Article: Gambling safeguards fail to defend online punters at Stake.com

[The Buzz]

An investigation by the Observer newspaper found that Stake.com’s "lucrative and fast-growing empire may be benefiting from lax controls on customers – including under-18s – betting with crypto."

Last month, the Observer asked Stake.com whether U.K. punters might be using VPNs to bypass country restrictions on crypto gambling. Stake.com said it had implemented “stringent compliance processes” to prevent this. But in tests, the Observer found that these processes were "anything but stringent" and that reporters were able to use "a photograph of a packet of Strepsils throat sweets instead of a legitimate form of ID" to set up an account.

From the article:

Using a VPN, the Observer was able to access Stake.com’s crypto gambling services from a UK location within seconds.
When asked for age verification, reporters uploaded a photograph of a packet of Strepsils throat sweets instead of a legitimate form of ID such as driving licence or passport. This initially proved sufficient.

The reporters were then able to buy crypto via Stake.com, deposit it in a betting account, and proceed to lose the money on Stake.com’s slot machine games, such as Sugar Rush and Starlight Princess. It was also able to move the remaining funds into an online bank account. They could even buy crypto with one bank account and move the funds into another account, with Stake.com effectively operating as a digital currency transfer provider.

It took more than 48 hours for Stake.com to suspend the account, after spotting that a Strepsils packet was not proof of adulthood. While the company eventually cracked down on the fake ID, subsequent tests suggest an approved adult could have continued gambling with crypto, even though the Gambling Commission has yet to give any operator approval to offer such a product in the UK.
There is reason to believe that VPN crypto gambling may be vulnerable to those seeking to bet using the proceeds of crime.

Read the entire article here: https://www.theguardian.com/business...okie-stake-com

[MegaPari]

First of all, I laughed out loud about a packet of Strepsils. :')
Secondly, I'm rather surprised that the platform provides such wide options for money transferring. If the casino does not secure itself from the money laundering, a question comes out: do the boundaries wash away when we talk about crypto?

[Pokerface]

LOL ... that is funny ... had to re-read to see the reference of Strepsils.

Always wondered if after providing KYC docs if anyone ever actually reads them.

[Joshstewart]

It will be interesting to see if the popularity falls now twitch has banned them from the platform