RESPONSIBLE GAMBLING


A new era of player protection i


Designed to provide mobile sports betting and online casino operators with ways to identify problematic gambling behaviour, iProtekt tells us more about the launch of its fi rst product.


Protekt is a Colorado-based provider of data-focused responsible and problem gambling solutions. The business was founded by Air Force veteran, Bryan Price and Mike Borukhov who has built


companies in newly regulated markets, most notably the cannabis industry. Whist they now serve as co-CEO’s of iProtekt, the entrepreneurs previously founded a daily fantasy sports company called Pick Perfect. In doing so, they uncovered a gap in the industry with its inability to leverage its data to understand if players were


playing responsibly. iProtekt was born out of the opportunity to use data and technology to better understand when a player is playing responsibly and when their play indicates markers of harm and problematic play. The development of the business led to the launch of its first product, iPulse.


iPulse was designed to provide a credible, relevant third-party data solution to online gaming operators in the United States to meet regulatory requirements around responsible gaming tracking solutions. Borukhov, who has long been a sports bettor, wanted to


regulations and the anticipation of future states adopting similar regulatory mandates. When developing iPulse, Price and Borukhov worked with former Colorado chief gaming regulator Dan Hartman to better understand the overall market in the state. From those discussions, they built a team to build agile products focused on operator usability. They tested many algorithms weighing different player behaviours to build the solution.


iPulse is designed to provide mobile sports betting and online casino operators ways to identify problematic gambling behaviour. Leveraging data from a variety of inputs, including deposits, withdrawals, bet size, total number of bets and other variables, iPulse provides a weighted risk score which can identify when a player’s behaviour suggests they might have a problem with their gambling. The individual risk scores can show when a player is exhibiting normal behaviour, when their play changes to indicate a potential issue, and when they go to “full tilt” or play that indicates they are exhibiting challenges with their gaming. As a gambling addiction is a clinically identifi ed problem, iPulse is designed to track play to indicate when a player may not be wagering responsibly, not necessarily that they have a problem with their play. But using the risk score, operators can put in place appropriate interventions to slow down or even stop that person from wagering more using real-time data.


As the U.S. online gambling market has matured, regulators have been searching for more ways to leverage data to identify potential problem gamblers as the growth of the marketplace has led to concerns regarding an increase in problem


understand his play and whether or not he was wagering responsibly. iPulse was created out of this interest, and Borukhov saw that there were times when his play did shift from responsible to “full tilt” behaviour in retrospect. The solution was designed to provide operators with real-time insights into player behaviour and more clearly identify when a player might be harming themselves. As states like Colorado and New Jersey have adopted regulations around third-party data monitoring solutions for responsible gaming purposes, iPulse was designed to fi t those


8 OCTOBER 2023 GIO


gambling nationwide. In New Jersey and Colorado, regulators have adopted mandates that require the use of player data and technology to provide automated triggers on potential problem gamblers. The iPulse solution was born out of these new regulatory mandates, providing operators with a credible third-party solution to identify which behaviours might suggest a player is struggling with wagering responsibly.


The U.S. market is very focused on individual responsibility and does not have some of the “safer gambling” actions you see


in global markets around affordability checks and other fi nancial insights. This product was designed to take individual actions surrounding their gambling behaviour and build a risk score that an operator can then use in their respective responsible gaming strategy. As every operator is different in their approaches, this product is designed to provide them with insights to their players and then they can build the appropriate interventions based off of their strategies. Providing players insights is critical toward helping those who might be struggling with their gambling and we applaud regulators in Colorado and New Jersey for their proactive measures around the use of third-party data for responsible gaming.


The U.S. gaming industry has seen globally how a lackluster commitment to responsible gaming can have wide reaching implications – be it advertising restrictions, affordability checks, or regulatory sanctions. Moving towards the use of third-party validators like iPulse to understand player behavior provides a tremendous proactive opportunity for the industry to better use technology to help players in need. Should the industry choose not to widely adopt third-party data solutions like iPulse, they risk real challenges long term with regulatory overreach. As two large commercial states in New Jersey and Colorado have already mandated this approach, we believe operators should look at adopting solutions like iPulse across their portfolio to show regulators their commitment to helping players.


As we grow the company and ingest more player data, we’ll continue to tweak the algorithm to better understand which factors highlight problematic behaviour and how those change over time. As an example, players have shifted more towards parlay wagering over the past two years. Parlays have a much higher loss rate than single game wagers. As bet types continue to change with shifts like we’ve seen with parlays, we’ll work with operators to stay on top of trends to identify which behaviours might indicate a problem. We’re really enthused to see what happens in Australia around the roll out of their BetStop solution With Australia’s gaming regulation primarily coming at a state-level, it provides a good comparison to how the U.S. market is regulated. We believe that would solve immense player challenges and we’re excited to work with the industry and regulators on how a nationwide self-exclusion program could come to the U.S.


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