Author: Charles Shephardson

Albania has completed the core regulatory groundwork needed to relaunch online sports betting after a seven-year prohibition on the activity. President Edi Rama has made no secret that generating tax revenue is the overriding motivation behind the country’s decision to re-regulate the sector. Online sports betting was re-legalised in February 2024, though a substantial package of secondary legislation was still required before the market could become operational. That secondary legislation needed to address technical standards, licensing procedures, player identification, payment controls, and enforcement mechanisms across the board. The key regulatory milestone arrived in March 2026, when the Council of Ministers…

The Premier League 2026/27 season officially began on 21 August, when Arsenal hosted promoted side Coventry City, marking the most significant date in the UK fantasy sports calendar. Blask’s Fantasy Sports 2026 report tracked fantasy sports search demand across 100 countries and found that 76 of them experience their annual peak demand in August every single year. The quietest month for fantasy demand is June, which holds under 2% of the year’s total, while August runs close to ten times higher by comparison. The UK stands as the single largest fantasy market by volume, and the Blask report identifies one…

For years, iGaming affiliate marketing competed almost exclusively on numbers, with revenue share percentages, CPA rates, payment terms and hold periods defining every pitch. That landscape has shifted dramatically in 2026, as payout benchmarks have become largely standardised across most major GEOs worldwide. Tatiana Chaplia, CMO of 1win B2B, argues that brand strength and community are now the defining factors that separate leading affiliate programmes from the rest. Community building has become one of the key priorities for 1win Partners this year, strengthening trust and giving the team clearer insight into what affiliates actually need. For affiliates themselves, a genuine…

George Daskalakis, co-founder and CEO of Kaizen Gaming, is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire a minority stake in Championship club Bristol City. Daskalakis is understood to be making the investment alongside Sandford Loudon, a financier whose Oakvale Capital advisory firm has worked across the sports and gaming sectors. Kaizen Gaming owns Betano, which operates across 20 markets and counts 13 million customers globally, making it one of the biggest names in international sports betting. Betano served as Aston Villa’s front-of-shirt sponsor last season and has struck partnerships with Bayern Munich, Benfica, River Plate and Sparta Prague. The brand was…

Australia’s parliament has passed the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026, marking a significant shift in how wagering is advertised across the country. The bill passed both houses of parliament on 19 August 2026 after the Labor government reached a deal with the Coalition on additional amendments to secure the necessary support. The legislation now moves toward Royal Assent from the Governor-General, with the new regulatory framework expected to come into force on 1 January 2027. At its core, the bill substantially reduces wagering advertising across television, radio, and online platforms, while introducing new restrictions to protect vulnerable customers…

The Premier League’s front-of-shirt gambling sponsorship ban has officially taken effect from the 2026/27 season, marking a significant shift in how clubs present themselves commercially. Eight clubs were forced to replace betting sponsors used last campaign, reshaping the visual identity of some of English football’s most recognisable teams. The ban was first planned back in April 2023, with a YouGov survey at the time finding that 77% of people supported removing gambling brands from the front of Premier League shirts. However, critics and industry observers have pointed out that the ban is far from a comprehensive crackdown on gambling’s presence…

The debate around artificial intelligence in iGaming has converged on a single question: how closely can technology replicate real human interaction at a casino table. The logic behind that question is understandable, given that live casino built its success on real people, real studios, and genuine player interaction over many years. New market entrants see an opportunity to challenge the cost and complexity of the live model by using AI to deliver something similar but more efficiently. Many companies pursue variations of this strategy, investing in realism, motion capture, and increasingly lifelike avatars with one shared objective in mind. But…

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has filed lawsuits against sweepstakes casino operators Stake and VGW, along with several of their payment partners. The two complaints were filed on Wednesday, 19 August, in Hillsborough County Circuit Court, targeting the operators and five financial technology and payment companies. The state alleges illegal gambling and deceptive conduct under Florida gambling laws and the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. Uthmeier is seeking to halt the businesses’ Florida operations and recover gambling losses, restitution, disgorgement, costs, and civil penalties from all defendants. The suits carry penalties of up to $10,000 per wilful violation,…

Johan Svensson’s Raketech has continued its gradual financial recovery in Q2 2026, improving profitability even as revenues fell sharply year-on-year. The Swedish-listed affiliate company recorded quarterly revenue of €5.6m, down 17.6% from the €6.8m generated during the same period in 2025. When factoring in the now-divested Casumba assets, that revenue decline stretches to a far steeper 28% compared to Q2 2025. The longer-term picture is even more stark, with Raketech’s current revenue levels representing a dramatic fall from the €17m the company produced back in Q2 2024. Despite those headline revenue pressures, the company’s underlying profitability has continued its upward…

Almost half of all new online gambling accounts among Dutch consumers aged 18 to 24 were opened by 18-year-olds, according to fresh research from the Netherlands Gambling Authority (KSA). The findings form part of a broader package of three new research studies examining gambling habits among young people across the Netherlands. The KSA report analysed 15,761 newly opened online gambling accounts with recorded betting activity during May 2025, tracking player behaviour across the first three months. Of those accounts, 5,244 belonged to young adults aged 18 to 24, with 2,144 accounts, representing 41%, held by 18-year-olds specifically. Notably, 11% of…