3 predictions for the geolocation compliance market in 2025

In 2024, gaming became Radar's fastest growing vertical. We now have over 50 enterprise gaming customers spanning online sportsbook, online casino, iLottery, DFS, sweepstakes, and more.

2025 will be a major turning point in the geolocation compliance market, as several of the largest US gaming operators switch from legacy geolocation compliance vendors to Radar.

With that in mind, here are 3 big predictions for the geolocation compliance market in 2025.

Prediction 1: Legacy vendors will offer MTU-based pricing instead of per ping pricing

Legacy geolocation compliance vendors have traditionally charged per location check (a.k.a. "per ping" pricing).

On the other hand, Radar has always charged per monthly tracker user, or "MTU" (a.k.a. "per user" pricing or "MTU-based" pricing). With MTU-based pricing, operators can ping as often as needed for a given player or device in a given calendar month at no additional cost.

When we brought our unique pricing model to the gaming space, some were skeptical. However, MTU-based pricing is more aligned with value than per ping pricing:

• MTU-based pricing allows operators to collect more geolocation data, enable new use cases, and improve the player experience. With legacy geolocation compliance vendors, operators minimize the number of pings to reduce costs. With Radar, operators can ping not only at session start and regular intervals, but optionally on every key transaction, like wagers, deposits, or withdrawals, for a higher-resolution view of player activity. They can also ping more frequently than required, and and almost always have a "cached" geolocation token available with zero latency. Finally, they can enable new use cases, like location-based messaging or bonuses, at no additional cost.
• MTU-based pricing allows operators to more easily forecast and control costs. It's generally easier for operators to forecast monthly active players than to forecast monthly location checks, especially given varying and evolving geolocation compliance requirements from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
• MTU-based pricing allows operators to worry less about changing geolocation requirements. Geolocation compliance requirements vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. For example, some state jurisdictions require operators to ping every 20 minutes, or every 5 minutes if a player is within a mile of the border, while some smaller jurisdictions such as tribal lands or on-property use cases can necessitate checks as often as every 20-30 seconds. If a jurisdiction changes its geolocation requirements, requiring operators to ping more frequently, Radar pricing won't change.
• MTU-based pricing allows operators to save 6, 7, or even 8 figures per year. At the end of the day, with Radar's pricing model, operators can cut their geolocation compliance costs by between 50-90%. For large operators, this can mean 6, 7, or even 8 figures of cost savings per year.

In 2025, we expect that legacy vendors will begin to offer Radar's MTU-based pricing as more and more large operators demand it.

Prediction 2: Large operators will adopt multiple geolocation vendors

Large operators often use multiple vendors for other critical services like KYC or payments, either for redundancy or cost savings.

Historically this hasn't been possible with geolocation compliance providers, partially because of restrictive covenants in contracts and partially because of the lack of compelling alternatives. But this is changing.

In 2025, we expect that large iGaming operators will adopt multiple geolocation vendors. Several models are likely:

• Split by jurisdiction: Operators might use one geolocation compliance provider in some jurisdictions and another geolocation compliance provider in others.
• Split by percentage of traffic: Operators might send the majority of traffic to a primary geolocation compliance provider and the rest to a secondary geolocation compliance provider, adjusting the percentages as desired or "failing over" to the secondary provider in the event of an outage.
• Waterfall: Operators might perform a geolocation check with a primary provider and get a "second opinion" from a secondary provider if the primary provider fails or flags the transaction as high risk.
• Split by use case: Operators might use one geolocation compliance provider for some use cases (e.g., sportsbook, casino) and another geolocation provider for other use cases (e.g., DFS, iLottery, free-to-play).

Prediction 3: New geofence and report types will help operators combat fraud and improve the player experience

Legacy geolocation compliance solutions have limited geofencing and reporting capabilities.

Geofences are typically limited to jurisdictions or excluded areas, the ability for operators to draw and save custom geofences is limited, and geofencing other types of venues (like stadiums or casinos) is often difficult or not supported.

Similarly, reports are typically limited to out-of-the-box reports, and the ability to self-serve their own custom reports is limited or not possible.

In 2025, Radar's unique geofencing and reporting capabilities will shift operator and regulator expectations, providing new insights, new ways to combat fraud, and new ways to improve the player experience.

In addition to out-of-the-box geofences for jurisdictions and excluded areas, Radar makes it easy to draw and save custom geofences, or enable "non-traditional" out-of-the-box geofences for venues like stadiums, casinos, airports, schools, and prisons. These "non-traditional" geofence types will unlock new types of player experiences (e.g., in-stadium app experiences, location-based promotions, on-property messaging) and offer new ways to segment and analyze geolocation data in real time.

Radar also supports standard geolocation compliance reports (multiple users per device, bonus hunters, etc.), self-serve custom reports, and new report types based on "non-traditional" geofence types (e.g., a "frontrunning" or "courtsiding" report based on location checks at stadiums, and a "suspicious activity" report based on activity at venues like prisons or schools).

In the media

Our CEO Nick Patrick shared these and other predictions on the NEXT.io podcast and the Eilers & Krejcik Zero Latency podcast.

Nick also spoke to iGaming Business  about Radar's next-gen geolocation solution for gaming, and how Radar supports geolocation use cases beyond compliance.

Make the switch

Over 50 customers have adopted Radar’s Geo-Compliance Solution, with many making the switch from legacy incumbents. We hope you'll join the growing list of operators and suppliers choosing Radar for fraud detection and geolocation compliance.

Contact our sales team to book a demo. Or, visit us at ICE Barcelona in January (stand 5D41) or SBC Summit Rio in February (booth B10).