It’s time to stop stalling and address data integrity

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The European Parliament’s resolution on the integrity of online gambling called on member states to make harm reduction and fraud prevention top priorities. The resolution concluded that online gambling “combines several risk factors” that make protecting players especially important, and called for thorough investigation. I couldn’t agree more. Responsible gaming is an immensely consequential issue. There’s only one problem: that EU resolution is dated Tuesday, 10 March 2009.

Thirteen years of stagnation leads to frustration. In that time, millions of people have been harmed. In the United Kingdom alone, it’s estimated that more than five million people have experienced harm related to problematic online gambling.

Much of this harm, research shows, can be prevented through technological intervention and regulation that protects players from themselves and prevents fraud. It’s quite amazing how player data can be analysed to identity problematic behaviour before it escalates, preventing harm and promoting a healthier industry. Governments and gaming organisations have been working together to investigate these data-driven regulation strategies, and for far longer than a decade. We’re heard tales of countless committees, review boards, regulatory departments, slap-on-the-wrist fines, and more investigations than a police department.

Now, I don’t want to sound cynical, but you’ll notice frustration in my tone. Because the tools and technologies to solve these challenges are already available. Regulators just need to agree to their use. And we may hear misinformed concerns about the cost of implementing new technologies, but we shouldn’t forget that the cost of inaction is measured in human suffering – addiction, depression, economic strife, and suicide.

At the heart of this prevarication is a data challenge that’s rampant across industries. For years, we have believed that data would save the world. If we could just stall a bit longer, collect a bit more data, we would have models that enable near perfect decision-making. Unfortunately, if unsurprisingly, that hasn’t happened. Every week we read about another company investing in the latest AI-powered analytics tool, acquiring a hot new start-up with “data” in its name, or announcing how successful its data management and governance framework has been. How is it then that most decision-makers report that they are likely to disregard a data-driven insight that conflicts with their own intuitions? We’ve invested billions in data and analytics, but in the end the boss still goes with their hunch. The reason is not a lack of data, it’s a lack of data integrity. If we don’t have complete confidence in the data we rely on, it’s effectively worthless.

Simply put, data integrity is the reliability and trustworthiness of data throughout its lifecycle. It is a measurement of our confidence that data hasn’t been changed, corrupted, abused or manipulated. Even perfectly valid and verified data can’t be trusted if it isn’t managed, stored and shared using systems that prioritise trustfulness and immutability.

Data integrity challenges explain the stagnation in online gambling industry regulations. For one example, regulators want gaming operators to prove their compliance with standards for how, when and how much they communicate with players about potential markers of harm. How could an operator do that? A promise surely wouldn’t suffice. The operator could keep a log of those communications, but that’s open for manipulation. It could use a third-party to store evidence of that communication, but that too holds potential for bribery, abuse or fraud. The answer is to store the evidenced records of that communication on an immutable ledger. Externally auditable, decentralised and trustworthy, an immutable ledger can create true data integrity.

The only way to trust data is to use systems that don’t require you to. This is not just true for online gambling. It also rings true across industries.

Data is a tool for better decision-making. However, until we address data integrity in a real and sweeping way, data collection and analysis are a waste of time and resources. Unless, of course, the goal itself is this pantomime of progress we see play out in headlines and interviews.

Given my criticism is of rampant inaction, I’d like to be as action-oriented as possible. When it comes to data integrity, I believe there are several ways for business leaders to identify the issue in their own organisations and to take steps towards overcoming it. First and foremost is accepting that data integrity is a fundamental challenge.

Decision-makers must turn a critical eye towards their own organisations. Ask how important data is for your decision-making. How often do you find the data “coincidentally” matching your gut instinct (a potential sign of confirmation bias)? How often are you ignoring data you think is questionable and setting a course based on your own personal beliefs? Difficult questions to answer honestly, but those answers will certainly be revealing. Studies show that business leaders having full confidence in their data insights is exceedingly rare. So there’s no shame in recognising a truth that also plagues most, if not all, of your peers.

It may appear that the solution is working to identify and correct existing errors in your data. But with the acceleration of its collection and its increasing complexity, that has become a near-Herculean task. Instead, you have to integrate systems for managing data that remove the chance for manipulation or corruption at a foundational level. To avoid the risk of exposing my bias, I won’t speak to the work we’re doing at nChain to solve these exact challenges, the products we have in the market right now, or the successes we’ve had. Instead, I would encourage you to reach out to multiple firms that prioritise data integrity and see whether they, like too many firms, are also stalling with promises of what will one day be possible.

My last piece of advice is to avoid a trap. Don’t let “investigating” immutable ledger technology be the way your business stalls. Invest in running a pilot programme instead. Don’t expect your work to replace industry regulations overnight, but do understand that they will run in parallel to existing systems until proven by undeniable results.

For the online gaming industry, as for so many others, until your decisions are founded on data you can truly trust, the only valid decision is to stop stalling and invest in data integrity.

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Originally published on Business Reporter