Author: Andrew Fletcher

SBC Summit Tbilisi is set to return on 15-16 July at the Sheraton Grand Tbilisi Metechi Palace, organised in collaboration with SMH Global. The 2026 edition is targeting more than 2,500 attendees, building on the previous year’s event which attracted over 2,000 delegates from 44 countries. The summit is positioning itself as a major gathering point for the iGaming industry across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and surrounding regions. More than 70 speakers are scheduled to take the stage across the two days, covering topics including regulation, operations, technology, affiliate marketing, and cross-industry partnerships. Sports will feature prominently throughout the agenda,…

Italy is moving to review landmark football finance legislation that could reshape how betting revenues flow back into the domestic game. Bill No. 1902 proposes a 2% levy on football betting revenue generated from retail and online wagers placed on Italian football leagues governed by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC). The bill has been assigned to the Senate’s Culture Committee for examination, alongside consultations involving the Finance, Budget, Justice and several other parliamentary committees. Fratelli d’Italia has called on parties across the Italian political spectrum to support the bill and enact its measures by 1 January 2027, with oversight shared…

Midnite has added Southampton FC to its growing list of Sky Bet EFL Championship sponsorships, securing a deal to become the club’s official training kit partner. The London-based operator first teamed up with The Saints during the previous campaign, building a foundation for a longer-term commercial relationship at the club. During that initial partnership, Midnite funded luxury away travel through the Midnite Express initiative, giving supporters a premium matchday experience on the road. The operator also commissioned a commemorative tifo marking the 50-year anniversary of Southampton’s FA Cup success, demonstrating a commitment to connecting with the club’s history. Fans were…

Australia’s financial intelligence regulator AUSTRAC has entered into a binding agreement with bet365, forcing the operator to significantly strengthen its internal anti-money laundering controls. The enforceable undertaking follows an independent audit of bet365’s Australian operations, which concluded that substantial remedial action was necessary to achieve adequate regulatory compliance. AUSTRAC said it discovered “serious gaps” in how the Stoke-based business manages risk and reports suspicious activity across its Australian customer base. The system overhaul requires bet365 to implement an ongoing risk assessment approach “underpinned by clear methodology and processes”, alongside stronger suspicious transaction monitoring as risks continue to evolve. AUSTRAC Chief…

Superbet has announced a landmark sponsorship deal with Greek basketball club Olympiacos BC, with the partnership running until 2032. The agreement marks a significant milestone for Superbet in Greece, which became the operator’s fifth European market when it launched there in March 2026. Superbet entered Greece with both sportsbook and online casino products, establishing a presence ahead of securing this high-profile sports partnership. Olympiacos BC arrives as a partner fresh off one of its most successful seasons in recent memory, having claimed both the EuroLeague and Greek Basket League titles. John Kalamvokis, General Manager for Superbet in Greece, highlighted the…

EveryMatrix has agreed a major omnichannel partnership with Betcenter Belgium, taking over the operator’s sports betting platform from an in-house legacy system. The deal will see EveryMatrix migrate Betcenter’s customer activities and operations onto its full technology stack, covering both retail and online sportsbook delivery. Betcenter is owned by the Merkur Group and holds significant market share in the Belgian sports betting industry, operating across both digital and physical channels. The operator runs more than 50 retail betting shops across Belgium, supported by 600 full Self Service Betting Terminals and 300 SSBT-light units. EveryMatrix will also provide an improved front-end…

Basketball legend Michael Jordan will join two of the sports betting industry’s most influential figures at SBC Summit 2026 in Lisbon this autumn. The event is scheduled to run from 29 September to 1 October, drawing an expected 40,000 attendees from across the global gaming industry. Carsten Koerl, the CEO and Founder of Sportradar, and Jason Robins, Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of DraftKings, will both appear alongside Jordan in the opening keynote session. The trio represent a remarkable convergence of sports icon status and iGaming industry power at one of the sector’s most high-profile annual gatherings. Jason Robins has previously…

Tim Miller, the UK Gambling Commission’s executive director of research and policy, has delivered a stark warning to the industry ahead of his exit from the regulator this autumn. Speaking with NEXT.io at iGB Live, Miller addressed the presence of companies at the Excel London event that he believes have ties to the black market. “There are absolutely names that I see on the show floor here today that I would have some concerns about,” Miller said during the conversation. He challenged the common assumption that the licensed and illegal markets operate as two entirely separate worlds, describing the distinction…

Withdrawal requests in iGaming do not arrive in predictable patterns, coming continuously in varying amounts from different regions and through multiple payout methods. Each request still follows the same operational path of review, approval, and routing, which works fine at low volumes but begins to struggle as volume grows. During busy sports weekends or major tournaments, withdrawal volumes can spike sharply across multiple markets within a matter of hours. Approval queues that normally move quickly start to stack up, and what used to take minutes can stretch into hours for players waiting on their funds. Finance teams can end up…

Nebraska’s Tax Relief Nebraska campaign has submitted more than 350,000 signatures to state election officials in support of two online sports wagering measures. The petitions now enter a county-by-county validity review, representing the final procedural hurdle before a potential November vote. One measure asks voters to amend the state constitution, while the other establishes rules for a mobile market tied to licensed racetrack casinos. The campaign filed both petitions ahead of the 2 July deadline, with the constitutional proposal requiring roughly 126,000 valid signatures and its statutory companion needing roughly 88,000. Both measures must also satisfy a geographic test, requiring…