Evolution CEO Martin Carlesund has raised serious concerns about falling channelisation rates in regulated gambling markets around the world.
Speaking during Evolution’s Q2 earnings call, Carlesund warned that channelisation levels in certain markets had dropped to approximately 50%, a figure he described as deeply troubling.
He argued that higher gambling taxes and increasingly restrictive regulation are the primary forces pushing players toward unlicensed operators in those affected markets.
Carlesund was responding directly to analyst questions about the impact of the UK’s increase in Remote Gaming Duty, which came into effect earlier this year.
While he pointed to both the UK and the Netherlands as examples of markets where higher taxes had damaged channelisation, he declined to pin the 50% figure to any single jurisdiction.
“Channelisation reached 50% levels, and that is not good,” Carlesund said. “We need to see to and hope for a better balance in what the regulators do.”
Carlesund was careful to acknowledge that Evolution operates within the frameworks established by regulators, regardless of how those rules affect the business environment.
“It’s not for us to decide, and we just act on the rules that are there,” he said. “We are respectful to those rules and we understand why they put them in place.”
The Evolution CEO argued that the best approach to keeping players within the regulated market requires both proportionate regulation and genuinely engaging product offerings from licensed operators.
He cautioned that governments risk undermining their own channelisation goals if tax rates are pushed beyond a certain threshold, effectively handing business to the unregulated sector.
“As soon as you raise tax to a certain limit and to a certain bar, you will lose channelisation,” Carlesund said, referencing the UK and Netherlands as visible examples of this dynamic playing out.
“The only way to win players to the regulated portion of the market is both a balanced regulation and by offering the best and most entertaining content,” he added, outlining his vision for sustainable market health.
The comments reflect growing industry concern that well-intentioned regulatory and taxation measures may be producing outcomes that directly conflict with the consumer protection goals they were designed to achieve.
