IDnow welcomes agreement on a transition period for online gambling law in Germany

MUNICH, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- IDnow, a leading Identity verification specialist, welcomes that Germany's 16 states have agreed to a transition period incorporating the new and upcoming legal framework by October 15th. This transition clarifies existing and new mandates including, and importantly, age verification requirements for online gambling. The new regime officially enters into effect in July of next year.

IDnow, in its mission is to make the connected world a safer place, is pleased about this decision among the German states. The company looks forward to supporting the operators in order to provide greater safety for users. For IDnow, this ensures better protection for customers under German law as well as clearer rules in regard to responsible gambling.

"This is a big step for Germany's online gambling industry, and again, it shows the importance of eKYC methods and their need to evolve. In a world that becomes more and more digital by the day, we need to stay vigilant and constantly adapt our security requirements," says Rayissa Armata, Head of Regulatory Affairs at IDnow. "IDnow strives to contribute to responsible corporate citizenship, ensuring that the social responsibility for this industry can be achieved effectively through innovative methods. This is the strong desire of the federal and state governments within Germany, and IDnow has been and –  will continue to be – an active supporter of those efforts," she adds.

"We have developed our products together with our clients – the biggest players in the market – , to perfectly meet their needs. IDnow offers AML compliant video verification, but also an approved automated verification solution. Gambling operators can choose, depending on their security needs, which of those multiple solutions they want to use. All of them fulfill mandatory age verification requirements," says Oliver Obitayo CSO at IDnow. "To us its more than important that our clients can offer  safe service platforms to customers so underage use can be prevented," he adds.

After a period of uncertainty, each of Germany's 16 states have agreed to a transition period for online gambling in Germany before the official start date of July 1, 2021. This transition period is noted by the shared agreement to not punish gambling companies who conform to the new law that will officially go into effect next year.

In January 2020, the German states agreed on an amendment to the State Treaty on Gambling (Glücksspielstaatsvertrag) that also comes into effect July 1, 2021. This date was partly put into jeopardy, as was the process to issue sports betting licenses, in the first half of this year when matters came to a halt due to a court injunction sought by an Austrian gambling operator.

In a welcome development last week, Germany's 16 states agreed to a transition period for gambling activities. This will allow operators to offer casino style gaming and poker as long as such activities are fully-compliant with the draft for the new Glücksspielstaatsvertrag. Online gambling operators must meet all licensing requirements by an October 15 deadline. This will include an Age Verification (AV) solution for online operators.

Under the new and upcoming regulatory regime, the following changes will be implemented:

• It will be possible for German players to play online casino games and online poker under strict regulations
• A wagering limit of €1 will be placed per spin for slot games
• The number of licenses for table games will be limited to the number of physical locations for casinos in each state
• A €1,000 deposit limit will now be implemented across all online gambling verticals in Germany.

With the recent acquisition of Wirecard Communication Services into the IDnow Group, the Munich based company has created additional capacities and possibilities for more flexibility in order to be able to adequately support its customers in every situation.

About IDnow

With its Identity Verification-as-a-Service (IVaaS) platform, IDnow has set out to make the connected world a safer place. IDnow's unmanipulable identity verification is used across industries conducting online customer interactions that require a high degree of security. IDnow uses Artificial Intelligence to check all security features on ID documents and can therefore reliably identify forged documents. Potentially, the identities of more than 7 billion customers from 193 different countries can be verified in real-time. In addition to safety, the focus is also on an uncomplicated application for the customer. Achieving five out of five stars on the Trustpilot customer rating portal, IDnow technology is particularly user-friendly.

IDnow covers a wide range of use cases both in regulated sectors in Europe and for completely new digital business models worldwide. The platform allows the identity flow to be adapted to different regional, legal, and business requirements on a per use case basis.

IDnow is supported by venture capital investors Corsair Capital, BayBG, Seventure Partner, G+D Ventures as well as a consortium of renowned business angels. Its portfolio of over 250 customers includes leading international companies from various industries such as Bank of Scotland, BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, eventim, Raisin (Weltsparen), Sixt, solarisBank, Telefonica Deutschland, UBS and Western Union as well as fintechs such as Fidor, N26, smava, and wefox.

Press contact:

Christina Schwinning
press@idnow.io
+49 89 41324 6054

Related Links

http://www.idnow.eu/

SOURCE IDnow GmbH