Author: Andrew Fletcher

Council of Europe secretary general Alain Berset has written an open letter to FIFA president Gianni Infantino calling for urgent action on football integrity. Berset warned that football is entering a new era of governance challenges driven by the growing influence of money, power, and emerging technologies. The letter highlighted several specific risks that require a coordinated international response from football’s governing bodies and regulators alike. Among the threats Berset identified were prediction markets, the rapid expansion of sports betting, and the increasing use of artificial intelligence across the sport. “The next crisis has already begun,” Berset wrote. “It is…

SOFTSWISS, a global technology provider for the iGaming industry, has announced a media partnership with iGB and ICE to support its Tech Race Summit 2026 initiative. The partnership is designed to establish a dedicated forum where engineering and technology professionals can discuss the systems powering modern digital businesses across the iGaming sector. As iGaming platforms continue to evolve, operators increasingly face the same infrastructure challenges seen in other high-load industries around the world. These challenges span cloud infrastructure, distributed systems, cybersecurity, observability, and AI adoption, yet the industry has had few dedicated engineering forums to address them. The partnership between…

Cirsa has taken a majority stake in Sociedade Figueira Praia, the operator of Casino Figueira, marking the company’s first land-based acquisition in Portugal. The deal, for which financial terms were not disclosed, adds a physical property to a Portuguese business that had previously remained entirely digital. Casino Figueira is situated in Figueira da Foz, a coastal city located west of Coimbra, and holds a gambling licence dating back to 1948. The venue was originally known as Casino da Figueira when it first opened, and has since grown into a multi-faceted entertainment complex in the heart of the city. Beyond its…

The Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland has confirmed that prediction markets are emerging as a significant area of concern for the country’s regulatory framework. Prediction markets, which allow participants to speculate on the outcomes of real-world events, have grown rapidly in popularity across Europe and beyond. Ireland’s regulator has acknowledged that these platforms occupy a complex legal grey area, sitting somewhere between traditional gambling products and financial instruments. The GRAI’s position signals that Irish authorities are paying close attention to how these markets operate and whether existing legislation is sufficient to address them. Regulators across multiple jurisdictions have struggled to…

BetHog, the online crypto casino and sportsbook founded by the creators of FanDuel, is set to permanently close its doors on 31 July 2026. The platform’s parent company announced the shutdown on 20 July, giving players until the end of the month to withdraw any remaining funds. BetHog will cease operations having been live for less than two years, having launched in November 2024 under former FanDuel duo Nigel Eccles and Rob Jones. The closure makes way for the company’s full focus on Sentient Studios, its AI-powered live dealer business that has already attracted significant industry attention. Sentient Studios was…

Vyking, a modular iGaming platform provider, has announced the launch of a fully integrated crypto casino solution across its entire platform ecosystem. The new functionality is available across all three of Vyking’s solutions: Core (White Label), Edge (Turnkey), and Flex (Self-Service Framework), covering operators at every stage of growth. Operators can now activate crypto gaming with minimal friction, no additional platform migration, and without disrupting existing fiat-based operations already running on the system. At the centre of the new offering is K1ngPay, Vyking’s proprietary crypto payment solution, which gives operators full control over wallets and funds management. Players are able…

Entain has confirmed it will cut approximately 500 jobs as part of a broad efficiency initiative led by new chief financial officer Michael Snape. Snape took over as CFO in March following the departure of Rob Wood, and is now overseeing what the company describes as a significant organisational restructuring effort. The programme is focused on improving what Entain calls “operational efficiency and agility”, according to a statement provided to industry publication NEXT.io. Job cuts will span several corporate function areas, including people, finance, governance, product, and technology teams across the wider group. Entain has been keen to stress that…

Evolution reported a 1.2% year-on-year decline in second-quarter revenue, with weakness across Europe and Asia offsetting stronger performances in other regions. For the three months to 30 June, the supplier recorded net revenue of €517.8m, falling from €524.3m during the same period in 2025. Europe and Asia were the primary drag on overall performance, with revenue declining 4% and 8.9% year-on-year respectively across those two regions. Despite the annual decline, Europe posted a 3.5% quarter-on-quarter improvement in net revenue by players’ IP addresses, rising to €173.0m for the period. CEO Martin Carlesund described the European recovery as a significant milestone…

Entain has reversed its earlier position on job cuts, with Bloomberg reporting that the betting giant is preparing to shed 500 roles across the group. The planned redundancies represent roughly 2% of Entain’s total workforce, impacting staff in corporate functions as well as product and technology teams. Earlier this year, Entain Chief Executive Officer Stella David warned that UK tax increases would hit the company’s bottom line by as much as £200m, but insisted job cuts were not on the agenda. That assurance has now been walked back, with Bloomberg citing an internal email sent to Entain staff outlining the…

Betsson has reported record high revenue for the second quarter of 2026, even as the Swedish gambling giant saw its profitability take a significant hit in the first half of the year. The online betting and gaming group recorded total revenue of €595.5m for the January to June 2026 period, with €310.2m of that coming in the second quarter alone. Those figures represented growth of 5% from €597.3m in H1 2025 and 6% from €303.7m in Q2 2025 respectively, signalling continued momentum in top-line performance across the business. However, the revenue growth was not matched by earnings, with EBITDA falling…