Who you are, and proving it once
LadBet Verification
Most accounts verify silently at registration with no documents at all. When we do ask, here is what passes first time, what never passes, and how long the review takes.
Verification is a legal duty rather than a judgement about you, and the single most useful thing on this page is the advice to get it over with on day one. Nothing about it becomes easier by waiting, and waiting guarantees it lands on the day there is money to collect.
The silent check
At registration, your name, date of birth and address are checked against public and credit-reference records. If they match, nothing is asked of you and the account is simply open.
Why most people never see this page
Electoral roll data plus credit-reference records cover the majority of adults with a settled address, so under four hours of accounts complete without a document being uploaded. The check is a soft search: visible to you on your credit file, invisible to lenders, and with no effect on your score.
Why it sometimes fails
Recent movers are the largest group by far, followed by people not registered to vote and anybody who typed a shortened first name into the form. None of those is suspicious and none of them is your fault — the records simply do not line up yet.
What to send
Two categories, and a document can rarely serve both.
Proof of identity
A passport photo page, a UK photocard driving licence, or a national identity card. Photograph it flat, in daylight, with all four corners in frame and nothing obscuring the machine-readable strip. A scan is fine; a photograph of a screen is not.
Proof of address
A bank or building society statement, a council tax bill, or a utility bill from the last three months. The name and address must match the account exactly, and the document must show the issuer, the date and the full address rather than a cropped portion of it.
Source of funds, occasionally
Requested only on unusually large activity, and it means recent bank statements or a payslip. It is a regulatory obligation applying to every licensed operator and every customer equally, which is worth saying because being asked can feel like an accusation and is not one.
What gets rejected
Five recurring problems account for most repeat uploads, and every one of them costs a day.
- Screenshots of a banking app. Not a statement. Download the PDF from the app instead.
- Over-redacted documents. Blacking out an account number is fine; blacking out half the page takes the name with it.
- A cropped corner. The automated check needs all four corners to confirm the document has not been altered.
- Mobile phone bills. Not accepted as proof of address anywhere in the industry.
- An address that does not match. Flat 2 against Apartment 2 will fail. Update the account first, then upload.
How long it takes
An average of 3 hours 40 minutes from upload to decision, with most reviews well inside that.
What makes it slower
A document that needs a second look by a person rather than passing automated checks, and uploads arriving in the evening when the queue is longest. Sending the right thing the first time is the whole of the optimisation available to you.
What happens while it runs
The account carries on working. You can deposit, bet and use the site normally. The only thing held is a withdrawal, which is precisely why doing this early costs you nothing and doing it late costs you an evening.
Verifying early, in practice
The advice to do it on day one is easy to give and easy to ignore, so here is what it actually involves.
Five minutes, once
Open the verification section in account settings, photograph or download the two documents, upload them, and forget about it. The review runs while you carry on using the account. Done on the day you register, it costs an evening nothing; done on the night a bet lands, it costs you the evening.
It does not expire
A verified account stays verified. You are not asked again at the second withdrawal or the tenth. The only circumstances that trigger a fresh check are a change of address, a change of name, or a source-of-funds review on unusually large activity — and the first two are within your control.
Why any of this is required
Three reasons, all of them conditions of the licence rather than preferences of ours.
Age verification, because nobody under 18 may gamble and an operator that cannot demonstrate it has checked is in breach. Identity verification, because money leaving an account has to be going to the person who owns it. And source of funds on unusual activity, because the anti-money-laundering rules that apply to banks apply here too. The formal policy sets out the legal basis, and the privacy notice covers what happens to the documents afterwards.
The limit tools are quick to set and easy to live with. Support is free and confidential on 0808 8020 133, every single day of the year, including this one. The minimum age for an account is 18.
Common questions
Do I have to send documents?
Usually not. under four hours of accounts verify automatically at registration with nothing uploaded.
How long does verification take?
An average of 3 hours 40 minutes from upload to decision, with most reviews faster than that.
Can I bet while it is being checked?
Yes. The account works normally throughout. Only withdrawals are held.
Will it affect my credit score?
No. It is a soft search, visible to you on your file and invisible to lenders.
Why was my document rejected?
Most often a banking app screenshot rather than a statement, a cropped corner, an over-redacted page, a mobile phone bill, or an address that does not match the account exactly.
Why am I being asked for bank statements?
A source-of-funds check on unusually large activity. It is a legal obligation on every licensed operator and applies to everyone equally.