68% of UK Bettors Believe Bookmakers Use Checks to Delay Payouts

^{Bettor frustrated by delayed payouts and unclear bookmaker check timelines / © Shutterstock}

A total of 68% of UK bettors believe bookmakers may use anti-money laundering and responsible gambling checks as a pretext to delay payouts or void winning bets, according to a survey by GamblingNews.uk.

The study included 316 respondents*. A total of 215 participants agreed that operators could potentially misuse verification procedures.

Another 76 respondents, or 24%, said they considered unlicensed platforms more reliable than regulated UK bookmakers when it comes to paying out winnings.

The study’s authors included prediction market platforms Polymarket and Kalshi among such services, as well as gambling operators that are not connected to the UK self-exclusion system GAMSTOP.

Meanwhile, 98 respondents, or 31%, said they had placed bets on offshore gambling platforms within the past 12 months.

UK bookmakers are required to review customers’ financial activity as part of anti-money laundering obligations and measures aimed at protecting users showing signs of gambling-related harm. Additional checks may be triggered, for example, after a large deposit or a sudden increase in betting activity. Operators may request documents confirming a customer’s identity and the source of funds.

Players’ concerns are linked to the fact that bookmakers can restrict account access and suspend withdrawals during such checks without providing clear timelines for completing the process.

At the same time, bookmakers do not always fully comply with regulatory requirements. Recent reviews by UK authorities have identified shortcomings among operators in areas including anti-money laundering controls, financial risk assessments and interactions with customers showing signs of potential gambling harm. Around a quarter of the companies reviewed failed to receive a satisfactory assessment.

* The sample size allows the distribution of opinions among participants to be assessed. However, GamblingNews.uk did not disclose the respondent selection method, so the representativeness of the results cannot be confirmed.