The Health Lottery signs up Callcredit for player checks

The Health Lottery, a new draw-based lottery game, has signed up to use Callcredit Information Group's verification software to check the identity of new online players.

The lottery, which raises money to support local health-related good causes, is using CallValidate to confirm the age and identity of players signing up for an online account. The software also verifies customers' bank account details, both for setting up Direct Debit payments and for validating the accounts of winning ticket holders.

CallValidate is Callcredit's market-leading identity verification software solution, which uses extensive public and financial data sources to provide a fast, real-time identity check, thereby improving player acquisition by reducing the time spent on manually processing new customer applications. It is also the only solution currently available in the UK which can verify bank or debit card details.

Callcredit will provide regular reports to The Health Lottery on the results achieved by the software, backed up with a dedicated support service.

The Health Lottery, which donates 20p out of every £1 spent to health-related good causes through 51 local society lotteries, currently sells tickets through 40,000 retail outlets and online. In order to register for an online account, players must have a valid bank account and address, and all players must be over 16. The Health Lottery is regulated by the Gambling Commission.

David Wall, IT and Operations Director at The Health Lottery, said: "Callcredit's software was fast and easy to use, and more than 80 of our call centre staff were trained using it in the weeks before we launched. It enables us to ensure that players registering online are processed efficiently, thus driving up online engagement.

"We have been delighted with the support we've received and we are looking at other Callcredit products to determine how they could add further value to our business."

James Blake, Head of Sales at Callcredit, said: "The Health Lottery expected a large volume of new online players once it launched, so it was essential that they had reliable and robust tools in place to quickly confirm the details of genuine customers, while also identifying potentially underage or fraudulent applications. CallValidate combines a wide range of datasets to provide one of the strongest verification checks available in the UK today, and we are pleased that The Health Lottery has been able to benefit from this."