A significant portion of betting customers who face commercial restrictions from operators are actually winning players, according to fresh data released by the Gambling Commission.
The regulator’s review of nearly 15 million active accounts from major online sports betting firms revealed that 46.8% of customers subjected to restrictions were in profit—almost double the 25.4% of profitable users among the general betting population.
This insight stems from a data request issued in early 2025 to top operators, covering a total of 14,923,840 customer accounts. Of these, 643,779 accounts – roughly 4.31% – were restricted in some capacity.
The figures offer the most detailed look yet into how and why betting companies impose commercial limits on certain users.
Gambling Commission CEO Andrew Rhodes stated, “As outlined in the Gambling White Paper, operators have the right to protect their commercial interests and manage financial exposure. It’s not within our remit to determine how they handle such matters.”
The most frequently used restriction was reducing the maximum allowable stake, applied to 2.7% of all active users and 62.2% of restricted accounts. Commercial account closures were the second most common action, impacting 2.2% of total users.
Rhodes added that understanding these practices is essential for effective regulation: “As I noted in my 2024 CEO Briefing, greater clarity around commercial restrictions is necessary to evaluate how the market truly operates.”
The data also highlighted major differences in how operators limit stake sizes. Among those restricted, 22.4% were capped at 0–1% of standard stake levels, while 36.2% could only wager between 1 – 9%.
Although the Commission emphasized this research does not reflect a shift in policy, it did acknowledge the risks involved. These include the potential for affected users to turn to unregulated gambling sites.
Rhodes concluded:
It is not in our remit to mandate how operators handle their commercial liabilities, but we do have a statutory responsibility to ensure that gambling is conducted in a fair and open manner, to understand potential drivers of illegal gambling, and to ensure that industry practices are not having an adverse impact on the effectiveness of regulation.