LeoVegas Group Director of Legal, James Elliott, recently spoke at SBC Summit in Lisbon. The panel discussion, titled “Digital ID: The Game-Changer for Operators,” explored the benefits and opportunities of the upcoming new ID framework in the EU. We took the opportunity to sit down with James after the panel discussion to get the nitty-gritty!
Can you briefly summarize the key benefits of the impending digital ID framework for operators, particularly in terms of improving player onboarding and streamlining compliance?
“Firstly, I commend the EU for taking this initiative. Projects like these demonstrate some of the real advantages that can be achieved through collaborating in legislation. Now obviously, the E-ID, Authentication and Trust Service Regulation wasn’t only passed to help the gaming industry, but there are some significant take-aways that it will bring.
To start, I can see a real benefit in streamlining the customer authentication experience. At the moment, operators rely on a variety of providers to authenticate player Identities. They all do a fantastic job and I like the way that they are always innovating. Unfortunately, they are ultimately hamstrung by limited access to information, and they need to adapt to the limited amount of personal data that is accessible in different member states.
At the same time, consumers are being regularly asked to provide documents for a variety of different day to day activities. This can range from renting a car, booking a hotel room to more complex document requests such as opening a bank account or taking out a mortgage.
As a result of the current lack of coordination and an inherent mistrust by the consumer of what companies will do with these documents, you end up with a really uncomfortable user journey, documents no longer being within the desired date of validity, scans of documents catered across your digital storage and attached to a number of different communications through different channels.
Ultimately, it’s a mess and it creates a really bad user experience, and potentially puts your documents at risk of being used by identity fraudsters.
What I like about the E-ID framework is that it puts the power into the hands of the data subject (user) and they can choose to share as much, or as little of the documentation that is stored digitally, depending on the specific requirement they have.
The fact that the documents that are stored in the wallet are already verified, means that companies such as gaming operators should be able to place more trust in the authenticity of the documents, the fact that they are current, and the fact that we are genuinely dealing with the person that we believe we are transacting with.
It also means that we should be able to adapt our customer user journeys to create a more frictionless experience without having to contact them as regularly to provide us with updated documents.”
You mentioned safer gambling as an advantage of digital IDs. Could you expand on how operators can leverage digital IDs to enhance both player protection and regulatory compliance?
“This will vary very much from country to country, but at its most basic, I see the digital ID as a tool that will be able to reduce the amount of participation by players who have sought to use the identity of another in order to continue playing after they have had their accounts restricted for safer gambling reasons.
In situations where a customer has enrolled on a self-exclusion database, they should find it much more difficult to open another account with a regulated operator. Unfortunately, there will probably still be opportunities for players to play on sites that don’t require the E-ID or those that aren’t as responsible in their Safer Gambling duties.
In some Member States, particularly those that seek to impose deposit limits on their citizens, I also foresee the E-ID as a tool that may be used to monitor, and even limit, customer spending across all licensed sites in that particular jurisdiction. Whilst the intentions of such measures are well-founded, I feel it is still important that such limits do not drive players to unregulated operators.”
Looking to the future, how do you see the adoption of digital ID transforming the industry?
“I do feel that, whilst the E-ID will be an additional tool in the customer authentication library, I don’t think we can say, by any means, that it will be a silver bullet. I would imagine that there will still be scope for fraudsters to hack the databases of the E-ID providers and consumers will still be reluctant to give access to their documents and question why operators have to ask so-called “invasive questions” about their personal financial situation.
We will still have a need to gather additional information on customers to tailor customer experiences, to prevent fraud and reduce bonus abuse. The E-ID will not provide this kind of information for us.
I see the E-ID providing an additional resource but by no means replacing the valuable insight that we gain from the customer authentication providers.
Nevertheless, as an industry, we welcome the initiative that has been taken by the EU on this front and we encourage further initiatives to facilitate seamless integration of regulatory safeguards to user experiences across Member States.”
