IDnow rides online betting wave from UEFA Euro Championship

IDnow is capitalizing on UEFA European Football Championship fever, registering over eight times more identity verification requests on sports betting platforms since the event started last week.

During the first weekend of the tournament, which kicked off on June 14th in Germany, the identity verification company recorded a 750 percent increase in verified players across multiple European gambling operators. IDnow expects that ID verification requests will continue at a high level throughout the event, which runs until July 14th.

“EURO 2024 will be a huge opportunity for gambling platforms, new and old, so it’s essential they capitalize on the event while safeguarding their players and their reputation,” says Roger Redfearn-Tyrzyk, the company’s vice president of global gaming.

The Germany-based firm will have its hands full until the end of the event, signing up users in significant numbers while making sure it prevents underage gambling, money laundering, fake documentation and multiple accounts.

“Only when operators are confident they can verify accounts thoroughly, and onboard the right players during such busy period, will they be effective in fighting fraud,” he adds.

Sports betting has steadily risen over the past years and is estimated to reach $107.3 billion in 2024, according to Statista. IDnow has recently commissioned a survey titled Challenges in Compliance, analyzing regulation in the gambling industry in countries from the UK, Malta and Germany to Brazil, Peru and Chile. The survey interviewed 104 global compliance professionals and was conducted by SBC Media, a B2B news network in the betting and gaming industry.

The research finds that the greatest compliance challenge for gambling operators are source of funds checks, with more than a fifth of global respondents choosing this option. Age verification followed by identity verification was the least difficult to deal with thanks to the availability of third-party solutions, the research shows.

The survey also identified that bonus abuse and document fraud are the most common types of fraud attempts, 65 percent and 57 percent respectively. Social engineering attacks and facial recognition spoofing were listed as concerns to look out for in the future by 54 percent and 33 percent of respondents respectively.

Special attention was given to Latin America (LATAM) whose gross gaming revenue (GGR) is projected to exceed US$3.4 billion by the end of 2025. Considering the GGR in 2020 was just $1.3 billion, this is a huge leap. The region’s regulatory landscape is still in its infancy and has an opportunity to learn from other more established markets, the document says.

Aside from source of funds checks, many respondents highlighted difficulties staying up to date with regulatory changes as one of the main challenges: 22.2 percent versus just 6 percent of global respondents.

Another stark difference from the global market is that 22.2 percent of LATAM respondents cited licensing and permissions as the most difficult compliance challenge, compared to just 7.58 percent of global respondents.

The region, however, has been seeing progress. In December 2023, the Brazilian government finally passed its regulations for sports betting and online casinos, which include mandatory biometric verification. Last year, IDnow integrated Brazil’s civil registry to add database checks to its platform designed to prevent underage gambling and money laundering.

Article Topics

age verification  |  AML  |  biometrics  |  document verification  |  face biometrics  |  fraud prevention  |  gambling  |  identity verification  |  IDnow  |  KYC  |  selfie biometrics