Picture I.D

[AnnaTS]

Hello

I was wondering if someone could help i have been reading through the forum and noticed sometimes that casinos have been asking players for picture I.D which is abit of a concern for me as i don't own any and i actually have a valid reason why i don't.
I play slots online and i am a bit worried what would actually happen if a casino decided to ask me for picture I.D which i couldn't provide i play at the moment at Sky Vegas and Slots Magic.
Now i have been a member at both online casinos made deposits and made withdrawals but neither have ever asked me for any I.D at all and i was thinking of maybe trying some website what would be the likelihood of been asked for picture I.D at a new casino or at either the 2 casinos i already play at ?
Also is Picture I.D Mandatory because i remember correctly when i opened my bank account which i have had for a few years without picture I.D.

Anna

 

[Jono777]

Over my years of online play I have come across this issue personally a good few times.

Until recently (after sending for update) I only possessed the old 'paper based' driving licence (no picture) had never left the country (hence no need for passport) and did not have a national ID card etc etc etc.

When photo ID was requested by a particular casino I would simply construct a nice polite e-mail, explaining the above and offering some form of 'compensation' ID such as a birth certificate and extra (and maybe more official) utility bill and so on.

I cannot recall any time that they did not come to an agreement with me and (touch wood) always got my cashouts / accounts verified and never a problem.

I have since invested in a photo driving licence but only to save myself a potential headache, especially as changes in UK law may possibly have affected this somewhere down the line.

Just remember the casinos are approachable and helpful (well certainly the ones on the accredited list here) and will always try and help genuine players out as best they can

 

[Valhalla]

Just remember the casinos are approachable and helpful (well certainly the ones on the accredited list here) and will always try and help genuine players out as best they can

This part. As you're UK based, you will also be playing within the jurisdiction of the UK Gambling Commission, and any accredited casino under the UKGC are not only solid but, as jonmincher said, approachable. If you are asked for Photo ID, just explain your position and provide whatever documentation you can.
Utility bill, front page of bank statement (with sensitive information like your balance etc blacked out), things like that. You should be fine

 

[mcgameboy]

@Anna

Based on my own experiences (I too have no drivers licence, valid passport or National ID card at this time), I would only repeat the advice already given by jonmincher and Valhalla.

One thing I would ask though is...are you the householder/bill payer? If not, it would do no harm to mention that in any correspondence you
have. I myself am not the bill payer in my household, so I felt the need to mention that as any utility bills would not be in my name and therefore
could never be accepted as a verification document (name on utility bill not matching name of player at casino, name on credit/debit card used by player
to make deposits etc etc).

The only other thing I would add is that you are usually better off speaking directly to the casino's rep (here via private message), rather than
speaking to CS in the casino's own live chat facility. That's not a criticism of CS in general by the way. It's just a simple case of CS
(even the very best there is in the industry) not having anywhere near the same decision-making powers/powers of discretion that a rep would have.

Based on my experiences with the reps I have corresponded with here, I can say that they are a very sound, helpful and nice bunch of people.
You will be in safe hands

 

[catapultaudio]

I'm another player whos in the same boat as yourself at the moment, the reason you most likely have not been asked for documents by Sky Vegas or Slots Magic is that these two, along with most of the other large UK focused operators, use electronic means to verify your identity based on the information you submit when you join. They don't like to specify exactly how they do this but you can bet that the electoral roll and credit records are used to some extent, so if you have a reasonable history at your current address you have an excellent chance of being able to play without a photo ID at many good casinos.

Off the top of my head, these are some of the casinos I have been verified at without need for photo ID and had no issues withdrawing etc....

32red / dash / golden lounge / nedplay
corals
gala
betfred
paddy power
bet365
ladbrokes
888 casino / poker
stan james
betfair
betvictor
grosvenors
redbet
sky vegas
unibet
william hill
wintingo

Please bare in mind though, I cant guarantee any of the above wont ask you for documents, I just know that they were able to verify ME electronically, so you stand a decent enough chance of also passing their verifications procedures without documents should you have a reasonable history at your address.

Best of luck

 

[Chipkin9]

First off, welcome to Casinoemeister.

