Canada
The role of tech in compliance
The development of tech is an important part of compliance, and Compliable is at the forefront of recent advances and how it can aid regulators. Compliable’s CEO, Chris Oltyan, discusses upcoming enhancements to the Compliable platform from a tech perspective
The gambling industry is heavily reliant on tech in product development, is tech however being underutilised from a compliance point of view and what pitfalls can be avoided by tech?
Useful technology takes time and expertise to build, and we are really seeing the first wave of solutions hitting the market now. We needed experts to know how to deal with the new realities of compliance in a fast-moving multi-jurisdictional setting, and then tech entrepreneurs to deliver solutions with those experts. After all, you can’t use tech to solve problems unless you really understand the problems you are trying to solve. The problems best suited for technology to solve are things that humans must do over and over again, in a painfully repetitive process. In particular, if you look at the evolution of most tech tools, it starts with creating a manual process to manage a task, and usually ends with a complicated spreadsheet that someone will invariably forget to update. This then leads to outsourcing to a company that will use software to keep track of all the details. Filling out forms is a great example of a place where a repetitive but high value task can cause serious issues if it is done wrong. There are always exceptions, but if 90% of things are automated it frees up the workforce to deal with the difficult stuff.
Are regulators exploring tech advancements enough and is there more the industry can do to support regulators, especially with the fast evolution of online gambling regulation in the US?
The short answer is no, but that is unfair to the regulators. Regulators are often given incredibly tight timelines to go live with igaming and sports betting, and that doesn’t afford great options for exploring the incredibly vast world of technology. Add to that the fact that few industry specific technological solutions exist and it’s no surprise that a regulator moves forward with whatever they have on hand. The industry can absolutely help regulators solve these problems. Industry associations IAGA and IAGR helped to establish the Multi-Jurisdictional Personal History Disclosure Form (MJPHD) but developing additional standards could really help the adoption of practices that would allow technology to be used more broadly in the space. I’m not even talking about getting jurisdictions to agree on standard forms or naming as finding ways for states to adopt standards around digital fingerprints could dramatically improve efficiency for the entire industry. Also, I think the industry must be sensitive to the fact that regulators are often tied to their respective legislation. Finding ways for states to have both flexibility and security is hard with new technologies, but we should be working collectively as an industry to find ways and define standards that meet everyone’s needs.
Is there a danger of relying too much on tech as legislation and regulation further advances?
There have definitely been cases where an early technology seemed like a slam dunk but ended up causing problems because it got locked into the official regulatory framework. To avoid this, adopting industry wide standards for tech implementations allows healthy competition while still providing an optimized path forward. If every regulator adopts different technologies to enforce compliance, the burden to the industry to support and accommodate every one of those platforms becomes untenable.
Compliable started off offering a module to license customer support and engineering staff, with the offering now being expanded to include business entities, executives, and board members. Where have the challenges been in building your platform?
The hardest part of developing our platform was simply all the variance in what the regulators ask for. Getting a computer to fill out forms isn’t hard. The complicated part is getting something that can recognize the hundreds of questions regulators ask, figure out the commonalities, capture that data elegantly, and intelligently use it to fill in forms so we can collect data once and then allow that to be used across a wide set of jurisdictions. Now that we have that in place it’s just rolling out new features every couple of days. There is such a clear direction we have from our customers that our roadmap pretty much plans itself, and we just try to keep up with the demand.
What else can we expect from Compliable going forward?
Licensing compliance doesn’t stop with filling out a form and our goal is to make the entire process as easy as possible for our customers. There are so many things that a company needs to track on compliance that can dramatically impact their business so licences shouldn’t be the thing that takes up all their time. From onboarding new employees and directors, to applying for new jurisdictions, to tracking renewals, to submitting electronically to a regulator so you don’t have to print out a small forest worth of applications, we believe we can provide automation across the entire chain. Also, expect us to continue to have new jurisdictions supported on the platform within days of the forms being published, because the industry doesn’t seem to be slowing down its expansion across the US anytime soon.
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Hot on the heels of its most attended conference in history, the International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR) is excited to announce that its 2025 conference will take place in Toronto, Canada, from October 20 to 23, 2025.
The event will be held in partnership with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) at the Westin Harbour Castle, offering stunning waterfront views and a premier, downtown Toronto location.
‘Fresh off the success of our Rome conference, we’re thrilled to continue the momentum with next year’s event in Toronto,’ said Ben Haden, IAGR President.
‘The IAGR 2025 conference promises to be another unparalleled opportunity for our global community to come together, collaborate and shape the future of gaming regulation. We’re looking forward to working with AGCO to bring it all together.’
AGCO CEO and Registrar Dr. Karin Schnarr, added, ‘We’re excited to welcome IAGR and its members to Toronto. This partnership provides a great opportunity to share Ontario’s innovative regulatory practices and foster meaningful discussions that drive positive change in the industry.’
Stay tuned for registration details early next year.
Bombee Global Entertainment Ltd
ESE Entertainment Completes Acquisition of Gaming Production Company, Bombee Americas
ESE Entertainment Inc., a gaming company that provides a range of services to leading video game developers and publishers, has announced that it has acquired Bombee Global Entertainment Ltd. (Bombee Americas), the North American arm of Bombee Event Production AB, (Bombee), a global production company specialized in live production, special effects, broadcast, and event management for the gaming sector.
