Location, Location, Location
Lindsay Slader
Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, GeoComply
Lindsay Slader was always obsessed with maps. Family members and friends deferred to her sense of geography in staking out vacation activities. The 34-year-old Vancouver native loves travel and knows more about United States capitals than most Americans.
How fitting for her to find GeoComply, become its vice president of regulatory affairs and help gaming regulators, operators and licensees navigate the Wire Act. Compliance status gains enormous significance with more states obtaining sports-betting legalization.
“This is an exciting time for the gaming industry, with sports betting in the age of the post-PASPA repeal spreading like wildfire,” Slader says. “It is wonderful to be involved in that evolution. Educating all stakeholders in the online gaming betting world, and showing how geolocation technology influences their markets, is going to be continually important.
“Given that there are still many states ready to introduce sports betting, my work will be providing education and expertise on how geolocation technology will impact their introduction of it. I testify at state hearings telling a particular state how geolocation technology works for them, giving them a demo.”
Her testimonies have been eye-opening presentations. They address elected officials, often at the request of a lawmaker, operator or regulator who knows geolocation’s role to ensure legal betting takes place. Stakeholders want to evaluate the viability of sports betting, potential revenue and regulatory framework.
GeoComply is an approved vendor in New Jersey, Nevada, Delaware, Mississippi, West Virginia, Oregon, Rhode Island, Georgia, New Hampshire, Virginia, Michigan, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Iowa and Indiana.
The border of New York and New Jersey provides an illuminating snapshot of Slader’s role in the emerging sports-betting world. New York legislators asked her to demonstrate the workings of geolocation last spring.
You could have seen a pin drop. One at a time. Slader unfurled a pin-drop map, illustrating the second-by-second attempted wagers being made from New York, where online betting is not legal, to New Jersey, where it is. GeoComply technology was blocking the attempted wagers. Legislators were surprised to discover how many players near the border were wagering. Translation: This is available future revenue for our state.
“When GeoComply’s live ‘pin-drop map’ of New Jersey is demo’d to a legislature, that picture is worth a thousand words,” Slader says. “For the live map of New Jersey sports betting traffic, the mass volumes hugging the New York borders are as clear as day for anyone watching.
“When I go to a hearing, I typically provide a non-technical ‘Geo 101’ crash course to start, and relish the moment when I can flip to the live map; lawmakers open their mouths with an ‘Ahh!’ and you see it all come together in their minds right in front of you. I consider this quite an accomplishment—explaining tech to elected officials is no easy feat!”
Slader says the technology extends to other uses, including help for law enforcement to pinpoint the location of someone who attempts a financial crime.
The next growth period figures to be prosperous for Slader, who loves maps so much that she’s prepared an Atlas for the gaming world.
—Dave Bontempo
