Author: Andrew Fletcher

FairPlay Sports Media, the company behind the Oddschecker odds comparison platform, has named Hannah Buitekant as its new Chief Growth Officer. Buitekant joins the c-level team with a brief to lead the execution of FPSM’s growth strategy across both its media partners and iGaming operators. She will take a central role in building out FPSM’s go-to-market engine as the company looks to expand into new markets and sports verticals. Her responsibilities will also include overseeing customer success, account management, and product sales capabilities across the business. Buitekant brings nearly two decades of experience in digital businesses, having focused on commercial…

Entain has publicly expressed its disappointment after reports emerged linking racing live feed supplier SIS to unlicensed bookmaker Santeda. The controversy stems from documents obtained through a data leak from the Curaçao gambling authority, which revealed a commercial agreement between SIS and Santeda dating back to 2022. The deal is understood to have potentially continued as recently as this year, raising significant questions about oversight within the racing data supply industry. SIS counts some of the biggest names in UK gambling among its shareholders, including Entain, which holds a 23.4% stake in the company. Other major shareholders include evoke with…

Brazil’s presidential race is heading to a runoff after Senator Flávio Bolsonaro outperformed pre-election surveys in a dramatic first-round result on Sunday. Neither Bolsonaro nor incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva crossed the 50% threshold required to win outright, forcing a second vote scheduled for October 25. Bolsonaro secured 47% of the first-round vote compared to Lula’s 45%, a margin that surprised pollsters who had forecast Lula leading by around three percentage points. The stronger-than-expected showing is expected to energise Bolsonaro’s campaign and may positively affect Brazil’s currency and stock market, which have already risen on the prospects of…

SIS, the racing live feed supplier majority-owned by some of the UK’s biggest licensed bookmakers, has sparked a significant rift with shareholders over a deal with a black-market operator. The supplier signed a B2B contract with Santeda, the parent company of MyStake, in 2022, and the arrangement may still have been active as recently as this year, according to leaked regulatory documents from Curaçao. Entain, which owns a 23.4% stake in SIS, was reportedly left surprised and disappointed by the revelation, given its public positioning against unlicensed operators. The news lands at a particularly uncomfortable moment, with major UK operators…

The Netherlands Gambling Authority, known as the KSA, has revoked a lottery licence that was fraudulently obtained using the identity of Dutch football club Quick Boys. An unknown party posed as the chairman of Quick Boys, a Katwijk-based football club, to deceive the KSA’s application process and secure a legitimate licence. Following the licence approval, several websites were launched under the guise of the club to sell lottery tickets to unsuspecting consumers. Sites flagged by the KSA included loterij.quickboys.nl, loterijenqb.com, besteloterijqb.com, nieuweqb.com, bestenl.com, topnetherlands.com, newloterij.com, and topsloterij.com. The regulator confirmed that Quick Boys had absolutely no connection to any of…

HMRC provisional data shows July’s remote gaming duty receipts jumped from £283 million to nearly £590 million, representing a year-on-year increase of more than 108%. The dramatic rise follows the autumn budget decision to increase remote gaming duty from 21% to 40%, a change that came into force from April 2026 alongside the abolition of bingo duty. General betting duty was also scheduled for an increase, rising from 15% to 25%, though that particular change will not take effect until 2027. Taking the full range of gambling duties into account, the 2026/2027 financial year to date, covering April through July,…

Groupe Partouche’s Casino du Lac Meyrin in Geneva has signed a strategic partnership with CreedRoomz, the live casino brand of the SoftConstruct group. The deal will bring CreedRoomz’s live dealer games to PASINO.ch, the casino’s fully licensed Swiss online platform. The agreement was formalised at SBC Summit Lisbon 2026, marking a significant moment for both companies in the European regulated gaming space. The first CreedRoomz tables are expected to go live on PASINO.ch in Q1 2027, subject to approval from the Swiss Federal Gaming Board, known as the ESBK/CFMJ. Swiss players will gain access to a range of live tables…

The SBC Awards 2026 ceremony crowned its winners at the MEO Arena in Lisbon on Thursday, 1 October, closing out the final day of SBC Summit. Now in its 13th edition, the prestigious event recognised excellence across 39 categories spanning operators, suppliers, and individuals from across the global betting and gaming industry. Dutch football legend Edgar Davids joined broadcaster Kirsty Gallacher to co-host the evening, bringing star quality to one of iGaming’s most celebrated annual nights. Kaizen Gaming was among the biggest stories of the night, retaining both Operator of the Year – Large and Sportsbook Operator of the Year…

SBC has signed a landmark long-term agreement confirming Lisbon as the permanent home of the SBC Summit through to 2030. The deal was formalised with three key partners: Turismo de Portugal, the Municipality of Lisbon, and Lisboa FCE, a non-profit managing the city’s major exhibition and congress venues. The agreement extends SBC’s commitment well beyond the previously confirmed 2027 edition, locking in dates and support for 2028, 2029, and 2030 as well. Lisboa FCE’s involvement is particularly significant, as it oversees the management of the venues central to staging an event of this scale and ambition. SBC Summit takes place…

Czech internet service providers have been given less than two weeks to comply with a prohibition order issued against US prediction markets giant Kalshi. The country’s Ministry of Finance announced on 30 September that Kalshi has been added to the official list of unauthorised gambling operators in the Czech Republic. Under Czech law, ISPs are required to block affected websites within 15 days of a prohibition order’s publication date. This means that users in the Czech Republic will lose conventional access to Kalshi on Thursday, 15 October 2026, once the deadline expires. The decision against Kalshi follows a similar prohibition…