A recent study conducted by Experian found that those who access Internet gambling sites and are subjected to an identity verification check that lasts more than four minutes tend to abandon the process, clicking their mouse and moving elsewhere on the World Wide Web. This may come as a surprise to online gaming operators, who may want to take note and pare down that verification process for those online gamers whose attention span and/or patience wears thin easily.

“It comes as no surprise that online consumers are not prepared to wait for verification processes to complete – though it does come as quite a shock that four minutes is the threshold of their patience," said Rob Meakin, the market development manager at Callcredit Information Group.

Ten sectors were studied by the worldwide information services provider and online gambling patrons showed the lowest level of tolerance, eGR reported. Individuals dealing with insurance and mortgage matters tended to wait longer that punters at Internet gambling sites, with tolerance levels of nine and ten minutes, respectively.

In this day and age when people have grown accustomed to taking care of many necessary functions online quickly, waiting too long can certainly make the most patient web surfers grow weary. Some of the delay may not be the fault of the gaming sites, but instead the speed of Internet connections. Those speeds are known to vary widely among worldwide jurisdictions.

“Identity verification is becoming an increasingly important part of egaming operations, particularly as the online industry for this sector grows," said Nick Mothershaw, Experian's director of identity and fraud. “Our research shows that egaming businesses are at risk of losing out on trade as thousands of consumers are taking their custom elsewhere. It is therefore vital for online gaming outlets to make sure the transaction process is as fast and simple as possible."

What many online poker grinders have also found quite annoying are the sites that readily accept credit cards for deposits in no time flat. However, when it's time to cashout, a drawn-out verification process is often required before a withdrawal is processed. While that is somewhat different than ID verification prior to accessing Internet gambling sites, it is equally as perturbing.