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KYC, short for Know Your Customer, is a set of protocols widely used to confirm the identity of customers for businesses. It can refer to anything from a simple ID check to a relatively complex process, but the goal is almost always to be certain of who your customers are.
These processes are widely used in highly regulated markets or industries, such as banking, market trading, or gambling.
Since online gambling is highly regulated, pretty much all legitimate gambling sites are required to perform KYC. That’s why the term is quite important for anyone looking to gamble for real money in online casinos.
In this article, we’ll take a look at KYC in online casinos, why it’s performed, and what you’ll need to complete it.
Know Your Customer protocols in online casinos are measures taken to confirm the real-world identity of every customer.
For example, most licensed gambling sites ask for a scan or photo of your ID, passport, or driver’s license. That’s a typical example of casino KYC. The goal is to confirm that you are indeed who you say you are and ascertain important information such as your country of residence, address, and even date of birth.
Additionally, KYC protocols ensure that you can only open one account per customer. This is important to most gambling establishments and their licenses.
In most cases, the services a casino is willing to offer are severely limited until the full KYC process is completed. Some casinos will not even allow you full access until you confirm your identity. In other cases, you are allowed to deposit and play but not withdraw any money from the site until you complete KYC.
A casino may ask for any number of documents to confirm your identity. However, most use a standardized process that involves two parts: confirming your identity and confirming your billing address.
Confirming your identity is the simpler part. You just need a scan or photo of some sort of government-issued identification. The purpose of this scan is simply to confirm your real-world identity, as well as your age and citizenship. All of these details are important due to licensing and gambling regulations.
Most of the time, all you need to do is upload a document such as:
You typically only need to pick one, though availability may depend on your country of residence. For instance, a driver’s license is not considered valid identification in some legal jurisdictions.
Additionally, you’ll need a proof of address. This step is crucial for security concerns such as preventing identity theft and money laundering.
It can be a bit more difficult, especially due to differing laws in different countries. Basically, you need to prove that you live at the address you provided while registering at the casino.
This also involves uploading a scan or photo of a document. Examples of proof of address include:
This step is a lot more variable depending on the casino and/or your country of residence. If you’re not 100% sure what you need, we recommend contacting the casino’s customer support and asking about KYC requirements in your country.
By now, most of you are probably wondering whether all of this is actually necessary.
In short – yes, yes it is.
As we already mentioned, gambling is a highly regulated market. Casinos have a lot of rules to contend with and proper KYC is required if they want to stay compliant with those rules. In fact, most online gambling licenses directly require operators to perform KYC.
Here are a few reasons as to why casinos perform KYC verification:
In conclusion, KYC measures are important for combating many of the dangers of gambling such as financial abuse and addiction. They’re there to protect both casinos and players.
If you need more info on how online casinos work and how to register and play on them, check out our guide section for more articles like this one.
Yes, players need to submit a passport, ID card, or driver’s license to log into most online casinos. While sites that don’t ask for ID exist, they’re generally unlicensed and pose a risk to your financial safety.
The whole process of casino KYC can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days, depending on how efficient or busy the casino’s customer service is. Bear in mind that different players may need to take different steps, which can affect the length of the process.
Yes, there are definitely gambling sites that do not perform KYC. However, since most remote gambling licenses require KYC, such sites are generally unlicensed and thus much riskier. Importantly, crypto casinos may not require KYC due to the anonymous, unregulated nature of cryptocurrencies.
Generally, all you need to do is upload a scan or photo of a document or two. You will need some form of government-issued identification such as a passport or ID card. You may also be required to submit proof of address such as a utility bill or bank statement.
Legitimate, licensed casinos can be trusted with your personal information. If you don’t trust a site, we suggest avoiding it altogether. Remember, licensed casino operators are also legally obligated to keep your personal information safe, which is just another reason to only ever gamble on casinos with a proper license issued by a respected regulative body.
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