GIBRALTAR LICENSE RULES

Casinos have to adhere to strict policies in order to be granted a license in Gibraltar. These policies are strict, but fair and all in the name of protecting players, which makes the GRA a highly sought after and respected license for casinos to hold.

The applicant and owners, shareholders, directors and so on, of the companies will be checked out, which includes providing ID documents, CVs and more.

They must also meet anti money laundering requirements and testing requirements to ensure they’re effectively monitoring and dealing with criminal activities and have systems that are capable of offering the service for which they are designed.

GIBRALTAR PLAYER REGISTRATION PROCESS

In order to obtain a GRA license, all casinos must gather certain information about customers as a minimum; full name, address and date of birth. They are also required to complete ‘due diligence’, usually in the form of a KYC process, in order to validate and verify that data. This means the customer must provide documents (passport, ID card, utility bills, bank statements for example) to prove the information they entered upon registration is correct.

TYPES OF GIBRALTAR GAMING LICENSES

Gibraltar splits it’s gaming licenses by product, so offers;

• a bookmaker’s license
• a betting intermediary’s license
• a gaming operator’s license
• a gaming machine license
• a lottery promoter’s license
• a pool promoter’s license
• a remote gambling license.

Most NetEnt casinos with a Gibraltar license will focus mainly on the ‘remote gambling license’ meaning they’re licensed by Gib, but most of their customer focus is elsewhere in the EU.

RESPONSIBLE GAMING

Responsible gaming is a huge factor of the Gibraltar licensing process, as they want to ensure that players are protected. That players who feel they may have gambling issues have plenty of options available to them in order to keep their playing regulated and that they are aware of these options.

DATA CHECKS & SELF EXCLUSION

Firstly, whenever a new account is opened, it should be checked in order to ensure it’s not a player who has confirmed gambling problems and has requested an exclusion, in order to control their gambling.

Exclusions are usually pretty flexible; a customer requests to have their account closed either indefinitely, permanently or for a predetermined amount of time (e.g six months). However, an exclusion is different to a standard account closure as the account cannot be reopened during the timeframe determined.

STAFF TRAINING

Staff of casinos with a license from Gibraltar, who are regularly dealing directly with customers, must have training to give them an understanding of responsible gaming- when to spot issues, what they can advise customers and how to deal with queries.  They should also be very knowledgeable in the options available to the player including limits the site offers and information on external help.

ACCOUNT LIMITS

Players must have options to control their gambling such as the exclusion process and limits, whereby they can determine how much they are able to deposit, bet, lose and so on, within a set timeframe – e.g you can set a $20 deposit limit per week.

PLAYER PROTECTION – CONTACT AND COMPLAINTS

In order to obtain a Gibraltar license, all casinos must have complaints processes in place, so that players are able to register complaints and ensure they are investigated.

For this reason, the Commissioner rarely gets involved in customer complaints, unless directly related to the casinos license. Players must always turn to the casino first in order to get complaints resolved. If the casino offers contact details for an independent body for complaints, the player should also turn to them before the Commissioner.

If you do feel you need to complain directly to the Commissioner- if you feel a casino is breaching its license, or you’re aware of criminal activity, then you can do so directly on their website via a Complaint Resolution Request Form.

If a player has not followed the rules, terms and conditions of the casino properly, or has mislead or lied to the operator as part of their complaint then the Commissioner will not rule in their favour, as all communication and details will be looked into thoroughly once a complaint has been reported.