Technical Compliance: Trends, Risks, and Tools Webinar

Key Takeaways

Hello and welcome to today's webinar, the changing face of technical compliance trends, risks, and tools. I'm Jack Holidayiday, and I'll be guiding you through today's session. As regulatory frameworks for gambling continue to evolve, technical compliance has never been more important, not just for operators, but for suppliers and regulators as well. Over the next 30 minutes, our experts will explore the latest developments shaping this space, including shifting standards, new industry challenges, and a first look at the enhanced Vixio technical compliance tool. Before we get started, just a few quick housekeeping notes. We encourage you to get involved. So, send your questions, share your thoughts, and make the most of the live chat. If you do experience any technical issues, whether that's audio or video, just drop a message in the chat box, and our support team will be happy to help. And finally, today's session is being recorded. You'll receive a copy in your inbox shortly after the webinar, so don't worry if you'd like to revisit the content later. Now, I'm delighted to hand over to today's moderator, James Kilsby, the chief analyst at Vixio, who will be leading the discussion alongside technical compliance specialist Roger Cowan. James, over to you. >> Okay. Well, uh, good morning or good afternoon everyone depending on where where you are. Um we are here today to talk about technical compliance. Um specifically uh Vixio's uh newly expanded technical compliance tool but um we are going to share some observation and trends uh from Vixio's monitoring of technical compliance changes and also some surveys we've conducted of the industry um and showcase an expanded version um of our technical compliance tool that we're launching today. Um, I'm James Kilsby, chief analyst with Vixio Regulatory Intelligence, and I'm going to be joined by Roger Cowan, Vixio's technical compliance specialist. Roger. Uh, thanks for joining us. Um, >> no problem. Thank Thank you, James. Good to be here. Uh, I'm the, as James said, technical compliance specialist for Vixio. Uh, so it's myself and the team that have been putting the information together. >> Jack, if you can just move us, uh, move us on. Um, I'm sure many of you joining us today. uh existing clients of of Vixios and and we appreciate you as always. Um but if you don't know Vixio, um we are a leading reg provider that um uh provides insights and analysis, regulatory information and market data on the regulated gaming industry globally. Um you'll learn over the course of today that roughly a year ago, we launched a dedicated technical compliance tool that you can just see in the corner of your screen. You'll get a closer closer up view in a moment. Um uh but our technical compliance tool provides um spec breaks out the specific technical requirements that apply to online gambling in key regulated markets worldwide and that sits along our other forms of reports, insights, information, intelligence and data that we house on the Vixio reg intelligence platform. Um if you'd like to know more uh please visit visit vixio.com uh reach out to us for more information. Um, as I say, today we'll be giving you a guided tour of the technical compliance tool, but also sharing some insights that Roger and team and I have observed over the course of the past year since we first launched our technical compliance product. Um, we will then move on to a demo that Roger is going to steer um of our tool and uh finally uh have an opportunity for Q&A. So um those of you joining us, please do feel free to put a question um uh in the question box uh and it will come to us. Unfortunately, we do have limited time. So um uh if we don't get to your question, we'll probably only be able to answer a handful of them. Um we will intend to come back to them and come back to you directly to answer your question as you submit it. So please don't be shy. uh put a question in and uh if we don't speak to it uh immediately today then then yeah you expect to hear from us one way or another. Um Jack move us to the next slide please. Okay so um technical compliance um and over the course of the past 12 plus months that that Roger and our team at Pixio have been um delving deep and closely monitoring specifically monitoring technical compliance requirements um across the online gambling industry. Um, I think it's fair to say that uh a few key trends and observations have have really shone through during the course of that time. As you can see on the screen in front of you today, there six of the industry's most beloved regulators. fair to say. Um, but what they all have in common is that each of them have either uh adopted or updated their technical compliance regulations over the course of the past 12 or so months or or more recently than that. Um, so technical compliance is absolutely critical to new market entry. Um you can see on the screen there that uh the UAE has published uh uh the technical standards that will apply to um internet gaming and sports betting as well as landbased gaming. Um but the industry has I think already picked up uh its own war stories from entering the newly regulated Brazilian market on January the 1st of this year. um where um operators and their suppliers had limited time, it's fair to say, to align themselves with uh key technical requirements that are set across different audiences and the challenge of not just operators obtaining licenses but operators and their game providers etc. obtaining the relevant certifications in time. uh Brazil makes for a very relevant and timely case study around how critical um uh how critical it is to have access to the right intelligence on technical compliance but also be able to digest and respond to changing requirements