SBO Issue 20 Volume 8

SPORTS BETTING OPERATOR

VOLUME 008 ISSUE 020

sportsbettingoperator.com

PREDICTION TIME ARE YOU READY? How Fanatics built a market-ready predictions product in five months – with CreateFuture OPINIONS

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F E AT U R E S

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EVENTS

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INTERVIEWS

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EDITOR’S LETTER

AT LONG LAST, LOGIC

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hank God for Judge Andrew Gordon. This district court arbiter in Nevada recently kiboshed prediction markets in the Silver State. How? By applying common sense (and the dictionary) to the naked hypocrisy under which Kalshi operates. As Judge Gordon ruled on Boxing Day, these “swaps” on player statistics and game outcomes are scarcely “economic events.” Wrote the magistrate, “These are sports wagers and everyone who sees them knows it.” It did not help Kalshi’s case that it has been promiscuously pimping parlays and other gambling products, using the language of a racetrack tout. Or, as Gordon noted, Kalshi has promoted itself as the “first app for legal sports betting in all 50 states.” Not so fast, Kalshi. Sports betting is still illegal in 11 U.S. states and your lingo is too cutesy by half. So are your attempts to pervert the law by claiming it says whatever you want it to say. Wanna place a bet on the 2024 elections? Claim that it’s not “wagering” like putting money on the Super Bowl. Wanna then take wagers on that selfsame Super Bowl? Shamelessly stand your previous contention on its head and ask the courts to eat it up. As Gordon opined, “Kalshi has not disputed that [gambling] is how it advertised itself nor has it successfully distinguished its arguments here from its own plain words.” Of course, the law is narrow and often difficult to construe, which means that Gordon’s refreshing application of truth to advertising could well get overturned. Then there are cutesy provisions governing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which enable Volume 8: Issue 020

RIGHT: David McKee, Editor in Chief, Sports Betting Operator

the latter to wink at unregulated online gambling, if it is somehow “in the public interest.” What a bunch of bullshit The jailbreak conducted by prediction markets has lately been swollen by the likes of FanDuel, DraftKings and Fanatics. All three defected noisily from the American Gaming Association, creating a wide schism in the gaming industry between those still playing by the rules and those thumbing their nose at them. Don’t look for intervention from the CFTC. Its new chair, Michael Selig, spinelessly spun for the present, chaotic status quo in his confirmation hearings, saying the matter was entirely up to the courts. Selig is a pawn for predictionmarket interests, some of whom reside at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, now that Truth Social is trafficking in sports wagers. As conflicts of interest go, that sends the mind reeling. Selig doesn’t dare go against POTUS, lest he find his head on a gold-plated salver. If you want gambling everywhere, all the time, accessible to everyone, he’s your man. In the meantime, I’ll stick with Judge Gordon and his B.S. detector, regardless of the odds. 3

CONTENTS VOLUME 008 - ISSUE 020

3 EDITOR’S LETTER At long last, logic. By David McKee

CONTACTS

5 PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE Brandt Ident of Fanatics Sportsbook preaches the virtues of the tortoise over those of the hare. By David McKee

Publisher – Peter White peter@outsourcedigitalmedia.com Editor in Chief – David McKee dmckee314@gmail.com Editor EMEA – Damien Connelly damien@outsourcedigitalmedia.com

12 WHO WANTS TO BE A PREDICTION MARKET? Partnerships and pivots in sports gaming. By Katherine Baker, Joshua Kirschner & Samantha Ahearn

Las Vegas Correspondent – Ryan Slattery ryanslats@gmail.com

16 PREDICTING VALUE Behind the rise of event contracts. By Chad Beynon

Associate Editor EMEA – Andrew Behan a.behan@librasgroup.com Designer – Stewart Hyde www.de5ign.co.uk Tel: 44 (0) 1892 740869 W: www.sportsbettingoperator.com

Editorial Policy: The views and opinions expressed in Sports Betting Operator remain principally the views of contributors and do not necessarily reflect those of the editor or publishers. The publishers wish to avoid inaccuracies and, whilst every precaution has been taken to ensure that information contained in this publication is accurate, no liability is accepted by the editor or publishers for errors or omissions, however caused. Unless otherwise stated, articles appearing in this publication remain the copyright of the publishers and may not be reproduced in any form without the publisher’s written consent. Printed in the UK by Pensord Press.

