If you’re a young person who is considering trying to place a wager at a UK betting shop anytime in the near future, you might want to think twice before attempting anything. A secret shopper employed by the UK government found that betting shop clerks checked for identification 90 percent of the time. Those are odds that even the most degenerate of gamblers would not be likely to take.
The ID tests are conducted by a UK secret shopper firm called Legal Serve throughout the year. The process is very simple wherein a young looking would-be punter walks in the door of a betting shop and is asked for his or her identification at any point during the encounter. So far this year, a full 90 percent of betting shops demanded age verification from the secret shoppers. That’s up tremendously from the 67 percent of betting shops that asked for IDs when the tests first started.
In a statement reported on by Gambling Insider, UK Betting and Gaming Council Chief Executive Michael Dugher lauded his colleagues on the ground level saying, “I want to pay tribute to betting shop staff who, like other retailers, have endured a very challenging year of closures, restrictions and fast-changing Covid-19 guidance. Despite those pressures, they have remained absolutely focused on ensuring the safety of customers and the protection of young people.”
The UK gaming industry has been under fire for a variety of reasons recently, and news that industry employees are playing by the rules, is a major victory for anyone who earns a living in this business.