Raymond Wilson is Head of AML and Group MLRO at GIMO (Global Interactive Marketing Online). Working for multiple online gambling brands, Raymond oversees AML/CFT compliance in a number of licenced markets, including the UK, Malta, Greece and the Netherlands. Ray ensures that the design and delivery of both technical and manual due diligence processes meet the relevant legislative and regulatory frameworks, and believes that technology is key to harnessing the potential of the most valuable resource of all - humans.
Raymond had a conversation with Gillian Channer, VP of Product Management at Mitek, about everything identity verification and the iGaming industry:
Gillian: Is digital identity verification seen as a high priority for the operators you work with?
Ray: Identity verification is a core part of the licensing objectives for a gambling operator. Providing a fair and safe environment, age verification, protecting vulnerable players… these are all core objectives for an operator, laid down by the regulator. IDV plays a significant role in that at the onboarding stage and continuously through the player journey. It allows us to harness the core, critical resource - the human - to be able to better manage that individual customer. Ultimately, it allows us to pick up on signs of harm and triggers, and interact with that customer as early as possible.
Gillian: How do you assess what risks individual customers and businesses are likely to face?
Ray: A risk assessment is the building block, the foundation. When we talk about IDV, compliance, social responsibility, AML, CTF - they should all be built on a risk assessment. With that, an operator can accurately assess what control measures they should have in place. But it’s not a one-size-fits-all. You have to determine what control measures you need and how you’ll interact with customers based on their individual risk profiles. A risk profile shows us what kind of products they’re using, how that impacts on their likely propensity to be involved in illicit activity, the payment methods they’re using, and then on a personal level, their financial activities - these all determine a person’s risk profile.
Gillian: It sounds like, where once IDV only really featured in the onboarding process, it’s actually now becoming much more integral to the wider player journey.
Ray: The process of reverification after onboarding is becoming more and more important. It always was, but it’s become more important now.
Gillian: Why is that?
Ray: With more data available to operators, that unfortunately means there’s more data available to organized crime groups. And with this, there’s the increased risk of ID fraud - spoofing, for example, and other data-based crimes.
Gillian: What advice would you give to gambling operators looking for innovative ways to tackle financial crime?
Ray: The main piece of advice I would give operators for fighting financial crime is to harness the power of technology to empower the real, critical resource - humans. Provide them with the systems, the technologies and the data, which essentially allows the human to provide maximum value to the business.
Gillian: Are there any particular technological innovations that would move the needle for those fighting financial fraud in the gambling sector?
Ray: What I believe would be the game-changer is a system that would provide us with a solution that accurately creates a financial profile of a customer and accurately identifies when that profile changes. To see the dynamic change of a customer’s profile in real-time would allow us to pick up on both individual and potentially collective trends. Your customer is the number one thing you need to understand.
Raymond joined us to share his insights in a series of short videos about identity, fraud, and the online gambling industry. To hear more about how he’s helping gambling operators assess risk and fight fraud, watch our conversation with him.
Hear more of Ray’s iGaming insights
About Gillian Channer - VP of Product Management at Mitek
Gillian Channer is Vice President of Product Management at Mitek