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Online operators in the UK must face new rules from The UK Gambling Commission ensuring safer and fairer online gambling.Operators must verify a customers age and identity quicker, which will be of more benefit to customers and operators alike.
New id Verification Guidelines
Initially, it could take up to 72 hours for operators to carry out verification checks. If a person was found to be underage and they had funds to withdraw, they would not be able until age verification had taken place.Under the new guidelines operators have to verify customers age before,
- They can deposit funds in to an account
- Gamble with the licensee with his or her own money or a free bet or bonus.
Further still, to protect underage gambling, the UKGC have insisted all customers are to be age verified before gaining access to any free games play within the site. Although the free games have no monetary value or gain, they should not be in any way played by underage customers.Back in 2018, the commission received 15% complaints about being treated unfairly by operators as they were asking for extra id verification before any withdrawals were granted.The new rulings require remote licenses to:
- Verify as a minimum, the name, address and date of birth of a customer before allowing them to gamble.
- Ask for additional Information as soon as possible.
- Make it clear to customers, before they can deposit funds what is required regarding id documentation or any other information that is required, and how it is supplied to the licensee.
- Make sure that the id information submitted from the customer remains accurate.
The new rules will help detect any criminal activity and also prevent complaints from customers that age verification checks are delaying their withdrawals, if the checks are done at the very beginning.
Self Excluded Players
Finally, the new rules will help detect players that are trying to gamble after self-excluding. If a player that has self excluded tries to give false information to open a new account this will flag up, the player will be unable to gamble until they provide the correct information. The information given will be checked against the operators database and also the self exclusion information held by Gamstop.The new rules are to come in to force on 7th May 2019.