Author: Charles Shephardson

PopOK Gaming has launched its latest title, Bon Bon PRAG, adding another entry to its growing PRAG lineup of casino slots. The new game brings a colorful candy-themed experience to players, combining playful visuals with dynamic mechanics and strong win potential throughout. Bon Bon PRAG is built on a vibrant 6×6 grid filled with colorful candy symbols, creating an immediately engaging visual identity that sets it apart from standard slot releases. The grid format gives the game a distinctive structure, allowing for a wide range of symbol combinations and opening up more opportunities for players to land winning clusters. One…

Kevin Hart, the world-famous actor and comedian, has signed an exclusive partnership with leading iGaming supplier Pragmatic Play to host live casino games. The collaboration will see Hart take to the live casino studio on 6 and 7 November across four distinctive sessions for players worldwide. Pragmatic Play has confirmed that the specific tables Hart will host are set to be revealed on each individual day of the partnership. The supplier described the Jumanji star as someone who “will bring his unmistakeable, high-octane humour to players across four distinctive sessions.” Pragmatic Play chief operating officer Irina Cornides expressed her excitement…

SBC Summit’s dedicated Western Europe track will bring together operators, regulators, and industry leaders to confront the mounting pressures reshaping Europe’s most mature gambling markets. The track is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, 30 September, hosted on the Global and Emerging Markets Stage during the three-day event. Discussions across the programme will span developments in key markets including the Netherlands, the UK, Italy, Scandinavia, and Portugal. The growing influence of prediction markets and technology’s role in protecting long-term commercial revenue will also feature prominently throughout the sessions. Rasmus Sojmark, CEO and Founder of SBC, addressed the rationale behind the…

Brazil was widely regarded as the iGaming industry’s greatest untapped opportunity when its Betting Law came into force in January 2025. The country offered a deeply rooted sporting culture, an enormous population of potential bettors, and for the first time, a clear and workable regulatory framework. A year and a half on, the picture has grown considerably more complicated, with mounting political pressure casting doubt over the market’s long-term trajectory. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has made remarks about eliminating the betting sector entirely, sending a chill through operators who had staked significant investment on Brazil’s regulated future. Growing…

The Netherlands Gambling Authority, known as the KSA, has announced it will take action against casinos shown to have ineffective Cruks self-exclusion monitoring. The announcement follows an undercover investigation conducted by Dutch broadcaster PowNed, which exposed serious failings at multiple gambling venues across the country. Cruks is the Netherlands’ official self-exclusion register, designed to prevent problem gamblers from accessing casinos and gaming halls. The investigation revealed that fake identification documents were sufficient to bypass Cruks safeguards at certain venues, raising significant concerns about the integrity of the system. A state-owned Holland Casino venue in Eindhoven is among three venues now…

Bettors are becoming an increasingly disruptive presence inside tennis venues, with players reporting heckling and deliberate distraction attempts from the stands. The issue, highlighted by The Guardian, suggests that losing a wager is no longer something some gamblers are willing to absorb quietly when the target of their frustration is just metres away. Players across the world have raised concerns about a growing culture of interference, where those with money on a match attempt to influence its outcome from the crowd. The behaviour points to a broader tension between the expansion of legal sports betting and the environments in which…

SOFTSWISS has taken home the Industry Innovator award for its Prediction Markets Platform at SiGMA North America 2026, held in Mexico City. The recognition highlights the company’s push to expand its offering for regulated markets, combining new product capabilities with the operational infrastructure needed for sustainable long-term growth. The award centres on the SOFTSWISS Prediction Markets platform, which launched in April 2026 to give operators a new way to add event-based wagering to their existing product suite. The platform operates on a fixed-odds model and can be deployed as a standalone project or integrated directly into a sportsbook via API…

Canada’s financial intelligence agency has issued combined fines of C$631,538.50 against two Atlantic provincial gaming corporations for anti-money-laundering compliance failures. FINTRAC imposed a C$399,712.50 penalty on New Brunswick Lotteries and Gaming Corporation and a C$231,826 fine on Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation following separate compliance examinations. Both penalties have since been paid in full, and FINTRAC has confirmed the cases are now officially closed. Investigators found that New Brunswick Lotteries and Gaming Corporation failed to file three suspicious transaction reports despite having sufficient grounds to do so. FINTRAC identified several warning signs within the underlying player activity, including shared credit cards…

Sissel Weitzhändler has joined the Advisory Board of 1xCare, bringing with her a wealth of experience from across the gambling compliance and regulatory landscape. She joins alongside fellow board members Simon Westbury, Chris Bird and Quirino Mancini, forming a team aimed at driving meaningful change across the global gambling ecosystem. Weitzhändler previously served as Allwyn’s Director of Compliance and Regulatory Affairs, a role that placed her at the centre of some of the industry’s most significant regulatory conversations. Her move to 1xCare represents a natural progression, with the organisation focused on connecting research, education, technology and well-being support across gambling…

Finland’s state monopoly operator Veikkaus Group has returned to growth in the first half of 2026, ahead of a major market transition set for mid-2027. The company is preparing to pay approximately €1bn over a decade-long period to retain an exclusive licence covering key product categories in the restructured Finnish gambling market. Licensed gambling operations under the new Finnish framework will officially begin on 1 July 2027, marking a significant shift away from the current monopoly model. While Veikkaus will lose exclusive rights over betting and online casino games, it will retain exclusivity over lottery and slot machine games, scratch…