News
Debit Cards and Underage Gambling on the Internet
9 July 2004
The popularity of Internet gambling and betting continues to grow in the UK with new sites and gambling opportunities, seemingly appearing on a weekly basis, and sites attracting new customers daily. Probably the greatest advantage of Internet gambling is the convenience, as a new customer can set up an account and play in a matter of minutes and from the comfort of their own home. All you need is a computer, Internet access and a debit or credit card.
However whilst the convenience of Internet gambling has been central to its success story, it is also brings with it new concerns especially with regards to underage play. Blocking underage play within the terrestrial gambling industry is very easy in practice as all it requires is visual identification, regarding how old an individual looks and a request for ID from any suspected minor. However verifying age on the Internet is much harder as straight away you lose the ability of visual identification.
As well as the inability to visual verify a player, matters are made far worse by the fact that most Internet gambling and betting sites aiming to attract UK customers accept UK debit cards as well as credit cards. This becomes a concern because in the UK some debit cards are issued by major high street banks to children as young as 12 years old. 
The highest risk debit cards are Solo and Visa Electron as they can be issued to children under 16. However Switch which is also a popular debit card, is also often issued to people between 16 and 18 years old. Recent figures from APACS (the Association for Payment Clearing Services) have also highlighted the scale of this problem by estimating that around 700,000 16 and 17 year olds own a debit card. By including holders of a debit card between 12 and 15 this figure is likely to closer to 1 million under 18’s with a debit card.
This is an issue that any operator of an Internet gambling site should be aware of and addressing. At the present though GamCare has been very concerned with whether most operators are taking adequate measures to verify age or indeed taking any measures at all. We have already been made aware of several cases where under 18’s have been able to register and gamble on an Internet site using their own debit card without having to verify their age in any way, and worst still, have been so amazed at how easy it was that they have even told their friends who did the same.
The problem of under age access is also accelerated by the fact that these days children are very computer literate (often more than there parents) and gambling advertisements continue to proliferate on the Internet, some quite aggressively with promises of large jackpots and free bets.
It is clear that the current situation needs to be drastically improved to assure the public, Government and regulators that Internet sites can adequately protect against underage play. There shouldn’t be any excuses as ID and age verification systems already exist and are being used effectively by Internet sites regulated in Alderney as well as a few sites within the UK including the National Lottery. Whilst the situation will improve with the new Gambling Bill, which is due in a couple years, operators should really be taking action now to stop children gambling on their sites, as the current situation is just not good enough.
We would like to hear from you and your experiences or concerns about underage gambling on the Internet. To send us your feedback use the form below and we will publish some of the responses.
For more information about young people and gambling issues contact Andrew Poole - Young Persons' Education Officer or Michael Smeaton - Remote Gambling Specialist