Digital customer attrition. As customers move to digital gaming formats, traditional gaming venues and facilities may experience reductions in both profits and auxiliary revenues, such as food and beverage and accommodations. Mitigating measures include improving or changing marketing strategies and diversifying your income stream by entering the online space.
Cyber-risk and privacy. The more the industry expands to online games and systems, the more difficult it is to protect yourself. Hackers—whether engaging in theft, politics, cyber-terror, or “fun”-- are making it harder to ensure the safety of your digital information. Assess your vulnerability to unauthorized access, viruses, data loss, or theft, and quickly address any gaps. Remain vigilant as cyber- threats evolve by the minute.
Online expansion. Internet gaming is growing rapidly and can be a strong business driver, but expanding operations to include an online platform also exposes you to a new competitive environment. The challenges to succeeding in the crowded online market are significant, and organizations need a comprehensive strategy to do it successfully—preferably before making the move.
Fraud, theft, and betting scams. This remains an inherently high risk globally, but in well-regulated jurisdictions like Canadian provinces, this risk is somewhat lessened, making residual risk lower. Nonetheless, it’s imperative that organizations have up-to-date anti-fraud strategies, policies, and controls in place on top of a range of practical processes to detect and deter theft.
The risks facing this industry are too prevalent and evolving too rapidly to leave stopping them to chance. This means setting the right 'tone at the top', getting the board involved, developing risk teams, and ensuring everyone involved understands the organization’s risk appetite. To be successful, gaming organizations have to maintain a strong reputation, and remain socially responsible, compliant, and secure.
Lesley Luk (lluk@kpmg.ca) is a Senior Manager in KPMG’s audit practice and Angela Mitchell (angelamitchell@kpmg.ca) is a KPMG Partner in Risk Consulting.