When playing at a new online casino, players have their fair share of doubts. They worry about deposits, the brand’s legitimacy, and their data. All of these concerns are valid, and worrying about data protection is considered prudent. With the ever-expanding iGaming industry, players’ PII gets more exposed to breaches and theft. Thus, player privacy and security are becoming the main focus for all casino platforms.
It’s always advised that you test the site first and make a small deposit via voucher or another payment method that guarantees more privacy. Many secure casinos offer a $20 deposit bonus Australia, allowing players to make their minimum deposits and enjoy pokies stress-free. These also support banking options like Neosurf as well as crypto payments. So, you can gamble without exposing sensitive information. This is just one simple step that helps you stay safe while playing online. Stick around to find all the ins and outs of modern data safety.
What data Is collected
Gambling platforms collect all sorts of information, from what you willingly provide to your behaviour data. Online casinos conduct mandatory KYC/AML checks. This is done to reduce the risk of financial crimes and to make sure no underage gambling takes place.
That said, sharing PII and your payment details with online casinos also puts you at risk. Should someone hack the site and steal the information, they could theoretically use it to steal money from your account.
Besides that, your behavior on the platform also provides the operator with certain data about your preferences and patterns. This allows them to take a more personalised approach. You get special bonuses and game recommendations, with the purpose of a more immersive gambling experience. However, without strong and strictly enforced data protection laws, no one can guarantee that the collected information will not be sold to third-party data brokers.
All data retention purposes should be displayed clearly in the Privacy Policy section on your casino platform. Make sure to gather all the information before signing up.
Legal & compliance
As stated, the main reason for collecting your personal information is legal compliance. Who the players are, their age, and their online behaviour must be checked to ensure operators meet all national regulations.
GDPR, or General Data Protection Regulation, ensures that personal data is protected and collected according to the law. Misuse of the collected data is fined, according to the Art. 83 GDPR with general conditions for administrative fines.
Besides personal information, gambling platforms must take measures to protect financial information, as well. PCI DSS sets clear requirements that ensure your payment accounts and transactions are safely stored and protected. In case of a potential breach, the operator is obligated to send a breach notification.
Core security controls
It’s paramount to set good security measures to protect players' personal and financial information. Online casino platforms use cutting-edge technology to ensure the safeguarding of their players’ personal info:
- SSL/TLS encryption: Became a standard for encrypting traffic and protecting data in transit. With these protocols, hackers cannot intercept and decipher your social security number, account details, and other high-value PII.
- Encryption at rest: Encryption that is used to protect all data stored on a disk. In essence, this encryption is used on information that’s not in transit, but rather sits on a storage unit.
- Key management: The process that generates, exchanges, stores, and manages cryptographic keys that protect the encrypted data. Key management must be executed properly to prevent unauthorized access.
- MFA/2FA: This authentication method requires two or more proofs of the player’s identity to give access to the account. In addition to your username and password, you can set up more authentication methods like SMS verification codes, one-time passwords, face ID, fingerprint, etc.
- Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP): This concept allows users to only have access to the data they need to complete a specific task. Users are given the minimum level of permissions, which protects other data that isn’t necessary for their regular online gambling.
- Logging/Monitoring: Logging refers to the records of events with timestamps that happened on the casino platform. Monitoring refers to collecting and evaluating system metrics through diagnostic tools.
- Secure SDLC: Integrates security designs and processes into the software to enhance security at every phase in the development process. This way, the complex software components are secured every step of the way.
- Pen-tests: These tests include controlled mock cyberattacks to check for vulnerable spots in the system. ISO 27001 and SOC 2 are the strictest and most meticulous security standards for preventing cyberattacks.
Payments and fraud
Casino operators set rigid regulations to ensure your financial information is protected. For instance, they use transaction monitoring tools to assess the player’s information and follow their activity. Moreover, fingerprinting is a method that collects data about your device, creating a map of the network.
Tokenization refers to switching sensitive data with non-sensitive data, known as a token, to protect your high-value PII. Furthermore, a chargeback is a process that lets players dispute transactions if they believe them to be fraudulent and unauthorized. Compliance with all these mechanisms reduces fraud exposure.
Players often opt for cryptocurrency deposits due to the added level of anonymity and protection while betting on their favorite football clubs.
Data sharing risk
When you leave your data on online platforms, there’s a risk of sharing it. Gambling operators implement vendor due diligence to assess the level of risk that comes with each vendor and allocate investments to the places where fraud is possible. By mapping the data, the operators can understand the links between data points and how they’re stored, so they can prevent unauthorized data sharing.
With an ad pixel, the system collects your behavior and engagement data. All this data is at risk of being shared. Therefore, periodic audits are required to confirm the continued compliance with safety regulations.
Practical checklist
While many of these security measures are the responsibility of the online casinos, protecting your data isn’t entirely out of your hands. While you should start with reading the terms & conditions first, there are other measures you should take to ensure safe online gambling.
To protect your personal information on online casino platforms, implement the following steps:
- Strong passwords - set up a strong password and 2FA/MFA
- Be wary of phishing - don’t click on suspicious links from unknown sources
- Privacy settings - set what information you want to be visible and collected
- Opt out of marketing - adjust ad settings to protect your casino behavior from being tracked
- Request data deletion - when you want to close your casino account, send a request to delete your data
- Breach notices - if you spot a breach notice, contact the operator immediately
- Transparent policies - always opt for casinos that publicly publish their audits and set clear policies
Lastly, always stick to the adage “Better safe than sorry,” so don’t even use your credit card or bank account when playing online.
