Why Online Bookmakers ask for ID verification Updated for July 2025

Updated: 7th July 2025

When you open an account with an online gambling business, the business has to examine who you are. It does this for 3 primary factors:

1. To examine you are old enough to bet
2. Whether you have self-excluded from gambling
3. To validate your identity.

The business can typically do this by taking a look at databases that hold a series of info about individuals and matching that with the details on your account.

However there might be times when this info is insufficient to validate who you are.

For instance, if details have been spelt mistakenly or individuals with comparable names live at the very same address. In these scenarios you might be asked to supply copies of files that show who you are.

This might consist of passports, driving licences and household utility bills.

Making Sure you are Old enough to bet

If you have already opened an account and transferred cash, the bookmaker has 72 hours to inspect and make sure you are old enough to bet. If it cannot validate your age within that time, it should freeze the account.

You will not be permitted to withdraw any winnings up until your age is validated.

If the business's checks reveal that you are not old enough to bet the cash that you staked or transferred in your account needs to be returned, however you will not get any winnings.

Inspecting you have not self-excluded

You can ask to self-exclude from a gambling bookmakers website. If you do that, the betting site should take sensible actions to avoid you from gambling.

Those actions can consist of examining that somebody opening an account is not a self-excluded individual attempting to bet under a different identity.

Examining you are not utilizing criminal profits

There are laws that aim to avoid crooks investing ill gotten gains through criminal offenses and turning it into genuine looking funds.

They might try to utilize gambling sites for this function and gambling companies should handle that threat by examining the identity of their clients.

In the guidelines of the UK Gambling commission they state that gambling companies need to have the ability to recognize different accounts that are accepted by them by the exact same individual.

It is for the companies to choose whether they permit consumers to have more than one account.

If one does not, it may request details to assist it make certain that a consumer just has one account.

If a business does enable several accounts, it might opt to ask consumers for info to assist it to keep an eye on those accounts, consisting of for the factors discussed above.

Deals developed by the business, such as complimentary bets and perks, are frequently restricted to one per consumer.

It may inquire to inspect that clients are not misusing these limitations.

When the gambling business is examining your identity for another factor, it can freeze your account until it has actually verified who you are.

There is no time limitation on for how long it can do this for.

The UK Gambling Commission informs the online bookmakers that they should understand their consumers are old enough to bet and verify their identity.

They do not state exactly what sorts of details they ought to request.

If you are not pleased about the info you have been asked to offer, you should to get in touch with the online bookmaker directly.

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