Promoted feature: Five reasons to make digital identity verification a part of the online gaming experience

The gaming market has witnessed a tremendous growth over the last 10 years thanks to growing mobile adoption as well as the sheer variety of online gaming options. And with more people now turning to remote channels for these experiences, these trends are only set to accelerate. Unfortunately, this growth is not without consequences, as this accessibility also comes with higher risk for underage gaming, identity theft, cheating, financial fraud or privacy breaches. Gaming operators need to equip themselves with the digital tools that are capable of delivering a seamless and highly secure online gaming experience, while also responding to today’s “everything now” culture.

Here are five reasons why gaming operators should consider digital identity verification:

1. Digital ID verification can accelerate the online age verification process

The penalties for underage online gambling can have some major financial consequences for both players and operators. A clear and thorough player onboarding process is essential in ensuring that all gamers are of legal age.

Traditional identity and age verification methods such as customer self-certification or credit card verification are insufficient methods of player screening, as they are often limited to single-factor authentication.

More advanced digital identity verification methods offer operators a means of performing multi-factor authentication process using their smartphone. From their gaming app, players can upload an ID document and any other supporting documents, and then use their camera to take a selfie. Photos of the document are automatically verified for authenticity, and the selfie is compared against the photo on the ID card. The combination of these elements generate a “level of confidence” that the person who took the selfie is indeed the person on the ID card.

2. Digital ID verification can help enforce responsible gaming practices

One of the most important issues faced by gaming operators is the protection of vulnerable players, including those who are underage, indebted or self-excluded.

By enforcing a multi-layer online identity verification process that combines online ID document checks with back-end credit score checks, and/or other third-party database checks (according to local regulations), online gaming operators can protect their at-risk players while ensuring the safety and security of their own platforms.

3. Digital ID verification can improve player data protection

Digital identity can help online gaming operators protect the personal or financial information of their players from fraudsters.  By requiring players to authenticate themselves at each login, gaming operators can keep their players safe from unauthorised access to their accounts and personal data.

In addition to preventing unauthorised access, digital identity verification can also secure gaming operations and transactions such as deposits and account withdrawals.

4. Digital ID verification is efficient in fraud prevention

Identity fraud is generally at the core of money laundering and gaming fraud, where multiple stolen or fake accounts can be used not only to launder money but also to commit game abuses such as bonus abuse, collusion, multi-accounting, chargebacks, payment fraud and more.

A multi-layered identity verification approach helps to mitigate gaming fraud originating from identity fraud and to identify potentially high-risk players who may hold political positions of power, be subject to financial sanctions or registered on an AML/CFT watch list.

5. Digital ID verification can help operators maintain regulatory compliance

To manage continued digital expansion in the industry, gaming operators need to overcome new challenges, including increasingly stringent and fragmented regulations and requirements on KYC (Know Your Customer), AML (Anti-Money Laundering), CFT (Counter Fraud Terrorism) and traceability— each of which aim to combat financial crime and protect players.

Adopting a comprehensive approach to identity verification and data traceability can help gaming operators manage global digital expansion in the industry and combat associated risks.

Armand Lecorché is the director for online gaming solutions sales within IDEMIA’s Digital Business Unit. He heads worldwide sales for vault compliance services as well as digital identity services for gaming operators. Lecorché has a rich technical background, which he has built over a 20-year career in the software industry. His track record shows major achievements in various missions from business line management and business development to solutions marketing for subjects including OTA, NFC, mobile financial services, and subscription management.