Author: Charles Shephardson

Brazil’s top football clubs are bracing for a financial crisis as more than R$1.5bn in betting-related sponsorships and advertising revenue disappears. According to Brazilian consultancy Convocados, which specialises in football management and finance, Série A clubs received around R$1.03bn ($201m) in betting sponsorships during 2025. Teams in the top-flight league also received 1 billion reais ($192 million) in direct advertising revenue from online betting companies last year, a 67% increase from the previous year. That figure represents nearly 10% of clubs’ total recurring revenue, and further losses are expected across stadium advertising and broadcast rights fees also financed by betting…

Affilka has published its comprehensive H1 2026 performance report, revealing a period of exceptional financial and technological growth across its affiliate marketing platform. The platform processed over 2.17 billion unique visits in the first six months of 2026, representing a 48.64% year-over-year increase in traffic volume. This extraordinary traffic milestone pushed Affilka’s all-time historical visit count past the 11.3 billion mark, underlining the scale of its global infrastructure. Market adoption of the software accelerated sharply during the period, with the platform’s active client roster growing to more than 480 brands, up from 400 in H1 2025. Affilka facilitated 26.4 million…

Brazil has seen dramatic market shifts just four days after its sweeping betting ban took effect, with offshore operators rapidly absorbing demand abandoned by licensed platforms. Brazil ranks as the number one iGaming market by user demand across all 142 countries that Blask currently tracks, making the impact of any regulatory shift enormous. Since the regulated market officially launched in January 2025, onshore brands had consistently commanded more than 96% of total user interest measured by the Blask Index. Between the market launch on 1 January 2025 and 24 September 2026, offshore brands averaged just 3.9% of Brazil’s iGaming demand,…

Genting Casinos has confirmed the closure of its Coventry venue following the conclusion of a staff consultation process at the site. The company cited mounting commercial pressures as the primary reason it had no option but to make the difficult decision to shut the casino. The closure comes amid growing concern across the land-based gambling sector over proposed hikes to Machine Games Duty that could reach as high as 40%. Industry modelling suggests such a tax increase would render large swathes of the land-based and retail casino sector commercially unviable across the United Kingdom. Genting Casinos UK chief executive Paul…

Gentoo Media has lowered its full-year 2026 financial guidance after Brazil moved to ban fixed-odds betting, a decision that takes immediate effect. The company now expects full-year revenue of approximately €92m, a notable reduction from its previous guidance range of €97m to €100m. EBITDA before special items is now forecast at around €40m, down from the earlier projection of between €44m and €47m. Operating cash flow has also been revised downward to approximately €30m, compared with previous estimates ranging from €32m to €36m. The downgrade arrives as Gentoo Media prepares to repay bonds worth approximately €91.5m that are due to…

Every week an operator spends waiting on an integration is a week of lost revenue that competitors are more than happy to absorb. Whether it is a new game attracting players or a payment method that processes transactions more smoothly, delays carry a real commercial cost. Personalisation features that enhance customer experience and AI-powered products that create new revenue streams also suffer when integration timelines drag on unnecessarily. In an industry built on speed and convenience, a slow time to market translates directly into missed opportunities that are often impossible to recover. Even a slight delay in bringing a product…

Brazil’s two leading betting trade associations have filed a direct legal challenge at the Supreme Court against the government’s recently enacted betting ban. The National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL) and the Brazilian Institute for Responsible Gaming (IBJR) submitted their challenge, designated ADI 8027, on 28 September 2026. The action targets President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s Provisional Measure 1.394/2026, which effectively shut down Brazil’s licensed betting market last week. The filing also asks the court to confirm that two foundational laws underpinning the regulated market, Law 13.756/2018 and Law 14.790/2023, remain constitutional. “We have, let’s say, the first…

Bombay Group has permanently shut its Bombay Club casino in Tallinn’s Old Town, ending the high-roller venue’s short-lived run after only two years. The closure marks a significant retreat for the group, which had pivoted away from online gambling to pursue a premium land-based casino operation. The Bombay Club project represented a substantial investment, with more than five years of renovation work carried out on the 5,000-square-metre site. The venue was located adjacent to Tallinn’s Town Hall Square, occupying a grand space that was intended to attract high-end players from across Europe. Alongside the casino itself, the Michelin-recognised restaurant Shang…

After a year of deliberate, focused work behind the scenes, 4C Games is now ready to bring its catalogue of titles to operators across the iGaming industry. The studio describes the past year as anything but quiet internally, with significant resources poured into building out its infrastructure and game library. 4C Games operates as a B2B games studio, supplying its own original titles to sportsbooks, casinos, and aggregators looking for fresh content. The company has developed games across several key verticals, including sports prediction, crash, arcade, and slots formats. Alongside its games, 4C Games has also constructed its own proprietary…

Entain has soft launched BlackRush Casino, a brand new offering built specifically for New Zealand’s upcoming regulated online gambling market. The site went live ahead of 1 May, timed to coincide with New Zealand’s new online casino legislation coming into effect in the country. BlackRush appears to operate on a separate platform from Entain’s global infrastructure, shared with another New Zealand-facing brand called FoxySpins. FoxySpins looks to be a New Zealand adaptation of Entain’s existing FoxyBingo brand, indicating the operator is tailoring its portfolio for the local market. Both new casino brands will sit alongside Entain’s existing New Zealand sports…