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Involving:
Michael Smeaton (Remote Gambling Specialist) - GamCare
Andrew Poole (Young Persons Officer) - GamCare
Andrew Chevis - CitizenCard
John Carr - CHIS: Children's Charities' Coalition on Internet
Safety
Background into
study
For several years
now it has been known within the online gambling industry
that debit cards such as visa electron, solo and switch are
available to under 18's. Some debit cards from certain banks
are even available to children as young as 11 years old. Current
figures from APACS (Association for Payment Clearing Services)
estimate that 45% of all 16 and 17 year olds own a debit card,
which is around 675,000 young people. This figure does not
include young people between 11 and 15 who may also own a
solo or visa electron debit card. The overall figure is therefore
more likely to be nearer to a million under 18 card holders.
This prevalence
of debit cards for under 18's is important as online gambling
and betting sites accept these cards as means of setting up
an account, although there are question marks regarding the
operators ability to distinguish between customers under the
age for gambling and those over the age. The majority of sites
don't appear to employ any age or ID verification systems,
thus potentially allowing children as young as 11 to register
and gamble.
The following
are some of the banks that currently supply debit cards to
under 18's:
Natwest
Lloyds
Bank of Scotland/Halifax
RBS
Barclays
HSBC
Abbey National
The potential
for some underage to access gambling opportunities on the
Internet and other remote forms such as Interactive TV and
Wireless, is certainly a concern that needs to be addressed.
The issue is also amplified because of the growth of the Internet
industry over the last few years, and the extensive and at
times aggressive advertising of gambling opportunities that
are becoming increasingly prevalent throughout the Internet.
It is estimated that there are at least 1,500 Internet gambling
and betting sites currently online, and Internet gambling
is now one of the highest products advertised on the Internet.
This has led to an increased exposure of gambling opportunities
to all those that use the Internet including those under the
age of 18.
Age verification
systems currently available
There are currently
several age and ID verification solutions currently available
and being used by a small minority of the industry, including
Experian and Verify Me. Both work by searching available governmental
and financial database records to find evidence that are registered
at the address you claim to be at and that you are over 18.
Evidence such as a credit rating and inclusion in an electoral
role, for example, will demonstrate that you are above the
required age. Both systems automatically check the customers'
personal records at point of registration and acceptance or
refusal is instant. No other data such as credit or debit
card details are needed. If there is a lack of evidence and
the customer is refused then the operator would have to request
visual proof of ID to be sent in.
These systems are
currently being used by all operators within the jurisdictions
of Alderney and the Isle of Man where age and ID verification
is a requirement within the regulations. Unfortunately however,
these are the only current jurisdictions that have included
such requirements within the regulations although the UK is
expected to establish the same requirements when the new Gambling
Bill comes into force in the next couple of years.
Outside of the
above two jurisdictions, there is a lack of regulatory pressure
to insist on such age verification measures. However there
are a lot of operators who claim to already have in place
adequate systems to prevent access from minors. A few operators
are known to have decided to utilise the services of Experian
or Verify Me, although it is unsure how most of the other
operators are effectively blocking access. We are aware that
some operators may be using the above system on a manual basis,
where an account may be suspended but not straight away after
registration, but more likely the day after. This does mean
however that the customer is still likely to be able to gamble
on that site until a request for further ID is made.
The Study
In order to assess
the risk of young people gambling through the Internet, and
examine how the standards of the online gambling industry
with regards to blocking underage access, we have tested a
range of online sites' ability to verify the age of a new
customer setting up an account. The online sites consisted
of betting sites based in UK and offshore casino sites, managed
by UK and non-UK companies that are based in jurisdictions
such as Alderney and Gibraltar.
To carry out the
test a volunteer was selected who owned a solo debit card
and was 16 years old. The volunteer was made fully aware of
the circumstances of the study and was carefully supervised
during the process - their parent was also present at all
times.
It must also be
emphasised that at no point did the volunteer place a bet
on any of the sites. Instead they were asked to register an
online account with the operator, using their own name, address
and other personal details. However when asked to enter their
date of birth the volunteer signified that they were 21.
The Results
In all 37 sites
where tested. As mentioned earlier these ranged from UK regulated
betting sites, to offshore betting sites and offshore casinos.
The sites were rated to have passed or failed based on a simple
criteria. If the customer was able to register their personal
details including name, address and age (which as stated earlier
was put as 21) and those details were accepted so that individual
was able to log-on to the site, then that site would have
failed. If after entering the personal details the account
was blocked and a request was made for further proof of age
and ID then the site passed.
Successful Sites
Out of the 37 sites only 7 effectively blocked the player
at point of registration. A breakdown of these sites is below:
4 sites were based
in Alderney, these were
www.luckyme.co.uk
www.skybetvegas.com
www.virgingames.com
www.hardrockcasino.com
2 sites (UK Based)
had successfully implemented an age verification system, these
were
www.nationallottery.co.uk
www.ladbrokes.com
- Whilst the national Lottery accepts accounts for 16+ they
did request extra proof of ID, which is their policy for anyone
registering under 18.
1 site didn't accept Solo debit cards, this was www.cyberslotz.co.uk.
Unsuccessful
Sites
That left 30 sites that were unable to block access of an
underage player at point of registration. These were
www.888.com
www.bet365.com
www.betdaq.com
www.betdirect.net
www.betfair.com
www.bluesq.com
www.casinoonnet.com
www.celebpoker.com
www.coral.co.uk
www.galacasino.co.uk
www.gamingclub.co.uk
www.jackpotjoy.com
www.littlewoodsgameon.co.uk
www.meccagames.com
www.paddypower.com
www.paradisepoker.com
www.punt2punt.com
www.racingpostcasino.co.uk
www.skybet.co.uk
www.sportingbet.com
www.sportingodds.com
www.stanjames.com
www.stanleybet.com
www.totalbet.com
www.tote.co.uk
www.ukbetting.co.uk
www.vegasvilla.com
www.victorchandler.co.uk
www.victorchandlercasino.com
www.willhill.co.uk
The Bigger Picture
Whilst only 37
sites where tested - compared to approximately 1,500 sites
worldwide - most of these sites have direct connections with
the UK market or are regulated in the UK. There were still
a lot more sites that we didn't test due to time restraints.
However the sites we did test were a selection of the most
popular sites and brand names and so are expected to reflect
the current state of the market.
The results also
cover a wider population of sites as several of the operators
who were unable to block underage access, also run and manage
other gambling sites under a different name, where the same
flaws in age verification would be present.
Another factor
to take into consideration is that many sites allow you to
set up one account but then use that account on different
platforms. Thus being the case means that our volunteer would
have been able to gamble with an operator on the Internet,
Interactive Television, mobile phone and telephone betting
using the same account that they registered online.
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