If you have any problems or concerns about a casino, you are in the right place to share your experiences and to ask for advice

I have been here a few times to get things straightened out, and everything turned out fine in the end .

I would think that since you haven't been asked for Photographic Identification thus far, then you are okay.

Casino's in general like to have deposits made by Credit/Debit/Bank Cards.

This means that you can be verified "Electronically".

Since you need to be Identified by a bank to have a bank account, then all is good to the Casino.

My problem has been that I don't have a bank account, so I need to be asked for documents.

I don't travel or Drive (Nor can I really afford to), so I don't have a Driver's License or Passport either, but I do have a National Identity Card.

However, I have had ALOT of trouble with a very slight few casino's regarding this.

Some Casino's will ONLY accept a Driver's License or Passport; even though a National Identity Card is a government issued form of Photo ID.

In fact just yesterday I closed my MrGreen account (had nothing in there fortunately) because they would not accept my National ID card as evidence of Identity.

After logging into live chat, Dan (from chat) asked if a National ID card was an approved form of Photo ID.

After telling him "Yes, and as a Casino you should know this", He asked "Could you please send it again, and I will approve it?".

I just gave the 2 fingers up.

If a casino requires me to travel and drive a flash car to be able to gamble at their Casino, then I want no part of their profit making.

A National ID card should be enough!

It's slightly ridiculous.

 

[vinylweatherman]

There can be a problem after a big win, or "enhanced verification" for other reasons. Some players have played for years without having to provide formal documents due to electronic verification, only to find that out of the blue something has caused the casino to want the full set of documents. This often happens after a big win, but there is also a threshold deposit or withdrawal accumulated total that triggers a more thorough verification. A low roller could play for a long time before hitting this threshold.

Not all casinos will "sort it out amicably" either, and some players have lost thousands due to the lack of proper documentation because the casino just won't budge on the issue. One argument many players face is "If you can afford to gamble, you can afford to get ID". I suspect casinos also consider this when players use the "can't afford it" type of excuse, which may be why some just won't budge on the issue.

Those in this position are probably better off NOT looking around for new casinos, but sticking with those that have verified them already. If they do try somewhere new, they should get pre verified, and if the casino flatly refuses to do this, they should walk away. There was a thread here recently about a player who wanted to pre verify because they didn't have the regular documentation, and the casino refused because "we don't work like this". The player was advised to walk away from this type of casino because they were being set up for potential failure as they could find that it was a "won't budge an inch" casino when they won, and thus would have had to walk away from their money.

Casinos can't seem to understand that money is not the only thing that prevents people from getting a UK driving licence.


Not accepting a National ID card is laughable, the use of driving licence and passport was originally a second tier set of documentation used for countries that didn't issue ID cards, yet one casino seems to feel that National ID cards are not "proof of ID", whilst a driving licence IS

 

[Finn]

Not accepting a National ID card is laughable, the use of driving licence and passport was originally a second tier set of documentation used for countries that didn't issue ID cards, yet one casino seems to feel that National ID cards are not "proof of ID", whilst a driving licence IS

By national ID, casinos probably mean that kind of national ID that allows you to travel within EEA + Switzerland + some other countries.


UK doesn't have that kind of national ID since 2011.

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

No identity card (UK ID Cards abolished 2011 by UK Identity Documents Act 2010)

Neither does Ireland (Strabane seems to be located in Northern Ireland, UK though)

None currently, however cards with the details of the cardholders passport picture page (akin to the American passport card)will be made optional for existing passport holders (named passport cards) from July 2015

UK Proof of Age Standard Scheme (PASS) cards are not anywhere near EEA national ID standards.

The fees for Finnish national ID are even higher than fees for Finnish passport, and fees for Finnish Driver's license.

PASS cards fees just fraction of UK passport fees.

Finnish national ID card fees are 115% of the Finnish passport price, the PASS card fees are 15% of UK passport price. EEA standards fulfilling national ID cards make PASS cards look like some sort of student ID card.

