[C O L U M N I S T ]
Social gaming - something is missing
As Emma Lindley, formerly of GB Group and now age and veri?cation consultant to a number of gaming companies explains, the opportunity for fraud exists even with virtual currency, an issue many operators may not have considered
> By Emma Lindley > Director of Capital Management Consulting
money it’s certainly going to change the stakes from a risk perspective. Age veri?cation and anti-money laundering rules will come into play when making this switch from a nonregulated to a regulated environment, the question remains however as to whether or not virtual currency should, given it has a value, be regulated in the same way? Conversion process There is a clear expectation in the minds of consumers that they will be able to move from social networks to gambling sites in one seamless process. Conversion is the name of the game, and with a customer journey from a non-regulated to a regulated arena, the potential for consumer drop out due to age veri?cation and Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements is going to be high. This is due to clients not making the link in their minds that they are moving into a different environment. In my experience, accurate customer data input such as name and address information plus identity document checks, which is still critical for KYC, isn’t going to be something they will expect to have to do in the transition. With operators paying hundreds of dollars for each customer directed across from a social networking site, if those consumers fail to get through KYC and age veri?cation and are unable to play, it will become an expensive process for operators, not to mention a poor experience for the customer. Perhaps if there were more collaboration of identity standards between organisations, it would make the process easier. If social networking sites had historically veri?ed the identities of members, consequently speeding up the transition and monetisation of their customer