It's how it should be done ages ago. Definitely a step in the right direction.
Where did you read about it?
https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/news-action-and-statistics/news/2018/Have-your-say-age-and-identity-verification.aspx
Its at proposal stage and is expected next year.
The full consultation is at the bottom of this page.
https://consult.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/author/age-and-identity-verification/
n March 2018 we published our
Review of online gambling. It set out several policy recommendations and areas of further work. Two of those recommendations were to strengthen the existing requirements to verify a customer’s age and identity.
The review outlined the following specific proposals for consultation, to amend our Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP):
- Requiring remote licensees to verify the age of all remote gambling customers before they can deposit money or gamble, and also before they can access play-for-free versions of gambling games that licensees make available on their websites
- Requiring remote licensees to verify more information about their customers at an earlier stage in the relationship, to ensure they are better equipped to reduce the risks to the licensing objectives.
We also intend to consult at a later date on proposals that would mean licensees have to
set limits on customers’ gambling activity which can only be changed once the licensee has verified further information about the customer. The purpose of this is to reduce the risk of gambling-related harm. Information the licensee could seek to verify might, for example, include:
- financial indicators to assess whether a customer can afford their current levels of gambling - this could be with reference to customer-specific data such as their credit profile information, or more generic sources such as postcode deprivation indices
- behavioural indicators such as time spent or intensity of gambling, which the licensee can monitor from the start of the customer relationship
- problem gambling self-assessment screens completed by the customers.
This information could inform the licensee’s decision whether to relax or retain the original account limits.
At this stage, we are not consulting on introducing a specific licence condition or code about account limits. But, as part of this consultation, we are asking for any
information or evidence of good practice that helps licensees and customers to ensure gambling remains fair and safe. We are interested in information about existing practice, current plans and what may be possible in future. This is an opportunity for respondents to influence any future specific proposals.
This consultation is relevant to all
remote gaming and betting licensees, and we encourage any licensee or prospective licensees to share their views along with any supporting evidence or insight. We are also keen to hear from
identity verification solution providers, in particular where they can provide details of technological and information capabilities.
Our proposals might also affect a very small number of
society lotteries and external lottery managers – those who enable customers to participate in online ‘instant win’ or digital scratchcard games. We have engaged with the lottery licensees that we think will be affected and welcome formal responses from them.
We also welcome responses from
gambling customers or those impacted by gambling. For example, we are interested in customers’ views about the kinds of personal information that gambling licensees should ask for and review to keep gambling fair and safe.
We intend to bring resulting changes to licence conditions and codes into effect in
April 2019.
Linking Accounts