Author: Charles Shephardson

Betfred will end its long-running sponsorship of rugby league’s Super League at the conclusion of the 2026 season, with owner Fred Done blaming tax hikes and wage inflation. The bookmaker has served as title sponsor of the Super League since 2017, building one of the most recognisable partnerships in the sport over nearly a decade. Betfred has also sponsored the Challenge Cup since 2021 and has been a principal partner of England’s men’s, women’s, and wheelchair teams for the past four years. Despite the breadth and longevity of the deal, Betfred has confirmed it will not extend the arrangement beyond…

01.tech has revealed early results from its Markets module, a prediction markets product built directly into the company’s operator platform. The module allows players to make predictions across a wide range of topics, including politics, economics, technology, cryptocurrency, and pop culture alongside traditional sports. Prediction markets have long existed within complex financial ecosystems, and 01.tech has adapted the concept into a transparent, familiar iGaming environment for operators and players alike. The commercial impact has been measurable, with the module driving non-sports traffic, boosting user engagement, and helping operators fill seasonal gaps between major sporting events. Sportsbooks have always been structurally…

The Malta Gaming Authority has published a new AI Gaming Charter after research found operators are deploying artificial intelligence faster than their governance frameworks can keep pace. The charter was developed in partnership with the Malta Digital Innovation Authority following an MGA study into AI use among Malta’s licensed gambling operators. The MGA noted that survey responses represented only a limited subset of the sector but still provided indicative insight into current AI practices and maturity levels. According to the research, AI adoption was “uneven and generally selective rather than widespread” across Malta’s licensed operator base. The study found AI…

The African Responsible Gaming Network, known as ARGN, has officially launched with the goal of strengthening player protection across the continent’s rapidly expanding online betting market. The network brings together responsible gaming organisations, researchers, and treatment specialists from multiple countries both inside and outside Africa. Its launch has been described as a “significant step forward” in addressing gambling-related harm across a continent where online betting continues to grow at a significant pace. Lebo Seoheng, advocacy and communications manager at the South African Responsible Gaming Foundation, has been appointed as the ARGN’s president. Seoheng has noted that the network’s launch comes…

Vyking has officially launched its new sportsbook product, built in partnership with Bulgaria-headquartered B2B sportsbook provider FIRST.bet. The agreement with FIRST.bet, which has been particularly active in Latin America-focused deals throughout 2026, marks a significant step in Vyking’s planned expansion into the betting market. At the core of the partnership is FIRST.bet’s SportOS “frontend-less” sportsbook operating system, which gives operators the freedom to build their own player-facing product. Vyking took full advantage of that flexibility, designing and building the sportsbook platform itself and operating the frontend across both desktop and mobile environments. FIRST.bet’s role in the arrangement focuses on the…

Victor Arias has been appointed VP of LATAM and Head of Commercial LATAM at Tier-1 sportsbook technology provider FIRST.bet. Arias arrives at FIRST.bet having previously held a senior leadership position at Pragmatic Play, where he built the company’s Latin America business from scratch. He joined Pragmatic Play in 2020 with the specific mandate of opening its Latin America hub and developing a regional presence in the market. What followed was one of the most impressive regional buildouts in the iGaming industry, as Arias established a localised team and turned Pragmatic Play into the category leader in casino across Latin America.…

After six years of rapid expansion, ONLYPLAY has launched a comprehensive rebrand designed to match the company it has become. Founded in 2020, ONLYPLAY has grown into a major international gaming content provider with a portfolio of more than 150 games available across 18 languages. The company now works with more than 2,500 partners, a figure that illustrates just how far the business has travelled since its earliest days. While the numbers reflect impressive external growth, the deeper transformation at ONLYPLAY happened inside the organisation itself over those six years. Production capabilities evolved, technology advanced, and the team’s approach to…

Altenar has appointed Mitchell Harrison as its new sales director, bolstering the company’s commercial leadership as it pursues aggressive growth across two major global markets. Harrison arrives with more than 20 years of experience in sales and business development, including eight years spent specifically within iGaming and sports betting. His career has spanned some of the industry’s most recognisable names, including SBTech, DraftKings, Genius Sports and GiG, covering sportsbook technology, supplier partnerships and international business development. The appointment signals Altenar’s intent to push deeper into Tier-1 regulated markets across Europe and North America, where competition among sportsbook technology providers continues…

Entain has called on the UK government to immediately close a loophole allowing unlicensed gambling operators to sponsor Premier League football clubs. The company’s push comes in response to a Department for Culture, Media and Sport consultation on banning all unlicensed gambling sponsorship in British sport. That government initiative was launched in February, targeting a long-running practice of UK football clubs signing deals with little-known Asian-facing operators. Many of these operators have opaque ownership and leadership structures, raising serious concerns about consumer protection and regulatory oversight. Entain’s own research now shows that 11 of 20 Premier League clubs have at…

Sportsbooks are projected to handle nearly 80% of all NFL wagering this season, even as prediction markets continue their rapid rise across the United States. Research and advisory firm EKG estimates around $31.7bn will be wagered on the NFL through sportsbooks during the current season, compared to $8.4bn through prediction markets. EKG described the prediction market figure as “a meaningful second channel” for NFL wagering but noted it remains “small on a relative scale” given the sector’s relatively recent emergence. The combined figures represent a 79%-21% split in favour of traditional sportsbooks, despite what EKG characterised as “soaring valuations” surrounding…