Hi zebedy,
Thank you for your valued comments. Our customer support team have responded via Email, in an effort to clear up this issue.
Regards,
Teresa
So we are clear, no drivers licence, no passport, well go away, we don't want your custom.
FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, it is
ILLEGAL to have a drivers licence if you believe you cannot drive due to a medical condition, or have been told by DVLA that you are unfit due to sickness or disability. You are not even allowed a PROVISIONAL licence. IT IS NOT AN ID, it is a document that shows you have either met the standards reguired to be let loose on the roads, or are learning to pass the test. Drivers may even be disqualified through commiting motoring offences, and hence have had their "ID documents"
confiscated to prevent their misuse as proof of fitness to drive.
The FIRST set of emails was the competent responce, not the "apology".
Now if you will ONLY accept non-drivers who have a passport (available, even if you don't particularly need it for travel), then to sign off with
We await your speedy response.
So we have the online casino industry, PARTICULARY suited to the disabled who like to gamble, but have serious difficulties going to a real casino, yet expect them to have a driving license (many disabled don't), or travel (again, prohibitive travel insurance terms mean that many disabled people do not regularly go abroad, and thus have not obtained passports). A passport should NOT be necessary for "foreign travel" between their house and the casino servers on the internet, but it seems in many cases it is, and MOST players ONLY find this out at the time of a cash-out. This kind of crap is going to seriously hinder expansion of the industry, as to most people the craziness "catch22" situations that are a regular occurance simply look like a rogue industry imposing impossible conditions for receiving payments.
The industry needs to get together and discuss the very pertinent issue of how they deal with players who do not have passports and do not drive (or are not even ALLOWED to drive). If the answer is "we don't want you", then this MUST be made crystal clear BEFORE they start depositing, not after. Most new players do not even know this will be an issue until they come to cash-out unless they have seen this issue raised time and time again in the forums.
One solution has already been tried, have the player photographed holding the other ID documents they have provided. It seems a bit of nonsense, since how exactly does the photograph "validate" the documents, since the casino is NOT going to have the chance to MEET the player and compare his appearance to the photograph provided (the reason photo documents, such as driving licenses and passports, were designed to include a photo).
There are other methods of verifying documents provided, and they are even BETTER that asking the player for a photo.
1) Check player's registered name & address with the electoral register. Player MUST be 18+ to gamble, and this makes it a LEGAL REQUIREMENT for him to add his/her name to the electoral register at that address.
2) Do a search at a credit reference agency to double check. If the player uses a credit card, this should show at one or more of the agencies.
3) Send a "password" by post to their address, and require this to be used to validate their account for deposits. When used in the past, this method received complaints because it took too long to arrive, however, this was incompetence, not a natural thing. It could not arrive UNTIL it was first put into the post, which is where the "incompetence" lies.
These would ONLY be needed as backup, and would salvage those non-driving and non-travelling players that are otherwise turned away.
If the industry got together, they could even have a central scheme, perhaps run by eCogra, who would receive all the documentation from players, and issue them with an eCogra certified PHOTO card which they could then send to individual casinos in lieu of the usual passport and photo ID. The player would then send a proof of address independent from the eCogra card, just as is the case with a drivers licence.
Interestingly, this could affect ME, and I HAVE NOT BEEN TOLD
I have an Intertops account, but do not recall EVER sending in documents as I only ever used Neteller to deposit and withdraw. Intertops were hapy recently for me to deposit, and would surely have sprung the "now need documents even though you used Neteller" on me had I won. Now, they have created for me (without permission) an account at Royal Joker. Now, AFFILIATES, this means you have been BYPASSED - I CANNOT open an account through any affiliate site should they go to the trouble of putting together a review of them, and I read it & decide to play there. In effect, the viability of the affiliates' businessess is being harmed by the practice of accounts being pre-opened for potential players by the casino groups.
There is ANOTHER aspect too, players who no longer have the email address they used at Intertops, probably because they have not played for a while, will NEVER KNOW they have had a Royal Joker account opened for them, and they may later open one themselves and be accused of multiple account fraud, and will have to fight past the "guilty till proved innocent" BS to prove the earlier account was NOT their doing, and was NEVER used.
For me? Well, it was pre-opened in EUROS, but the UK STILL USES THE POUND, and had I opened my OWN account, I would have selected POUNDS since this avoids all those nasty foreign exchange fees - but at least I have a drivers license, although I wasn't sure DVLA would let me, since I have a "reportable" condition, and I can only have a reviewable 3 year license. It is helpful to know in advance, as I now do, that if DVLA takes this away, they also take away my right to gamble online at Intertops and Royal Joker, and probably most of the rest.
