vulnerability checks: public-record checks when net deposits pass £150 in a rolling 30 days, since 28 February 2025 (£500 from 30 August 2024).
• Deposit limit prompts: since 31 October 2025 you must be asked to set a financial limit before your first deposit; see the deposit limit rules.
• VIP checks: affordability, harm and source of funds checks before any high-value status; see the casino VIP scheme rules.
• Self-exclusion: account closure and marketing removal when you ask; see the self-exclusion rules.
• Marketing consent: opt-in per product and channel since 1 May 2025; see the marketing consent rules.

Credit-reference “financial risk assessments” were piloted from 30 August 2024 but are not live as of October 2026, and the white paper’s proposed £125 and £1,000 thresholds were never brought in.

Enforcement: fines for customer interaction failures

Customer interaction failures feature in most of the Commission’s recent penalties against online operators. A selection:

The Paddy Power Betfair settlement (opens in a new tab) and the Petfre settlement (opens in a new tab) set out what went wrong. Our tracker of Gambling Commission fines lists more.

What the customer interaction rules don’t do

• They don’t set fixed spending thresholds for intervention; each operator defines its own, apart from the separate £150 vulnerability check.
• They don’t entitle you to a refund of losses just because an operator missed signs, although failures can support a complaint.
• They don’t replace your own controls; deposit limits, reality checks and self-exclusion work faster than any monitoring system.
• They don’t apply to unlicensed offshore sites, which have no duty to look out for you at all.

What to do if an operator contacts you, or didn’t

1. If you get a safer gambling message or call, answer honestly; it is designed to help, not to catch you out.
2. Use the tools offered: a lower deposit limit, a time-out or self-exclusion.
3. If a limit or block was applied automatically and you disagree, ask for a manual review in writing.
4. If you were harmed and the operator didn’t act on clear signs, complain to it in writing with dates and amounts.
5. After eight weeks without resolution, take the complaint to the operator’s approved dispute service.
6. Report serious failings to the Gambling Commission, which uses reports to decide on regulatory action.

Our complaints and ADR page explains each stage. For support at any point, see free gambling support in the UK or our safer gambling hub.

Customer interaction rules timeline

See the 2020 to 2024 timeline and the UK casino rules index for the full picture.

18+. Gambling should be entertainment that costs money, not a way to make it. Set a deposit limit before you play: how to set deposit limits. Free, confidential help: National Gambling Helpline 0808 8020 133.