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19 ARE YOU READY? How Fanatics launched a market-ready predictions market in five months with CreateFuture. By Mark McGuinness 24 WARRIORS OF MONGOLIA From esports underdogs to global CS2 leaders. 26 THE BIGGEST BETTING TOURNAMENT EVER Why the World Cup is the most misunderstood commercial opportunity. By Mark McGuinness 32 COMING BACK TO BARCELONA Boomerang Partners returns to iGB Affiliate. 36 THE CULTURAL DIVIDE Why sports betting habits in Eastern Europe look different from the rest of the world. By Marko Mitevski 40 FAIR PLAY Global betting integrity in focus: IBIA Q3 2025 report. 43 PROTECTING THE INTEGRITY OF THE GAME Reflecting on IBIA’s second year of athlete-integrity education in Canada. By Jean-François Reymond sportsbettingoperator.com

FEATURE: FANTATICS

PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE Brandt Iden of Fanatics Sportsbook preaches the virtues of the tortoise over those of the hare. By David McKee

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e’s been the father of iGaming in Michigan. Gambling.com said he “set an example for states all across the country, by crafting legislation which successfully regulates online gaming for both tribal and commercial operators.” He is Brandt Iden and he’s the vice president of government affairs for Fanatics Betting & Gaming. Fanatics has parlayed success as a purveyor of sporting souvenirs and apparel into online wagering. Its improbable business model has led Volume 8: Issue 020

to unexpected (by many) réclame in OSB. Fanatics is a strong number three in New York State and is making substantive inroads elsewhere. While DraftKings and FanDuel remain dominant in the field, Fanatics has the best shot at turning the Big Two into a Big Three. We caught up with Iden amidst last-minute Christmas shopping. He reflected on his time in the Michigan legislature and looked ahead to the challenges of 2026. Our conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length. 5

FEATURE: FANTATICS How long has Fanatics been offering sports betting and in how many states does in currently operate? We’ve been in the market three years. The launch in Missouri puts us in 24 states, plus the District of Columbia. How did you come to be involved with Fanatics? That’s sort of interesting. I was the head of government affairs for Sportradar for about three years and I was one of the first employees at Fanatics. I was in that first couple of hundred folks that were hired. I knew Matt King from his days at FanDuel, of course, and then as the CEO of Fanatics. They reached out to me, we had a great conversation and I’ve been here basically now for three years. I love it. It’s a great opportunity and we’re in a great upward trajectory for the business. Is it better than being in the public sector? Well, it’s different. I served 10 years in the public sector. I did four as a county commissioner and then I did six in the state house. I was term-limited, so I couldn’t run again. I would have had to run for senate, run for a different office and I think after 10 years I was ready to get back into the private sector, which is what I had done before I was in the legislature. Look, I learned a lot. I made a lot of great friends. We passed some great legislation, including the iGaming legislation, some things I’m very proud of. But I was ready for a change and now, fortunately, in my role today I still get to participate a lot with elected officials in their roles. I spend a lot of 6

time in state capitals. Although I’m no longer an elected official, I still spend a lot of time with those in public service and get to use my skill set and knowledge to hopefully craft good, sustainable gaming legislation. The company’s business model leverages its souvenir and apparel success, does it not? That’s very fair. There’s no doubt that Fanatics continues to grow in the retail-commerce space. Now with the collectibles and trading cards added to that portfolio, it only further enhances the Fanatics Betting & Gaming product. We know that there’s a huge database of sports fans that both purchase our apparel and merchandise, and also occasionally participate in the entertainment-gaming space. We’ve been able to bring those two together and craft some really wonderful experiences for our players that are true sports fans. They are sports fans that not only love watching a game while participating by purchasing merchandise for attending games but also occasionally placing a wager on a game. That has been a very strong model for Fanatics, in addition to some great technology. There’s no doubt that our product is one of the best in the marketplace and that has helped lead to our success. Given the breadth of Fanatics’ retail appeal, how do you keep from attracting underage bettors? Obviously, we’ve got rigorous standards that we adhere to, to ensure that our customers are KYCed properly through our process. sportsbettingoperator.com

