3 Considerations for Gambling Operators – Have you had your say?

A 3-point consideration guide for Gambling Operators – how do you mitigate risk to the objectives of the LCCP but remain ahead of the game.

The Gambling Commission (UKGC) are currently in consultation on age verification in respect of remote gambling and betting licences and time will run out to have your say on 27 November 2018.

So why are the UKGC Consulting?

To reduce the risk of gambling related harm and to prevent crime within the gambling industry whilst achieving a fair and reasonable approach so as not to burden operators or estrange good and responsible customers beyond what is necessary to ensure the same.

But how can we influence this?

CONSIDERATION NUMBER 1… Be Pragmatic

The UKGC take a refreshingly pragmatic approach by focusing on ‘Outcomes’ rather than ‘Outputs’, which should be music to Operators’ ears. Jumping through hoops for ‘regulations sake’ can be nothing but counterintuitive to the desired end result and it’s fantastic that a regulator recognises this. The consultation contains a number of proposals that remove ‘prescriptive’ wording that might have previously prevented an Operator from taking an outcome focussed approach.

To ensure gambling remains fair and safe we shouldn’t accept outdated identity and age verification methods and instead must ask ‘are the customers we deal with who they say they are?’ to close the gap on this identity challenge.

CONSIDERATION NUMBER 2… Be Robust

Bolstering the principle of fair, safe and responsible gambling is paramount and is proposed to be achieved by requiring the independent verification of customers’ age prior to gambling and the implementation of regular ID checks to ensure the information that Operators hold and on which decisions have been made, remains accurate. As an industry we should ask ourselves whether traditional methods actually provide this?

We need to be confident that we verify (a) that we are dealing with a real person, (b) that they are over the age of 18, (c) that they reside in the UK, and, foremost, (d) is the person at the end of the device the person they are declaring themselves to be!

CONSIDERATION NUMBER 3… Be cutting-edge

The consultation proposes that reviews of age verification systems and the implementation of improvements should be made as technology advances and information improves.  This should be exhilarating for our industry as both the effectiveness and efficiency of such checks can be vastly improved by moving away from traditional and outdated methods.

Whilst achieving the desired outcomes of the LCCP and providing the robust identity solution that fair and safe gambling requires, Acuant Identity’s Alternative and Social Data is cutting-edge. It allows Operators to embrace technological advances that provide an inexpensive, frictionless and vigorous solution to their identity and age verification obligations.

We have been in talks with many stakeholders in respect of the above and are confident that the proposed changes to the LCCP are going to allow the industry to make significant improvements to processes.