Conscious Gaming and GeoComply Solutions Inc. are pleased to announce that, after a successful technical due diligence process, it has agreed to a Pilot Collaboration Agreement (the Agreement) with IXUP Limited, that will leverage IXUP’s secure database collaboration technologies in the US online gaming and sports wagering markets (the Collaboration) to support sports integrity and deliver self-exclusion capabilities across platforms and jurisdictions throughout the US.
HIGHLIGHTS:
- IXUP has entered into a Pilot Collaboration Agreement with Conscious Gaming and GeoComply Solutions Inc. to jointly develop a technology solution to address next generation needs for Responsible Gaming and Sports Integrity Solutions
- Conscious Gaming is a Nevada-based non-profit organisation founded by GeoComply that leverages technology to create a safe and responsible online gaming environment
- GeoComply, based in Canada, is the global market leader in geolocation security, the leading specialist in fraud prevention and cyber security to U.S. based sports betting operators, and services nearly 100% of the U.S. iGaming market
- Consistent with Conscious Gaming’s mission, GeoComply will strengthen its existing innovative “PlayPause” product by incorporating IXUP’s secure data collaboration technologies
- “PlayPause” was initially designed and developed by GeoComply for the fast-growing U.S. digital sports betting markets for use by major sporting leagues, sports betting operators and regulators
- Key shared objective of the Collaboration is to help facilitate safe and responsible gambling for industry stakeholders, and strengthen betting integrity, by providing leading edge exclusion and self-exclusion tools
- Discussions are underway with major U.S. sports leagues, sports betting operators and regulators for participation in pilot program activities
- Rapidly growing sports betting market in the U.S., together with applications globally, offer a significant total addressable market opportunity
Details of the Collaboration
The Collaboration will provide market-leading encryption-based security and scalability to GeoComply’s “PlayPause” Multi-State Self-Exclusion product, by incorporating IXUP’s secure data collaboration technology and associated capabilities. This will ensure players, coaches, support staff, their families, and related entities (Impermissible Bettors) as well as individuals that would like to take a break or exclude themselves from gambling or wagering are excluded from participating in online betting, gaming and wagering activities, with both IXUP and GeoComply bringing essential elements to the update of “PlayPause”.
Under the terms of the Agreement, IXUP will be responsible for contributing its world-leading secure data collaboration technology, as well as developing, operating and maintaining the jointly developed product. GeoComply will contribute its existing “PlayPause” product and will be responsible for assisting with all regulatory matters, as well as overseeing all sales and marketing efforts with its existing extensive customer base with the major U.S. online betting operators.
GeoComply has successfully deployed the solution in Pennsylvania via a partnership with the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board and is engaging with additional gaming regulatory agencies as well as major U.S. sporting leagues regarding the provision of this exclusion product in a fully operational Proof of Concept (POC) trial focused on restricting impermissible bettors.
Marcus Gracey, CEO of IXUP, commented, “For some time now we have been assessing opportunities for our secure data collaboration technologies within the lucrative U.S. sports data and sports wagering and gaming markets, which are experiencing once in a generation growth rates due to more states introducing legal online gaming. This Collaboration with GeoComply and Conscious Gaming is an ideal opportunity to showcase the application of our technology within this highly regulated market, where the handling of sensitive data is paramount, with serious consequences for non-compliance. The collaboration will involve the secure interaction of databases containing sensitive personal information supplied by the teams and leagues themselves, which will then form the basis of excluding Impermissible Bettors from making bets with sports betting operators.
We commend GeoComply for its corporate social responsibility vision being expressed through Conscious Gaming, which is committed to leveraging technical solutions to advance responsible gaming. We’re pleased to leverage
our technology to address this and other issues.
We are proud to be working with GeoComply to deliver this world leading and essential product solution and I am confident in our ability to execute, given the team we have brought together during the last 12 months, which includes our strategic advisors Matt Davey and Ian Penrose who are domain experts when it comes to sports betting technologies and associated international markets. This opportunity is also directly aligned with our strategy to leverage our core technology into the growing sports data and wagering markets and to use our technology for social good, where there are suitable opportunities to do so.”
Anna Sainsbury founder of GeoComply and Conscious Gaming, commented, “With the significant growth of sports betting in the U.S. market, it is imperative that stakeholders proactively mitigate problem gambling and effectively manage Impermissible Bettors. Whether a player has self-excluded or if they are prohibited from betting due to regulatory restrictions, a technology solution will be available that gives operators the confidence that they are compliant. IXUP’s unique secure data collaboration technology will be key to bolstering PlayPause, and we are extremely excited to be working with them to deliver this Proof of Concept and ultimately make this product available across the broader North American sports betting and iGaming landscape in coming years”.
Background to the PlayPause Opportunity and GeoComply
Consistent with the objectives of IXUP’s Collaboration Agreement with Tekkorp and Matt Davey, which included the identification of opportunities for IXUP technology within the growing U.S. digital gaming and wagering markets, Tekkorp introduced IXUP to GeoComply, to consider the potential application of IXUP technologies to the challenges associated with problem gambling and responsible gaming. After discussions and a successful period of technical due diligence, the parties have agreed to enter into the Pilot Collaboration Agreement.
GeoComply, based in Canada, is an organization with a focus on fraud prevention and cybersecurity solutions that detect fraud and help verify a customer’s true digital identity.
GeoComply’s location-based fraud detection and geolocation compliance tools have been utilised in various U.S. markets to ensure online customers are who they say they are, prior to approval of a transaction. GeoComply’s technology solutions have relevance in an online commerce setting, where it is essential that the risk of customers transacting is minimised due to the high incidence of fraud that can occur in a setting where there is no physical customer verification step.
GeoComply has nearly a 100% market share in the U.S. market within the gaming and wagering sector and has also created a non-profit, Conscious Gaming, which has been established to focus on leveraging technology and innovation to propel social responsibility initiatives including responsible gaming and consumer protection.
In the U.S. (and globally), operators are required to restrict Impermissible Bettors, from placing bets on the outcome of sporting events that involve their team. Traditional efforts to stamp out this integrity concern have focused, to a large degree, on the honesty of the Impermissible Bettors, who are asked to declare a list of all online betting accounts to which they are associated.
GeoComply saw the potential to develop a revolutionary new solution focused on creating a more streamlined and transparent process for consumers to take a break from their play as well as enabling effective restrictions on Impermissible Bettors. To make this solution more robust and less open to manipulation, GeoComply recognized the importance of utilising a database of Impermissible Bettors sourced from the sporting teams and/or leagues themselves..
The use of databases of Impermissible Bettors, supplied by the sporting teams, introduces significant data security risks and concerns related to the sharing of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) data, which led GeoComply to IXUP, which is a global specialist in the sharing and analysis of secure (encrypted) datasets.
The Product
The final IXUP enhanced “PlayPause” product is intended to be deployed as a distributed, fully encrypted, and highly secure cloud platform to enable Impermissible Betters to be registered and queried in a privacy preserving manner. The platform will use a blend of military grade encryption techniques (including homomorphic encryption) to ensure data is protected and controlled by data owners at all times, yet still enable the data to be searched to identify an Impermissible Bettor. The scalability of the cloud platform will ensure the solution can support the growing size of the sports betting market and the significant amount of data that will need to be queried in real time as a result.
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