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Ray Ryan, Country Manager UK at Signicat.
Ray Ryan, Country Manager UK at Signicat, writes for SBC News regarding a compliance balancing act that is gripping the gambling industry, and what steps operators must take to flourish.
As regulatory pressures mount and sophisticated fraud threatens the sector, compliance can no longer operate in a silo.
For C-level executives and directors at gaming operators, 2026 demands a radical shift towards risk orchestration and demonstrable, evidence-led player protection.
The global gaming industry is navigating a perfect storm. Operators are facing an increasingly aggressive regulatory environment, the impending rollout of the EU’s Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR), and a surge in highly sophisticated, AI-generated fraud.
Add to this the recent tax rises in the UK, which threaten to squeeze margins and tempt cost-cutting measures, and the strategic challenge for the boardroom becomes glaringly clear: how can operators maintain rigorous compliance without destroying the customer experience or crippling their bottom line?
The answer lies in fundamentally rethinking the role of the compliance department.
We’re at a stage where compliance has shifted from being a back-office requirement to a core functional service that is inherent to an operator’s licensing obligations.
Regulators are increasingly outcome-led: it’s not enough to just have policies. Operators need evidence that controls work in practice, especially around AML and social responsibility.
The cost of friction and the rise of AI fraud
One of the most pressing challenges facing directors today is the friction-security paradox. As regulatory demands for affordability checks and tighter KYC procedures increase, the risk of alienating legitimate players grows.
The market is saturated, and a poor onboarding or deposit experience will simply drive consumers to competitors, or worse, to the illegal, unregulated market.
The market is dealing with a real balancing act. Stronger controls can increase friction for ‘good’ customers if implementation isn’t smart.
That’s why the best programmes now look more like risk orchestration, using layered signals, step-up checks, and automation, rather than siloed onboarding steps that can result in greater anomalies.
This need for intelligent orchestration is being accelerated by the evolution of fraud. The proliferation of AI to create deepfakes and highly sophisticated synthetic identities, but also to scale ‘old-school’ fraud methods, means that traditional, linear identity checks are becoming obsolete.
Operators must now view fraud and identity holistically, leveraging various touchpoints and interactions with customers to detect anomalies that a standard document check might miss.
Safer gaming: the imperative for a ‘single customer view’
As we move deeper into 2026, financial risk, vulnerability, and affordability controls will remain the definitive battlegrounds. Regulators across Europe, and particularly in the UK, are demanding tighter expectations on identifying risk early, documenting decisions, and applying proportionate friction.
For operators, this means safer gaming must evolve from a reactive ‘responsible gaming team’ into a measurable, real-time system. Enforcement narratives have continually focused on delayed actions and inadequate triggers.
Player protection over the next 12 months must be elevated through proactive detection, earlier intervention, and the implementation of a ‘single customer view’ risk model.
Operators will be expected to move from reactive interactions after significant losses to earlier signals, such as behavioural patterns, velocity, session length, and rapid deposit escalation, followed by step-up actions that are auditable.
The direction is toward joining up data across KYC, payments, device, and gameplay. Decisions need to be consistent and explainable, not fragmented across different teams and tools.
Safer gaming is increasingly being judged not on the intent of the operator, but on customer outcomes and evidence trails. Regulators want to see exactly what an operator saw, what action they took, when they took it, and the rationale behind the decision.
Harmonisation in the face of squeezed margins
With economic pressures and recent tax hikes threatening growth, there is an understandable temptation for operators to trim OPEX, particularly in back-office functions. However, compromising on compliance in an era of heightened enforcement is a dangerous gamble.
Enforcement has become a mechanism to drive behavioural change across the market, not just to punish individual firms. Regulators want demonstrable improvements and independent validation, not just remediation plans.
Instead of cutting corners, the most successful operators will use this period to harmonise their compliance functions.
The incoming EU AMLR will set a more standardised framework across Europe, requiring compliance teams, especially those operating in multiple jurisdictions, to prepare for more consistent expectations.
By unifying systems to eliminate the duplication of checks, operators can leverage insights from initial onboarding flows into broader, holistic views of risk, fraud, and affordability.
When compliance is used intelligently, it ceases to be a cost centre and instead becomes an enabler of growth, increasing customer approvals, mitigating abuse, and creating a seamless, safe environment for the player.
The message is clear: the era of the checkbox is over. The operators who thrive in the coming years will be those who view identity and compliance not as a regulatory burden, but as a strategic asset.
