German license application, Responsible gambling and Significancy of the affiliate reliability
1Click Games applied for the German B2C license
1Click Games has applied for the German B2C license in November 2021, and we expect the license to be issued within 6 months. This license will certainly boost the company’s efforts to expand across the markets, as well as help to strengthen its position across markets where 1Click Games already operates. Extensive work has been done by the company’s staff members: Compliance department got acquainted with German online gaming regulations of more than 300 pages in respect of “virtual slot machine games” (“Virtual slot games are replicas of terrestrial slot games offered on the Internet”). They also studied license application procedures and drafted all required documentation of more than 400 pages for the license application. AML department implemented online players onboarding (identification & verification, and ongoing monitoring) procedures, IT department in collaboration with the Compliance and AML departments implemented all requirements and features to be compliant with the German regulations and to be in good standing to submit the license application. One of the challenges was also that all regulations are provided in the German language and all license application documents should be prepared also in German.
The authority has also clarified licensing restrictions on casino games, with games such as blackjack and roulette not permitted under the new licenses. License for these types of online casino games may be covered by individual states at a later date but will not be included in the current Interstate Treaty.
License holders will be allowed to offer different forms of gambling under the same domain, but each service must be separated. This means that players must not be able to play two or more different types of games at the same time.
The treaty also stipulates that a cross-supplier deposit limit must be enforced at all times. The limit is set at €1,000 per month for each player. This means that a player can only deposit up to this amount across all operators and platforms. This will be controlled through a central limit control file held and monitored by the regulator.
Gambling has to be a fun part of people's spare time when you can relax and enjoy your favorite games. Gambling is meant to be a leisure activity, not a source of problems and human misery. That's why one of our main priorities is to recognize the hidden side of the gambling problem, prevent our users from facing any difficulties, and help them to stay safe.
Gambling problems are far-reaching and can have a significant impact on people's lives. If customers are experiencing difficulty in controlling their level of gambling and want to seek help, we as an operator must take actions to prevent user’s becoming at-risk gamblers.
Who are at-risk gamblers and what are others gambler profiles?
Healthy Interest Gamblers:
Enjoy betting or gambling
Control their spending on gambling by sticking to predetermined budgets
Rarely gamble to extended periods
Social Gamblers:
May invest more of their time into gambling than healthy interest gambler
Gambling can be a primary source of relaxation and entertainment
Generally, bet systematically with an occasional increase in stakes
Professional Gamblers:
Make their living by gambling
Are well informed about the gambles that they choose
Normally can control both the amount of money and the time they spend gambling
Tend to patiently wait for the best bet
Attempt to optimize their spent to win ratio
Antisocial or Criminal Gamblers:
Use gambling as a way to financially gain by illegal means
Attempt to launder money from stolen credit cards
Attempt to use a compulsive gambling diagnosis as a legal defense when facing prosecution
Are well versed in avoiding detection
Compulsive Gamblers:
Have lost control of their gambling
Feel compelled to gamble
Can quickly find that they experience severe problems in all aspects of their lives
At-Risk Gamblers:
Show some signs of problematic gambling
May experience a range of negative outcomes
Customers Self-Exclusion – not so obvious when targeting different jurisdictions
Self-Exclusion is one of the most significant responsible gambling options, allowing players to stop gambling for a definite period of time or indefinitely if they want so. This is also one of the most regulated procedures, where requirements to gambling operators sometimes are completely different depending on targeted jurisdiction.
Curacao Gambling Control Board offers their players the option to self-exclude starting from at least 18 months or permanently. On the other hand, Malta Gaming Authority does not indicate any minimal period of temporary self-exclusion, but they also require to have a permanent self-exclusion option for their players. Players who wish to revoke self-exclusion for their account, both for Curacao and MGA jurisdictions, first of all, need to pass gambling addictions checks. The procedure is done by the gaming operator support team. After that, they are given 24 hours cool-off period, in case of temporal self-exclusion, and 7 days cool-off, if they wish to revoke permanent self-exclusion.
UK Gambling Board supervises their gambling operators to offer their players very strict Time-Out and Self-Exclusion options, limiting players to gamble from 24 hours and till 6 months in case of time out, and from 6 months and up to 5 years minimum in case of self-exclusion. UK players don’t have the option to revoke their time-out or self-exclusion for any reason. Self-excluded players are also requested to confirm that they wish to return to gambling, prior they can start playing again. Licensees are also obliged to inform their players about the possibility to stop gambling using the global GamStop platform or site blocking software.
