Geolocation and anti-fraud solutions provider GeoComply recently celebrated the grand opening of its new downtown Toronto office.
On Monday, GeoComply’s 50 employees, industry representatives and government officials were all on hand for the unveiling of the company’s second Toronto location, situated at 1 Richmond St. W.
Among the attendees were Doug Downey, Ontario’s Minster of the Attorney General and Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.
The spacious venue, which bears enough room for more than 100 employees, is nearly four times larger than GeoComply’s original Toronto location opened last year in Liberty Village.
Overall, the Richmond property represents GeoComply’s third Canadian business centre, joining other locations in Vancouver and Montréal.
Second Toronto office a reflection of Ontario market’s success
The move from Liberty Village to downtown Toronto stemmed from the simultaneous growth of both GeoComply and the Ontario online casino and sports betting market.
Needing to accommodate for higher volume, the company chose to remain in Toronto, and more specifically, Ontario. While the province’s recent iGaming revenue numbers certainly back that decision, so does its burgeoning technology sector.
According to Gaming News Canada, this was something Fedeli emphasized in his speech at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“Thank you for choosing Toronto, and for choosing Ontario,” said Fedeli. “We are No. 2 in North America with 414,000 workers. We produce 65,000 tech grads every year to make sure you have a steady supply of workers. We are also the No. 2 fintech and financial services core in North America.
“You’re keeping work within Ontario.”
Fedeli’s sentiment reflects iGaming Ontario Executive Director Martha Otton’s statement from a documentary about Ontario’s online gambling landscape from this past October. There, she talked about how producing a highly-skilled, homegrown workforce enhances Ontario’s appeal to operators beyond revenue share.
In the words of Downey, Otton’s leadership has been integral to Ontario’s growth and success.
“Martha has been a lynchpin in making us grow and getting us to where we are today,” said Downey. “The gaming market in Ontario is second to none. We have set the standard (and) have established an international reputation in such a short period of time.”
GeoComply hopes for growth across Canada
According to Lindsay Slader, SVP Compliance, GeoComply also hopes to see the Canadian online gambling market grow.
Of course, that would be conducive to more business for the company. But, it stands as another reason for players in other provinces to feel safe if and when online gambling becomes regulated.
The proof lies in one of North America’s most competitive gambling environments.
GeoComply held firm against fraudsters in first year of Ontario market
Since the regulated market launch in April 2022, aggregate data from GeoComply to its Ontario operators discovered:
- More than 744,000 users from around the world have attempted to log in 19.9 million times to Ontario operators.
- Over 54,000 users located within the United States tried to log in 305,000 times to Ontario operators.
- Globally, there have been upwards of 3.3 million location spoofing attempts to access Ontario operators.
Although the findings may be eye-opening to some, GeoComply says it is par for the course in the e-commerce world. Luckily, the company believes the gaming industry stands a better chance against fraud thanks to location-based requirements.
“The online gaming [sector] is no different, but we believe it is better equipped than other industries to fight fraud because of geolocation compliance requirements.”
