The National Council on Problem Gambling has issued new guidelines to payment providers, reminding them that they can play a “critical role” in reducing gambling-related harm.
The guidelines consist of a series of steps payment providers can take in order to minimize harm.
The first of these steps is for providers to encourage gamblers to set time and money limits.
“Limits on payments are an important responsible gambling tool,” the NCPG said. “Limits are a consumer-centric approach that emphasizes player control, information and shared responsibility. For limits to be effective they must be able to apply across accounts and types of gambling regardless of the method of payment.”
The NCPG added that daily, weekly and monthly limits should all be encouraged, payment providers should incentivize the setting of limits and play should stop when the limits are reached.
A second guideline was for payment providers to provide robust know-your-customer checks.
“Operators should make every effort to verify identity of customers through their payment history, including a thorough age and identification verification process when setting up their payment methods,” it said.
The NCPG added that self-exclusion was an important step in preventing gambling-related harm and that financial institutions should have their own self-exclusion systems.
In addition, the NCPG said that financial institutions should use research to help fight gambling-related harm.
“Data on gambling deposits and other transactions that is collected by operators and vendors across the payment ecosystem should be made publicly available through the regulatory agency to qualified researchers,” the NCPG said. “During the regulatory approval process, the responsibility should be placed on regulators to provide research to show that new payments products and services do not increase gambling-related harm.”
The NCPG also said that payment providers should deliver personalized responsible gambling messages to customers.
This weekend, Lower Saxony’s Ministry of the Interior warned German payment providers against processing payments for illegal gambling websites.