E-Gaming is just used for adventure or fun but at this point, it is also used for business. Now youngsters are playing games and want to choose it as a profession. This has made e-gaming a separate industry from regular sports. There are big businesses involved in e-gaming providing their services of tournaments and online gaming events. Not only has the gaming industry flourished but also related businesses have gained a swift following like mobile phones and consoles. According to Statista, the worldwide market size of e-games was $950.3 million in 2020 and it is forecasted to grow more.
This high figure also attracts scammers and criminals to disrupt the gaming industry for getting financial benefits. Scammers imitate genuine players and perform their illegitimate activities on gaming platforms. It is clear that a solid know your player verification solution is needed for the gaming industry. All the players should be screened and verified before getting registered on gaming platforms.
Know Your Player
It is the verification of the identity of online players before using any gaming service. Usually, know your player verification is conducted when a user gets registered on an online gaming or gambling platform. The player verification can be done through government-published identity documents of the player. The documents that are used for player verification are a driving license, id card, and passport.
The process of Know Your Payer verification is carried in below three steps:
Information Entry
When a player onboards on an online gaming platform. It asks him to give his personally identifiable information that includes name, father name, date of birth, and id card number. If the site provides gambling services, it also requires financial information of the user like bank account number or credit/debit card number.
Documents Uploading
The image of the player carrying the id document is uploaded. The data on the image is extracted through OCR.
Online Identity Verification
The data retrieved from the document is cross-matched with the earlier given information. In the case of bank account or debit card verification, the image of the debit card or bank statement is also uploaded. The image on the document is verified with the face of the user.
Document verification is also conducted against fake or forged documents. Document’s hologram, signature, and stamp authenticity are checked and verified.
There are also some additional know your player verifications that are offered according to the requirement of gaming platforms.
Age Verification in Gaming
The trend of e-gaming is more in kids but all games are not for them especially gambling. There are cases when kids play gambling games with fake identities. Kids use their parents’ debit/credit cards for gambling platforms without their consent. Some games are prohibited for kids because they require a mature and developed mindset for their gameplay.
Although these gaming websites have traditional checkbox age verification that can be easily avoided. The player verification through id documents gives the accurate age of the player. Having know your player verification services a gaming platform can block the onboarding of minors.
Address Verification
Online gaming events that have high entry fees and prize money need to verify the address of players. For this purpose, an extra step is added to the player verification in which the player has to upload address documents. These documents are not necessarily issued by government authority but shouldn’t be older than three months. They must show the most recent address of the player. Address documents can include a utility bill, bank statement, insurance certificate, employee letter, or tax return. The address information is extracted from these documents.
Summing It Up
Concluding the above discussion, it is certain that know your player verification will enhance player security in gaming platforms. It will kill the threats of identity fraud in e-sports. There are also reports that gaming platforms are also used as a medium of money laundering. This is because gaming platforms provide the anonymity of identity. The anonymity gives ease in illicit funds circulation. Know Your Player verification will allow only genuine customers on gaming websites or mobile apps.