Well, Mr Wolf did all this, and more. They were happy with his ID, and he was paid 4 cashouts. It was LATER that this passport issue arose. What made it disturbing was that the casino said they were quite happy with his ID, but STILL wanted the passport. The passport was NOT necessary to verify the ID of the player, and verifying the ID is the only reason casinos need documents.
Worse still, they would NOT accept the principle of "writing VOID over it" by the player blanking out the passport number, just as we are now advised to blank out the middle digits of the credit card image.
A listed company does NOT necessarily mean it can be trusted. There are many cases of big companies routinely screwing over customers, and MISHANDLING SENSITIVE DATA. One only has to see the lists of fines imposed by the various regulators, and changes in legislation to block loopholes. Two years ago, we would probably have trusted some of the biggest listed companies on the planet. Lehman bros, HSBC, Lloyds TSB - and these had far more credibility than a listed internet betting & casino company. The other concern is the rogue, or more often careless (perhaps badly trained) employee who's mishandling allows data to fall into the wrong hands. This is how "blaggers" work to convert a few snippets of information into a full blown ID, by effectively "blagging" their way past checks and balances at a busy undermanned, and perhaps poorly trained, customer support desk to get the missing pieces.
While casinos can justify the need for documentation, theyMUST accept that certain fields will be blanked out to ensure the document lacks enough information for it to be misused. With credit cards, the CCV and middle 8 digits are blanked. Why therefore cannot the unique passport number also be blanked, as this has nothing to do with cross checking the name and addresses with other documents, and account registration. Casinos still have not explained why they need a photo on any government issued document. They have no way to verify a photo against anything, so cannot really need it.
The final question is whether it is LEGAL for a UK citizen to provide, or a company to demand, a copy of all or part of a passport - it is this point above all that could get the casino into trouble. A while back, it might not have been such an issue for government, but in the current climate it may well be. At present, government officials are probably unaware that it is now common practice for some internet businessess to demand, and their customers to send, uncensored copies of the passport. This will be a far greater worry than the sending of copies of any other lesser ID document, such as a driving license, or various kinds of bills and statements.
Mr Wolf, in this case, was truly ambushed, as he had already long since passed verification, and was an established player. It would be up to Mr Wolf to pursue a complaint, perhaps if only on principle, over the issue of being forced to send a complete copy of his passport to an online casino, listed company or not.
The wider issue is that players have become used to sending copies of passports. Probably less risk of a leak than with government held data
with a listed company, but when it becomes routine habit, players will be just as trusting towards ANY casino that spins the same story of "we need a copy of your passport, then you will be paid", and the player will think nothing of sending it as he has done before, and will of course be the last to find out if it was misused.
