Online gambling and gaming are one of the most protected businesses in the world. The gambling industry is almost as strongly regulated as the financial sector. To operate legally, your business must have multiple important licenses and certifications and comply with the constantly changing rules and regulations. Online platforms also need to be protected by passive biometric authentication solutions to secure the payment method, while preserving the gaming experience of the users.

Although this all sounds very reassuring, it's not as easy as it may seem. So what's the perfect recipe for ensuring online safety and improving the gaming experience of the players at the same time? Business needs to bring revenue after all.

Today, we are speaking to Sarah Psaila, Business Development Manager for Gambling, at Group-IB Europe to understand how Fraud Protection can improve user experience.

Sarah Psaila, Business Development Manager for Gambling

Sarah, can you tell us a bit more about Group-IB?

Group-IB is a leading creator of cybersecurity technologies to investigate, prevent, and fight digital crime. One of our flagship products is our Fraud Protection tool, which supports companies in the gaming, gambling, and payment sectors all over the world in keeping their platforms and end customers secure. On November 13, Group-IB is coming to Malta to host another community meet-up to discuss the state of fraud in the industry.

What is the community meet-up? Can you tell us more about that?

Fraud Intel Europe is a community of fraud specialists and people interested in subjects related to cybercrime, financial crime, etc. We’ve built the community to exchange knowledge with anti-fraud practitioners from different industries and share our expertise while investigating fraudulent cases. So far, we have had two meet-ups - the first one was in Berlin, and the second one in Amsterdam. Both were dedicated to fintechs. This time we are going to host our gambling community and since it's my field of expertise I'm extremely excited for this one!

Does Group-IB specialize in gambling and fintech? And why Malta?

Malta is one of the world's top gambling hubs and what better time to host the event than during the country’s busiest week in terms of online gambling - Sigma Week. We will in fact also be joining the rest of the gambling community by heading to Sigma on the 14th until the 17th of November.

At Sigma, we will be sponsoring one of the panels in the Safeguarding the Casino Experience: AML Measures and Understanding Player Behavior track (starting at 13:45 CEST on the 15th of November) called "Good KYC and AML Does Not Have to Spoil the Fun" and we have also been invited to be a guest speaker for the "Saving the Day with KYC & AML: Users & Investors Protection in Action" panel (14:10 CEST). It's a great opportunity for us to showcase how Fraud Protection can enhance KYC/KYB processes and be an integral part of AML, acting in real-time instead of post-ML offense.

Fraud Protection can be used for AML processes and is also proven to reduce chargeback rates by alerting suspicious activity coming from known fraudulent devices, at the same time legitimizing the actual players. Fraud Protection also helps with bonus and loyalty program abuse, which prevents significant money losses for online operators and further system exploitation by fraudsters.

We’ve significantly built our expertise in delivering solutions for companies in the gambling, gaming, and fintech sectors, but our initial specialization lies with more traditional players like tier-1 European banks and global eCommerce and marketplaces. In essence, we service any business that is susceptible to fraud - and that is why our solutions are so valuable to the online gambling sector.

It's especially interesting to see how the market is shifting towards industry-focused offerings. Great to see Group-IB taking a similar approach. So what can we expect at the Fraud Intel Europe Meet-up in Malta?

As I mentioned before, the community gathers anti-fraud experts who want to share their expertise when it comes to investigating, detecting, and reporting fraud whilst meeting like-minded people committed to the same goal, which is fighting cybercrime.

How can Maltese anti-fraud fighters join the Fraud Intel Europe community?

If you are in Malta at this time, come to our event, and meet the team and other members! The event will take place on November 13, at InterContinental Malta (IHG Hotel). We are kicking off at 3pm. This time around, we are cooperating with Times of Malta, which makes the event even more exciting. Registration is free, but spaces are limited so don't leave it too late.

If you are not able to join us in person, you can always join our group on LinkedIn. That way you can stay up to date with our research, industry trends, and upcoming meet-ups.