KYC in gaming: what Europe and UK operators need to balance

TL;DR: COVID-era player growth has expanded the fraud surface for bonus hunting, multi-accounting, account takeovers, and illegal chargebacks while operators still need to meet AML and age-verification obligations across Europe and the UK, according to SumSub. The governance problem is not whether to add checks, but how to calibrate identity controls so they reduce abuse without creating onboarding friction that drives users away.

NHIMG editorial — based on content published by Sumsub: KYC Guide for the Gaming industry: Europe and UK

By the numbers:

• COVID-19 caused a surge of players joining gaming apps and platforms, with forecasts indicating growth of €140.05 billion from 2021 to 2026.

Questions worth separating out

Q: How should gaming operators balance KYC friction with fraud prevention?

A: Treat KYC as a risk-based control, not a single gate.

Q: Why do multi-accounting and bonus abuse break weak identity programmes?

A: They exploit the gap between first-pass verification and ongoing identity reuse detection.

Q: What should compliance teams separate in gaming onboarding?

A: Separate age verification, AML screening, and fraud controls.

Practitioner guidance

• Separate verification paths by regulatory purpose Define one path for age verification, another for AML screening, and a third for fraud controls so each obligation has its own evidence trail and exception process.
• Tighten duplicate-account detection across signals Correlate device fingerprints, payment instruments, and identity attributes so the same person cannot repeatedly enter the platform under different accounts.
• Calibrate KYC depth to player risk Use lighter checks for low-risk access and escalate verification when withdrawal, transaction, or behavioural thresholds indicate higher abuse exposure.

What's in the full article

Sumsub's full guide covers the operational detail this post intentionally leaves for the source:

• Use cases for identity verification in gambling across onboarding and higher-risk player actions
• An overview of the online gambling regulatory landscape for Europe and the UK
• Best practices for KYC verification levels and how they map to conversion trade-offs
• An identity verification checklist you can adapt for implementation planning

👉 Read Sumsub's KYC guide for gaming in Europe and the UK →

KYC in gaming: what Europe and UK operators need to balance?

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