How to Prepare for Regulatory Changes in iGaming
The iGaming industry continues to evolve in response to new regulatory demands from jurisdictions worldwide. Companies who are reactive to these regulatory demands may find themselves scrambling to make changes to their content, campaigns, and operating procedures after the regulatory authority has made changes.
A proactive regulatory compliance strategy allows iGaming companies to prepare for these regulatory changes and to remain ahead of the regulatory authority’s regulatory decisions.
Regulatory compliance is more than a legal requirement - it is a crucial competitive advantage.
Why Regulations Continue to Change
Regulations within the iGaming industry are continually changing at the initiative of the government and regulatory authorities in an effort to better control the industry and to address emerging issues.
Some of the most common reasons for regulation changes include:
Expanding regulated markets
Stronger consumer protection
Updated advertising standards
Anti-money laundering initiatives
Responsible gambling requirements
Companies should expect regulatory changes to be an ongoing part of the iGaming industry.
Create a Compliance Response Plan
Every company should have a documented compliance response plan that details the procedures to be followed when responding to regulatory changes.
A compliance response plan should include answers to the following questions:
Who will monitor the regulations?
Who will review the company content?
Who will approve changes?
When will changes be implemented?
How will the company communicate with its partners?
Having a plan that assigns individual responsibilities for the regulatory compliance will ensure that the company can respond quickly to any changes to the regulations.
Monitor Multiple Jurisdictions
As many iGaming affiliates and operators work with audiences from multiple countries, each with its regulations, keeping track of the regulations by market will ensure that companies do not encounter regulatory issues.
Common regulatory concerns by market include advertising restrictions, licensing requirements, bonus promotions, age verification, and player disclosures.
Keep Marketing Assets Flexible
Marketing campaigns should be easy to modify in response to regulatory changes.
Companies should maintain editable versions of their landing pages, banner advertisements, email templates, bonus pages, and promotional graphics.
Keeping marketing assets in edit mode will allow a company to respond to regulatory changes without difficulty.
Maintain Accurate Content
Keeping content up to date is crucial to regulatory compliance.
Companies should review their bonus offers, terms and conditions, licensing information, operator availability, and payment methods to ensure that they are up to date.
By ensuring that marketing content is updated regularly, companies will reduce the number of changes required in the future.
Train Teams Continuously
Regulatory compliance does not have to be limited to the company’s legal department.
Companies should provide training for all members of the company who are involved in the creation of content and marketing campaigns:
Content writers
Marketing teams
Affiliate managers
Product managers
Customer support
Building a solid understanding of regulations among all company members will allow them to identify potential compliance issues earlier.
Build Strong Relationships With Operators
As the operators place their advertisements with the various affiliate companies, they are typically the first to be aware of changes to the regulations.
By building a strong relationship and communication channel with their affiliate operator partners, companies will have early knowledge of regulatory changes and be prepared to inform their partners and respond as necessary.
Audit Internal Processes
Regulations often expose issues within a company’s current internal processes.
A company should regularly review its internal processes, including content publishing, campaign approvals, affiliate link management, documentation, and change tracking.
By having solid processes in place internally, a company will find it easier to comply with future regulations.
Maintain Documentation
Companies should maintain appropriate documentation of their current regulatory and internal processes.
A company should maintain documentation for its previous regulatory and internal audits, policy updates, editorial guidelines, training materials, and review schedules.
By maintaining solid documentation, a company will find it easier to track changes and remain accountable for their activities.
Use Automation for Monitoring
Many iGaming websites have grown in size and complexity over time.
Using automation software will help monitor various aspects of the websites to ensure that they remain in compliance with current regulations.
Website automation can monitor expired promotions, broken affiliate links, missing content disclosures, licensing information, and content review schedules.
Using automation software will make it easier for companies to reduce the manual efforts required to manage their websites.
Test Before Publishing Regulatory Updates
Regulations often require changes to the website.
All changes to website content should be tested before being published online to ensure that all links are working, the website looks good on mobile devices, content is correctly targeted to specific geographic areas, all disclosures are in place, and the content is performing as required.
Testing can help avoid creating problems for the company after deploying regulatory updates.
Watch Industry Trends
Not all regulatory changes are made law at the same time.
Following industry trends will allow companies to prepare for changes early.
Industry trends to monitor include regulatory consultations, licensing initiatives, industry associations, government publications, and operator communications.
Remaining aware of industry trends will provide companies with additional time to prepare for changes.
AI Can Support Regulatory Readiness
Artificial intelligence is playing an increasingly important role in helping iGaming companies stay on top of regulatory updates.
Artificial intelligence tools can monitor regulatory changes, identify outdated content, detect issues in company messaging, and more.
AI can recommend content changes and prioritize certain content revisions over others.
Common Preparation Mistakes
There are some common mistakes that many iGaming companies make that contribute to their struggle with preparing for regulatory changes.
Some of the most common preparation mistakes include waiting until the regulations become mandatory, infrequent content reviews, no documentation of the company processes, ignoring communications from operators, and ignoring the timelines to implement the changes.
All of these mistakes can be avoided with a little planning.
Best Practices
Based on the information presented, the best practices for iGaming companies to prepare for future regulatory changes include the following:
Assign responsibilities for regulatory compliance within the company
Review and update regulations regularly
Keep marketing campaigns and assets in an editable mode
Train employees and teams working with content and campaigns
Communicate and maintain relationships with operator partners
Automate monitoring of websites and content
Audit marketing websites and campaigns
Document compliance and regulatory changes to marketing campaigns
Following these best practices will prepare the company for any regulations that are introduced in the future.
Final Thoughts
Regulatory change is a constant in the iGaming industry. However, those who prepare for regulatory changes will find themselves in a better position to react to the changes as opposed to those who do not prepare.
By monitoring industry regulations and trends, improving internal processes, using automation to improve regulatory compliance, and keeping marketing assets up to date, iGaming companies can turn regulatory changes from challenges into opportunities for future growth and success.