LONDON, July 27 (UPI) -- A British child advocacy group says Web-based gambling should include age-verification checks to prevent children from betting online.
Known as NCH, the children's charity made the proposal after it discovered a 16-year-old girl was able to register with 30 gambling Web sites after lying about her age, the Guardian reported Tuesday.
Only seven sites requested verification of her age when she claimed to be 21.
"The technology for these companies to clean up their act already exists," said the NCH's John Carr. "But it is being used by a very small number of the operators we surveyed. We urge everybody to install age verification software as a matter of urgency."
British Minister for Fambling Andrew McIntosh described the findings as "very worrying."
"This shows that in the face of rapidly changing technology, our gambling laws are unable to keep pace," he said.
