Why Do New Jersey Casinos Ask For Your Social Security Number?
Have you ever actually stop to think why New Jersey-based online casinos always ask for players’ Social Security number? Well, the answer is pretty clear: this is mandatory among venues because by performing this check they want to prevent underage gambling, but also they want to protect the games in of integrity.
Even though Borgata CEO Tom Ballance once said that it’s “the biggest drop-off point in the registration process”, you still need to divulge your Social Security number along with your full name, address, and various other personal information.
Why?
Simply put, the government observes all New Jersey-based casinos as financial institutions, which means they need to follow all the strict regulations. In this case, those regulations are the Bank Secrecy Act and the Patriot Act.
It all boils down to the fact that since casinos are observed as financial institutions, they can be subject to various anti-money laundering protocols, so each time there is a new deposit or a new ed, the player needs to state their name, address, and Social Security number to be recorded.
Is Your Info Safe?
Even though these are all protocols from the government, one can’t help but wonder whether the info we share with them is safe. It’s quite normal that leaving those nine digits with an online casino triggers numerous alarms concerning your safety…
…but you can be relieved – as all the casinos are highly regulated. It is the same as with any other financial institution, such as your bank.
The casinos, as well as the third party companies that perform these checks, are all licensed by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.
Nine or Four Digits?
Some of you may have noticed that certain casinos will not ask for all nine digits of your Social Security number. Instead, they will ask only for the last four digits, and this may come off as a little less invasive, right?
Truth be told, there isn’t much difference as it all leads to the same thing – they will still ask for your name and address so they will combine the data with the last four digits of your SSN to perform a full and thorough check.
FinCen and the IRS allow casinos to perform such checks only if the full SSN can be confirmed through other data once they search for it in the database. If there is no full SSN match, you simply will not be allowed to play.
Offshore Gaming Sites
Over here it’s very similar, only they will ask your SSN once you try to make withdrawals, and they won’t bother you with that during the process of ing on the site or placing deposits.
This is simply due to the fact that they don’t really care if you’re underage or trying to pull off identity theft.
Source: “Why Do NJ Casinos Require Social Security Number?”, May 13, 2019.
