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For BoyleSports, 2024 is about growth. And because the largest independently owned bookmaker in Ireland is seeking to expand into new markets at a time when the regulatory landscape is becoming increasingly complex and fast-paced, its compliance team needs to be able to understand regulations in a wide range of different jurisdictions - quickly.

Accurately researching this manually was proving to be extremely burdensome, delaying strategic decisions about expansion, as well as other important projects which the compliance team needs to work on. As a result, this was causing an excessive reliance on external advisors, sometimes costing the business tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds in fees. When it came to seeking support, ����žž Gambling Compliance stood out for them as a reliable partner in gambling compliance.

“The importance of having up to date, reliable and close to real time updates in one place is critical for us as a business and, having evaluated a number of options, we concluded that ����žž would be a good partner to work with.”

_{- Mark O’Neill, CFO, BoyleSports}

‍How does BoyleSports use ����žž?

The team at BoyleSports’ biggest concern was that these factors may lead to learning late about changes which need to be implemented, or that some may slip through-the-cracks entirely, causing unplanned development work which delays the delivery of other revenue-generating projects, and creating a risk of financial penalties and/or reputational damage that comes with non-compliance. They needed a solution that would help them stay updated with regulatory changes, understand the regulatory landscape and what it means for them as a growing business, and avoid the risk of non-compliance - all in one place.

With that in mind, there are three main ways BoyleSports work with ����žž:

1. To efficiently understand the regulatory regime for gambling operators in new or unfamiliar jurisdictions

The compliance team at BoyleSports is often expected to be experts in unfamiliar jurisdictions, to inform vital business decisions about which jurisdictions the business should or shouldn't pursue, and to ensure correct processes, policies and practices are in place to successfully enter the market.

The manual research they were conducting was a drain on resources, and the team frequently encountered contradictory information from different sources, making it extremely time-consuming to find and validate the accuracy of information. The knock-on effect of this was that it was not possible to respond to the commercial team as quickly as they would like, to provide the information needed to take strategic growth decisions. It also impacted how much time the team could spend on other important priorities, plans or projects.

There was also a heavy reliance on external advisors, who were not as in tune with what the company needed as the in-house team, and incurred significant additional costs. On top of all of this, regulations are often published in languages not spoken by the BoyleSports team, further exacerbating these challenges.

“The ever changing landscape in multiple geographies makes it important to stay up to date with all changes, so they can be included in our strategic and product planning processes. We need to be agile and adaptable in so many areas, whilst at the same time ensuring we are fully compliant in all markets in which we operate.”

_{- Mark O’Neill, CFO, BoyleSports}

With a focus on international expansion strategy, Hayley Smith, Group Compliance & Risk Director at BoyleSports, is required to provide expertise in quite a few markets, in a short space of time, which is an incredibly difficult thing to do - especially in markets like Latin America, where there's more limited information. Add in language barriers for a lot of the national government, websites, reports, frameworks, etc, and it becomes even harder. ����žž’s Country Reports and Report Builder tools enable Smith and the team to access and compare English-language summaries of regulatory frameworks from 175+ jurisdictions, prepared and kept up-to-date, which drastically reduces the time spent on trying to do this manually, and the spend on external advisors. By empowering BoyleSports with this ready-to-use, reliable information - coupled with their in-house knowledge of what is needed - the team can deliver better-tailored, higher quality advice to the business - fast.

2. To anticipate regulatory changes, reduce non-compliance risk & reduce disruption to development roadmaps

BoyleSports wanted to be more in-the-know about upcoming changes in regulation, in current markets and potential new markets, so they could inform market entry decisions, and avoid penalties and reputational damage. When evaluating possible new markets, regulatory changes can impact whether those markets remain favourable, so it’s vital to remain ahead of these changes, to avoid continuing investment in exploration of markets which are no longer favourable.

Using ����žž’s Regulatory Updates and Insights & Analysis helps keep the team informed about upcoming and immediately-actionable changes to the regulations - with relevant updates sent directly by email for an extra layer of alertness. Users also have the ability to create a ‘Watchlist’, allowing members of the team to tailor these updates and insights to match their individual needs, a feature that Hayley Smith, Group Compliance & Risk Director, uses to keep track of her key jurisdictions. With these ����žž features in place, the disruption to development roadmaps, delays to revenue-generating projects, and risk of penalties is reduced.

“We use ����žž on a reactive basis for market opportunities as well as on a proactive basis, when identifying new markets to enter either organically or inorganically and needing to understand their regulatory regimes.”

_{- Chris Young, Head of Corporate Development, BoyleSports}

Head of Corporate Development at BoyleSports, Chris Young, whose role is focused on acquisition investment opportunities for BoyleSports, uses these updates to both stay abreast of regulatory changes across jurisdictions, and as a tool for investigating deeper into them, accordingly. “I need to know a little about a lot of countries; is it high regulation, low regulation, or no regulation, for almost every geography. With ����žž, I can dip in and out of a lot of them, and then deep dive into a limited number when I need to”, he says. Providing an example, he continues, “Latin America is a big focus for us in terms of acquisition scoping, and there are a huge number of regulatory environments to keep on top of there. Each of them is very nuanced and constantly changing. I use ����žž to dive into each, to get an overview, and that then informs some of the opportunities that I'm looking at.”

"The breadth and depth of both the regulatory analysis coupled with the deep market insights is invaluable for us as a business.”

- _{Mark O’Neill, CFO, BoyleSports}

3. To train and engage staff for added vigilance.

The team at BoyleSports has made use of the Anti Money Laundering (AML) courses ����žž provides as part of the GamblingCompliance training solution; a library of digital training courses, across a suite of 13 topics, featuring interactive models, assessment checks and case studies to give a full understanding of the regulatory requirements. The AML course, a popular course amongst ����žž customers, helped BoyleSports in providing suitable and effective training to the specific AML roles in the business, again, keeping the team as up-to-date as possible, and levelling up in-house expertise.

“These modules were a great way for us to ensure individuals in specific roles relating to AML were given the appropriate training to suit their job roles. In particular, the user-friendly interface is easy to navigate, the visually engaging graphics add interest, the gambling industry specific content helps to engage staff, and it covers all mandatory topics under UK legislation.”

_{- Hayley Smith, Group Compliance & Risk Director, BoyleSports, speaking about her experience with ����žž Training}

Following a seamless onboarding journey, the team at BoyleSports reports a significant amount of value out of their partnership with ����žž GamblingCompliance, with O’Neill telling us “It has supported some strategic decision making on country entry plans, which has been beneficial for us.”

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