Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | March 2009 34 BMM Compliance Confidence Booster Compliance companies aim to help deliver a fun, efficient and above all fair gaming industry to the public, the operators and the regulators A distinguishing feature of legal and well-regulated gaming markets is that consumers, operators, manufacturers and governments have confidence that the entertainment it provides is honest and efficient. Every time a player spends a yuan, a pataca or a dollar, he or she wants to know that the odds of success are the same as for the next player. Likewise, operators want to know that the net take on that stakemoney is working as hard as possible for the business. Governments want to be sure consumers are protected from fraud and indeed that operators are protected from any rogue consumers trying to defraud the system. The government as licensing authority also wants to ensure a fair share of revenue for the public purse. Keeping all the parties happy creates a virtuous circle. Confidence in the system means the legal gaming industry attracts new customers and new investors, allowing it to grow across the world and across the Asia Pacific region in particular. Industry growth in turn provides employment opportunities for many tens of thousands of people, directly in the industry, and in a host of service and support industries. Key role BMM Compliance, one of the global leaders in the gaming compliance field, plays a central role in building and maintaining that consumer confidence in legal gaming. BMM points out it offers a partnership with all the key industry groups—regulators, equipment and content suppliers and operators—so that all the parties can reach that common goal. BMM says its technical expertise enables the company to offer advice as well as a listening ear to the industry and to regulators. Partnership and cooperation between the industry groups is vital, but ultimately the test of effective regulation is that such regulation is mandatory for all parties in the jurisdiction in question and across jurisdictions, and that it is enforceable if necessary. Given the volumes of cash and virtual cash involved in gaming, in the form for exampleofgamblingchipsorticketedaccess, there will always be someone attempting to manipulate the system in some way. It’s only through regulatory safeguards that the risk of these activities is minimised and where fraud is happening it can be quickly detected and dealt with. Choices One traditional route for monitoring and regulation was for governments and regulators todo it all‘inhouse’by having their own laboratories for equipment testing. But unless the jurisdiction concerned is a huge market, it’s unlikely to be cost effective to maintain a dedicated lab with specialist personnel and equipment. The globalisation of trade also means operators are seeking to use more equipment from further afield than ever before. ‘In house’ labs could find themselves having to stock testing equipment or utilise testing methods for every known product on the market. These are factors thatmake indispensible the roleof aglobal compliancecompanywith its experience of a wide range of equipment in a wide range of markets, says BMM. Many governments and/or regulators that used to maintain their own test labs found the policy was not sustainable and consequently outsourced the function to commercial independent test labs, adds BMM. So what makes gaming test labs different to other test labs that operate in other industries? High standards BMM suggests it relates to the test lab licensing conditions, developed in partnership between the compliance sector and the regulators and gaming industry. These conditions emphasise: continuing probity and objectivity; the highest operating standards; thorough performance reviews as well as precision in defining the scope of work undertaken and the levels of technical expertise expected. BMM says when those conditions are combined, they provide a compelling offer that meets the needs of all participants in the industry. By applying these agreed terms when going about its work, and by gaining experience of diverse markets, BMM and its test labs have built considerable expertise and knowledge about the technologies and systems that are used in gambling and gaming, says the company. This expertise can be called upon by interested parties for Peter Turner MPI-BMM Testing Centre for Gaming Devices