UNDERAGE GAMBLING CAN BE BEAT

10 August 2007

Experts show how age verification technology has progressed

In a press release this week, the pro-online gambling pressure group Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative reprised opinions voiced by experts recently at a Congressional hearing on Barney Frank's bill HR 2046 seeking to regulate the pastime in the USA (see previous InfoPowa report).

Age-verification technologies are effective according to many experts, who believe that regulation can establish a framework to block minors from gambling online in the United States. The Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act, legislation introduced by Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA), would require licensed Internet gambling operators to put protections in place to prevent minors from gambling online, the release reminds readers.

"Over the last ten years, law enforcement and consumer protection agencies as well as industry self-regulatory bodies have recognized the need for rapid online identity verification," said Michael Colopy, senior vice president, Aristotle Inc., a leading provider of online identity and age-verification services for clients in the private and public sector. "As ever more efficient technologies and reliable databases have been developed, online transactions have become, in many instances, faster and less risky than the visual driver's licenses scan that suffices for alcohol or cigarette purchases in America's neighborhoods."

Regulation combined with effective and tested safety controls would block minors from gambling online. Controls to combat the threat of underage gambling include verifying the identity, age and residence through existing third-party systems, such as Social Security Administration and Department of Motor Vehicles databases; requiring users to provide a range of personal information and answer questions derived from their credit history; and requesting physical copies of identification documents, such as a utility bill or driver's license. Additionally, experience to date shows that the available technologies and safety controls are even more effective when combined and used in a multi-layered system of checks.

Age-verification technologies have been effective in European nations where regulated Internet gambling is already a reality. "There is clear evidence that steps taken by regulated Internet gambling operators to ensure the age and identification of every online gambler has gone a long way to minimize the threat of underage gambling in the U.K.," said Andrew Poole, managing director for GamCare Trade Services, a U.K. based organization owned by the charity GamCare, which is committed to addressing the social impacts of gambling. "The structure of the Internet provides a unique opportunity to put in place protections that are not necessarily available in traditional gambling environments. Instantaneously, a user's identity can be compared to multiple databases and verified for accuracy."

"When GamCare in the U.K., posing as minors, tried to gain access to the sites of eGambling licensees based in Alderney a few years ago, they found it very difficult," said Andre Wilsenach, chief executive officer of the Alderney Gambling Control Commission, which is responsible for overseeing the regulated Internet gambling activities of operators based on Alderney in the Channel Islands.

Wilsenach added, "[Internet gambling] operators that are not subject to any form of independent regulation may not always act in the best interest of the player ... The regulation of the industry is the only way of effectively protecting the consumer."

"Age-verification software has proven effective for multiple industries and should be required, as proposed in the regulatory framework of the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act, to block minors from gambling online," said Jeffrey Sandman, spokesperson for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative. "Without regulation, we are vulnerable to Internet gambling operators that are not required to protect against underage gambling."

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa