PLAYER PROTECION
SBC LEADERS ISSUE 37
SURVIVE THE AVALANCHE The implementation of the EU’s Accessibility Act, DORA and AI Act can have significant ramifications for iGaming. BetComply’s MIKE DE GRAAFF advises companies how they can remain compliant and profitable
Words by CHARLIE HORNER
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De Graaff outlines that operators simply are not ready for these changes, adding that very few have the in-house capabilities to adjust to such legal evolution simultaneously.
perating in highly regulated markets is never an easy feat. But things in the European Union got significantly more challenging over the summer. Three new laws have come into effect that impact multiple disciplines across the iGaming industry.
One may be forgiven for thinking about consulting a lawyer about this. But De Graaff warns that this is definitely not the right approach as it will be a very expensive and ultimately futile endeavour.
The EU Accessibility Act, the Digital Operational Resilience Act and the AI Act all came into force in 2025, meaning that companies’ user interfaces, cybersecurity and AI capabilities must be reviewed. Websites must now be accessible for all with disabilities, while DORA maintains that besides operators, which are subject to ISO standards, payment institutions must have robust cybersecurity mechanisms as well.
“Going straight to a lawyer racks up bills, and they only explain the law. You still have no practical implementation, so you then need to go to compliance or IT specialists with whatever the lawyer produced in terms of superexpensive guidance.” A TOTAL REDESIGN
One could tackle these challenges using AI, but the EU is now regulating how companies can use that as well. Navigating each of these pieces of legislation is a challenge alone, but adjusting to all three might seem an impossible task. “These three acts are specialisations. Accessibility is a specialisation on its own, cybersecurity on its own, AI on its own, and then the regulatory challenges on their own as well,” says Mike De Graaff, Chief Compliance Officer at BetComply. “It’s not like one super genius that works in-house can solve all of these, because they simply can’t.”
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It’s tough to strike a balance between maintaining compliance with the three acts and still having a profitable business at the end of it. But shying away from the challenge will only make things more expensive in the long run, says De Graaff, who explains that this is a moment when operators should be considering major platform upgrades. “You’re going to get a patchwork platform and operations that are super-expensive, sluggish, and no one knows what the hell is going on inside the platform anymore. I think you should be using this as an exercise to do a complete platform overhaul at once, and then redesign it from the ground up.”