In a bid to improve safety at online casinos, the introduction of the KYC process had become a necessary procedure for many online casinos over the years – not only does it pass checks for age and ability to play, but also prevents criminal activity and other issues too so an online casino will remain a safe environment for players. The Know Your Customer process has been through some change over the years, but with increasing regulation changes primarily focused on ensuring online casinos are as safe as possible, could this process become stricter in the future?
The current implementation exists in two ways – the first is present for the likes of UK casinos which require documents to be provided upfront during the account creation process – this approach is a great way to prevent underage gambling for example but can be frustrating for some players as any time a new service is registered to, the process of having all documents approved is required each time. Casinos licensed in different countries have a second approach which is to only request the documentation upon request to withdraw funds – this is a better option for those looking to register and play quickly, and not all players are going to be walking away with big winnings where verification is needed.
As further changes are being made to a number of different markets, with the UK being a particular focus and emerging legislation for online casinos across the US too, it wouldn’t be a stretch to believe the KYC process could experience both major and minor changes in the near future with this focus on safety continuing. This could be changes to the amount of documentation required, if it’s required again during the process of withdrawal, or if regular checks are done to ensure the account holder remains the same.
There also an opportunity to introduce different technology to the process too – AI focused on identifying information has been present in many other services and could be something used to streamline the process and reduce the waiting time for those that have a longer process, or to have different automated checks that are handled in a variety of different ways. The KYC process is unlikely to ever be removed from online casinos so those that hoped to see the removal will be disappointed, but there’s a lot of opportunity to improve the process and make it more accessible too.