alta-based Unibet constructed a Request for Proposal earlier this year and invited testing agencies to bid for its account by describing in detail the qualifications of professional staff, how such a project should be approached, the timeframe and at what cost.
Unibet stated that the objective of the proposal was to identify a ‘strategic partner’ that was able to fulfil its regulatory compliance needs with ‘high quality and cost-efficient servicing’. It declared that this would ensure that the requirements of the jurisdictions where its companies are licensed would be ‘properly identified, implemented and externally audited’.
“Unibet is an industry leader in terms of promoting responsible gambling and player protection and demonstrating the highest levels of regulatory compliance and, therefore, we are very pleased to be appointed the group’s regulatory audit partner,” said Andrew Beveridge, CEO for eCOGRA.
Among the requirements eCOGRA will now fulfil for Unibet is the ability to conduct audits in accordance with the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board’s Auditing Standards as well as according to the ISO/IEC 17025:2005 standard.
“We are confident that eCOGRA's extensive mix of professional ‘Big 4’ audit firm, information technology and industry experience will enable it to effectively assist us with the diverse spread of regulation and testing principles and methodologies being adopted throughout Europe,” said Ewout Keuleers, General Counsel for Unibet.
eCOGRA's involvement began in Denmark where it has performed compliance reviews for over one-quarter of the Scandinavian nation’s licensees following an assessment by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service to that saw its ISO/IEC 17025:2005 accreditation expanded to cover all five of the country’s certification categories. Unibet noted that its selection was based on eCOGRA’s ‘proven industry track record’ in addition to its ‘extensive competitive’ request for proposal benchmark l.
