12 Jan 2012: Paddy Power, Ireland’s biggest bookmaker, has selected Callcredit Information Group to provide a tailored identity verification service for its online gaming consumers, allowing the company to check the identity of players signing up to its online betting site, both within the UK and internationally. The deal follows hot on the heels of a similar agreement between Callcredit and Betfred.

Callcredit’s system processes bulk files of player identification records provided by Paddy Power and gives a confident pass / fail decision, using data drawn from international sources (with data held for 130 countries) and UK records, including court judgements, insolvency data and the electoral register. The service is designed to work in real time while maintaining high verification rates, reducing the costs and time involved in checking new players.

Andy Ryan, Customer Security Manager with Paddy Power, said: “Know Your Customer has become increasingly important for both compliance and fraud detection purposes. We needed a solution that could deliver a worldwide approach to customer verification.

“When choosing a verification supplier to work with, we looked at four key areas: match rates, intelligence, support and cost. I’m pleased to say that Callcredit performed well in all four areas. We have improved our UK and international match rates. We received excellent support throughout the integration process and continue to receive professional support through our client manager. The pricing model suits our needs and the service shows great value for money."           

James Blake, Head of Sales at Callcredit, said: “Online betting has never been more popular and Paddy Power is one of the leading names in this field, but this increased consumer interest is not without risk. Fraudulent accounts and underage players need to be quickly identified, without compromising the verification of genuine players. We’re delighted that Paddy Power recognised that Callcredit’s depth and breadth of UK and international data, used in our range of identification and anti-fraud tools, were the ideal solution.”