Yaspa receives government grant for ‘Safer Gambling’ platform

Instant bank payments provider Yaspa has been awarded a government grant by national innovation agency, Innovate UK, for its B2B platform that combines payments and AI to help gambling operators identify vulnerable customers.

There are an estimated 300,000 “problem gamblers” in the UK, according to Yaspa.

By using Open Banking technology, Yaspa will provide operators with access to player transaction data at the point of deposit which, it claims, enables them to build a “significantly broader and more accurate picture” of a player’s pan-operator activity.

Yaspa’s platform then applies AI modelling to detect the likelihood of them being a “problem gambler”.

Finally, the inclusion of payment data means that operators can conduct affordability checks that go beyond current consumer protection initiatives, such as paper-based affordability checks and reliance on data from within a single operator’s domain.

Yaspa will use the funding received from Innovate UK to work with academics in ‘Safer Gambling’ and in AI to build a platform that uses data analysis to ensure players can make quick and easy deposits with “non-disruptive, real-time risk detection”.

James Neville, CEO of Yaspa

James Neville, chief executive officer and co-founder of Yaspa, said that, following Innovate UK’s support, Yaspa’s role in the future of compliance within the gambling sector will be “pivotal”.

“With the use of fast-growing technologies, including AI and Open Banking, our Safer Gambling platform will reimagine how affordability checks are conducted and actioned to protect vulnerable players,” Neville said.

“Currently, operators view players at the single operator level, and rely on disruptive checks that risk driving people to grey markets. Yaspa’s frictionless process, combined with a pan-operator view, will transform the experience for operators and players alike.”

Innovate UK, which is part of UK Research and Innovation, helps businesses to develop and realise new ideas by funding business and research collaborations.

Yaspa, which operates across the UK and Europe, is backed by investors, including Fin Capital SGH Capital and Metavallon VC.

Last year, Switzerland-based Casino Lugano introduced point-of-sale payments powered by Open Banking via Yaspa.