Licensed online casinos are legally required to verify a customer's identity — a process called KYC (Know Your Customer) — before releasing withdrawals. It exists to prevent money laundering and underage gambling, and to confirm that the person withdrawing is really the account holder. An operator that never asks for any verification at all is the actual red flag, not the other way around.
Some operators verify at signup, before you deposit at all; most ask at the point of your first withdrawal, or when a withdrawal crosses a certain amount; and some run it at random or when their fraud systems flag unusual activity. None of these timings are unusual on their own.
Uploading clear, uncropped, unedited copies of the exact documents requested — and making sure the name on them matches your account exactly — resolves the vast majority of verification delays on the first attempt.
Not necessarily — some operators verify every player at signup, regardless of withdrawal size, while others only trigger it at a certain amount.
You can usually deposit and play without it, but withdrawals are typically blocked until verification is complete at any licensed operator.
Usually because of blurry or cropped photos, a name mismatch with the account, or an expired document — resubmitting a clear, current copy resolves most rejections.
At a licensed operator, yes — document handling is covered by the same data-protection and AML rules that require the check in the first place; it's one more reason the license-verification step matters before you upload anything.