NEWS FEATURE: Is There Such a Thing as Too Compliant? A Nuanced Look at iGaming Regulation

To understand how leading voices across the industry are approaching this issue, we gathered insights from some of iGaming’s top innovators:

As global regulatory landscapes continue to tighten, iGaming brands are walking a fine line between ensuring full compliance and maintaining a seamless, engaging user experience. With increased scrutiny from regulators and rising expectations from players, some brands are questioning whether there is such a thing as being “too compliant.” Over-compliance can lead to overly cautious strategies, reduced innovation and clunky user journeys. while under-compliance risks reputational damage, fines or worse.

This topic is especially relevant in 2025, as we see ongoing regulatory shifts in key markets like the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, and emerging jurisdictions across LatAm and Africa. The feature aims to explore how brands are adapting, whether stricter frameworks are helping or hindering growth, and how businesses are finding balance between protection and performance.

To understand how leading voices across the industry are approaching this issue, we gathered insights from some of iGaming’s top innovators:

Slotegrator shares a strategic view on integrating compliance into business operations:

“The issue of striking a balance between strict compliance and business efficiency is of critical importance to the entire iGaming industry, and Slotegrator is no exception. We regard regulatory compliance not as an impediment, but as the foundation for long-term and sustainable growth in any market.

Navigating the dynamic regulatory landscape, especially in evolving markets like Latin America or adapting to new regulations in Europe, requires flexibility and resources. The issue at hand is not whether one can be too compliant, but rather, how to integrate compliance in an effective manner. While excessive caution can impede progress, a prudent approach entails the implementation of effective solutions that streamline compliance without compromising the user experience.

For Slotegrator, this commitment entails ongoing enhancement of our platforms and solutions, including APIgrator, to provide operators with the necessary tools to seamlessly adapt to the regulations of various jurisdictions. We assist our clients in viewing regulation not only as a challenge, but also as an opportunity to build trust with players and regulators, ensuring sustainable growth. Achieving compliance that is both effective and strategic can provide a significant business advantage.”

Stars Partners highlight the evolution of compliance into a driver of trust and product innovation:

“Over the past two to three years, the regulatory landscape in key Tier 1 countries has undergone a profound transformation—one that touches every level of a brand’s operating model.

For businesses, this shift brings both challenges and opportunities. Stricter compliance standards are raising the bar, shaping more mature expectations among industry players and strengthening trust across the board. At the same time, every added verification step or newly imposed limit can slow the path to a player’s first deposit and affect conversion rates. That’s where companies are striving to build flexible engagement journeys—implementing adaptive onboarding flows and multi-layered checks that strike the right balance: protecting against risk without overwhelming legitimate users.

Regulatory influence extends far beyond technology and workflows—it’s driving changes in product development too. Operators are rethinking user interfaces, introducing reminders about time and spending limits, and retraining support teams to ensure fast, responsible, and empathetic communication with users.

In today’s environment, no operator can afford to treat responsible gaming as a mere checkbox. Self-exclusion tools, customizable deposit and betting limits, and personalized alerts about time or financial thresholds are now essential parts of the player experience. And we’re seeing that when players are empowered to manage their own gameplay, they tend to stay active longer and are less likely to face critical issues—boosting long-term loyalty while easing the burden on internal support and compliance teams.

In this light, stricter regulatory demands in Tier 1 markets are no longer viewed as roadblocks—they’re becoming catalysts for meaningful improvement. A broader push toward unified standards is creating more predictable conditions for growth, while an intensified focus on player protection is laying the groundwork for trust and long-term sustainability. In this environment, companies that invest in thoughtful responsible gaming mechanisms and transparent processes aren’t just meeting regulatory expectations—they’re helping shape a stronger, more mature industry.”

Eric Lamendola, Head of Product at Xpoint, focuses on geolocation and smart compliance:

“It is certainly possible to have geo-location platforms that are “too compliant” and cost the operator revenue. When legitimate players are denied due to overly stringent algorithms, everyone loses. Geolocation technology has evolved far beyond simple boundary checks, becoming a cornerstone for balancing regulatory demands with player experience. Today’s operators face growing pressure to verify user locations in real time without fault, whether enforcing state lines, excluding sensitive areas, or adapting to new betting formats, without turning compliance into a barrier to engagement.

Modern solutions embrace risk-based strategies that scale dynamically. In low-risk contexts, verification frequency can be safely reduced, and when ambiguity or high stakes arise, checks ramp up instantly. This shift from one-size-fits-all compliance to context-aware geolocation minimizes unnecessary friction and fortifies platforms against fraud and regulatory scrutiny. For example, Trust Mode™ leverages verified network contexts, like home or office Wi-Fi, to dial down location checks when risk is low and automatically ramp them up in higher-risk situations, cutting unnecessary verifications by over 50% in states where it is live.

As markets from the UK to Latin America tighten and diversify their rules, flexibility is no longer optional. By embedding intelligence into every layer of location verification, iGaming operators can stay agile, deploying new geofences and policies in days rather than months, ensuring they protect both their players and their brand reputation.”

Christoffer Feldt-Sørensen, Chief Sales Officer at Symplify, stresses that smart compliance is the way forward:

“At Symplify, we believe that compliance is not a checkbox—it’s a commitment to long-term sustainability in the iGaming space, and oftentimes an actual legal requirement. However, the question of being “too compliant” reveals a deeper tension that many operators face: the balance between protecting players, satisfying regulators, and delivering exceptional user experiences. This can lead to a dangerous situation where the operator is trying to please everyone, while eventually pleasing nobody.

