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UK
Casino Times
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News
26 July 2004
Child Gambling Allowed On The
Net
Children
as young as 11 are able to gamble online, according to a new
report.
They are able to do so
because of failures by a number of websites to carry out
proper age checks.
The vast majority of sites
tested by children's charity NCH allowed under 18-year-olds
to register their details, the report found.
The charity is now urging
gambling websites to apply stringent age verification
software.
A 16-year-old girl was
asked by the charity to attempt to register with around 37
UK gambling websites.
She claimed she was 21 and
gave her Solo debit card details.
As a result, the teenager
was able to register her details with 30 UK websites and she
would have been able to place bets.
Gambling Minister Andrew
McIntosh said: "These are very worrying findings. Having
already warned the industry that Solo cards should be
treated with caution, it is disappointing to find so many
haven't taken this on board".
Natwest offers Solo debit
cards to customers over 11 years of age and HSBC does the
same for any account holder aged 16.
John Carr, NCH's internet
adviser, said: "It is shocking that children as young as 11
are able to register with online gambling sites. There are
no excuses for this. The technology for these companies to
clean up their act already exists but it is used by a very
small number of the operators we surveyed".
UK websites will be
required to make proper age verification checks under the
Gambling Bill, which is set to be introduced in the
autumn.
The report was compiled
with CitizenCard, an organisation that supplies ID cards and
which is also behind age verification software being tested
by gambling websites - including some of those which failed
the test.
One of the 30 websites
which the report said allowed the 16-year-old girl to
register is run by bookmaker William Hill.
Spokesman David Hood said:
"Issues such as under-age gambling are hard to address but
they are being addressed.
"We are testing several
types of age verification processes.
"However, we still believe
the burden of responsibility lies with banks because issuing
these cards to minors gives them access to all types of
adult services, including porn sites."
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