IDnow, an identity verification provider in Europe, has reported a significant increase in the number of gambling customers requesting identity verification ahead of the busy summer betting period.
This spike coincides with the opening match of Euro 2024 on 14 June – seeing a 750% increase in verification requests between 14 June and 16 June compared to usual levels.
This surge in activity surpassed the number of requests seen during the 2022 World Cup, indicating the growing popularity and engagement with major sporting events.
IDnow expects these high levels of verification requests to continue throughout each country’s first game in the tournament.
Roger Redfearn-Tyrzyk, Vice President of Global Gaming at IDnow, stated: “The challenges operators face during major sporting tournaments are not necessarily any different to their regular daily compliance hurdles, but the sheer volume of new players from all around the world, coupled with increased activity is likely to cause issues for unprepared operators.
“Euro 2024 will be a huge opportunity for gambling platforms, new and old, so it’s essential they capitalise on the event while safeguarding their players and their reputation.
“Only when operators are confident they can verify accounts thoroughly and onboard the right players during such busy period will they be effective in fighting fraud.”
Global sporting events like Euro 2024 attract both casual and regular bettors, contributing to the growing popularity of online betting.
However, this surge also brings security concerns. During the last World Cup, for instance, 250,000 people in the UK visited unregulated, black-market sites, compared to 80,000 during the previous year.
European nations, unsurprisingly, are expected to see the biggest increase in usage during the Euro 2024 period.
Redfearn-Tyrzyk concluded: "Gaming operators in these particular regions must offer secure player onboarding, deposits and withdrawals and conduct seamless Anti-Money-Laundering and age verification checks to help fight the expected proliferation of fraudulent activity in both the build-up to Euro 2024 and throughout the tournament."