Signicat: why operators must shift from checkbox to outcome-led risk management
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Ray Ryan, Country Manager UK at Signicat, writes for SBC News regarding a compliance balancing act that is gripping the gambling industry, and what steps operators must take to flourish.
As regulatory pressures mount and sophisticated fraud threatens the sector, compliance can no longer operate in a silo.
For C-level executives and directors at gaming operators, 2026 demands a radical shift towards risk orchestration and demonstrable, evidence-led player protection.
The global gaming industry is navigating a perfect storm. Operators are facing an increasingly aggressive regulatory environment, the impending rollout of the EU’s Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR), and a surge in highly sophisticated, AI-generated fraud.
Add to this the recent tax rises in the UK, which threaten to squeeze margins and tempt cost-cutting measures, and the strategic challenge for the boardroom becomes glaringly clear: how can operators maintain rigorous compliance without destroying the customer experience or crippling their bottom line?
The answer lies in fundamentally rethinking the role of the compliance department.
We’re at a stage where compliance has shifted from being a back-office requirement to a core functional service that is inherent to an operator’s licensing obligations.
Regulators are increasingly outcome-led: it’s not enough to just have policies. Operators need evidence that controls work in practice, especially around AML and social responsibility.
The cost of friction and the rise of AI fraud
One of the most pressing challenges facing directors today is the friction-security paradox. As regulatory demands for affordability checks and tighter KYC procedures increase, the risk of alienating legitimate players grows.
The market is saturated, and a poor onboarding or deposit experience will simply drive consumers to competitors, or worse, to the illegal, unregulated market.
The market is dealing with a real balancing act. Stronger controls can increase friction for ‘good’ customers if implementation isn’t smart.
That’s why the best programmes now look more like risk orchestration, using layered signals, step-up checks, and automation, rather than siloed onboarding steps that can result in greater anomalies.
This need for intelligent orchestration is being accelerated by the evolution of fraud. The proliferation of AI to create deepfakes and highly sophisticated synthetic identities, but also to scale ‘old-school’ fraud methods, means that traditional, linear identity checks are becoming obsolete.
Operators must now view fraud and identity holistically, leveraging various touchpoints and interactions with customers to detect anomalies that a standard document check might miss.
Safer gaming: the imperative for a ‘single customer view’
As we move deeper into 2026, financial risk, vulnerability, and affordability controls will remain the definitive battlegrounds. Regulators across Europe, and particularly in the UK, are demanding tighter expectations on identifying risk early, documenting decisions, and applying proportionate friction.
For operators, this means safer gaming must evolve from a reactive ‘responsible gaming team’ into a measurable, real-time system. Enforcement narratives have continually focused on delayed actions and inadequate triggers.
Player protection over the next 12 months must be elevated through proactive detection, earlier intervention, and the implementation of a ‘single customer view’ risk model.
Operators will be expected to move from reactive interactions after significant losses to earlier signals, such as behavioural patterns, velocity, session length, and rapid deposit escalation, followed by step-up actions that are auditable.
The direction is toward joining up data across KYC, payments, device, and gameplay. Decisions need to be consistent and explainable, not fragmented across different teams and tools.
Safer gaming is increasingly being judged not on the intent of the operator, but on customer outcomes and evidence trails. Regulators want to see exactly what an operator saw, what action they took, when they took it, and the rationale behind the decision.
Harmonisation in the face of squeezed margins
With economic pressures and recent tax hikes threatening growth, there is an understandable temptation for operators to trim OPEX, particularly in back-office functions. However, compromising on compliance in an era of heightened enforcement is a dangerous gamble.
Enforcement has become a mechanism to drive behavioural change across the market, not just to punish individual firms. Regulators want demonstrable improvements and independent validation, not just remediation plans.
Instead of cutting corners, the most successful operators will use this period to harmonise their compliance functions.
The incoming EU AMLR will set a more standardised framework across Europe, requiring compliance teams, especially those operating in multiple jurisdictions, to prepare for more consistent expectations.
By unifying systems to eliminate the duplication of checks, operators can leverage insights from initial onboarding flows into broader, holistic views of risk, fraud, and affordability.
When compliance is used intelligently, it ceases to be a cost centre and instead becomes an enabler of growth, increasing customer approvals, mitigating abuse, and creating a seamless, safe environment for the player.
The message is clear: the era of the checkbox is over. The operators who thrive in the coming years will be those who view identity and compliance not as a regulatory burden, but as a strategic asset.