Iovation, a TransUnion company, has released findings that show how people in the US are bypassing system controls on gambling websites and apps.
The Iovation analysis found that 4.13 per cent of online gambling transactions originating from the US – predominantly to European gambling operators – used evasion techniques such as trying to hide their location.
This is 119 per cent higher than Iovation’s finding that 1.89 per cent of online gambling transactions from outside the US used evasion techniques. In many countries and states, online casinos are restricted from accepting payments from US citizens and therefore are unable to offer them gambling services.
“There is indeed a pent-up demand in the US, where gamblers will go to rather extreme measures to try to get around restrictions to become a customer of a foreign gambling site,” said Iovation executive vice president of corporate development and co-founder, Jon Karl.
Some of the evasion techniques iovation has detected with online gambling transactions include the use of the Tor Browser, hiding behind a proxy and geolocation mismatch.
Karl added: “Device intelligence has proven effective at detecting customers trying to play on gambling sites from which they are restricted. This will be essential for gambling operators launching in the US that will need to comply with interstate regulations and limit play by geographic boundaries.”
