Welcome to Cherry Picked, our newsletter with all the news, views and reviews from Cherryhub. In this first issue, we look at simplifying financial crime compliance, the easy and smart way to connect your members, and how to add real value to your loyalty program with instant rewards.

Clubs and pubs are under pressure to ensure their financial crime compliance programs are effective and auditable. The CEO of AUSTRAC has openly expressed his concerns about the money laundering risks associated with clubs and pubs, and since his appointment last year, the regulator has already taken enforcement action against non-compliant venues.

Cherry Hub, a platform that connects venues with innovative digital membership, loyalty and gamification solutions, has announced a collaboration with BNDRY, to build a financial crime compliance solution tailored to hospitality venues, clubs and hotels, that will also improve member and visitor experiences.

Cherryperks, the new mobile messaging platform from Cherryhub, is redefining how clubs and pubs connect with their members. With push notifications sent directly to a member’s digital wallet, it’s now easier than ever to deliver timely, personalised messages, without relying on emails, apps or SMS.

We are delighted to announce our partnership with Cherry Hub, which will bring innovative gamification and digital membership solutions to the sports organisations that we work with.

The Sports Technology Alliance is made up of market leaders in their respective fields. A collective of pioneering technology companies that are driven to design, deliver, and support innovative solutions that enable the growth of sport.

Hyper-casual games started as arcade games and are now accessible on mobile devices. Some people attribute the term “hyper” to these games’ absorbing and fast paced nature. “Casual” simply refers to the convenience of accessing these games via mobile devices. Hyper-casual games are easy to learn and require little focused attention.

We are here to bust the top 5 myths about gamification, once and for all, empowering you and your team to harness the power of gamification for your venue.

One thing the COVID-19 pandemic has done is accelerate trends. Changes in consumer and business behaviour that strolled along before the great upheaval of 2020 quickly shifted into high gear.

Yes, there was plenty of media hysteria about the fallout for James Packer. And social media overflowed with opinions. But more so this is a turning point for the industry as a whole.

Gone are the days when the best way to market a business was through traditional advertising and direct mail. Today's marketers have far more effective options, including gamification, and they're using them.

The issue we face isn’t about capturing any profit opportunity that’s possible right now, but actively doing what we know needs to be done to help ensure a financially sustainable future – and we need to ask, what can we do right now to achieve it?

Can the gaming industry self-regulate? Unfortunately, there are many in the general public who would probably say no.

Because right now it's facing a huge challenge: the risk of becoming unsustainable. It's a real threat. And in some ways, it's an existential one.