Know Your Customer processes must tailor to all users, says Stake’s Bárbara Teles, to ensure companies are maximising its worth.

Speaking on iGaming Daily Podcast episode 573, titled ‘KYC, Tech, and Women in Gaming, with Stake’s Bárbara Teles’, SBC Noticias’s Business Journalist, Ana Maria Menezes discussed how Know Your Customer practices from outside the gambling sector can elevate compliance within iGaming.

Teles stated that KYC in gambling must be adapted specifically and be purpose-built to ensure it can be utilised in the landscape of the iGaming industry – rather than just copy and pasting from other sectors.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        She said: “There is no escape route for a KYC mechanism to be effective. It needs to understand the environment. We cannot copy and paste the tools used in other sectors and expect them to work.

“The mechanisms that work for food delivery or social networks don’t translate directly to gambling. We need tools that can understand risk and user behavior in this specific context.”

One area the gambling industry can lend from is the financial sector. Specifically, banks. In Brazil, the PIX payment system allows anyone in Brazil to send and receive payments instantly and these payments make up 70% of digital payments in the country – something which is key for their newly-regulated gambling market. 

The use of Pix for gambling transactions is also mandatory, due to the fact that cash, crypto and card payments are not permitted and Teles reiterated how Brazil’s Pix payment system can how significant speed and traceability are users, as well as how this supports the idea that gambling can borrow key principles from finance. 

Telles said: “PIX is a role model. It’s fast, safe, and fully traceable. It connects directly to the CPF and the central bank. It proves that you can have security, follow the money, and still make the user journey smooth.”

Her final important point was centered around the topic of inclusivity; her strong stance revealed that an inclusive design in KYC ensures you are not losing market share by omitting customers who don’t have access to the best cameras to verify quickly at home. 

“Inclusivity in compliance is not just ethical—it is strategic. If your KYC process excludes a portion of the population, you’re not only at regulatory risk, you’re losing market share.”

“We can’t assume that everyone has the best phone or camera for facial recognition. A robust KYC solution needs to offer multiple paths to verification.”