Author: Andrew Fletcher

The Social Market Foundation (SMF), an influential UK thinktank, is set to release a report calling for a 40% Machine Games Duty on Category B gaming machines. The proposal would double the existing tax rate on Category B machines from 20% to 40%, targeting devices that include Fixed Odds Betting Terminals with a £2 maximum stake and £500 top prize. The SMF has previously influenced UK gambling tax policy, having helped convince the Government to hike online casino and sports betting taxes in the 2025 Budget alongside the Institute for Public Policy Research. The thinktank claims the proposed duty increase…

Denmark’s gambling market posted a deceptively stable performance in 2025, with its overall gross gaming revenue masking a sharp divergence between verticals. The online casino sector grew by more than 12% year-on-year, rising from 3.8bn DKK to 4.3bn DKK, making it a significant outlier in an otherwise contracting market. Lottery, sports betting, slot machines and land-based casinos all recorded falls, though the losses were broadly offset by online casino’s gains. The country’s total GGR came in at just under 11.5bn DKK, representing a decline of less than 1% compared to the previous year. Perhaps most notably, 2025 marked the first…

RedCore CHRO Oksana Izmailova has shared her predictions for the future of the global job market in a candid and wide-ranging interview with NEXT.io. The conversation, the second part of a longer interview series, covers RedCore’s competitive hiring strategy and what trends professionals should expect in the years ahead. Izmailova was asked why candidates consistently chose RedCore during periods when talent had the upper hand, and what has kept them there long term. “Because we never tried to compete on money alone,” she explained, noting that while RedCore offers a strong compensation package, salary alone would not explain its retention…

Stakelogic has been ordered to pay £122,835 following a Gambling Commission investigation into the speed of its online slot games available in Britain. UK-licensed companies are required to maintain a minimum gap of 2.5 seconds between spins on all online slot games offered to British players. The Commission first became aware of the issue when Stakelogic’s ‘Tiger Temple 88’ game was found to have a spin cycle of just 1.97 seconds, falling well short of the required standard. Regulators then undertook a broader investigation, re-testing Stakelogic’s entire games portfolio to determine whether the problem extended beyond a single title. That…

Affilka, the prominent iGaming affiliate software provider, has confirmed its attendance at iGB L!VE 2026, taking place at ExCeL London on July 1 and 2. The team will be stationed at Stand T54 throughout the event, ready to connect with operators, partners, and key industry figures across the two days. iGB L!VE remains one of the most significant gatherings in the global iGaming calendar, attracting thousands of professionals from across the affiliate and operator sectors. Affilka arrives at the event in strong form, currently supporting an impressive portfolio of over 460 live brands across its platform infrastructure. The system processes…

The UK Gambling Commission has launched a formal process inviting industry stakeholders to highlight rules they believe could be simplified without weakening consumer protections. Starting from 26 June 2026, the regulator is accepting evidence on which existing requirements could be streamlined or removed from its regulatory framework. The submission window runs through to 25 September, after which the Commission will consider all feedback received before issuing a formal response. Unlike standard Commission-led consultations, this process places the initiative firmly with respondents, who must suggest areas for improvement themselves. Any proposals submitted must be supported by evidence demonstrating the burden the…

Fanatics Sportsbook is set to suspend or permanently ban customers who direct abuse or threats at athletes, coaches, and officials across social media platforms. The crackdown will begin with the 2026 NFL season, marking a significant escalation in how sportsbooks respond to online harassment linked to betting. Fanatics will partner with integrity specialist IC360 and social media intelligence provider Signify Group to identify customers posting abusive or threatening content online. Individuals flagged as bad actors will be added to a shared database, allowing participating sportsbooks to suspend or restrict accounts accordingly. Fanatics Sportsbook has become the first legal sports betting…

New research funded by the statutory levy reveals that safer gambling tools are structurally ill-equipped to support those affected by someone else’s gambling behaviour. The Gambling Commission investigated the lived experiences of affected others by conducting in-depth interviews with 25 adults across Great Britain. All participants had experienced adverse effects from another person’s gambling within the previous 12 months, giving the study a grounded and immediate relevance. A central finding is that affected others tend to encounter safer gambling tools “almost exclusively at crisis point,” long after harms have already taken hold. Because safer gambling interventions require the person gambling…

The iGaming hiring landscape has undergone a dramatic transformation over the past five years, according to Oksana Izmailova, CHRO at RedCore. Izmailova recently shared her insights following the HR MeetUp by RedCore in Limassol, Cyprus, where she addressed key shifts in talent acquisition. Just five years ago, the market firmly belonged to candidates, with companies competing aggressively through counteroffers, bonuses, and increasingly generous perks to secure talent. Izmailova noted that RedCore would routinely add around 20% on top of the market median salary just to make offers competitive during that period. “It was very much a candidate-driven market,” she explained,…

Sumsub’s third annual iGaming Fraud Report has recorded a staggering 4.5x increase in suspicious transaction volumes between Q1 2025 and Q1 2026. The average value of those suspicious transactions has also risen sharply, climbing from $3,960 to $6,500 over the same period. The research draws on more than three million fraud attempts and points firmly to artificial intelligence as a key driver of the escalating problem. AI is enabling fraudsters to scale up schemes involving bonus abuse, opposite betting, bot creation, and multi-accounting at a pace not previously seen. Kris Galloway, iGaming product evangelist at Sumsub, described the situation in…