when it comes to new new market entry. So that's new markets but also uh you will see uh before you there UK, Italy, Spain, Pennsylvania could have could have picked more um those are established and mature markets for um online gambling and um uh so that's to say that it's not just in new markets where technical compliance is a challenge. um industry operators and suppliers also have to respond to changes in those jurisdictions where they've probably been in business for many months, many years. Um and the rules are changing and sometimes changing in complicated ways. Um some some observations I guess over the course of the past year or so I think Roger my sense is a key one. We are seeing a trend of um sort of upstream policy changes related to responsible gaming and consumer protections. They're really um not just sort of changing um headline policies, headline regulations for for operators and suppliers. They are becoming much more technical in nature and how you actually implement new responsible gambling standards um that often requires a technical implementation. So um even if we don't see technical standards per se being updated as regulations change that is requiring technical compliance teams at at operators and suppliers to respond to them and come up with technical solutions to how they're going to implement implement them. You know we've seen that in the in the UK with new stake limits and um uh you application of of game design restrictions to table games as well as slots. Um, Italy is is in introducing default default limits uh customer limits um as part of it new concession regime. We have new KYC standards that come into effect in Pennsylvania uh etc etc. So that's definitely one one key trend I think is is and I think fair to say we expect to continue responsible gambling uh requirements flowing into technical um technical compliance changes too. Um what else do we see? I think uh an observation that we have learned over the past year is sometimes you do have uh jurisdictions that have dedicated technical standards um that are separate and apart from laws, regulations, etc. Um I think we've learned at Vixio and and very much applying this to our to our work in this area. You can't limit your understanding of the technical compliance landscape to just the technical standards document that the regulator has adopted. I think we see many many uh gotchas I think is a word that you've used Roger a few times but a gotcha booby trap whatever you want to say. Um but an important requirement that is very much technical in nature may not even be in the technical standards. It could be in the headline regulation in a guidance memo on an FAQ page hidden by the regulator. So um and that would be a learning and advice that we would share with the industry is take a broad view of understanding technical compliance requirements and not just limit yourself to one core document. Um it's not as simple as that unfortunately. Um then a final observation I thought thought we'd share today is we have not really um I don't think there's a clear leader or central template that is used um in the industry to build technical compliance requirements. um GLI 19, GLI 33. The GLI standards absolutely are a um starting point or a central point of reference for um many jurisdictions, Brazil and Peru, two relevant ones that clearly the regulators have taken GLI standards, but also built on top of them and customized as they've gone. Um see clear influence of the UK on on in Ontario as an example and beyond. The UK is certainly another reference point and then Spain's technical requirements clearly informed those of Colombia and some of the jurisdictions in Argentina among others. Um there's not really one central reference point. There's a couple of reference points and um nearly all if not all jurisdictions customize and build on on top rather than directly copy and paste. So um that's certainly been a learning and something that we we um uh informs a lot of uh our work and analysis in this area. Um Jack if you can move us to the next next slide. So in addition to um our own analysis and observations and technical compliance VIXO has also taken the temperature of the industry get the views of both suppliers and operators of how they address and how they feel about technical compliance challenges. Um in a survey survey earlier this year, Bixio asked operators specifically legal and compliance um executives with with online gambling operators um around technical compliance. And from over 50 responses, 88% of um those representing operators agreed that it was challenging to keep keep up to speed with technical compliance requirements and that they would benefit from additional resources to support in that area. Uh however um operators are more divided on whether the biggest challenge when it came to technical compliance was um accessing information to um support market expansion or market entry versus staying on top of changing requirements in the markets that they're in or a combination of both. Um you'll see on the screen there in front of you um Bixio just a few weeks ago published the results of a f of our first ever supplier survey where we asked a range of different questions of uh compliance executives with with suppliers. So B2Bs not B2C's um that covered technical compliance as well as other areas. I'd encourage you to um seek out more information of that on on vixio.com if you're interested. But um specifically related to to technical compliance um we received over 100 responses from compliance representatives of of B2B suppliers. And as you can see there uh 86% uh agreed with the statement that policy makers and regulators often establish regulatory requirements for online gambling without enough consideration of their impact from a technical and product compliance