What, no Fintan? WOAH NELLY! Surely that can’t be right… No, hang on. It is. Oh well… One day, our prince will come (back)!
In the meantime, we want to thank our three beautiful sponsors who make all of this possible. In no particular order, they are World Gaming, GLI, and Optimove. You can read more about them by scrolling down after this bit.
As for this episode, Jon Bruford speaks with Brad McKay, founder and designer of Protected Customer, about how McKay’s lived experience with gambling harm led him to develop a connected protection system. They examine how it could link online and land-based checks, its privacy boundaries, adoption challenges, and a proposed Protection Room for testing operator safeguards.
What we talk about, in list form:
- Brad McKay says more than 30 years of lived experience with gambling harm informed the design of Protected Customer.
- The system is intended to connect checks across online platforms and land-based venues, addressing gaps when a person moves between operators or channels.
- Customers create a profile, complete identity checks, and use a QR code or code for an operator to receive an approval or denial response.
- McKay says the system can check self-exclusion, cooling-off periods, and customer-set deposit limits without holding gambling histories or transaction funds.
- Bruford challenges whether the system can work effectively without broad operator participation; McKay agrees full effectiveness depends on widespread, ideally international, adoption.
- McKay says existing tools such as software blockers can continue to be used alongside Protected Customer, which he positions at the point of entry.
- He says the system is intended for regulated operators, not black-market operators, and describes an option to flag unregulated websites.
- The Protection Room is a proposed engagement with operator teams to examine existing safeguards and test how they might be circumvented.
Choice quotes:
- “Nothing is bulletproof.”
- “The important bit was connecting the dots to make a fuller picture.”
- “I’m not coming in to hate the gambling industry. I’m coming to help the gambling industry.”
- “This is an industry challenge”
- “It’s almost like being a doorman”
Chapters, but add a bit on because of our beautiful music, used with permission from artist and copyright holder Mara Carlyle:
- 00:00 Jon Bruford hosts solo, with guest Brad McKay
- 02:18 Meet Brad McKay, founder of Protected Customer
- 12:19 How lived experience shaped the idea
- 17:12 Connecting protection across online and retail gambling
- 20:32 The doorman analogy: profiles, checks, and access
- 23:24 Deposit limits and the privacy boundaries
- 30:03 Why operator-wide adoption is the central challenge
- 36:05 Protection measures, personal responsibility, and customer onboarding
- 42:31 Regulated operators, black markets, and complementary tools
- 53:09 The Protection Room and where to learn more
Brad McKay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-m-14a64a406/
Resources & Links:
As ever, we thank all of our sponsors for their vibrant and excellent support that makes all of this… magic… possible.
Optimove, who turn customer data into something special, with tools that make businesses just plain work better. Optimove, your support helps us to keep creating content for an industry that probably thinks we disappeared years ago.
Then of course there is Clarion Gaming, no hang on World Gaming, providers of the magnificent ICE expo and iGB Live! in London. There is simply nobody better at what they do.
And the new-ish-est members of the family, the excellent Gaming Laboratories International.
GLI is a world-class Testing, Inspections and Certification company committed to delivering the highest quality land-based, lottery, and iGaming testing and assessment services, working in more than 710 jurisdictions.
For more information, visit gaminglabs.com.
The Gambling Files podcast delves into the business side of the betting world. Each week, join Jon Bruford and Fintan Costello as they discuss current hot topics with world-leading gambling experts.
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