Let’s be clear—compliance is non-negotiable. Regulatory frameworks are essential for player protection, responsible gambling, and market integrity. But when compliance becomes so overbearing that it stifles innovation, burdens operators, and frustrates users, it can have unintended consequences.

From our vantage point, the key is smart compliance. With Symplify’s tools—ranging from AI-driven behavioral tracking to real-time CRM automation—operators can go beyond just meeting regulations. They can embed compliance into customer journeys, offering safeguards in a seamless, personalized way.

We often ask: are your compliance measures reactive or proactive? True innovation in this space lies in anticipating regulatory needs and leveraging tech to make compliance a competitive advantage. For example, real-time communication strategies and self-exclusion tools, when implemented well, don’t hinder the user—they empower them.

So yes, there can be such a thing as “too compliant”—but only when it becomes disconnected from the user experience. At Symplify, we help our partners turn compliance into a strategic asset, not just a legal obligation. The goal is to meet regulation with empathy, tech, and foresight—so that safety, satisfaction, and sustainability go hand-in-hand.”

Richard Mifsud, Chief Vision Officer at Xprizo, speaks about regulation’s positive potential in emerging markets:

“At Xprizo, we believe that in emerging markets – particularly in Africa, where we operate – regulation is imperative. It should be viewed as a pathway for responsible growth, not a barrier. In regions where financial inclusion and digital adoption are increasing rapidly, there is plenty of scope to build frameworks that nurture both compliance and user experience.

Being ‘too compliant’ is something you often hear from legacy platforms that are forced to retrofit outdated infrastructure to remain compliant. At Xprizo, we pride ourselves on looking at this issue from the other side and this has led to us designing an intuitive and highly flexible platform. This means we can adapt to local regulatory shifts without negatively impacting innovation or UX. In Africa, these design decisions are hugely important – where mobile-first users demand speed, simplicity, and safety in equal measure.

Our research shows that with the framework, companies focusing on transparency, financial protection, and digital identity – actually accelerates growth. Having these foundations in place builds confidence among users, governments, and operators alike. In countries like Kenya and Ghana, for example, strong KYC and RG practices are no longer optional – they’re expected.

Xprizo doesn’t view regulation as simply a box-ticking exercise. We see it as a chance to create more inclusive ecosystems, especially where accessible digital banking options are limited. For us, that means combining real-time transaction monitoring, responsible gambling tools, and operator support in a seamless, scalable way.

As African markets continue to regulate, compliance will only grow in importance. If managed properly, everyone benefits in the long term.”

Steve Gummer, Director of betting.bet, shares the crucial role compliance plays in affiliate success, especially in emerging markets:

“At betting.bet, compliance and regulatory understanding aren’t just important—they are the cornerstone of our business. As affiliates, we have a responsibility to our operator partners and players to lead with integrity and meet the highest standards in every market we enter.

Recently, we launched our platform in Brazil, and a major part of that journey was heavily investing time and resources into truly understanding the market inside out before building a product that directly serves both operators and players. Brazil is a dynamic and fast-evolving market, and by taking compliance seriously from the ground up, we’ve positioned ourselves—and our partners—for long-term, sustainable success. True growth isn’t about rushing in; it’s about respecting the framework, understanding the audience, and creating platforms that deliver value while meeting all regulatory requirements.”

Stephen Welch of Everytip.com, underlines the role of compliance in building trust within the UK market:

“At Everytip.com, compliance and trust go hand-in-hand. As a UK-based tip aggregation platform, we are committed to working exclusively with UKGC-licensed bookmakers to ensure that our resource is one associated with safety, responsibility, and transparency.

In today’s environment, players expect more than just tips—they expect to engage with brands they can trust. By partnering only with bookmakers regulated by the UK Gambling Commission, we ensure that players using our platform are connected to operators who share our commitment to player protection and ethical standards. Compliance is not just a regulatory obligation for us; it’s a vital part of maintaining our reputation and offering a safe, sustainable resource for the betting community.”

Alberto Alfieri, Co-Founder & Executive Chairman of Blokotech, argues that precision is the future:

“In 2025, regulation is changing fast everywhere. Europe is tightening. LatAm and Africa are maturing. But the real issue isn’t regulation. It’s how operators react to it.

Too many confuse compliance with caution. They build bloated teams and overcomplicated flows. They kill product speed. That’s not compliance. That’s fear.

The operators who keep growing are the ones who integrate compliance into a macro strategy wrapped around tech and marketing from day one. They don’t treat it as a blocker. They treat it as part of the product.

In Argentina for instance, we’ve seen operators scale responsibly where the rules are clear and enforcement is consistent. In Africa, structured licensing is giving new entrants a path to market. In Europe, the operators that stay sharp are the ones who originally built systems that adapt fast.

Winning means being precise. It means automating risk management, designing for RG limits instead of patching them later, using real-time tools instead of weekly reports, it means avoiding markets where compliance destroys competitiveness (i.e. Germany, Sweden).

The smartest operators in 2025 are the ones who’ve stopped seeing regulation as a problem and started treating it as part of the product. If you want to play in serious markets, you need serious systems. That’s not about being “more compliant.” It’s about being sharper, faster, and harder to kill. That’s just good business.”