perspective. Um similarly 83% of suppliers said that technical compliance requirements were becoming increasingly diverse across different jurisdictions and that they expected that trend to accelerate over the next 5 years. Uh Jack, you move to the next slide. So clearly technical compliance is a big challenge but what's the most challenging thing about it? Um that's where it's a bit more complicated and much more in the eye of the beholder. Um, we asked operators which were their uh key areas of focus or concern when it came to technical compliance. Um they highlighted responsible gaming and KYC as areas that may may not even really traditionally be technical compliance areas but um they highlighted RG and KYC as among the most critical but basically said that almost everything was very important or if not uh if not essential when it came to understanding um the technical compliance landscape um from an operative perspective. And then again, as you'll see on the slide, it's very similar story for suppliers. We asked as part of the Vixio supplier survey, which of the following areas that you'll see is the biggest technical compliance challenge for online gambling suppliers. And you see a total split between those that um believe that the frequency of new requirements and compliance changes is the biggest challenge. Uh the cost and divers cost and divers diversity of certification requirements. um and other areas. So broad range of challenges um for both operators and suppliers um in this area and that's without even sort of unpacking some of the um more structural difficulties with staying on top of technical compliance that can be um where to find the standards or regulations in the first place. standards not being available in English. Um it is referenced on the screen some in front of you there but um uh whether regulators share uh key documents directly with suppliers or have to go through their operators licensed operators to to obtain it. So um uh that's what we see uh technical compliance being an increasingly challenging area for both operators and suppliers of online gambling. Uh Jack to next next slide. Um so it was with these challenges in mind that Vixio launched his technical compliance tool um in September 2024. Um, as you'll discover shortly, um, the initial focus of that of the product was to, um, consolidate and curate all technical compliance requirements that apply in regulated key regulated jurisdictions for online gambling. Uh, and provide easy access to the right answers for specific requirements. um uh specifically in the areas of for online casino game design um and deployment and information security. Um, Roger and team uh also monitor updates um all regulator sources and and other other sources to monitor for changes in real time and uh so the not just curating and consolidating those requirements on a one-time basis. They're being updated and maintained uh based on the monitoring of of of the area. Um Jack move us move us on. Uh we're very gratified by um uh how uh wellreceived the technical plans tool has been. Um I think specifically so among game suppliers who have had access to the dedicated uh module that we launched for online casino casino games especially. Um but if you move us on again Jack uh what you will learn and what you'll see imminently from from Roger is that we're dramatically expanding the scope of the technical compliance tool as of today um to not just cover two modules infosc online casino games but take our technical compliance tool to 111 uh that's to use a spinal tap uh a spinal tap reference there but give a much more essentially give a top- down 360 degree view of all technical compliance requirements in key online gambling jurisdictions, not just limited to those two areas of focus. Uh so Roger will um give us a tour through those um momentarily. Um and finally moving moves us on Jack. Uh which jurisdictions does Vixio cover? Uh cover 36 jurisdictions today. Um as you can see on the screen in front of you that largely reflects the I global eye gaming regulatory map. So concentrated in Europe, parts of North America, Latin America, stretching into UAE and the Philippines. Um, but there'll be more jurisdictions to follow over the coming months as we as we ramp up coverage and as the industry continues to evolve and we continue to see that spread of regulatory requirements across the globe. Um, so that's introduction to Vixio. uh some learnings and observations of our uh year first 12 months into um uh specifically monitoring technical compliance requirements through our technical compliance tool. Um I will going to hand over the reins to you now Roger and you can provide us a guided tour of uh the expanded version of the technical compliance tool as launching today. >> Thank you James. Um as you can see uh and as James has already said we we've expanded the tool. So we we initially started with uh online casino and information security modules. Uh we've actually added nine more modules now. So we're covering everything from sports book uh live casino through to player account management and responsible gaming. Uh so we we've got a a much broader coverage um of uh requirements across jurisdictions. I'll just give you a quick example. So this is the uh live casino uh information and you can see here it we're using a the similar data or the same data grid as we as we had previously uh because that's been very well uh uh very very well received by our customers. Um and as you can see we we've we've then as we've done for some of the other modules or all the other modules we we've got it um curated by groups of requirements and then each requirement. So where we've got a a yes in a in a cell, we we've got some information there that is the requirement about that. So if we click on that one for Brazil, this picks