Author: Charles Shephardson

Multiple UK gambling charities have yet to receive any statutory levy funding, despite the new system launching on 1 April 2026. The prevention-focused charities transitioned to a new funding model that included a competitive application process for a £12 million pot. Nearly three months after that transition date, several organisations have not received a single penny of the promised money. Other charities only received their funding relatively recently, with continuing delays around technical aspects of finalised bids, including setting KPIs to assess the work. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities had stated the first tranche of funding would be…

TrafficStars, recognised as the world’s leading adult advertising network, has confirmed that betting is its second-largest advertising vertical by revenue and activity. The network is now sharing real-time performance data for the first time in its history, capitalising on the surge in online betting activity that accompanies the Football World Cup. This live data reveals the best-performing GEOs and ad formats for betting advertisers, giving operators actionable intelligence on what is actually delivering results right now. TrafficStars has packaged these insights into a concept called the Traffic World Cup, where the top-performing traffic GEOs compete against each other in parallel…

Sportsbook and iGaming solutions provider Digitain has appointed Dario Jurčić as its new chief commercial officer for Europe and Africa. Jurčić’s primary remit will be to accelerate growth across key regions on both continents as Digitain pushes further into regulated markets. He will also oversee Digitain’s expanding commercial operations within its current and soon-to-open European hubs. The structure is designed to support the company’s progress across key regulated markets, including the United Kingdom. Digitain secured a betting licence alongside sportsbook and platform certification in the UK back in February, marking a significant milestone for the business. Jurčić brings considerable industry…

Blask data reveals the US sweepstakes casino segment is fracturing at its peak demand levels, with no single brand able to dominate in any state. Indiana becomes the seventh US state to enforce an explicit legislative ban on sweepstakes casinos when new laws take effect on 1 July 2026. According to Blask, Indiana was one of eight states where sweepstakes brands accounted for more than half of all measured iGaming demand in May 2026. Across all 50 US states combined, sweepstakes casinos held a 23.5% share of iGaming demand, a significant footprint despite mounting legislative opposition. Market pioneer Chumba Casino…

Entain has published new research showing the vast majority of UK adults cannot tell the difference between legal and illegal betting promotions on social media. A YouGov survey commissioned by the Ladbrokes and Coral owner found that 74% of adults struggle to identify unlicensed betting promotions circulating online. The poll covered 2,017 adults in Great Britain, with fieldwork carried out between 12 and 18 May, coinciding with rising expectations around World Cup betting activity. Only 10% of respondents said they found it easy to recognise a licensed betting advert when scrolling through their social media feeds. Eight in 10 adults…

Malta’s remote gaming sector submits more suspicious transaction reports related to organised crime than any other industry operating in the country. The Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit, known as the FIAU, tracks money laundering activity across Malta and monitors suspicious reporting from multiple sectors. Between 2021 and 2024, a total of 540 suspicious reports relating to organised crime were submitted across all industries, with the remote gaming sector accounting for 31% of that figure. The data comes from a strategic analysis published by the FIAU under the title “The Landscape of Organised Crime in Malta: An FIAU Perspective.” The FIAU wrote:…

Andy Burnham has won the Makerfield by-election and now looks almost certain to become Britain’s seventh Prime Minister in a decade. The former Manchester mayor has a complicated history with the gambling sector, raising significant questions about what his leadership could mean for operators. Burnham’s previous comments about wanting to “relegate gambling sponsorship of sport to the history books” have caused concern among industry advocates watching his rise closely. He also appeared at the 2025 APPG on Gambling Harm, where he criticised adult gaming centres, signalling a harder line than many in the sector had hoped for. Regulatory analyst Dan…

The SOFTSWISS Tech Race Summit 2026 has confirmed a high-profile speaker lineup, with the event set to take place on 10 September 2026 in Warsaw. SOFTSWISS, a global technology provider for the iGaming industry, has assembled senior leaders from Amazon Web Services, Oracle, and Cloudflare for the occasion. The three companies rarely appear together at the same industry event, despite each playing a central role in building and scaling modern digital infrastructure globally. Confirmed keynote speakers include Georgios Chatzimilioudis, Principal Account Cloud Engineer at Oracle, and Viktor Vedmich, Senior Solutions Architect at AWS. Also taking the stage will be Sergey…

VNLOK, the Dutch gambling trade association, is preparing a formal complaint against Meta with the European Commission over illegal gambling advertisements on its platforms. The trade body, whose members include bet365, Unibet and LeoVegas, claims Meta has repeatedly failed to stop illegal gambling ads from targeting Dutch consumers on Facebook and Instagram. VNLOK argues that Meta’s ongoing inaction is undermining the integrity of the licensed gambling sector in the Netherlands, a position that appears to be shared by the Dutch regulator Kansspelautoriteit. “Meta’s measures fall short structurally, while vulnerable groups – including young people – are massively affected by illegal…

Kambi Group has signed a new multi-year agreement with BetWarrior, extending a partnership that has been in place since 2019 across Latin America. The deal will see Kambi continue supplying its proprietary Turnkey Sportsbook technology to BetWarrior across key jurisdictions throughout the region. The renewed agreement is part of Kambi’s broader strategy to accelerate its expansion across Latin America’s rapidly growing regulated betting markets. BetWarrior has established itself as one of the leading sports betting providers in Argentina, building a strong presence in the competitive local market over several years. The operator has also been pushing into new territories, with…