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Gambling businesses must make sure you are legally allowed to gamble. They will need to prove your are who you say you are and your age.
Published: 23 September 2020
Last updated: 13 April 2022
This version was printed or saved on: 1 May 2024
Online version: https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/public-and-players/guide/age-and-id-verification
Overview:
Our rules say that a gambling business can't ask you to prove your age and identity as a condition of withdrawing your money if they could have asked you at an earlier point. However, there may be occasions where a gambling business can only ask you for information at that time in order to fulfil legal obligations.
If a gambling business needs more information before you can withdraw your funds, for example, for anti-money laundering checks, then they should ask promptly and not only when you want to withdraw your funds.
Where a gambling business delays a request to withdraw funds due to insufficient ID, they may be in breach of Licence Condition 17 – Customer identity verification and may be subject to regulatory action.
There are three main reasons why gambling companies ask for ID:
All online gambling businesses must ask you to prove your age and identity before you gamble.
Companies can often match your account with existing information which is stored on databases such as credit referencing agencies and the electoral roll. If this information is not enough you will be asked to provide copies of identification documents.
The documents a gambling business can ask you to provide include:
We don't say which types of information gambling businesses should ask for. If you're unhappy about the information you have been asked to provide, you should contact the company directly.
We cannot provide a timescale for ID checks as the length of the process varies.
If a gambling business 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 gambling businesses will verify customers as quickly as possible so that they can start gambling.
A gambling business may ask you for a selfie if they think there may be fraudulent activity on your account.
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.
Gambling businesses should not ask for this information when you make a withdrawal if they could have asked for it sooner. However, there may be a legal requirement that means they have to ask for the information at that time.
If you're not happy about the information you have been asked to provide, you'll need to contact the gambling company directly and follow the complaints process.
As part of their customer interaction requirements we challenge all gambling companies to know their customers inside out so they can provide the best possible service and ensure gambling in Great Britain is fair, safe and free of crime.
First and foremost, gambling companies want to keep crime and money laundering out of the gambling industry and do not want their 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 make them aware of these indicators, but to be certain, they may by going directly to customers or through a third party obtain the following:
To help check that your source of funds are legitimate, and as part of a gambling company’s anti-money laundering checks
Aside from studying bank statements, gambling companies can also ask for information which may lead to irregular income patterns in your account, such as a pending house sale.
Gambling companies also look at appropriate deposit or loss thresholds based on your income. This is helped by using open source data and Office of National Statistics publications to help them assess affordability and improve their risk assessments for customer interaction.