Kalle Uusitalo, Regulatory Compliance Specialist at BetComply, shares his perspective on entering and navigating the world of iGaming compliance.

We are going to start this gathering of great minds with an honesty exercise; what pops into your mind when someone mentions the word “compliance”?

A mandatory box-ticking exercise? Making things more difficult on purpose? Ensuring that operators follow the law? A big, scary, dark cloud that you don’t really understand but it sure sounds menacing? A fascinating, multi-faceted realm of wonder that never seems to stand still?

If you selected Option 5; you’re in luck! I might have some good news for you.

The reality is that many people in the industry, even if their daily tasks would directly involve compliance, do not quite understand what it is or what it consists of. But you are an inquisitive mind, a fearless adventurer who would love to take a gander into this realm of possibilities…but how?

The first thing to decide is if you wish to specialise in a particular subject, such as Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Responsible Gambling (RG) or regulatory compliance. All these matters of course overlap to a varying degree, but if you feel a burning passion towards one of them, that should always be your starting point. Not just in this context, but in life in general.

If you are already working for an operator, slightly depending on the market, there is a very high probability that you have already gone through a mandatory AML or RG training. If the more operational side of things is where you feel more comfortable, there are several accreditations that can be useful when proving to your current or potential employers that you have a certain level of expertise in the subject matter, boosting the likelihood of being able to pursue this avenue of employment. This is by no means mandatory however.

Speaking of employment, where can you actually apply these newly acquired skills and put them to good use?

Generally you have two options: compliance consultancies such as BetComply or working internally for an operator or a B2B supplier. The latter of the two is the easier way to get going as you can start working in more generalist roles, such as customer service, gradually gain knowledge of compliance related matters and then make an internal move on to a full-time compliance role.

Personally, this is the route which I took. Starting in support, I gained knowledge of the industry, how different departments intertwine and basic regulatory matters such as player protection and AM. Dealing with suspicious transactions and learning how to spot responsible gambling red flags during customer interactions for example. Most individuals who work in these kinds of roles are doing the basics of compliance work without even realising it and the way to enhance this knowledge is to simply dive deeper into the regulations in the jurisdiction(s) you operate in.

Operational roles are seen as the more dynamic side of the compliance and due to their practical nature which affects players directly and more immediately, they’re easier to understand as a concept and what the impact on the player or operator actually is. When you dive deeper into the regulatory side of things, things get a bit more complicated as you need to approach the same question from a more holistic, overarching perspective.

Regulatory compliance deals with matters such as license applications, policy writing, internal audits, and market research, things that can be considered to be very broad and highly specific at the same time. You are dealing with a very specific set of rules that you need to comply with, but you also have to simultaneously make sure that the framework you are building or working with is cohesive. You want all the pieces you have created to form a beautiful stained glass window rather than just a pile of rubble.

These aren’t of course mutually exclusive as many consultants, myself included, split their time between operational duties and regulatory work such as policy writing depending on the needs of the clients you are working with. If you are someone who enjoys variability in your working life, this can be the perfect middle ground of focused and nuanced framework building with the addition of more client facing interactions, even if you wouldn’t directly talk to players.

Compliance is an area of our industry which is often more varied than most people assume and it touches everyone who engages in gambling related activities from players to operators and regulators. This gives individuals who are interested in entering this realm of possibilities many doors to enter from and avenues to pursue once inside.

And hey, you can always just ask us if you are interested in this wonderful part of iGaming, you can find us on LinkedIn.

We are actually nicer than you’d think, most of us at least