There’s a growing trend to demand nothing but high-level security from online sportsbooks. From millennials to boomers, no one wants to use a betting website that exposes their personal and financial information.
How are sportsbooks responding? They have no choice but to protect their customers. Here are some of the measures they use.
Compliance to Data Privacy laws
Since 2018, online sportsbooks have had to comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The law aims to protect EU-based sports punters against data violations. It also applies to all other Internet-based businesses, including giant social media companies like Facebook.
With GDPR protection, an online sportsbook must ask for consent before it collects your data. And in case of a breach, the company needs to alert data controllers immediately. On the flip side, you have a right to know what data is collected and even withdraw your consent.
The US doesn’t yet have data privacy laws. But that doesn’t mean there are no safe online sportsbooks. Legalbettingsites.info delves more into the topic. It also breaks down the exact date each state legalized sports betting, games allowed sports, and the best bookmakers.
With that in mind, take time to read about a company’s data privacy policies before you create an account. Some businesses collect data for questionable reasons, like selling it for profit. But they don’t reveal this information until you read their policies.
Military-Grade and SSL Data Encryption
Military-grade encryption describes the technology used by the US government to protect classified information. It’s known as Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and secures your data in such a way that it can’t be hacked.
On the flip side, SSL refers to Secure Socket Layer. It encrypts data while in transfer from a computer to the website and back. That way, anyone who attempts to hack it only views scrambled data and not the real information.
The best betting websites combine these two data protection methods. They use AES to protect your data while in storage. And they use SSL to protect your information while betting on their websites and apps.
Partnering With Safe Banks
You can’t bet real money at an online sportsbook without going through a bank. It could be an e-wallet like PayPal, a debit card like Visa, direct bank transfer, or Bitcoin. Regardless, you’ll often share your data with both sportsbooks and banking companies.
The best sportsbooks work with safe banking companies so that your data stays safe when depositing and withdrawing money. They work with up to 20 payment companies: Skrill, Neteller, PayPal, Paysafe, Visa, MasterCard, and Trustly, to name a few.
Bookmakers provide a variety of banking companies to ensure you transact where you feel safe. Gladly, many of these payment methods also prioritize customer security. Take PayPal as an example. Not only does it encrypt your data; but it also lets you pay betting websites without revealing your financial data.
PayPal keeps your financial data and only forwards your money to the sportsbooks. Another way the e-wallet protects you is through One Touch. This feature lets you log into multiple betting sites without filling payment forms repeatedly.
Pay by Phone
Besides working with safe banks, some casinos protect your data by avoiding it entirely…sort of. Through pay by phone e-wallets, some bookies let you place bets without creating an account and revealing your personal or financial information.
Pay by phone companies like Zimpler and Boku collect your data—name, credit card numbers and require that you complete KYC verification. After that, they give you login details you can use to get access to several betting websites.
Phone by phone sportsbooks provides a lot more benefits besides helping you bet without creating accounts. They allow you to gamble on sports without money in your account. To expound more, they loan you cash to wager and they ask for it plus interest by adding it to your phone bill.
Password Protection and 2-FA
This might seem obvious but it’s essential for online sportsbooks to support password protection. The best companies ensure you use a long, unique code that combines letters, numbers, and symbols.
What’s more, they support 2-FA. For the uninitiated, two-factor authentication (2-FA) is an added security layer that involves your email address or phone number. Basically, 2-FA ensures the only way to log into your betting account is if you get your password correctly and enter a code sent to your cell phone number or email address.
Many security experts recommend you use your cell phone number for 2-FA protection. That’s because it’s less likely for someone to hack your password and also steal your phone than breaking into your email account.
Licenses and Certificates
Many betting license providers have a set of requirements operators must fulfill. One of these conditions is to protect customers’ data and funds. In other words, sportsbooks must protect your personal information by default.
That’s why it’s recommended to bet at sportsbooks licensed by a trusted regulator—the UK, Malta, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania have respected agencies. Licensing aside, certifications are another way sportsbooks assure you of data protection.
A certificate from a security company like Norton, MacAfee, or GLI provides proof the betting company takes online safety seriously. And that’s a better way to gain confidence from customers than to simply state they are safe.
Deleting Unnecessary Data
Your betting website requires your email address, name, and IP address for security reasons. But it doesn’t need to collect cookies about everything you do online. And if it collects unnecessary information, it has an obligation to delete this information.
By law, many sportsbooks are mandated to collect necessary data alone. However, not every company follows this guideline. And that takes us back to the importance of reading a bookie’s policies before you become a customer.
Find information related to how a sportsbook deals with your data once it no longer needs it. Does it share it with other companies? And what happens to your data after you cease to be a customer? A good sportsbook should get rid of sensitive data after some time.
