Author: Charles Shephardson

ADI Predictstreet has been named the first-ever Official Partner for the prediction market category at the FIFA World Cup 2026, marking a significant milestone in sports prediction markets. The appointment positions ADI Predictstreet as a brand-new player in the prediction markets space, arriving at one of the biggest sporting stages on the planet. With 48 teams and 104 matches scheduled across the tournament, ADI Predictstreet is aiming to give users deeper engagement with every stage of the competition. The platform’s offerings are designed to operate in full alignment with FIFA’s integrity frameworks, ensuring that prediction market activity remains compliant throughout…

The UAE’s General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority has appointed Ciarán Carruthers as its new chief executive officer with immediate effect. Carruthers takes over from Jim Murren, who had been serving as interim CEO following the departure of Kevin Mullally in November last year. Murren retains his position as chair of the GCGRA, a role he has held since the organisation was founded in September 2023. Carruthers brings more than 40 years of experience across the global luxury resorts and gaming sectors to his new position. Most recently, he served as CEO of Crown Resorts from September 2022 to November 2024,…

The retention conversation dominates iGaming boardrooms, but a harder question sits underneath it for white-label operators building strategies on borrowed infrastructure. Viktor Cherkas, CEO of Kanggiten iGaming platform, argues that the platform an operator sits on determines the real ceiling of their retention capabilities. Kanggiten powers more than 50 active brands across Europe, LatAm, CIS, Africa, and Asia, giving Cherkas a broad operational view of where retention succeeds and where it stalls. Research from Bain and Company has shown that a 5% increase in retention can boost profits by as much as 25 to 95%, a statistic the iGaming industry…

Bally’s Intralot’s acquisition of evoke has drawn measured praise from analysts, who broadly welcome the deal’s strategic logic while flagging significant long-term risks. The two parties confirmed last week they had agreed terms on an all-share deal valued at £243.1m, with completion expected in Q4 2026 or Q1 2027, subject to shareholder approvals and regulatory clearances. Evoke chairman Mark Summerfield described the transaction as the “most attractive and deliverable” outcome for evoke shareholders, signalling confidence in the deal’s structure. Bally’s chairman Soo Kim said the combined entity will create a “diversified European gaming champion” with “greater scale, resilience and operational…

Amusnet is set to make a strong return to the Peru Gaming Show 2026, taking place on June 17-18 in Lima, reinforcing its strategic focus on Latin America. The company will use the event to present its latest portfolio of land-based and online solutions to operators and attendees across the region. Georgi Izov, head of Business Development LATAM at Amusnet, highlighted the importance of the market and the company’s ambitions for the event. “Latin America continues to be one of the most exciting regions for the evolution of gaming, and Peru plays a very important role within that vision,” said…

BETBY has formed a new partnership with gaming platform BC.GAME, adopting its rewards model powered by the $BC token. The integration means BETBY will now utilise BC.GAME’s BC Engine, which first launched in April as a tool designed to push the $BC token beyond traditional promotions. The token now serves as a core component for optimising player engagement and retention across casino games, rather than functioning as a simple bonus mechanism. Players automatically earn tokens when interacting with an iGaming offer, with the BC Engine distributing rewards based on each user’s total token purse. Since the engine’s April launch, BC.GAME…

Sportradar Group AG has announced a landmark multi-year global agreement with Kalshi, the world’s largest prediction market platform. The deal formally positions Sportradar as an official data and solutions provider for Kalshi across a wide range of major sports properties. Sports covered under the agreement include Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, and the Ultimate Fighting Championship, among others. The partnership also establishes a framework allowing Sportradar to enter agreements directly with Kalshi’s key partners, including brokers and market makers across the value chain. Sportradar will supply Kalshi with products drawn from its Prediction Services division,…

Emma Floyd has been appointed as director of sport and gambling at the UK’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport, known as DCMS. The role places Floyd at the centre of two major public-facing policy areas, covering sport and gambling at a senior government level. Sport policy under her remit includes elite competition, grassroots participation, major events, and the government’s relationship with sporting governing bodies. Gambling policy sits alongside sport because of the deep commercial links between betting, sponsorship, advertising, and consumer protection in the sector. Floyd replaces Ben Dean, who moved to the Cabinet Office earlier this year after…

Pragmatic Play is closing its sportsbook and bingo verticals following an internal strategic review, marking a significant shift in direction for the iGaming supplier. The Gibraltar-based company will also discontinue its virtual sports category as part of the same strategic pivot away from non-core product lines. The decision reflects a broader effort to concentrate resources on the verticals where Pragmatic Play holds the strongest competitive position in the market. A Pragmatic Play spokesperson confirmed: “Following a strategic review, we have made the decision to focus on our core market-leading verticals – in particular, slots, live casino, crash and RNG.” The…

Pennsylvania Representatives Tarik Khan and Jamie Flick have introduced a bipartisan package of gambling reform bills targeting operator marketing, credit card use, and self-exclusion protections. The package is specifically aimed at “addressing problem gambling as a public health issue,” according to both lawmakers, who are pushing for stronger consumer protections statewide. One of the key measures in the package is the Pennsylvania Online Consumer Protection Act, which would establish limits on online gambling deposits within a 24-hour period. The proposed Act would also restrict certain marketing practices, including push notifications and text message solicitations sent directly to consumers by gambling…