The online casino industry is positively booming at the present time. While the vast majority of players frequenting such sites are of legal age, there are unfortunately a minority of underage gamblers who try to game the system as well. This is not only hugely damaging for the youngsters in question, but can also incur monumental fines and penalties for any online casino operator found to tolerate such behaviour.
With that in mind, it’s in the best interests of everyone involved to root out underage gamblers before they are even allowed to open an account on your site. Fortunately, there are now a number of strategies and technological solutions which make verifying a customer’s age and identity easier for site owners. Here are a handful of the most effective.
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Leverage technology
In today’s modern world, where a substantial proportion of our transactions are conducted online, the importance of know your customer (KYC) protocols is greater than ever. Fortunately, there is now a raft of technological tools which can help to identify underage players through robust identity verification protocols. One of the main strategies used to achieve this is automated document checks, whereby customers are asked to upload images of their ID. Another is Liveness detection, which uses facial recognition to make sure a person is who they say they are.
Educate adults
Most underage gamblers access online casinos through devices or data purloined from their parents or guardians. As such, an effective means of minimising the risk of this happening is by going straight to the source and educating adults on how they can supervise their children. This could include activating parental controls on internet search engines, as well as creating separate user accounts for all devices and restricting access to sensitive info (such as credit card details) on those used by children.
Every country will have its own governing body when it comes to regulating online gambling activity. For example, in the UK, that responsibility falls to the Gambling Commission, while in the USA, it can vary from state to state. Find out which authority you answer to and work with them to understand the best practices for keeping underage gamblers off your site. Not only will you learn tips and techniques, but you’ll also demonstrate your willingness to cooperate.
Report suspicious behaviour
Last but not least, it’s not sufficient to simply implement systems capable of recognizing potential red flags and blocking suspicious clients from using your site. You must also share your intel with the relevant authorities so that action can be taken to prevent the underage individual from simply trying their luck on another site. This could involve freezing the account of the adult or guardian they are impersonating, blocking credit cards or simply putting other online casino operators on alert that underage activity is afoot.
No one wants to see underage gamblers accessing online casinos and endangering both themselves and the site operators in the process. Take every precaution you can to ensure this does not happen on your domain.
