Casino customer funds protection: the rating line to find in the terms and six checks before you deposit

2026-10-27

This post does not pick a site. It covers only the customer funds rules in the UK Gambling Commission's documents and the order in which to find them in a site's terms.

1.Whose money is your balance?

The Commission's consumer guide opens by saying that money deposited with a gambling business is not protected by the Commission or the government (Commission consumer guide). There is no state scheme that pays you back the way a bank deposit scheme does.

What exists instead is licence condition 4.1.1. An online licensee that holds customer funds must keep them in a separate client bank account (licence condition 4.1.1).

Customer funds: deposits for future bets, winnings left on deposit and crystallised unpaid bonuses.

Money staked on a round that has not finished is not part of it. The guide says stakes in open bets are not treated as customer funds.

2.Six checks before you deposit

1)Is there a rating line in the terms?

Licence condition 4.2.1 requires the terms to state whether customer funds are protected in insolvency, at what level, and how (licence condition 4.2.1). The wording must follow the Commission's rating system and form.

Searching the terms for customer funds, insolvency or protection usually brings up the paragraph.

2)Did a confirmation step appear at your first deposit?

The same condition says the information must be given in writing at the first deposit, and the customer must not be able to gamble with the money until they acknowledge it. The first deposit after a change to the protection terms works the same way.

If betting opened straight away with no confirmation step, the deposit skipped a step the UK licence condition requires.

3)Does it only say "held separately"?

The ratings document makes plain segregation the minimum for online operators and labels it "not protected" (customer funds ratings). The account is separate, yet in insolvency the money forms part of the business's assets.

If the terms carry one line saying funds are kept apart from company money and no rating, read it as the lowest level.

4)If medium, what is the arrangement?

Medium means segregation plus an arrangement so that the money in the customer accounts is distributed to customers. The document gives Quistclose accounts and insurance, or an equivalent, as examples.

Even so, the example wording says there is no absolute guarantee that all funds will be repaid (example statements). Terms that name no arrangement fail the fourth check.

5)If high, are the trust and the overseer named?

High is a formal trust account, separate from the company in law and in practice. An independent trustee or an external auditor must verify and control it.

Look for the words trust account together with a named trustee or auditor.

6)If not protected, do the six-month reminders arrive?

Paragraph 3 of 4.2.1 makes an operator that chose a not protected rating remind each customer every six months, stating the customer's balance. The money cannot be used for gambling until that reminder is acknowledged.

The guide says the rule applies from 31 October 2025, and the first reminder is due within six months of that date. If your money has sat in an account for more than half a year and no such reminder has appeared, go back and find the rating in the terms.

3.Other regulators, and Korea

The Malta Gaming Authority says player funds must be kept segregated and separately identifiable at all times, and that it can view the common account (MGA FAQ). That page has no rating that must be shown to the player, as the UK has.

Korea has no online casino licence, so there is no rating rule either. Article 246 of the Criminal Act makes gambling an offence.

There is one neighbouring rule. Korea's Virtual Asset User Protection Act makes exchanges keep user deposits apart from their own assets and place them with a bank, and if an exchange goes bankrupt the bank pays users first (Financial Services Commission, 2023-12-11). It took effect on 19 July 2024.

That law binds registered Korean virtual asset businesses. Money sent from an exchange to an overseas site leaves that protection behind.

4.If the site shuts down

If a site with a not protected rating becomes insolvent, the account balance is classed as part of the company's assets, and the guide says you would likely lose it.

A UK operator may also hold the money in overseas bank accounts. The guide explains that what applies to the customer is still the rating in the terms.

The Commission's advice is that anyone unhappy using a not protected business should consider promptly withdrawing the money and whether to keep the account. Other ways money comes back, apart from insolvency, are covered in baccarat site refunds.

5.One-line answer

Before pressing deposit, find the one rating word in the terms; if it is not there, treat the balance as money that sits with the company.

Hiddenpick is a Windows program that keeps on its server the betting rules that pick owners do not make public, and runs them as they are on the PC of the person who received them through a referral code. It currently runs on Evolution live baccarat at Stake (stake.com). The program does not hold anyone's betting balance, which stays in the site account, and what the program does is set out in the baccarat betting program guide.

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