Emailage Gaming’s Business Development Director was speaking exclusively to Gambling Insider about the new rules, which will take effect in Great Britain on 7 May.

Under previous parameters, gaming operators had up to 72 hours to verify a player’s age.

But the new regulations, announced in February, mean customers must verify their age both before depositing funds and gambling with real money or free bets.

Thaci explained: "I’ve been speaking to operators and compliance experts who have been working closely with these operators. What I’m finding is what’s keeping a lot of CEOs up at night is not being compliant and having to pay huge fines or, worst-case scenario, losing their license.

"That tells me not a lot of operators were really prepared to make these changes in such a short space of time. This is their number-one priority.

"Yes, they do have the resources to continue to be compliant. However, they will have to balance that with customer experience and customer expectations. As of right now, I think a lot of them are in panic mode."

Thaci was speaking for the July/August edition of the Gambling Insider magazine, alongside Chris Thomas, Managing Director EMEA at Emailage, and Thomas Barnes, Regional Marketing Manager EMEA at Emailage.

Register for free here to read the full interview when published.