EGBA supports Europe-wide electronic ID proposals

The new proposal would require private and public sector bodies within the EU to offer e-IDs to citizens, allowing them to authenticate themselves in public and private sector businesses -including online gambling sites – across the EU.

“It is about giving a choice to consumers, a European choice,” European commissioner for the internal market Thierry Breton said. “Our European companies, large and small, will also benefit from this digital identity, they will be able to offer a wide range of new services since the proposal offers a solution for secure and trusted identification services.”

EGBA said it believes regulators would benefit as it would be easier to deal with fraudulent activity, customers would be able to control which information they choose to share and administrative costs for operators would be reduced.

EGBA director Ekaterina Hartmann said: “An ever-increasing number of Europeans are using online services and a common electronic identification method would help them to access online services in a practical, secure way which safeguards their data.

“We welcome the proposal for a Europe-wide e-ID, which would have significant positive impacts on the way KYC is conducted in Europe’s online gambling sector and help establish more common approaches to identity verification.

“An EU e-ID would, for example, help strengthen existing processes to prevent minors from accessing online gambling and to fight fraud and money laundering.”