German Regulators also have very strict policies for preventing banned players access to gambling sites for at least 1 year. That term can be reduced to 3 months by player request, by providing the global ban service via the Germany OASYS platform. Revocation of the player is allowed only by written request to regulator authority. Licensees also should provide the option of Panik button to players on-site, when the player is immediately blocked for 24 hours by clicking the special button.
Jurisdiction
Period
Revocation
Curacao
min 18 months, indefinite
24-hours/7 days Cooling Off Period is Allowed
Malta
any period, indefinite
24-hours/7 days Cooling Off Period is Allowed
UK
Time out – from 24 hours till 6 months Self-Exclusion – from 6 months – till 5 years min
Revocation not allowed
Germany
Panik 24 hours - immediate ban 1-year min (reduce to 3 months by request), global ban via OASYS system
Revocation is possible after a written request to Germany Gambling Authority, with 1 week cooling-off period for a self-barred person, and 1 month cooling-off period for a person blocked by 3rd party request
It would be much easier to have standard self-blocking options across different jurisdictions, but at the current time, we can only ask "Why do you guys have so different requirements for the same option?". From our side, we do all possible to track changes in regulations for different licenses and inform players on-site about the conditions of each self-exclusion option.
Our affiliate department willing to share their expertise too, explaining how to identify and avoidpotential scammer and which tools to use, to make sure, that chosen affiliate will bring you any traffic and if his selling points are close to the truth.
What is the difference between a real affiliate and a potential scammer?
The main difference is that a real affiliate is interested in creating long-term and mutually beneficial relationships with its partners, while a scammer wants to get the only one-time benefit. By what signs can you distinguish one from the other? Below are provided some useful tips.
Scammers often get in touch and introduce themselves as the manager of an Internet resource that is potentially suitable for cooperation. You should pay attention to what email or Skype (etc.) they send a message and check the site for the presence of contacts of such a manager. It is very unlikely that a scammer will have access to real communication channels of large portals.
Dealmaking Since the scammer needs an instant profit and he does not think about the long-term prospect of the transaction, he will be ready to change the initial conditions almost any way and adjust, but this is JUST for you. A scammer will not accept a simple RS, CPA, or hybrid deal with you, he will definitely need a fixed payment and necessarily a prepayment, because "such conditions carry risks for their company..."
Payment methods. Everything is simple here - the scammer will try to get paid by the least bureaucratic method so that in case if something happens, you will not have his personal information and it will be impossible for you to return your investments.
It is quite simple to check the scammer. You can ask him to send confirmation of your deal from the official communication channel, on whose behalf he contacted you. You can also insist on paying by bank transfer, although this does not guarantee 100% success, there is a probability that the scammer will refuse. Naturally, you should always be sceptical about the affiliates that contact you first. When communicating with an affiliate, you have noticed more than one sign from the above, you should definitely think about whether the game is worth the candle? This all applies directly to the scammers who want to get money and disappear.
How to check, if there is traffic on the affiliate website?
When you sign the agreement with an affiliate the main question is how much traffic the affiliate has on his website. This depends on how much budget we can invest in dealing with a particular affiliate and what results we can expect. So how do you check any website for traffic?
To do this, we use third-party services such as:
Similar Web:
That is one of the most popular information providers for enterprises and small/mid-sized businesses. The website contains analytics for every site online.
Have Global Rank, Country Rank, and Rank by category, Traffic Overview with Total visits number. As well as top referring sites and competitors.
Similar Web has a free version with limited access.
SE Ranking:
That is a Feature-Rich SEO Platform for Webmasters and Agencies.
Contains such important features as Keyword Rank Tracking, Website audit, on-page Checker, and more. Most important you can check how many visits there are on-site from any GEO.
SE Ranking has a 14-Days Trial Period and Free limited access website version.
Semrush:
Semrush will help you with keyword research, on-page SEO, Competitor Analysis and much more.
This website also has limited access to a free version and paid versions to choose from.
Alexa traffic rank:
That is another popular SEO Platform, which, unfortunately, will stop providing its services on May 1, 2022.
