Customer experience marketing agency A Game Above has teamed up with the player protection company Beanstalk and launch “Yield Sec,” a new solution to help combat illegal gambling.

A GAME ABOVE and Beanstalk have stated that they have developed the first tool helping governments and regulators, monitor and remove “black market threats,” obstructing the progress of regulated marketplaces for licensed incumbents.

Yield Sec will support regulatory authorities with a real-time solution and database actively monitoring the activities of illegal black market websites targeting individual marketplaces and vulnerable customer segments.

“The operation of a sustainable marketplace, with cared-for customers and practically excluded minors and at-risk audiences, whilst raising valuable taxation revenues for society, predictably, is the perfect way to support our shared mission across A GAME ABOVE and Beanstalk: the customer experience,” Steen Madsen, CEO of A GAME ABOVE, said.

“Player protection and the operation of a sustainable, responsible industry, onshore and subject to regulation, are, in our view, simply facets of the customer experience, overall,” Steen Madsen added.

The product will allow governments and regulators to establish a “regulatory ring-fence for all licensed and soon-to-be licensed markets,” which A GAME ABOVE and Beanstalk hope will prevent “the failure to fund good causes and the outright theft of legitimate tax yield by illicit black market operators.”

“After an intensive period of research and development, we’re pleased to be announcing the launch of Yield Sec. Across most markets today, those at risk of gambling-related harm do not know where to effectively turn when facing a problem,” Jack Symons, Co-Founder and Director of Beanstalk, said.

“Escaping a spiral of continued, compulsive play is almost impossible when no gambling cessation helpline or tool has historically worked to effectively exclude the black market. Yield Sec will achieve this and provide for meaningful player protection. Caring for the vulnerable is ineffective if we only place conditions upon licensed operators but then leave the unregulated black market openly available,” Jack Symons added.

Yield Sec developers stated that an effective black-market monitoring solution is needed during a time of disruption across multiple markets, in which government and regulators aim to harmonise regulatory measures balancing player protection and taxation yield measures.

Bill Pascrell, III, President, North America for A GAME ABOVE, said: “For governments and regulators, Yield Sec is a tool for our time and the sustainable future of regulated online betting and gaming.

“Despite the loss of nearly all professional sport over the COVID-19 crisis, it is clear that black-market betting and gaming sites and apps benefited enormously – at no other point in history have we seen the broad presence and availability of so many unlicensed, unregulated offerings, none of which pay any tax, protect any players or provide for those at risk.

“In targeting regulated territories, these black market operators are effectively stealing taxpayers’ money and avoiding the contributions that licensed, responsible operators make to good causes and the prevention of gambling-related harm.”