The amount of legislation operators in the betting and gaming sector have to deal with is, as everyone knows, staggering – which is of course entirely reasonable given the nature of the product. We’ve met many operators, and almost without exception they’re 100% committed to protection of the customer and compliance with the various rules far ahead of the commercial imperative.
However, delivering a compliant business does require a team of professionals to attend to the detail. With AML issues being at the forefront of any compliance person’s mind at present, especially given the parade of fines and other sanctions being currently being launched at operators, it makes sense to dedicate significant resource to ensuring all bases are covered in all areas of compliance and social responsibility to safeguard both the customer and the business.
There was a period relatively recently where the market hadn’t quite caught up with the demand for experienced compliance specialist at all levels, meaning it was difficult to recruit people directly into roles from AML Assistant to Compliance Director, but more recently the market has reacted, and there is an increasingly large pool of qualified candidates, with track records of quality performance, for operators to look at.
At GRS, we have been able to help operators in this tricky area at all levels over the last four years or so, and we feel it’s becoming something of a speciality. Our operational background helps us to understand the detail of operator requirements, and of course it’s not an area to leave to chance when hiring. As the regulatory framework continues to evolve, compliance teams must evolve with it and while developing from within has obvious benefits, sometimes it’s necessary to move more quickly. We’ve seen a number of instances where operators have decided to add a whole additional stratum of compliance into the equation – in fact we’re recruiting for one such additional layer, in terms of a £100-£150K Compliance and Regulatory Officer – right now.
Compliance in betting and gaming will always remain a dynamic environment, as befits a product which constantly evolves through technology and player preferences, and keeping your team up to date via timely gathering of information is critical. At least now that there’s a real market for Compliance professionals, there exists the possibility of buying in additional knowledge at relatively short notice.
GRS Recruitment have been helping talent meet opportunity for over four years in the betting and gaming sector, and are available via email on steven@grs-recruit.com