Anastasia Semenkova: “Many regulations are working to stimulate the industry”

Casino Guru News was able to catch up with Anastasia Semenkova, CEO at Payop, at the recently concluded SiGMA Central Europe.

Semenkova shared her insights on regulatory changes, affordability checks, and how these measures help protect players in the iGaming industry, as well as Payop’s cooperation with operators.

We also discussed the introduction of Verification of Payee, a new rule that has recently started applying across Europe. This has come with a particular challenge – failure of bank transfers, which was gradually smoothed out over the past months, Semenkova noted.

Semenkova spoke about regulation, arguing that regulatory frameworks are absolute, by which she meant that companies such as Payop can follow but also leverage strategic advantage to move in quickly with changes, alleviating wider industry-wide friction by coming up with ready-made solutions for shifts in regulatory standards as they happen.

She spoke specifically about the UK affordability checks, which she argued was an interesting case study, and offered a very interesting insight into player behavior when consumers are faced with source of funds requests.

A significant number, argued Semenkova, would simply change the casino as they are unwilling to provide such information. Semenkova was generally happy with the idea of affordability checks, as it allow players to take a step back and make more rational financial decisions.

However, Semenkova also acknowledged that, should a person be persistent enough, they will always find a way to continue playing while avoiding these affordability checks at least for the time being.

Essentially, the concept of affordability checks is sound, but these safeguards are not a sure-fire way to stop players who intend to continue playing, whether by jumping platforms or finding another way.

From Payop’s work with operators to the significance of industry events, the Casino Guru News video interview with Semenkova is well worth watching in its entirety.

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