Bombee has successfully collaborated with ESE to bring its premier event production services and world class customer service to North America and beyond. The North American arm of Bombee, Bombee Americas, will continue to grow and scale in this new organizational structure under ESE, while maintaining its entire team and global support.
Konrad Wasiela, CEO of ESE, said: “Today marks the next stage of ESE—a 2.0 version of our company. With the acquisition of Bombee Americas, we are not only solidifying our presence in North America but also paving the way for growth and innovation in the gaming industry. This is a major step, positioning us to deliver even greater value to our partners and elevate the gaming experience for our clients globally. We’re thrilled about the opportunities ahead and the exceptional talent joining our team.”
Transaction Terms
The Acquisition was completed by way of a share purchase agreement (the SPA) among the Company, Bombee Americas, and the shareholders of Bombee Americas (the Vendors). Pursuant to the SPA, ESE acquired all of the outstanding shares of Bombee Americas in exchange for: (i) $750,000 in cash paid on closing, (ii) $375,000 in cash to be paid six (6) months following closing, subject to customary adjustments based on the working capital of Bombee Americas on closing, (iii) $375,000 in cash to be paid twelve (12) months following closing, and (iv) 30,000,000 common shares of ESE (the Consideration Shares), issued at a deemed issue price of $0.10 per share.
In connection with the Acquisition, the founders of Bombee Americas have signed three-year service agreements and will continue to run the business following the closing, along with the rest of the personnel of Bombee Americas who will remain in place, ensuring a smooth transition of operations. As part of the Acquisition, the Company has acquired the liabilities of Bombee Americas, mainly consisting of customary current obligations incurred in the ordinary course of business for Bombee Americas, which are not expected to have a material impact on the Company’s operations or financial position.
No finder’s fees were paid or payable in conjunction with the Acquisition.
The Acquisition was an arm’s length transaction within the meaning of the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange (the Exchange) and constituted an “Expedited Acquisition” in accordance with Exchange Policy 5.3 – Acquisitions and Dispositions of Non-Cash Assets. The Acquisition remains subject to the final approval of the Exchange.
Canada
Suspected Digital Fraud Coming from Canada Up Nearly 11% Since H1 2023, Reveals New TransUnion Analysis
In the first half (H1) of 2024, Canada saw a significant increase in suspected Digital Fraud attempts, with nearly 5.74% of all attempted digital transactions where the consumer was located in Canada involving suspected Digital Fraud, revealed a new TransUnion® (NYSE: TRU) analysis. This is nearly an 11% year-over-year (YoY) rate increase from H1 2023, and TransUnion also documented an 11% increase in the volume of suspected Digital Fraud from Canada during this period, despite a less than a one percent (0.7%) YoY increase in the volume of transactions.
According to a recent TransUnion survey,1 more than half (54%) of Canadians said they were recently targeted by email, phone call or text message fraud attempts. Phishing was the most common scheme type (45%), followed by smishing (42%) and vishing (39%).
The increasing use of digital transactions, combined with rising suspected Digital Fraud attempts are also impacting businesses as they potentially face revenue losses and increased operational costs due to fraud. According to a TransUnion business survey for the H2 2024 Update to the State of Omnichannel Fraud report, 200 Canadian business leaders said their companies lost approximately 6% of equivalent revenue – representing $78 billion – over the past year due to fraud. The most prominent causes of fraud loss cited by them were:
- Scam/Authorized fraud (31%): Dishonest scheme intended to trick a person into giving up something of value (e.g., account access, money, information)
- Account takeover (19%): Unauthorized individuals taking over someone’s online account (e.g., bank, social media, email) without their permission
- Synthetic identity fraud (18%): Use of a combination of personal information to fabricate a person or entity to commit a dishonest act for financial or personal gain
TransUnion also found that suspected Digital Fraud attempts – where the consumer was transacting in Canada and targeted businesses globally – increased on average by 10.5% YoY in H1 2024 compared to H1 2023 and impacted all industries.
Top Three Industries Globally with Highest Rate of Suspected Digital Fraud Attempts Coming from Canada in H1 2024
- Gambling (online sports betting, poker, etc.) – 9.6%
- Retail – 9.2%
- Government – 7.7%
Top Three Industries Globally with Highest YoY Increase (H1 2024 vs H1 2023) in the Rate of Suspected Digital Fraud Attempts Coming from Canada
- Logistics – 172.9%
- Gambling – 79.3%
- Video gaming – 67.8%
“Protecting customers and their businesses from fraud is essential to enabling safe and tailored consumer experiences. These findings reveal that despite the good-faith efforts that are being undertaken by companies to identify and prevent fraud to date, fraudsters continue to evolve and it’s vital that fraud prevention methods keep up with the changing times,” said Patrick Boudreau, head of identity management and fraud solutions at TransUnion Canada.
“Businesses that aren’t already doing so should ensure that they are taking advantage of fraud prevention technologies such as identity verification, IP intelligence, device reputation and synthetic identity detection as critical components of their fraud prevention programs,” he added.
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