The problem is for people with NON STANDARD ID, who REALLY need to know if there can be enough flexibility with what they have BEFORE they start to make deposits. Any casino that refuses to verify ID before a win MUST pay that first withdrawal IRRESPECTIVE of whether the FORM of the VALID documentation supplied fits their model.
Too many people CHOOSE to be blind to the problems faced by SOME players when needing to prove ID. This blindness only makes the industry look as though it is deliberately trying not to pay, even though they are only trying to protect themselves from scams.
There are still far too many casinos that seem to think that losing one's driving license somehow makes one a "fraudulent player" because they MUST be since they can no longer provide a CURRENT one. They should be using something more universal for core ID verification, but the problem is the illogical insistence on a PHOTO - meaningless unless they are going for face to face verification. Every citizen has universal ID, something governments use to tag ALL citizens, regardless of whether they choose to drive, travel, join the military, etc. These are just as unique to an individual as a passport or drivers license. In the UK we have our National Insurance number, for collecting taxes, so you can be sure we ALL get one. Unfortunately, our National Insurance cards are simple pieces of cardboard, meant as a means of recording the number for passing to organisations who check the validity by accessing the various databases that collate our information. ANY other business can tell who you are, and verify this, by asking for your details, and making checks and cross referencing with other information. An address can be proven by sending a PIN code to it, and then requiring the user to replicate this code before being allowed the service, be that credit, mobile phone contract, or even their casino withdrawal. All this can be achieved WITHOUT the need for a photo document, and it seems the casino industry is unduly stubborn in this respect.
If casinos are so concerned, write to the GOVERNMENTS of the countries they legally accept player from, and tell these governments there needs to be a universal photo card for ALL citizens aged 18+ to allow for effective policing of the international laws casinos CLAIM are behind the need for photo ID.
Casinos may have managed to stop frauds, but there is a growing number of players who have been genuinely screwed over by casinos, and these players' view of the industry as a whole is not going to be good. They should remember that their players come from all classes, including those in government, and one day they may "screw over" the wrong person with one of these document processing and verification fiascos, and find they face some serious grief because this person was in a position to make them squirm.
The chances are low, but it has happened before, where "average Joe" has been royally reamed by a big name company, who later find out "average Joe" was actually someone whose word counted for something.
At the moment, I think that so little is known of this industry by the regulators from the player's perspective that the regulators are inclined to accept the word of the industry spokespeople over that of an "average Joe".
