Author: Andrew Fletcher

North Carolina lawmakers have agreed to raise the tax on interactive sports betting operators from 18% to 23% as part of a new state budget deal. The increase would apply to gross wagering revenue received after the measure officially becomes law, marking a significant shift in how the state approaches sports betting taxation. The proposed rate is notably lower than the 36% figure that lawmakers had pushed for last year, representing something of a compromise between the industry and state government. The conference report containing the tax increase still requires final votes in both the House and the Senate before…

The Betting and Gaming Council has warned that an upcoming increase in UK gambling licence fees will deepen the financial burden on regulated operators across the country. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport published its response to a consultation on proposed licence fee changes, which ran from January to March 2026. The government confirmed that the revised fee structure will take effect from 1 October 2026, raising the Gambling Commission’s overall licence fee income by 25%. However, the increase will not be applied uniformly across all licence types, with fees restructured into new bands for most operating licences. Personal…

Petfre (Gibraltar) Limited, the operator behind Betfred.com, has been ordered to pay £900,000 following a series of serious social responsibility failings identified by the UK Gambling Commission. The Commission launched its investigation after a compliance assessment flagged significant problems with the operator’s internal policies and procedures for protecting customers. Among the most prominent findings was that Petfre did not have sufficient processes in place to identify key indicators of gambling harm across its platform. The regulator also found that the operator failed to ensure immediate and automated action was taken when customers displayed signs of harm, leaving vulnerable users without…

Former Conservative MP Craig Williams has pleaded guilty to cheating by using inside information to place bets on the 2024 UK general election. Williams was among a group of individuals charged with cheating offences by the Gambling Commission back in April 2025, with sentencing set for a later date. He served as parliamentary private secretary to then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, giving him direct access to sensitive government information including potential election dates. Williams placed a £100 bet on 19 May 2024 that a general election would be held in July, three days before Sunak publicly announced the date. Under Section…

Speaking at an SMF Panel on machine games duty and social harms, Alex Ballinger, Labour MP for Halesowen, made a direct call for a new Gambling Act. Ballinger, who serves as co-chair of the APPG for Gambling Reform, said: “We would like to look in the medium term for a new Gambling Act to recognise the complete change that we’ve seen in the types of gambling, the new forms of online gambling and the like.” The MP appeared at the 30 June presentation to lend his support to the SMF’s new policy paper calling for a doubling of machine gaming…

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario has issued CA$120,000 in monetary penalties to Great Canadian Entertainment for serious software compliance failures. The regulator flagged 40 instances where revoked or unapproved bill validator software was installed across multiple Ontario casino sites between February and March 2025. Bill validators are standard components inside gaming machines that verify the authenticity and value of cash inserted into the terminal. These components also play a significant role in anti-money laundering controls embedded within gaming machines, making their integrity a regulatory priority. AGCO did not publicly disclose the specific locations where the unauthorised software had…

Entain’s Italian business could be the next asset on the chopping block following the operator’s recently announced sale of its CEE division, according to analysts at Rothschild & Co Redburn. The Ladbrokes and Coral operator recently confirmed a 20% initial sale of its CEE division, which includes its Polish STS and Croatian SuperSport brands, to local JV partner EMMA Capital for an initial £366m. The move follows significant Remote Gaming Duty and General Betting Duty hikes introduced in the November Budget, which reshaped the financial outlook for many UK-facing gaming operators. Analyst Andrew Tam at Rothschild & Co Redburn noted…

Edinburgh-based payments orchestration firm BR-DGE has secured £10m in fresh funding, with US gaming investor Bettor Capital joining the round as a new backer. The capital injection will support further development of BR-DGE’s platform, strengthen its go-to-market activity, and drive geographic expansion across new markets in H2 2026. Bettor Capital joins alongside BR-DGE’s existing investors, marking the US firm’s latest move into core gaming infrastructure. BR-DGE has grown its platform volumes 15-fold in less than two years, a trajectory the company expects to continue with monthly transactions topping 100 million by year end. The firm’s orchestration platform combines routing, tokenisation,…

Ian Bradley has been appointed co-CEO of FIRST.bet, joining forces with company founder Tom Light to lead the B2B sportsbook platform forward. Bradley stepped into the role earlier in June 2026 following his departure from DraftKings, where he served as senior vice president and managing director of the operator’s B2B segment. His tenure at DraftKings spanned more than six years, making him one of the longer-serving senior executives within the company’s B2B division. Before joining DraftKings, Bradley spent almost four years at SBTech, holding senior positions including chief strategy officer and chief product officer. Earlier in his career, he accumulated…

Fanatics, the US sports merchandising and betting giant, has entered the UAE market through a joint venture agreement with local licence holder Momentum Group. Momentum has dominated the UAE’s emerging gaming market since it was awarded a lottery licence back in 2024, giving it a significant head start over potential rivals. The move follows Fanatics’ broader regional expansion strategy, which earlier in 2026 saw the company announce plans to build a new office in Qatar to serve as its Middle East hub. Sheikh Jassim bin Mansour bin Jabor Al Thani, director of the government communications office in Qatar, welcomed that…