Author: Charles Shephardson

The UK Advertising Standards Authority has been monitoring gambling adverts at an unprecedented scale since the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicked off on 11 June. The regulator scanned over 13,000 marketing campaigns in under a month, reflecting the enormous volume of gambling activity surrounding the tournament. Continuous improvements to the ASA’s monitoring capabilities have made it possible to keep pace with the growing number of gambling adverts targeting UK audiences during the competition. Technological advancements in Artificial Intelligence have allowed the ASA to significantly enhance its Active Ad Monitoring system over the past 12 months. “We are now monitoring over…

ADI Predictstreet, the official predictions partner of the FIFA World Cup, has received regulatory approval from Gibraltar to expand well beyond football. The Gibraltar-registered and licensed company launched its football predictions platform just days before the FIFA World Cup, having signed on as an official sponsor back in April. Following what it described as strong regulatory performance, the firm has now confirmed plans to move into sports, entertainment, culture, weather and selected political events. The platform’s entry into political markets is particularly significant given ongoing controversy around political trading on platforms like Polymarket, which has faced scrutiny over insider trading…

PopOK, an Isle of Man iGaming solutions firm, has become a sponsor of Botswana’s flagship horse racing event, the TT Cup Challenge Horse Racing Event. The company backed the ninth edition of the TT Cup Challenge, which took place on Saturday 27 June 2026 and drew 3,500 spectators, the largest attendance in the event’s history. Botswana is increasingly recognised as an emerging market within the broader African betting and gaming industry, with its regulator actively encouraging new market entrants. The country’s economy has shown consistent year-on-year growth, with the African Development Bank projecting expansion of 1.2% in 2026 and 3.5%…

Nederlandse Loterij has appointed Ageeth Bakker as its new Chief Financial and Risk Officer, with the role taking effect from 1 November 2026. The Dutch national lottery operator is the largest gambling company in the Netherlands, and Bakker’s arrival is designed to reinforce its internal financial and risk management structures. Bakker joins a senior leadership team that includes Chief Executive Officer Arjan Blok, Chief Technology Innovation Officer Maartje Geven, and Chief Compliance Officer Arno de Jong. Raymond Knops, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Nederlandse Loterij, expressed his enthusiasm for the appointment, welcoming her credentials in regulated industries. Knops…

Soft2Bet has appointed Ryan Collinge as Executive Vice President of Group Business Development and Strategic Partnerships, bolstering its senior leadership team significantly. Collinge brings more than two decades of commercial, product, and operational experience across both retail and online gaming sectors to the role. His appointment signals Soft2Bet’s continued ambition to strengthen relationships with leading operators and entertainment brands across global markets. Collinge previously served as Senior Vice President at Gaming Innovation Group, known widely in the industry as GiG, for approximately two and a half years. Before joining GiG in February 2024, Collinge held the role of corporate group…

The Dutch Supreme Court has dismissed claims brought by players seeking reimbursement for gambling losses incurred before the Netherlands formally regulated its online gambling market. The ruling brings long-awaited clarity to a growing body of individual and collective legal claims that had been stayed pending the Supreme Court’s decision on the matter. At the heart of the dispute was whether online gambling contracts formed before 1 October 2021 could be declared null and void under Dutch law. Players argued that operators had been offering games of chance illegally, as the Dutch Betting and Gaming Act, known as the Wet op…

The Michigan Gaming Control Board has formally withdrawn its membership from the National Council on Problem Gambling, citing strong opposition to Kalshi’s recent induction. Kalshi, a prediction markets platform, joined the problem gambling organisation as a platinum-level member in May, committing a two-year $2 million investment. MGCB executive director Henry Williams expressed his disapproval in a formal letter dated 1 July, directed at the national council’s leadership. Williams argued that Kalshi’s membership directly undermines state enforcement actions already underway against the prediction markets platform across the country. “I am deeply concerned that Kalshi’s attempts to distinguish sporting event contracts from…

Berlin’s Christian Hochgrebe has assumed the rotating chairmanship of the Administrative Board of Germany’s gambling regulator, the GGL, effective 1 July. Hochgrebe succeeds Sandro Kirchner, who served as chairman during the previous term under Germany’s annual rotation system for the role. The rotating chairmanship reflects Germany’s constitutional model, which places gambling regulation in the hands of the Länder, or federal states, rather than central government. This cooperative structure ensures the GGL’s strategic direction is shaped collectively, with each state taking a turn at the helm of the regulator’s Administrative Board. Hochgrebe steps into the role at a pivotal moment, as…

Midnite has strengthened its presence in the EFL Championship by renewing its partnership with Sheffield United and signing a new deal with Middlesbrough. The London-headquartered betting firm now holds front-of-shirt partnerships with three Championship clubs, following its deal with Wolverhampton Wanderers just one month ago. Front-of-shirt sponsorships involving betting operators will be banned in the Premier League from the 2026/27 season onwards, leaving the Championship as valuable commercial territory. The second tier of English football has become increasingly attractive to gambling brands looking to maintain high-visibility shirt placements that are no longer viable in the top flight. Andrew Mook, Midnite’s…

A new entrant to the prediction markets space has arrived with a concept that fundamentally separates forecasting from financial risk. SafeBets, founded by Alex Konanykhin, allows users to make predictions without placing any wager, turning the standard model of prediction platforms on its head. The platform scores every forecast against real-world outcomes, building verified track records for users and rewarding those who demonstrate the most consistent accuracy over time. Konanykhin argues that the core appeal of prediction markets has always been misunderstood by operators and regulators alike, who assume financial risk is what drives engagement. “People assume risk is what…