Responsible Gambling: Principles, Features, Monitoring Tools

Online casino
Updated 31 august 2022

Today, such a trend as a responsible approach to gaming is extremely relevant in the casino industry, which is actively supported by the authorities. Operators and government agencies work together to ensure a transparent and secure user experience.

Responsible gambling: key features

The Online Casino Market studio offers you to learn more about the tools that help entrepreneurs to adhere to the rules of responsible gaming.

About the Concept

It is a set of measures to maintain high standards. The actions are aimed at ensuring fair and secure gambling and timely informing casino customers about the risks of ludomania.

Public authorities are obliged to develop and implement legislative initiatives, while operators and punters must adhere to the established rules.

The described term appeared in 2010. It was introduced by the Gamble Aware non-profit organisation, which helps British casino visitors to fight ludomania. Over time, in other countries, similar charitable foundations were created, such as Problem Gambling in Ireland or Gamblers Anonymous in the USA.

In Ukraine, responsible gaming standards are regulated by law No. 768-IX of July 14, 2020. The state body — Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries — controls the correspondence of activities of licensed entrepreneurs to the fair play rule.

Core Rules for Responsible Attitude to Casino Games

Responsible casino gaming: principles

In international practice, there are 7 main types of actions that are expected from operators:

Protection of vulnerable users

We are talking about people with signs of ludomania and those who previously entered themselves into self-restraint registers.

In Ukraine, the vulnerable category also includes financially distressed persons:

  • low-income citizens;
  • persons with debts for public facilities and alimony debts;
  • residents who receive subsidiary protection from the state;
  • disabled persons

Access control (for minors)

In Ukraine and most European jurisdictions, the age limit is 21 years old.

The task of business owners who work legally is to check the age of users and prevent minors from playing games for money

Prevention of criminal activities

The work of casino operators must comply with:

  • international AML policy (fight against money laundering);
  • IMF requirements (combating the financing of terrorism).

To do this, entrepreneurs install special security software, and supervisory authorities install systems for online monitoring of their activities

Protection of confidential information

In most countries, the disclosure of user data (name, place of residence, gender, as well as banking and contact information) is considered illegal.

Wrongful actions can lead to huge image losses both for a particular casino and for the gambling industry as a whole

Security of internet payments

Entrepreneurs must guarantee the absolute security of financial transactions:

  • deposition of funds;
  • payment of prizes;
  • accrual of bonuses, etc.

The best decision would be to connect a secure payment gateway offered by trusted software vendors

Support for fair play

Gamblers want to be sure that the casino works transparently and does not falsify the results of the raffles.

Operators should buy only certified land-based equipment and software for iGaming projects. The key element that is used as a kind of test is the built-in RNG, which generates the frequency of winning combinations

Ethical marketing

Advertising must be honest and reliable. It should not be aimed at minors and socially vulnerable persons.

In many countries (for example, in the UK and Spain), the demonstration of commercials during the daytime is prohibited, and in other jurisdictions (for example, in Ukraine) there are restrictions on the placement of land-based and internet banners

Tools to Fight Gambling Addiction

According to the WHO classification, ludomania is a mental disorder that is expressed in frequent repeated visits to casino locations to the detriment of social and material values.

According to the American Psychiatric Association, this disease mostly affects socially unprotected segments of the population (more than 70%): minors and low-income persons. However, quite successful citizens can also become gambling addicts, even if they have a stable income, a decent position in society, and good health.

The task of the government and operators is to timely warn customers about the risks associated with ludomania. It is important to:

  • conduct educational activities;
  • organise offline and online events;
  • place informational banners on websites;
  • control marketing campaigns, etc.

To effectively combat gambling addiction, synchronised actions of owners of both online and land-based businesses must be taken.

