UK Gambling Industry Favours Digital IDs
The UK gambling industry would be in favour of introducing digital IDs in an attempt to protect problem and at-risk gamblers, a recent 1account study shows. 100% of those surveyed thought digital IDs would benefit every gambler.
Gambling Industry Favours Digital IDs © Pixabay.
Stakeholders in the UK gambling industry would support digital IDs being introduced for customers who have accounts with more than one operator, according to research performed by 1account and would be needed in order to use the best payment methods for betting.
Digital ID, know your customer and age verification specialists 1account specialists 1account investigated the pros and cons of linking a digital ID to a player’s account and activity. Such a move would enable a view of the customer’s financial position and account balances. Also included would be their gambling history which would detail net gains and losses.
1account cited recent research by the UK regulator, the Gambling Commission, which found that the average bettor had at least three betting accounts. However, younger bettors tend to sign up to more operators, with five or more accounts being held by this group.
The majority of those who took part in the research believed a digital ID would give operators valuable insights into a player’s behaviour and would give a higher degree of assurance of a customer’s true identity, and, in turn, enhance their know your customer (KYC) practices.
Most respondents called for a feature that would alert operators when a customer has reached a particular milestone, for example, if a customer hits a net deposit threshold. This facility could be used in conjunction with education; For instance, GAMSTOP or self-help could be promoted to ensure safe gambling.
However, participants also expressed the need to be mindful of this data sharing with a fear of losing customers being bombarded with offers to gamble mentioned.
1account performed their consultation by holding face-to-face meetings and taking written evidence from online and offline gambling companies, industry regulators, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and gambling addiction support providers.
Ralph Topping, the former William Hill CEO, said: “The gambling industry in the UK takes its responsibilities to customers extremely seriously; however, they can only act on the information they themselves hold about a person’s activities.
“It’s clear to see that there’s a strong appetite for the use of digital ID in the gambling industry. It can protect regular, vulnerable or problem gamblers who hold player accounts across different operators both on and offline and also support operators in making responsible decisions on behalf of their customers,” he added.
In other gambling-related harm news, the Betting and Gaming Council has moved into the second phase of testing for their proposed single customer view.
In October, the trade body received the green light from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and is now ready to proceed to the next stage.
The ICO said: “The aim of the trial is to facilitate fast, proactive intervention and to prevent incidents of problem gambling.
“BGC and participating operators are committed to ensuring the personal data of customers is used in a proportionate and appropriate way to identify harm and welcomes the opportunity to explore these issues with the expert steer of the ICO.”
The UK regulator has lent its support for the trial, saying: “We will maintain regular engagement with the BGC and the ICO as this next phase progresses.
“We are keen to see how the industry proposes to meet the challenge we set in 2020 of achieving a reduction in gambling-related harms by taking a holistic view of customer activity across operators.
“We now look forward to the industry moving swiftly to pilot solutions and then working with them to evaluate the approach they have developed.”
