For the poker players in Pennsylvania and New Jersey who happen to be owners of the new Mac desktop computers, it has been a nightmare logging in to the PokerStars gaming platform. Actually, all of them have been locked out and they have to deal with a location based apology, “Sorry, we have been unable to confirm your current location.”
For many poker fans registered on this platform, the level of frustration rises with every failed login attempt. Although the company is running into losses for lost business, PokerStars is not to blame; it is all GeoComply’s fault.
Have you ever wondered how a website flags you off and blocks you from accessing certain sites based on your location? The application behind this digital doorman function is GeoComply. This virtual bouncer is tasked with restricting access for users accessing a website from outside a certain jurisdiction. While the function runs on the website, the latest challenge is navigating the new Macs that have been fitted with an M1 chip.
It appears that the problem is in the Program since the affected machines have been in circulation for close to a year. Among the affected computers is MacBook Air, the 13-inch MacBook Pro, 24-inch iMac, the latest iPad Pro version and Mac mini. The same challenge has been reported by players registered on the Fox Bet platform in Colorado; no issues so far for Michigan.
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How about fixing the problem?
Commenting about the current software issues with geolocation, the development team at Geocomply confirmed that they were already working on fixing the compatibility glitch. It would however take months before all internet enabled devices worked as expected. GeoComply is responsible for ensuring that online poker and gambling sites meet geolocation compliance and all related operators trading in New Jersey and Pennsylvania depend on their technology.
A representative from GeoComply has revealed that a new M1 chip used in latest Apple versions is the cause of the issue. The chip which has been designed by Apple’s in-house developers is used in place of the Intel processors that have been used by the company since 2006. According to the CEO and founder of the company, Anna Sainsbury, WSOP.com, Borgata and BetMGM have not been caught up in the compatibility issue even though they use the GeoComply software.
The developers at GeoComply are certain that the login error did not come about as a result of a program update from PokerStars. Their technicians are advising users to use Time Machine Backup from Apple to reset their machines to a date before they first experienced the error.
Confining the gambling experience
GeoComply software is supposed to protect gamblers as well as betting providers in the industry. This notwithstanding, the compliance software is quite invasive to the point where players are sometimes tracked down to their exact location and status. In the state of Pennsylvania for example, the gambling law prohibits use of gambling apps while inside a brick-and-mortar casino; GeoComply is used to enforce this law.
If you want to test the effectiveness of GeoComply, walk up and into a physical casino establishment with an open poker app running on your phone. The New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) is one of the many state departments that use GeoComply to precisely pinpoint the location of players using the various gambling platforms around the state.
At a meeting where Sainsbury was selling her product to Pennsylvania, she used the success she had gained in New Jersey as evidence that the GeoComply is an important component of the gambling industry. In a shared analytics tool, the CEO of GeoComply pointed at the application’s ability to pinpoint people to their exact location.
On the map of New Jersey for instance, the tool differentiates between Android, PCs, Mac and iOS users using colored dots. Some people use proxies, VPNs, or other applications to mask their exact location and that too can be picked up by Sainsbury’s geolocation application.
At the border of Philadelphia and New Jersey, the application revealed that Android users preferred the NJ side. That is not it; the truth is that GeoComply was launched in New Jersey and deliberately kept off the Philadelphia side. Other than regional borders, GeoComply is also handy when it comes to blocking gambling sites within certain buildings and even specific areas within a particular building.
Some players have reported being able to access gambling sites in certain buildings, outside on the street and just when they cross a certain path or area, the system locks them out. Did you know that GeoComply is able to spy on your computer or phone environment? If you intend to play poker from a desktop or mobile phone, one of the conditions you must agree to is allowing GeoComply to access the contents of your device.
From the data that is found inside a communications or networking device, GeoComply is able to tell if the provided location is true or false. Some of the data used to deduce this include; the type of device, distance from nearest border, and how often they cross geographical borders. To be more specific, Sainsbury admits that their application can collect data from all running processes in efforts to override VPNs.
Final Thoughts
Assuming that I desperately need to hide my location, the best way is to retitle the location masking software so that it appears like a harmless component of your online activity log. Even so, GeoComply would still spot it. The application has in the past run into some operational problems particularly in 2020. The system encountered an outage which spelt doom for thousands of poker players in PA and NJ. The management team at GeoComply referred to the outage as “unexpected network communications error”. It took about an hour to resolve and during that time caused anxiety in online poker players who had chips in their hands and in the middle of a game.
