By: Abi Khan
You most likely have no idea who these companies are, why their alliance matters and what this has to do with iGaming at all, but trust me, it’s kind of a big deal. AutoRek is a pretty big provider of financial and operational advice, having won several award for their specialized software, which appears to be quite popular among various businesses worldwide. According to their website, they seem to be quite versed in the world of iGaming, having written a solution paper with tons of advice for people who want to get into the industry or strengthen their business (and are giving it away for free, which is pretty nice of them). Basically, they know a thing or two about iGaming and have some pretty good financial controls software. Tottenham & Co is a consultation company specializing in… Well, a whole lotta things, but one of their most interesting expertises is in regards to iGaming in particular. They’re commonly referred to as THE specialist when it comes to international gaming consultancy, and Eleanor Ramsey, our own editor-in-chief who has plenty of experience with iGaming consulting, claims that they’re pretty good.
So, what happens when these two giants combine? Well, in order to fully understand that we need to mention that by the end of the year the EU will enact new data protection laws which will override the equivalent laws in all EU countries, including the UK. It’s a pretty big deal, because the way online casinos and betting sites store customer information and financial details is going to have to change significantly. We’re talking major architectural changes in the way that some sites operate, with the process being made as transparent as possible. All money exchange becomes crystal-clear and easily verified by a third party should the need arise, and all user data will be stored more securely and can be deleted entirely at the request of the customer. This is actually a very good thing – remember back in 2011 when hackers stole 2.2 million credit cards of PlayStation users? This actually happened in part because you couldn’t really delete your information form the PlayStation servers due to the way in which they were structured – “deleted” information was just branded differently, but was still there and was recoverable, with enough digging. The new security laws aim to prevent stuff like that from happening.
So, coming back to our previous question, what exactly is the point of the alliance between AutoRek and Tottenham & Co? It all has to do with the transparency I mentioned. AutoRek’s software is great, even really great, but it’s not particularly suited for iGaming use, as those sites work very differently from others. Imagine, for example, a site that sells shoes. The profit of all the shoes that have been sold is a constant number, at the end of the day – if the shop has sold $5,000 worth of shoes, that number can’t suddenly drop to $3,000 at the drop of a hat. As such, financial software only has to take into account three numbers – the price of running the store (rent, staff payment, tax, etc), the cost of the raw product (the shoes being bought by the manufacturer) and the income that came from the sales in order to calculate the profit, which is very easy to do even if two of those variables change day to day. Running an online casino, on the other hand… That’s a bit more complex. You can have a profit of $5,000 which suddenly falls to $3,000 because some guy won a $2,000 jackpot 5 minutes ago. Or maybe someone deposited $2,000 only to withdraw them a few days later without playing because he realized he wanted to spend them on something else. And we’re talking about dozens, if not hundreds of these “plus” and “minus” transactions happening every single day. Normal financial software just isn’t equipped with handling this sort of thing, which is why it’s often handled internally, by employees and/or by a combination of different software. But all of a sudden the EU says that that’s not going to work anymore, and that every transaction needs to be processed clearly by a machine leaving a very obvious trail that can be traced should that be necessary. That’s exactly what AutoRek’s new software aims to do.
Now, keep in mind that I don’t actually know all the details – the information above is just speculation based on what has been announced and my own knowledge of how online casino infrastructure generally works, so I may be slightly off on some of the details. In any case, we’re going to get more information during this year’s EiG convention in Berlin on October 20th till October 22nd, where AutoRek and Tottenham & Co. will take the stage in order to explain exactly what their new software will do and how it will be useful, as well as give more details about the law and its requirements for tighter financial control. So until then, all we’ve got is some basic information and the world’s most generic press statements (“We’re so excited to be working with [insert company name here], they’re so great and fantastic and sexy and yada yada yada”). One thing seems pretty certain, though – if everything goes great and the software performs as advertised then everybody would win. The EU would be happy, online casinos will be doing less work and their customers’ transactions will be more secure. Here’s hoping that everything is as good as it sounds!