From chaos to control: How Penn Entertainment transformed gaming compliance with OneComply

Your business is growing, but your compliance team and budget aren’t.

In today’s fast-paced regulatory environment, the old way of managing licenses is no longer sustainable. Spreadsheets, manual reminders, and siloed information create risk and slow down the business.

In our recent webinar, Austin Luckie (Licensing & Compliance Expert at OneComply) sat down with Samantha Haggerty (Deputy Chief Compliance Officer at Penn Entertainment) to reveal how modern compliance teams are replacing sticky notes and spreadsheets with centralized, automated solutions.

The result? They now manage thousands of individual and entity licenses across multiple jurisdictions—completing applications 95% faster, eliminating missed deadlines, and securing sensitive data without slowing down operations.

Below, we’re sharing the 5 key strategies they use to replace manual chaos with intelligent automation.

The cost of “business as usual”

Before diving into solutions, let’s acknowledge the reality most compliance professionals face:

• Scattered information across multiple teams, email threads, and file systems
• Manual, repetitive work copying the same information into dozens of applications
• Constant compliance risks from missed renewals, outdated data, and tracking failures
• Version control nightmares when multiple departments collaborate on the same application

“At the law firm, we had so many different clients to keep track of, and within each client, we had personal applications, entity applications, deadlines to track,” explains Samantha. “We spent a lot of time on things that could have been better used.”

Sound familiar? You’re not alone—and there’s a better way.

The 5 pillars of modern compliance management

1. Centralization: Creating your single source of truth

The foundation of efficient compliance is eliminating data silos. When information lives in someone’s head, buried in email threads, or scattered across departmental spreadsheets, you’re one vacation or employee departure away from operational chaos.

The old way:

• “Where did we store that executive’s updated address?”
• Multiple versions of the same document floating around
• Months after someone leaves: “Do you know where those files are?”

The OneComply way:

• All applicant data stored in one secure, centralized platform
• Role-based access means HR, Legal, and Finance can collaborate simultaneously
• Real-time updates eliminate version control issues

“I remember months after I left the law firm, I would get questions about where paper documents were,” says Samantha. “It’s really helpful to be able to have multiple people collaborate on the same document, and not have a bunch of different versions flying around.”

The scale Penn Entertainment manages: Thousands of individual and entity licenses across online and brick-and-mortar properties in multiple states—all in one platform.

2. Automation: Input once, apply everywhere

Here’s a painful truth: Most gaming regulators ask for the same information. Work history. Addresses. Financial statements. Bank details. Yet compliance teams spend countless hours manually re-entering this data for every single jurisdiction, for every single applicant.

Austin shares his horror story: “I spent probably 6 hours filling out a multi-jurisdictional application for one of our executives, only to find out that the information I was using was no longer up to date.”

The result? Starting over from scratch.

The automation advantage:

• Input applicant information once into OneComply
• Automatically populate any application in the world
• Integrated HR systems trigger automatic profile creation for new hires
• Job codes automatically assign the correct licensing applications based on role and location

The OneComply way:

• All applicant data stored in one secure, centralized platform
• Role-based access means HR, Legal, and Finance can collaborate simultaneously
• Real-time updates eliminate version control issues

“It was just time doing the same thing over and over again,” Samantha recalls from her law firm days. With OneComply, that repetition is eliminated.

Beyond applications: Automation extends to renewal tracking, vendor license monitoring, and material change notifications—ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.

3. Security: Protecting your most sensitive data

Here’s the compliance paradox: You need to share sensitive personal information with regulators, counsel, and internal teams—but every time data moves, it becomes vulnerable.

Email attachments. File transfers. Physical mail. Each method introduces risk.

OneComply’s security approach:

• Instead of moving data, invite recipients into a secure environment
• SOC 2 Type 2 certified with annual penetration testing
• Granular, role-based permissions (HR sees addresses; Finance sees financials; nobody sees everything unless they need to)
• Direct submission to regulatory agencies eliminates email size limits and delivery failures

“They’re high-profile individuals, you want to make sure that all of their information is secure,” Samantha emphasizes about Penn’s executives. “There’s certain information that only the legal team can see, or the finance team can see, or HR.”

Real-world benefit: No more “file too large” errors at 11:59 PM on a deadline day

4. Ongoing compliance: The marathon after the license

Getting your license isn’t the finish line—it’s mile marker one of a marathon. The real challenge is maintaining compliance across:

Email attachments. File transfers. Physical mail. Each method introduces risk.

• License renewals (individual and entity)
• Vendor compliance tracking (ensuring partners don’t let licenses lapse)
• Material change notifications (address updates, legal issues, corporate changes)
• Reporting deadlines (annual reports, financial filings)

“Our licensing team is amazing,” says Samantha. “Tina Habel, our Director of Licensing, has literally never missed a deadline in her entire life. But having something to keep track and notify not just the person in charge but other people that can help support getting it done is really helpful.”

The vendor compliance trap: Operating with an unlicensed vendor can shut down your entire operation in that jurisdiction. OneComply’s vendor management system tracks partner licenses and alerts you before their licenses expire.

Material change automation: Change an address once in OneComply, and the system immediately flags that a material change notice is required and highlights what jurisdictions need to be notified on an applicant by applicant basis—eliminating the risk of accidental non-compliance.

5. Innovation: Preparing for the future of digital compliance

The compliance landscape is evolving. Some jurisdictions are embracing digital transformation while others still require 250 pounds of paper applications.

What needs to change:

• Digital signatures: Eliminating weeks-long overseas mail cycles for manual signatures
• eNotary services: Making remote notarization standard across all jurisdictions
• Digital submission portals: Moving beyond email and physical mail (shoutout to Louisiana for leading the way)

“One of the things I dealt with a lot was overseas individuals who had to manually initial every single page, then send it back, and this would take weeks,” Samantha explains. “And there was always a page they missed. You’d have to send it back out and do it again.”

The innovation paradox: As more jurisdictions come online and new gaming verticals emerge (sports betting, iGaming, sweepstakes), compliance workload isn’t decreasing—it’s accelerating.

Organizations using modern platforms can scale with these changes. Those relying on manual processes will struggle to keep up.

The bottom line: Working smarter, not harder

If your compliance team is still managing licenses with spreadsheets and sticky notes, you’re not just working inefficiently—you’re at risk. The gaming industry is expanding rapidly, jurisdictions are multiplying, and the compliance burden isn’t getting lighter.

Key Takeaways:

✅ Centralization eliminates data chaos and ensures everyone works from the same information
✅ Automation saves hundreds of hours by eliminating repetitive data entry
✅ Enhanced security protects sensitive data while enabling necessary collaboration
✅ Proactive tracking prevents costly mistakes like missed renewals and vendor lapses
✅ Digital-first platforms prepare you for the future of gaming compliance

Penn Entertainment manages thousands of licenses across multiple jurisdictions with less stress than most teams managing dozens. The difference? They’ve replaced manual processes with intelligent automation.

Questions about OneComply? Contact Austin Luckie directly at Austin.Luckie@geocomply.com or book a demo at OneComply.com.