up the uh studio environment and security requirements uh that are mandated by the Brazilian regulator and we pick up all of the the relevant sections of the regulations. Uh we also give you a link to the source uh document Portuguese and we also give you a copy of the unofficial uh English translation. Uh so you've got a copy of the regulations available to you in English. I'll just give you another quick example here. Uh and this this one's coming in from the sportsbook module. So again, as you can see, we have uh a vast array of uh requirements for sports book. Um, and so we've covered those off for each of the jurisdictions to tell you uh what is what. So if we if we just have a quick look here, we can see what the odds format and display requirements are. Um, so that will uh give you access to all of the requirements for the odds format and display that you've got to do uh for a customer. And you can see there that each of the jurisdictions has got its own particular requirements and nuances about the odds formats and display. If we have a look at the the responsible gambling module, um you can see here that the responsible gambling module uh again covers multiple uh RG requirements um whether that's player identification, self-exclusion and player limits uh which is quite a detailed section, product design and technical uh safeguards, advertising and marketing controls, uh player interaction and monitoring uh support assistance and dis uh transparency of information disclosure as well as staff training uh and internal policies for responsible gaming. If we have a quick look at the age verification, we can see here that again we're pulling out all of the information about age verification for each of the jurisdictions. Um and we can see that uh it tells us exactly what we've got to do. It will tell us uh where we've got to comply and what the requirements are from a technical level. so that that can be built into your RG as part of your onboarding process um and ongoing monitoring for uh responsible gaming requirements. So if we have a look at the game platform, James was alluding before to some examples where we've had some challenges in terms of regulations. Uh I've I've taken the liberty of of opening one here uh for us to have a look at. Brazil has been interesting all year with with uh some slightly moving targets. Um what we do cover is we cover all of the information regarding certification. So as part of that information we tell you about the technical questions uh and that gives some clarification about the requirements for branded reports uh that are required uh by third parties presenting games. So that gives you that. We've also uh on our site we've got a we've got a VIQ platform um which is a a virtual uh machine that you can ask questions to um this allows you to ask a question. So if we ask it to tell me about branded reports in Brazil, it will give me the requirements for branded reports in Brazil. So, this gives you a quick way to ask some uh questions about the data set that we've uh got and it'll give you insights into the information that's available. >> And and Roger, the the VIQ AI assistant only asks questions about the only ask questions about the requirements that Vixio has curated, right? Doesn't go off and find its own rogue uh answers. Is that fair to say? No, it it it is covering the information that we've carefully cured. So, um it will give you the right answer. It won't give you um somebody else's interpretation from a third party website. >> Okay. Um >> yeah, and then I guess high level um with with the product as we can see in front of us here um users can select their module. So choose from the 11 11 uh 11 modules of uh online casino infosc sports book live casino change management reporting systems game platform base platform player account management KYC AML responsible gaming. choose choose the module uh and then from that point uh can choose the jurisdictions that they um want to compare. Uh and then um we'll load up that comparative view that gives the quick easy uh never easy but the quick the quick answer as to whether requirements exist in um against those different areas and then by clicking on the cell access the specific language of the uh requirement and um a link to the source. So the law regation technical standards where it came from. >> Yes. Um one one point I should raise James is you did say that we monitor the sources and and we we keep track of everything so that are if there are any changes. So as a VIXO customer you can follow a jurisdiction. So in this case I've got all the jurisdictions followed but I can unfollow a jurisdiction. The little alarm bell uh appears or disappears if I'm following a jurisdiction. If there are any changes to that jurisdiction that we identify, we will you will get an email directly to you identifying what those changes are and what those implications are >> and uh I'm you can look at all requirements for jurisdiction uh not just um don't have to dig in and out. >> Yes, absolutely. So you can look at all of the requirements for base platform for Brazil. Uh so you can you can either scroll through those or you can actually click on the relevant section and table of contents and that will take you directly to all of those requirements that fishing 11 or 12 audiences for the answer given one in one place for Brazil. >> Yeah. >> Great. Thank you. Uh thank you Roger. Um uh I think we can go to to some questions from our from our audience. Uh got one one here. Um does the expanded tool still cover online casino games and information security of the same range of jurisdictions? Uh previously >> I I think think that's quite an easy one to answer, James. Yes, absolutely. Uh it does cover all of the jurisdictions that are already available. >> Great. Um, a second second one. See