FEATURE: FANTATICS

We know that they’re 21. Look, just because they buy a piece of merchandise on the website doesn’t mean that they will bet. Certainly if they’re not of age. So we ensured, through our protocols, that in every state that we’re regulated in and we’ve got very strict protocols ensuring that people are 21. Have you have any conversations with regulators along those lines? Not with me directly in the government-affairs space. I deal a lot with the new-markets/legislative front. This is not an issue that’s been brought up to me through the legislative process. Fanatics is currently number three in New York State and doing comparably well in other ones. How did the company succeed in capturing market share where many competitors have failed? It’s our database. It’s our knowledge of sports consumers and the type of content that they want to consume. Fanatics is a household name for a consumer of sport and once Volume 8: Issue 020

ABOVE: Matt King CEO Fanatics Betting & Gaming

consumers see the product, they enjoy the product. The technology is fantastic. We’ve spent a tremendous amount of time ensuring that the product was very good, which has been important to our second-mover success. The third piece of that is Fan Cash. Fan Cash is what we like to call ‘the currency of sport.’ When they purchase items, consumers collect Fan Cash points, which they can then use for their entertainment experiences on the gaming platform. Of course, when they’re on the gaming platform they collect Fan Cash points, which they can go use and redeem for jerseys, hats, T-shirts and other memorabilia. It’s a really unique model that we have that those other competitors in the market don’t. We’ve got a long way to go to catch up to FanDuel and DraftKings, obviously. Even though we are third in a lot of markets and still continuing to grow, there’s still a long way to go. But we’re getting there, it’s been successful and will continue to be successful. 7

FEATURE: FANTATICS an industry without regulated gaming, obviously, without state licensure. iGaming is going to be poised for significant growth, for a number of reasons, as we move into 2027. State revenues, the impact from the federal government and some of the costs that these states are going to have to take on, thanks to the One Big

What are Fanatics’ legislative priorities regarding traditional iGaming and sports betting? Obviously, we believe that there is still growth in the online-sports-betting space. You’ve got a couple of big states: in particular California, Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma. These are large states, big populations that have yet to have OSB, obviously. In my role, I spend a tremendous amount of time educating lawmakers on the success of OSB. I draw on my experiences from Michigan but now from other states as well. So those are definitely big priorities – to continue to expand the OSB footprint. iGaming is really interesting because that’s where I believe there is the most potential growth for the industry, both in terms of revenue and state consumer protections. Today, you’ve got in any state, even if they don’t have regulated iGaming, folks can get online. They can type into Google ‘online casino,’ and a number of illegal, offshore websites will pop up, which people play on. We know this. And states don’t collect any revenue, consumers aren’t protected and of course the industry can’t participate as 8

ABOVE: Brandt Iden, vice president of government affairs,, Fanatics Betting & Gaming

Beautiful Act, the states are going to be looking for new revenue and iGaming is going to be a part of that. Especially given the success of Pennsylvania, Michigan, West Virginia: a tremendous amount of success for the consumers – from a consumerprotection standpoint – and for the states, in terms of state revenue, for operators who participate in the market and of course for those states that have it (like Michigan), a massive success for the tribes as well. I hope that, as we continue to tell that story – that’s part of my job – and continue to educate lawmakers on the success of that, there will be more adoption in the future. Hopefully sooner rather than later. What are your political expectations for the coming year, vis-a-vis sports betting and iGaming? Without outlining specific states, what I will say is that you have to look at – and this is what I tell people all the time – states that are in need of revenue, are likely going to be further stretched with their budgets going into 2026, given the costs that are being pushed upon them by the federal government (especially health care and other social-services costs). These states are going to be looking to fund that. You’ve also got states where iGaming has been talked about for a period of time. If you look at these states, it just takes a lot of education. I like to remind people that’s why it’s sportsbettingoperator.com

FEATURE: FANTATICS been talked about for a period of time. I also often get critiques that say, ‘Well, states like Maryland and New York, they’ve been talking about it for years.’ That’s absolutely true. In Michigan it took us six years to pass iGaming legislation. And by the way, along the way, I received a veto from former Gov. Snyder and had to start to process all over again. So these conversations take a very long time. It takes time to educate lawmakers. Then you get turnover and you get new lawmakers, and you have to start all over. These things don’t happen quickly. I like to look at these states where these conversations have been ongoing and then combine that with the need for revenue. Places like Maryland, New York, Virginia are states that could be poised. Illinois could be poised for future action. This conversation has to evolve for a period of time and sometimes for a long time. It just doesn’t happen overnight. With the encroachment of sweepstakes and prediction markets, is there going to be an audience for traditional sports betting by the time legislatures get around to acting? That’s an interesting question. I believe that there always will be. The types of offerings that are available in traditional, stateregulated gaming will always be there. These other things, whether or not they continue to exist in the market, OSB will be there. Consumers want a number of platforms. They want a lot of choices. What I’ve found in the marketplace is, the more offerings that Volume 8: Issue 020

