Online operators, therefore, have much more responsibility than just building a beautiful website and purchasing video slots; they must also do everything possible to minimize fraud and maximize web security. In this article, we take a closer look at the biggest challenges for online gambling websites in current year.
Main Challenges that Non GamStop Casinos Face
We do this based on the findings of the report: “Global iGaming Fraud Trends: Insights for building a trusted iGaming operation”. A number of main topics are discussed:
- Offer opportunities for self-exclusion;
- Tackling bonus abuse;
- Maximize the security of payment platforms;
- Combating fraud and money laundering.
There are clear geographical differences in the research when it comes to the biggest challenges. We looked at the most important iGaming markets at the moment:
- Europe: self-exclusion players (29%);
- United States: credit card fraud (42%);
- South Africa: identity fraud (42%);
- Asia/Oceania: bonus abuse (31%).
One thing the corona pandemic has shown us is that fraudsters act at lightning speed. This can be seen in the United Kingdom, where the UK Gambling Commission banned credit cards for online casinos on April 14, 2020, resulting in a 16% decrease in credit card fraud and a 169% increase in fraud for debit payment methods.
Offer Opportunities for Self-Exclusion
Player self-exclusion is down 7% over the past 2 years. This may be due to the impact of the corona crisis and high inflation rates on personal finances. Anyway, the self-exclusion of players is quite difficult to manage because in the end, it is the player himself who has to take the step. Nevertheless, the non GamStop casino in question does have different ways to provide all the tools so that a player can easily be excluded without having to make all kinds of detours. There are, however, a number of additional challenges.
- Identity fraud: players can still go to another site far too easily and create a new account there with the payment information of, for example, a partner or someone else.
- Fraudulent self-exclusion: This is a tactic often used by fraudsters who create a new account, deposit funds using stolen credentials, then request self-exclusion and file a chargeback. This makes it increasingly difficult for operators to detect fraudulent money.
Know Your Customer Policy
This is combated as much as possible in Europe by working with the (Know Your Customer) KYC policy, which in fact, means nothing more than that the parties between whom the transactions take place must be verified. The KYC principle is a basic requirement within the financial services industry. No license for the nonGamStop casinos without KYC.
- Consumer protection: that’s a good thing, because the fact that transactions can be tracked more and more today means that consumers are also better protected.
- Safety for society: the approach has also been created to combat money laundering and even terrorist activities. In money laundering, transactions are carried out to give criminal money an apparently legal origin. Terrorist financing is the collective term for payments to facilitate terrorist activities.
Mandatory ID Check at Non GamStop Casinos
Online casinos are therefore obliged to do an ID check before a payment is made to the visitor. Usually, this consists of a copy of the ID, but additional documents such as an electricity bill are also common. In this way, both your identity and address details are verified. The non GamStop casino simply wants to know who you are. That is not a personal attack but happens with every transaction and, therefore also with every player. Gone are the days when people could anonymously do whatever they wanted on the internet. And that’s a good thing.
Mobile First
Mobile payments accounted for 68% of all online gaming transactions in 2020. Mobile has clearly become the preferred channel for online players. Casinos not on GamStop should take advantage of this as much as possible by putting smartphones at the centre of their service, also in view of the payment platforms. This means, among other things, that user-friendliness must be central: just think of how annoying it is if a numeric keypad is missing on the payment page or if the page does not adapt to the size of a mobile screen.
Combat Fraud & Money Laundering
Worldwide, fines for money laundering have risen sharply in recent years. Nearly $6 billion in fines were handed out in the first half of 2020, 80% of the total of $8 billion in fines in 2019. With this, governments, banks, and payment platforms are increasingly fighting suspicious online payments. While anonymous payments could still be made a few years ago (including with cryptocurrencies), that is already different today. There is a lot more regulation. This is crucial for non GamStop casinos to prevent the following forms of fraud and money laundering on their websites:
- Account takeover: VIP customers often have large funds in their accounts and are therefore targeted by criminals who unnoticed move funds from their accounts to other accounts or even request payments.
- Account brokering: in this case, criminals create an account, gain VIP status and sell it to a fraudulent organization in order to launder money. VIP accounts are characterized by higher payout limits compared to regular accounts.
Two Factor Authentication (2FA)
An effective method to prevent such abuse is to recognize used devices and to set up Two Way-Player authentication. This prevents fraudsters from requesting payment or taking other actions from an unknown device. With Two Way-authentication, two steps must be followed before an action can be taken, for example, by authorization via an e-mail link or entering a code sent to the phone. There are also special apps, such as Google Authenticator, that make it possible for the owner to carry out such a check.