here. Um, will the tool cover new markets when they're regulated? When do you anticipate that to be and how quickly will those new markets be be available? Um, there's a couple of things there. Ro say yes. I'm coming new markets. >> Yes. Abs. Absolutely. Yes. Be new markets. So, uh, the goal for myself and the team is that as soon as a new market is regulated and the the, uh, regulations are published or there's pre-published regulations available, we will endeavor to get those on the website within a week of those being published. Um, so that is absolutely key for us to do that. >> I think that when we anticipate that to be is is um, yeah, not always a clear answer. Um, something that We at Vixio monitor through our uh core intelligence platform as well. But um we certainly anticipate uh new standards and regulations in the next couple of months in in Alberta as an example. Uh Finland um I think Ireland might be a little bit later probably into 2026 and and New Zealand. There's still a legislative process got play out, but those are four Yeah. >> four new jurisdictions immediately come to mind for me that we we we're watching for uh and incorporate that and um uh sounds like as soon as possible once they're published, we we'll integrate them into the technical advance tool. >> Absolutely. >> Um I've got one one more question here. Um, uh, this one's a bit more, uh, yeah, less less about less about tools than than I guess our our sense of it, but what what's the most impactful technical compliance change you've seen over the course of the past year? Um, I don't know if we want to take a stab. >> Yeah, I think I think Brazil regulating um, I think everybody's found that has been a bit of a challenge. Yeah. uh it was a little bit of a moving target to start with and there were some clarifications that were coming out. I I think one of the key challenges especially for games providers was it was the uh requirement to show the pay table uh especially game startup. Um that caught a few people out and off guard I think to start with. Um the kind of change in process that they had at the beginning about getting games certified in time and and making um allowances there. um as well as the kind of uh branded uh reports and clarification around those. I think in terms of other ones, I think James, you've probably alluded to this before, the the UK and the the change to the uh bet settings with the two-tier requirements dependent on age. Uh I think that's been quite a challenge uh for some of uh players in the industry to be able to uh implement that change. Um and it also although we knew about it for a little while the actual impleation implementation date came around quite quickly where with quite a kind of short timeline for that. So I think those that was a challenge as well. >> Yeah. I sort of uh um one I recall that that that we flagged that was kind of easy to sneak under the radar was in Connecticut. >> Yeah. Um, Connecticut updated technical standards for I gaming November, December last last year. Added added a um uh added one requirement that online casino games could not use the word free to describe a game feature that unless it was actually a free game. So free spins uh or free free spins within a game couldn't describe them as free if there was a wager involved and stuff. And I think >> to best of my knowledge that's a unique requirement at least in the US market and I think it's something that >> heard is impactful for for those in Connecticut. So, um I guess what that's a trend we see, right, is um relatively narrow and specific requirements being updated don't scream that they're important necessarily unless you read them, think about them and and and take them all. So, these are things that get missed rather than being headline regulatory changes in the industry. Um but they make a big difference and they are a key compliance crime. I think that's that's part of the purpose of the tool is to have a place uh where you can stay up to speed with these technical changes and and be alerted to them and and review them and analyze them and compare them um because they you know don't always capture the headlines as it were. >> Yeah, exactly. >> Um great. Uh we are unfortunately coming up coming up for time but um uh Roger, thank you for the thank you for the demo. um >> both of us would be delighted to share more information or um answer further questions from from our audience. Uh we will get back to any additional questions that are being shared. Um and um always always delighted to to speak more about our technical compliance tool. I'll hand it back to you Jack. That brings us to the end of today's session and a big thank you to our speakers James Kilby and Roger Cowan for sharing their expertise and of course to all of you for joining us. We hope you found the discussion valuable and that the insights into evolving appliance trends, risks and tools will support you in navigating this complex space. If your question wasn't answered during the session, don't worry. A member of the Vixio team will be in touch shortly with a follow-up. As a reminder, you'll receive the full webinar recording directly in your inbox in the coming days. And if you'd like more information about the enhanced Vixio technical compliance tool or have any other questions, please don't hesitate to contact us at info@vixio.com. If you're currently in Las Vegas for the G2 show, please be sure to visit the Vixio stand for a live demonstration of both the Gambit compliance and the enhanced technical compliance tools. That's stand number 3313. And for more information on anything covered in today's webinar, visit vixio.com. On behalf of everyone here at Vixio, thank you again for taking part. We look forward to welcoming you to our future webinars. Uh, and take care and goodbye for now.