 

[AnnaTS]

Thanks for the welcome and the replies

The only reason i started this thread was from reading some of the stories in the complaint section which did scare me abit as like i said i had never been asked for any I.D at all but recently i was.
I don't go round signing up to loads of casinos just to claim bonuses but a couple of weeks ago i wanted to try a casino because they had some slots i wanted to try and i can't find them on any other website well not from the searches i did.
When i signed up i did take the bonus on the website but that is only because i can't make big deposits so i see it as it extends my game play and i get to use all the slots on the website to see what they are like i did speak to support after playing abit because no where on the website can you find how much you need to wager and how much you have left to wager like other websites so we chatted about that and that was that.

Well the day after chatting to support and signing up i was asked for I.D which i thought was strange because never have i been asked for I.D i am asumming it's because i always use my card to deposit with what others are saying and i had to provide my I.D within 3 days or my account will be blocked apparently it also said in the e mail they couldn't verify my account.
Well i never provided any I.D because i never make big bets and my money never went over what i originally had and i didn't have much left so i didn't send any I.D not because i didn't want to just not sure it was just me or the website but some of the games i wanted to try seemed to run slow like china shores, african diamond, plus i didn't like the game buffalo i wanted to try i prefered raging rhino which is basically the same game but which better sound and graphics so i knew i wouldn't be redepositing on that website.

It was only after going through the accredited list of casinos on here that i found one that had loads of wms games and net ent games which i have also started playing recently and i was thinking of joining and i was worried if it would be a big problem with not having picture I.D.
I suppose you could say my case would be one they probably don't come across often because to make it worse my name on my birth certificate if different as the name i go by now as i changed it a few years back i do have the pices of pare with the name change on it what i had to take into the bank to get my name changed on my account and to water and electric etc.
The only reason i don't have a driving licence is because i don't reallt need to drive and it's a cost i don't need and i don't have a passport i haven't been away since 1996 when all the family went to alcudia in majorca.

Anna

 

[Jasminebed]

When I first started playing online, I had government issued photo ID, but it did not have my address on it. I too had read of other people's problems, but it was way less common then to ask for it. I did start to be pre-verified with casinos, and after one casino that asked for a picture of me holding my ID, I used to just send that in for good measure when I was pre-verifying.

I now have a passport because I got one to travel. If you have a very large win, (or as said, culmative wins of a certain amount), you will be asked for ID.

UK licenced casinos should be familiar with the ID available in the UK. If you win a very large sum, it is not so very awful to have to pay for a passport, but you don't want to find you have made $2200 in withdrawals, and your $125 cashout is being held up or they are insisting on a passport. If there is no reason you are unable to get a driver's licence (like a disability) it is cheaper and quicker to get a learner's permit.

I think the card used for ID to purchase alcohol is not very expensive, you can always ask if one of those would be acceptable.

 

[vinylweatherman]

By national ID, casinos probably mean that kind of national ID that allows you to travel within EEA + Switzerland + some other countries.


UK doesn't have that kind of national ID since 2011.

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

Neither does Ireland (Strabane seems to be located in Northern Ireland, UK though)



UK Proof of Age Standard Scheme (PASS) cards are not anywhere near EEA national ID standards.

The fees for Finnish national ID are even higher than fees for Finnish passport, and fees for Finnish Driver's license.

PASS cards fees just fraction of UK passport fees.

Finnish national ID card fees are 115% of the Finnish passport price, the PASS card fees are 15% of UK passport price. EEA standards fulfilling national ID cards make PASS cards look like some sort of student ID card.

Unfortunately, the UK government feel that this PASS card is good enough for commercial businesses to fulfil their legal obligations to "ID their customers". After all, a commercial business does not have to worry about "national security" or border controls, this is the job of governments. It seems that online casinos have gone for "overkill" on the matter, more an ass covering exercise for them rather than something imposed by governments. The considerable flexibility between casinos is good evidence that this is not something laid down by law. Many WILL accept the PASS card, and a few even accept the evidence from electronic checks alone in most cases. It is this wide variation that makes it wise for players to go for pre verification where they have doubts of being able to pass the KYC checks with minimum fuss. Far better to be denied entry to the casino before making the first deposit than being able to deposit and lose for a while, only to be stung when they eventually win.