Hi all,
I had a bit of time on my hands recently so I decided to contact the UKGC regarding the legality/ethicality of online casinos doing SOW checks at time of withdrawal rather than when a deposit is made. After all, if you lose a deposit, you are very unlikely to be hit with SOW checks.
I thought I’d share the correspondence here as others might find it interesting and/or useful.
The question I asked (note: I was limited to 400 characters on their online form)
The response I received
I had a bit of time on my hands recently so I decided to contact the UKGC regarding the legality/ethicality of online casinos doing SOW checks at time of withdrawal rather than when a deposit is made. After all, if you lose a deposit, you are very unlikely to be hit with SOW checks.
I thought I’d share the correspondence here as others might find it interesting and/or useful.
The question I asked (note: I was limited to 400 characters on their online form)
Hi, I’ve read numerous accounts online where players are asked to provide source of wealth information to online UK casinos when requesting a withdrawal. Is this the intended use of the legislation put in place? Or should online casinos be doing this process at the time of deposit where a deposit might be flagged for such review? Doing this check at time of withdrawal doesn’t seem right. Thanks
The response I received
Thank you for contacting the Gambling Commission.
From your correspondence I understand that you would like to know more about source of wealth checks that UK casinos carry out online.
Online gambling businesses must establish a customers name, address, and date of birth before allowing them to gamble. They may be in breach of a licence condition if they don’t do this.
The gambling business may be able to verify this information electronically. For example, they may use credit referencing agencies and the electoral roll. If they can verify a customers identity this way, the gambling business will allow the customer to place bets without the need to provide further information. If not, they will ask for identity documents. This can include copies of a passport, driving licence and utility bills.
The payer’s name, including for example the ‘cardholder name’ details on a debit card, is not verified during a payment authorisation process. Online retailers, including gambling businesses, therefore cannot verify that the payer is the same person as the gambling account holder.
Gambling businesses cannot demand that a customer submits further information as a condition of withdrawing funds if they could have reasonably asked for that information earlier.
However, gambling businesses have other legal duties. They must ensure that their businesses aren’t being used for criminal purposes. They need to have processes in place to assess the risk of fraud or money laundering and take steps to prevent it.
If a gambling business needs to ask customers for more information, they must do so at the earliest opportunity. Gambling businesses should only rarely need to ask for more information after the customer has asked to withdraw funds.
But there may be some circumstances where a gambling business could not have identified a need to ask for additional information earlier. This may mean their request may coincide with the customer’s request to withdraw funds.
This could be because the gambling activity on a customer’s account looks unusual. For example, there may be a spike in the number of bets or higher stakes, followed by a request to withdraw funds. This type of activity may trigger an intervention by the gambling business based on its policies, procedures and controls, or other legal requirements. It may ask the customer for more information as part of its investigations to prevent criminal activity such as fraud or money laundering.
Casino operators – including online casino businesses that provide slot games, roulette, poker, or Blackjack etc - must also apply customer due diligence (CDD) measures, including where any transaction amounts to the equivalent of €2,000 or more. The amount is set in Euros because the requirement comes from European law on money laundering. For British customers gambling in pounds sterling, gambling businesses will take account of the pounds sterling equivalent. This rule applies to a single transaction and where several transactions appear to be linked. Deposits to a gambling account and the withdrawal of funds from a gambling account are both classed as transactions. This means that where a transaction (or several transactions that are linked) on your account amounts to the equivalent of €2000, the casino may ask you for further information as part of its legal duties.
Before a customer registers with a gambling business, the business must tell them the types of information it might need. They must also tell them when they might be asked to provide the information
If you have concerns about the information requested a businesses requests, or when these requests are done, you can raise your concerns to the businesses directly.
Thank you for contacting us, I hope you find this information helpful.
Yours sincerely
Contact Team Adviser
GAMBLING COMMISSION
Victoria Square House
Victoria Square
Birmingham B2 4BP
GAMBLING COMMISSION
Victoria Square House
Victoria Square
Birmingham B2 4BP
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