Entrepreneurs are offered the following tools:

  1. Self-restraint registers. According to Ukrainian legislation, players or members of their families can add themselves (or their relatives) to the self-restriction lists for a period of 3 months to 2 years. In many European countries, there is a similar practice — the ability to temporarily block a user account. During the established period, operators close access to the gambling resource for persons who required it and stop the e-mail newsletter.
  2. Reality check. After a specified period (for example, 15 minutes), a pop-up window appears on the screen asking you to pause or stop the game. The UK Gambling Commission was the first to introduce this option and obliged all licensed providers to implement it into their betting and casino software.
  3. Restrictions on bets/limits/time. Each online establishment offers its users to specify in advance the time spent on the gaming site (for example, up to 3 hours a day), the maximum bet (for example, 2 thousand euros), and the threshold of losses. It is possible to set limits for 1 session, day, week, month, etc.
  4. Notifications. This tool sends players a history of wins and losses, which allows them to better control their actions on the casino platform. Such notifications help users to distract, soberly assess the situation, and make a choice in favour of continuing or stopping the game.
  5. Permanent account blocking. Punters should have the right to permanently block their access to the gambling establishment and stop any contact with the operator.
  6. Publication of links to special websites. The Danish regulator has made it mandatory for all casino owners to place links to the portals of non-profit organisations that provide assistance to gambling addicts. A similar practice exists in other countries: the United Kingdom, Romania, Spain, and the United States.

Modern Security Software

Casino security software: tasks

From Online Casino Market, you can order programs from the world’s leading providers: TransUnion Company, Featurespace, ASAP Secured, Accertify, and others.

Security solution performs a wide range of tasks related to adherence to the principle of responsible gambling.

User Identification

The verification system is an integral component of casino software. Its main task is to identify a person when he is registering on the website and during each subsequent visit to the platform.

Timely authentication helps to identify minors, persons with signs of ludomania, and low-income citizens for whom it is strictly prohibited to place bets.

The system automatically checks players in the self-restriction lists. Even if the “period of isolation” has passed, such people should be treated more carefully, for example, by setting limits on the size of bids and time spent on the gaming site.

Verification usually takes place in 2 stages:

  1. Users provide personal data that serve as identifiers. This is the full name, date of birth, address of residence, information indicated in documents (passport, ID card, or driver's licence), mobile phone number, and external data. The program captures these facts in special registers and automatically compares them with self-restriction lists. If everything is alright, it will be possible to proceed to the second stage.
  2. Verification using biometric face recognition. The security software is equipped with artificial intelligence, thanks to which the system accurately identifies clients. The program receives an image of a person's face and, using the built-in algorithm, finds features that determine individual characteristics. The finished digital template is compared with the faces that are already included in the customer base.

In Ukraine, gamblers can be identified using the Bank-ID method. This is a two-step identity verification based on the bank's database of user accounts. Similar technologies are implemented in Belarus, Denmark, Sweden, and other developed countries.

Security of Payments

Casino protection software is adapted to work with the largest financial services (SWIFT payments, ACH, API, Faster Payments, and Zelle). For this reason, the solution accurately detects fraudulent transactions and instantly allows identified players to make transfers.

The main tasks of the product:

  • verification of financial operations for their legitimacy, the completion of transaction attributes, and reliability of addressees;
  • reduction of chargebacks;
  • additional identity verification that takes place during the transfer;
  • combating money laundering by detecting abnormal behaviour of customers;
  • automatic rejection of risky activities;
  • control of the correct use of money paid in the form of bonus incentives;
  • customisation of filters and access levels depending on the preferences of operators.

Gaming Site Perimeter Protection

A multi-component risk management system ensures complete security of confidential data. Players can be sure that all personal information (name, bank card and mobile phone numbers) will not fall into the hands of fraudsters.

Casino visitors trust those online platforms that are worried about their security. That is how people can be sure that the results of the drawings will not be manipulated by a third party.

The Main Things about Responsible Gambling

Taking into account this concept is an integral part of the work of those operators who want to legally offer services in the market.

  • The term “responsible gambling” implies many interrelated tasks. These are control of access to casinos of minors, timely user identification, protection of confidential data and online payments, support for fair play, ethical marketing, and much more.
  • To combat ludomania, entrepreneurs use self-restriction registries, reality checks, time and betting limits, publication of links to special resources, etc.
  • Installation of security software will simplify user verification, protect the data of clients and the provider's online transfers, as well as minimise external interference in the work of a web platform and the chances of the rigging of the lottery drawings results.

At Online Casino Market, you can order security software from AFIMAC, Featurespace, 4Stop, and other leading vendors.

Our team proposes the following services for legal work in the gambling market:

For all questions, please contact our managers.

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Karen Fill

Author

Karen Fill

Gambling business expert at Online Casino Market

Updated 31 august 2022