are available for consumers, the more the market thrives. I believe that these states will definitely want to capture the revenue, which is set up in a different model through regulated OSB. They’re going to want that, so I think that they will. In some ways, importantly, other things like prediction markets and sweepstakes are (hopefully, in my opinion) a catalyst for states to continue to adopt sports betting. Some will see: ‘We’d like to capture this state revenue. We’re not getting it now. There are other opportunities and offerings available in the marketplace for our consumers.’ In order to best benefit the state and provide the highest standard of consumer protections for individuals, states would want to look to expanding OSB. I actually think, in a lot of ways, some of these other things will be a catalyst for further success and growth. Sports betting is perceived in the United States as a two-horse race between DraftKings and FanDuel. Can they be caught? It remains to be seen. I don’t know necessarily that they can be caught. But Fanatics is continuing to do a great job to make up ground with market share. Fanatics is likely going to continue to grow, likely pulling from those two top operators, as well as potentially others. We know that. Look, it takes time. It takes a good product. It takes consistency in the marketplace and I think Fanatics is poised to potentially catch them. Yes, I do. 9

TIME TO SPORT Sports Marketing & Betting Calendar More info: boomerang-partners.com/sport-calendar-2026

FEATURE: PREDICTION MARKETS

WHO WANTS TO BE A PREDICTION MARKET?

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Partnerships and pivots in sports gaming. By Katherine Baker, Joshua Kirschner & Samantha Ahearn

o you want to be a prediction market. Over the past year, the sports gaming world has watched as a new player has entered the market, offering a product that looks a whole lot like sports betting without a sports betting license. Prediction markets are platforms that allow participants to trade on the likelihood of future events, including sports outcomes. Participants can answer binary questions like, “Will the Los Angeles Lakers win tonight?” and earn money if they are correct. Prediction markets have surged to $44 billion in total 2025 volume, with sports a major factor in that growth, according to a report from Keyrock & Dune. (Amir Hajian, et al., Prediction Markets: The Next Frontier in Financial Markets, available at https://keyrock. com/prediction-markets-the-nextfrontier-of-financial-markets/.) This is despite cease-and-desists from state gaming regulators, and a quagmire of litigation involving such regulators along with tribal gaming operators and plaintiffs’ law firms. (See Katherine Baker, et al., Sports Betting Operator, Disrupting the Disruptors: How a coalition of tribes, state regulators and collections firms are turning the tables on prediction markets, (Sept. 11, 2025), available at https://issuu.com/ peterwhite3/docs/sports_betting_ operator_issue_018_volume_007.) Wary first impressions from traditional sports gaming operators have quickly turned to admiration, 12

imitation and partnership. Increasingly, sports-themed event contracts have become a popular pivot for sports books, daily fantasy sports and others looking to recoup market share. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. But at what cost?

Prediction Markets’ Legal Framework, Challenges, and Partnerships State gaming regulators, attorneys general, sports leagues, tribal gaming operators, and licensed sports books, among others, initially expressed concern and opposition to prediction markets’ offering of sports-themed event contracts, some submitting comments to a would-be Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) roundtable in the spring. (See Ryan Butler, Covers, FanDuel Voices Prediction Market Concerns, (Mar. 6, 2025), https://www.covers.com/ industry/fanduel-voices-predictionmarket-concerns-mar-6-2025; see also CFTC, Comments on the Prediction Market Roundtable, available at https:// sportsbettingoperator.com

