Is Electronic Identity Verification Going to be Ubiquitous in the Coming Years?
Cyber Security
Throughout the year, millions, and even billions of people worldwide tune in to watch various sporting events. Sports bettings is one industry that has thrived due to the amount of people that are seeking to profit off of the sports games.The online gambling market has been constantly growing at around 13% per year with the United States leading in revenue generation. This vice has been extremely controversial due to the potential addiction and fraud that can arise in this industry. While betting, particularly sport betting, was traditionally confined to casinos, advancements in technology have made it more accessible, increasing the possible problems that could arise.
Senior Investment Partner for 1717 Ventures & IBM Watson’s Former Lead Security Architect Harold Moss told us:
“Electronic identity plays a crucial role in how fast we can transition into the automated intelligence era. Much like previous transformations, some facilitators help the masses accept and evolve. Much like Steam’s role in accelerating the industrial revolution, Identity facilitates the adoption of the automated intelligence era by addressing the knowledge of whom organizations interact with and addressing the governance and protection of the masses adopting new technologies.”
The ease and accessibility of gambling and sports betting have given rise to many safety and security concerns!
According to Tom Hill, the Senior Director and Head of Sports Betting and iGaming at Prove Identity, the company’s goal is to provide a “unique and holistic approach to user experience” and make it much easier to prove one’s identity while not consuming excessive time.
With numerous sporting events watched globally, there is a surge in users on betting platforms during specific events such as the Super Bowl, the World Cup, or the start of the NBA season.
Courtesy of https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/online-gambling-market
Mr Hill even stated that “The Super Bowl is our Super Bowl” in terms of new people signing up and the sheer amount of people using betting platforms. However, this surge presents a security problem as the influx of users spending large amounts of money betting during these events become prime targets for account takeovers to occur, as many people do not possess adequate security, despite the amount of money that they are putting into their accounts.
See our piece: Surge in NBA Cheating
Regarding possible expansion, Tom Hill expresses optimism about the future growth of the industry, believing in its significant potential for expansion. However, there are many states that still have not yet legalized sports betting, leading to under the table betting that lacks regulation and safety for personal information. He believes that “one of main points and reasons for regulating and approving online gaming in states that currently do not have it( is) that if someone wants to bet, they will be able to find a place to bet, even if it is offline or on an unregulated site.”
Many states are ultimately voting as to whether or not sports betting and online gambling will be made legal in their state but he “still thinks (under the table betting) … will always be around and available depending on where you live and what is available but ultimately it is hard to say.” Inherently each person will have their own preference for the way that they bet as well as their preferred platform, but there are now many incentives given by each website in order to draw in customers, such as free bets, match play, or parlays that offer the chance to win large amounts of money off of small bets due to the extremely high likelihood that the bet will not pan out.
Furthermore, Hill stated that one of the goals of Prove Identity is to both protect the user of the gambling websites and apps, but also to help protect the websites and apps themselves from people that are attempting to fraudulently create new accounts with the hope of using the free promotions multiple times. Electronic identity verification addresses these exact problems by forcing the person who is attempting to access the account, to use face identification or other similar ways of proving your identity to mitigate identity theft and misrepresentation.
Inherently during large sporting events, there is a massive increase in the number of users, and Prove Identity wants to make sure that verifying your identity is fast and not a drawn out process. According to Tom Hill, as phones are now constantly being carried around and are starting to be used for more and more different tasks, phones will need to become a proxy for different forms of identification. He believes that Prove Identity will be a forerunner in this industry, leading the way with technology that makes verifying one’s identity faster and more secure.
Written by Quentin Bader
