W2, the award-winning provider of global regulatory compliance software to the gaming market, has announced its brand-new real-time affordability check, which will support the needs of operators as they adapt to evolving guidance from UK Gambling Gambling Commission (UKCG). UKGC guidance requires licence holders to put affordability at the heart of their safer gambling commitments for 2021 and it will undoubtedly become a central focus in the 2021 gambling act review.

The W2 affordability solution gives you a real time view of what a consumer earns on an individual level, and most importantly does not require additional customer interaction. Using authorised and compliant banking data feeds to provide current account turnover information that can be used for customer protection purposes, the solution can cover a period up to 24 months and across joint and sole accounts, as well as including multiple addresses. Data on this scale provides real insights on an individual customer level.

A Word From W2
Peter Murray, W2 Head of Sales commented “If you look at any of the pronouncements from the regulators in the UK and the upcoming review of the UK Gambling Act, front and centre to everything they’re doing is affordability. For us at W2 it is all about offering a solution which removes friction but is compliant, and we believe that this new affordability solution is suited to both the needs of the regulator, the challenges the operators face, and the consumers desire to be protected from harm.”

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Kevin Fox, W2 Senior Product Manager responsible, said “the solution is split into two main parts. Level one offers an affordability index which leverages the data to give results on account activity including levels of income and turnover in the account and collates this into a score-based response. Level two offers more in-depth insight which allows the operator to collect and verify the declared income of the customer. These two components are a massive step in the right direction for safer gambling.”

Crucial Compliance
W2 will also be working with strategic partner, Gibraltar based Crucial Compliance, on the release of the affordability check. Working together, the two firms believe that this solution can have a positive impact on the industry as it aims to significantly help towards the issues surrounding responsible gambling and player protection.

Andy Masters, COO at Crucial Compliance commented “We are absolutely delighted to officially release this affordability solution. Since partnering with W2 in late 2020 we have combined our resources to bring to market a solution which is not only is frictionless and solves real time, real data affordability, but is also built into our player management solution. We have worked hard to ensure that this is as easy as possible for operators to continue to meet the needs of the regulators now and in the future”