Regulatory

The online gaming industry has made significant advances in recent years, with hundreds of thousands of fans playing this way worldwide. But games with violent content, or those that are otherwise inappropriate, are clearly unsuitable for younger players.

Furthermore, because players can easily contact anyone from anywhere, there is the potential for children to be exposed to online predators.

To protect young users from the worst side of online gaming, you need an effective age verification system to accurately confirm how old users are before they gain access to web-based games.

The need for age verification

Age verification for online gaming has become an increasingly pressing need, with these platforms obliged to protect young users from inappropriate content and comply with regulatory standards.

Age verification for minors ensures that players are of the minimum age or older if they’re accessing gambling services or content.

• Age verification safeguards children against age-inappropriate content or services, helps create a safe digital community, and maintains the integrity of the online world.
• Many online games contain content that is considered inappropriate for young players, including violence, strong language, or adult content, which can have a number of negative impacts.
• Robust age checks enable online gaming platforms to verify the age of players accurately and restrict minors from accessing these services.
• Many jurisdictions globally, including the United States, Germany, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Europe, have established age verification laws requiring online platforms to adhere to legal standards.
• Implementing robust age verification for younger players enables online platforms to comply with the legal frameworks effectively, whilst protecting users.
• Age verification is paramount, particularly when online games contain inappropriate or violent content. Any non-compliance with age verification laws could have legal repercussions and lead to severe penalties.
• Effective age verification safeguards young users from exposure to online predators.

Often, online games contain chat rooms allowing players to interact with unknown people, and this can ultimately expose children to those with malicious intent, whether that’s cyberbullying, sexual exploitation, or targeted marketing.

Methods implemented

There are various ways to verify the age of users before allowing them access to gambling services or systems. However, traditional methods of age verification aren’t fit for purpose today. Tech-savvy kids can easily bypass verification questions like date of birth or age group.

Instead:

• ID document verification: Verifying users based on their ID documents is often safer, as users have to provide scanned photos of official ID documents like driving licences or passports. The uploaded documents are then verified to ensure that they’re genuine.
• Credit card verification: Another good option is credit card verification, as credit cards are only issued to users aged 18 or older. This helps to weed out younger players.
• Biometric authentication: The most advanced form of age checking for minors, biometric authentication, has shown promising results, allowing users’ ID to be verified based on their biometrics.

Age verification systems integrated with facial recognition allow a user’s age to be estimated via analysis of their facial features.

Facial recognition algorithms are used to identify various age groups and the user’s age, with great accuracy.

Latest technologies and integration in age verification

Young users and their parents must understand how their sensitive data is collected and used, and ensure that the data is acquired and used solely for age verification purposes.

Strong data protection measures must be in place to safeguard the user’s data from data breaches and online predators.

A multi-faceted approach, such as combining ID document verification with biometric or email verification, could provide greater security and accurate age verification.

Malicious actors could exploit children and their sensitive information for illicit purposes. Integrating advanced technologies, including AI-driven recognition algorithms or sophisticated machine-learning tools, significantly increases the efficiency of the age verification system.

👀 Biometric authentication could be another accurate way of verifying the age of younger players.

Online gaming platforms must develop robust strategies and measures to verify the age of players accurately, to prevent those who are underage from accessing gambling services, thereby creating a healthier online environment.

If this all sounds a little dystopian to you, that's because it is. Unfortunately, needs must with some online activities, and a decision between impeding on people's anonymity and freedoms, and keeping youngsters safe needs to be made.

Challenges & considerations

Age verification scams are growing at an alarming rate. Some scammers hide behind legitimate age verification systems and ask users to share sensitive information, whilst some users may bypass the systems by providing fake information.

Robust security protocols and data protection measures need to be in place to reduce the potential threats of fraudulent activities.

In addition, parents are often concerned about the privacy and protection of their child’s confidential information, including who has access to this information and how their data is kept secure.

Smaller web-based gaming platforms could be put off from the wide adoption of age verification systems because of the cost. However, a scalable, cost-effective tool could help ease integration and enable accurate verification of users’ ages.