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."
