Compliable Online Gambling Licensing Service

There’s a lot of chatter about the challenges of the state-by-state approach to legal US sports betting and online gambling. From local server requirements to licensing costs to disparate regulations, operators are finding the US online gambling landscape a hard row to hoe.

One overlooked aspect of the 50-state approach is licensing itself, as not only companies but individual staff members and affiliates are required to go through an invasive betting licensing process in each jurisdiction – some with multi-page forms, and others with dozens upon dozens of pages to fill out. The time lost filling out licensing forms is a serious problem across the entire sector.

Enter Compliable.

Streamlining the Gambling Licensing Process

The Compliable platform provides US gambling companies a solution that manages employees’ gaming licenses across multiple states.

Through Compliable, employees and affiliates applying for licenses securely enter their information, and the software then auto-populates that information across multiple forms and jurisdictions. Compliable not only streamlines the process, but it allows companies to check employee progress and assign new forms with the click of a button.  

According to a press release regarding a funding round:

“The platform cuts the time it takes to get staff licensed from weeks to days, lowers the workload for compliance teams, significantly reduces the costs related to licensing, and accelerates moving into new markets at a time when first-mover advantage is so critical.”

The press release goes on to note that Compliable has signed a deal with a large but unnamed sportsbook in the US “to facilitate the leading operator’s employee licensing process after already securing hundreds of licenses for the sportsbook during an initial trial.” The agreement will see Compliable manage the licensing process for some 500 employees.  

Compliable Offers A Long Overdue Solution

Compliable, formerly Rebric, didn’t start as a licensing solution for the US gambling sector. As Compliable CEO Chris Oltyan told Betting USA:

“Rebric came out of Techstars Western Union in 2019 with a new financial services product and a few pilots ready to go. Covid had other ideas, and as banks and financial institutions refused their development attention, we knew we had to do something fast. We identified industries we thought might actually grow during the pandemic and did over 200 customer discovery calls to identify big problems we could solve. The conversation we had with FanDuel was the turning point for us. They described the licensing problem they, and the entire industry was facing with such clarity and passion it was easy for us to take up the challenge.”

And in that regard, Compliable solves several licensing issues companies are facing.

Oltyan explained it this way:

Imagine if you were doing taxes, the full forms. Now imagine you worked in 25 states, and each state has different forms. Now imagine you had to do it for 100 people. That’s the problem we’re solving with a single place to input all the information you need to fill out all those forms. Combine that with the fact renewals are anywhere from one to five years for each state, and it’s a mess that technology is very well suited to clean up. Compliable’s licensing platform manages the entire mess that operators, affiliates, and vendors face in this new emerging market.

Compliable currently supports “operators with occupational license needs, affiliates, and vendors needing a vendor minor license,” according to Oltyan. The CEO went on to say it is “actively building out new features to support vendors needing a vendor major license and the full suite of licenses an operator needs. We will be keeping the market posted on when we launch those new features.” 

Compliable Secures $1.7 Million in Funding Round

As noted above, Compliable “secured $1.7 million seed funding in a round led by Chicago-based KB Partners, a venture firm investing in early-stage companies at the intersection of sports and technology.”

In addition to its unnamed partner, the company is in talks with several top-tier sportsbooks, with more deals to be announced soon. 

“Every US state has different requirements when it comes to employee licensing, putting a huge strain on compliance teams and generating substantial costs for operators,” Oltyan said in the press release.

 “After speaking to sportsbooks, their vendors, partners, and suppliers, we found that all of them were facing the same problem around employee licensing and were looking for the same solution. Our platform is the answer. Our technology helps sportsbooks quickly and effortlessly secure the licenses they need to be compliant.”

“Regulatory compliance is serious business in gaming, and providing software to automate this saves companies in the industry significant time and money,” David VanEgmond, founder and CEO of Bettor Capital, a fund focused on the US sports betting opportunity and investor in Compliable’s latest round, said. “I know the value of Compliable’s software personally as a previously licensed executive in the space, and was excited to invest in and support the company’s vision to become the ‘TurboTax’ for the online gaming space.”

Betting Licensing: A Miasma of Paperwork

Every state has different requirements, which makes gambling licensing paperwork the bane of compliance departments. The complexity of the process varies by jurisdiction and licensing type, ranging from a one-page document to a 100-page booklet and requiring the applicant to possess anywhere from a good handle on the lexicon used in legal documents to retaining expensive legal counsel to get you through the process.

And then there are the random instructions, like what size envelope the application needs to be mailed in, with any gaffe potentially delaying a license by weeks or months.

And as Compliable’s CEO Chris Oltyan recently said in an interview in Gaming Law Review, this isn’t exclusively an industry issue. It’s impacting regulatory agencies too.

“At the end of the day, I think they [regulators] all share the common trait of being short on staff and time. The sheer momentum behind online and sports betting legalization has taken many by surprise,” Oltyan said. “That, compounded with a devastating year for state budgets, has put many of the regulators on the back foot. When we come in offering to help streamline the process and reduce workload, it has been met with enthusiasm, and we hope to be able to announce some larger collaborations soon.”

Solving the Problem Is More Important Than Bells and Whistles

While identifying the problem is critical, there is a zero margin for error in the case of licensing. One mistake could sink the Compliable ship, and as Oltyan explained to GLR, the goal is to solve a problem, not create new ones.

“The hardest job of any piece of software is solving the actual problem that someone is having,” said Oltyan. “A solid platform, in-depth security, privacy measures, scalable servers, and flashy user interface (UI) are all well and good, but if you don’t identify the problem specifically and design the software to address that problem, all you’re doing is creating more work.” 

You’re Only as Good as Your Team

Gambling as an industry is exceptionally risk-averse. Even if there may be a more efficient way to accomplish something, the industry generally adheres to the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mindset.

As such, Compliable had its work cut out for it when it came to approaching the industry, including multi-billion-dollar corporations with their novel idea.

The pitch is a perfect one:

“The platform cuts the time it takes to get staff licensed from weeks to days, lowers the workload for compliance teams, significantly reduces the costs related to licensing, and accelerates moving into new markets at a time when first-mover advantage is so critical.”

But when the price of an error is so high, the product needs to have a stamp of approval.

Compliable solved that problem early on, reaching out to numerous industry insiders. That outreach led to an impressive advisory board including Carl Sottosanti, David VanEgmond, Sara Slane, Chris Grove, Sean Hurley, and Lance Dietz. That industry firepower certainly helped open doors for Compliable, and the product made the sale.

More recently, Compliable Named Justin Stempeck its Chief Strategy Officer. Stempeck’s most recent roles were the perfect stepping stones to Compliable. Stempeck was the director of licensing at DraftKings.com, and before that, he served as Associate General Counsel for the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.

 “We are delighted to have Justin join us as he brings extensive gaming experience to our senior leadership team,” Chris Oltyan, CEO of Compliable, said. “His knowledge of the regulatory landscape will enhance our ability to navigate the complicated web of US gaming compliance.”

 “Compliable is at such an impressive stage in their already fast-paced business growth,” Stempeck added. “I am very excited to become Chief Strategy Officer for a company that has found a solution to such a significant proportion of employee licensing challenges faced by all operators and vendors. This is a corner of the industry that is becoming ever more crucial to operator and vendor success and I can’t wait to help propel the process forward.”