Age, ID and financial verification

As a licensed bookmaker, we have an obligation to prove a customers age and identity before they gamble.

Why do I need to provide ID?

There are two main reasons why we may ask a customer to provide ID:
• To check you are old enough to gamble
• To confirm your identity.

Gambling businesses must be able to prove your age and identity before you gamble.

We can often match your account with existing information using a regulated third party. If this information is not enough you will be asked to provide copies of identification documents.

Anti Money Laundering checks are also completed as part of our on boarding process to meet the developing regulations set by the UK Gambling Commission.

What type of documents can I be asked to provide?

The documents we may ask you to provide include:
• Passports
• Driving licences
• Household bills.
• Bank Statements
• Proof of income and/or wealth

How long does it take to complete ID checks?

We cannot provide a timescale for ID checks as the length of the process varies.

If we can verify you electronically the process may be instant. If you are asked to provide documents it may take longer.

A customer cannot place a bet until they have been verified, so we try to verify customers as quickly as possible so that they can start gambling.

Why gambling businesses ask for selfies

In addition to the documents mentioned above, we may also ask you for a selfie.

For example, where there’s been identity theft and an account has been created using a persons details but that person isn’t controlling the account or doing the gambling.

If you’re not happy about the information you have been asked to provide, you’ll need to contact us directly and follow the complaints process.

 

Why we may ask about your finances

As part of our customer interaction requirements, the Gambling Commission challenge all gambling companies to know their customers inside out so we can provide the best possible service and ensure gambling in Great Britain is fair, safe and free of crime.

First and foremost, we want to keep crime and money laundering out of the gambling industry and do not want our customers falling into financial difficulties.

Gambling companies therefore use a variety of techniques to profile customers which can help to indicate that a customer is gambling with money they do not have. We may do so by going directly to customers or through a third party obtain the following:

Bank statements
To help check that your source of funds are legitimate, and as part of a gambling company’s anti-money laundering checks.

Income patterns
Aside from studying bank statements, we may also ask for information which may lead to irregular income patterns in your account, such as a pending house sale.

We may also look at appropriate deposit or loss thresholds based on your income. This is helped by using open source data and documentation provided by a customer to help us assess affordability and improve our risk assessments for customer interaction.

To further understand why we are required to do these checks, you can visit the UK Gambling Commission website.