FEATURE: PREDICTION MARKETS www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/Events/ CommentsPredictionMarketsRoundtable.) The primary issue is the distinction between sports-event contracts and sports betting, a form of gambling. Prediction markets operate by offering event contracts that allow traders to bet on the likelihood of future events, which can include sports outcomes, league results or player performance. Unlike traditional sports books that set odds and assume risk, prediction markets (in theory at least) rely on peer-to-peer trading and market price, most akin to stock markets. They can also resemble an exchange or betting pool, potentially blurring lines with conventional sports wagering. Even if positioned as informational or analytical tools, real-money prediction contracts can trigger sports betting, and gambling law and regulatory frameworks. State sports betting statutes generally require that any entity accepting realmoney wagers on sporting events be licensed. If a prediction market is classified as a form of sports wagering or even as a closely related gambling product, it may be deemed to require a sports book license or similar authorization in that state. The difference between permitted products (like regulated sports books or daily fantasy sports) and prohibited wagering can rest on subtle structural and legal nuances, which vary under each state’s law. These issues are currently being litigated across the United States. (See Katherine Baker, et al., Sports Betting Operator, Disrupting the Disruptors: How a coalition of tribes, state regulators and collections firms are turning the tables on prediction markets, (Sept. 11, 2025), available at https://issuu. com/peterwhite3/docs/sports_betting_ operator_issue_018_volume_007.) Signals from the CFTC and the Trump administration that they would not impede self-certification, combined with stalled legal challenges in federal court, Volume 8: Issue 020

RIGHT: Katherine Baker is a partner at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP. Based in Boston, Katherine chairs the firm’s Gaming Industry Group. A primary focus of her practice is assisting casino gaming, sports betting, and fantasy sports operators, vendors, and entrepreneurs to navigate the state, federal commercial and tribal gaming landscapes, including leveraging FinTech solutions.

made it clear that prediction markets had staying power. (See Dan Bernstein, Sportico, CFTC Cancels Sports Futures Meeting with Gambling Groups, (Apr. 24, 2025), https://www.sportico.com/ business/sports-betting/2025/cftccancels-roundtable-sports-predictionmarkets-1234849784/; Ben Horney, Front Office Sports, Sports Betting Giants, Leagues Watch Closely as Kalshi Keeps Winning, (May 13, 2025), https://frontofficesports.com/sportsbetting-giants-leagues-watch-closelyas-kalshi-keeps-winning/.) Initial concerns held by many sports gaming operators rapidly shifted to active monitoring and eventually concrete plans to roll out white-label prediction markets of their own, in partnership with existing prediction markets. (See Ben Horney, Front Office Sports, Sports Betting Giants, Leagues Watch Closely as Kalshi Keeps Winning, (May 13, 2025), https:// frontofficesports.com/sports-bettinggiants-leagues-watch-closely-as-kalshikeeps-winning/.) Sports-event contracts would allow sports betting operators to expand into states where sports betting as a form of gambling is prohibited. For DFS operators, prediction markets were an attractive pivot to fill the Californiasized market hole signaled by the July 2025 Attorney General Opinion that certain DFS products are illegal sports betting under California law. (See Tom 13

FEATURE: PREDICTION MARKETS

Nightingale, SBC Americas, California AG Rob Bonta vows to enforce DFS opinion—but how?, (Jul. 23, 2025), https://sbcamericas.com/2025/07/23/ california-bonta-enforce-dfs-opinion/.) To date, multiple leading sports betting and daily fantasy sports operators have launched sportsprediction market apps in partnership with existing prediction markets. (Matt Rybaltowski, iGaming Business, Will DraftKings’ entry into prediction market space trigger arms race for industry supremacy?, (Dec. 19, 2025), https://igamingbusiness.com/sportsbetting/draftkings-prediction-marketlaunch-arms-race/.) This has led to a clear cleft amongst the largest sports gaming operators, as most recently demonstrated by the recent defenestration of certain major online sports books from their shared perch atop the American Gaming Association. (Tom Nightingale, SBC Americas, Fanatics no longer an American Gaming Association member, (Dec. 11, 2025), https://sbcamericas. com/2025/12/11/fanatics-americangaming-association/.)

Licensing Risks for Sports Betting and Daily Fantasy Sports Operators While prediction markets offer sportsevent contracts, pursuant to a federal financial-licensing-and-regulatory 14

LEFT: Joshua Kirschner is an associate at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP. Based in Atlanta, Joshua focuses his practice on the gaming and gambling sectors. He represents businesses and individuals in a wide variety of regulatory and white-collar litigation matters.

scheme, their universal decision not to pursue state-level gaming licensure as sports betting operators, and to operate in states that prohibit sports betting raise significant legal and regulatory issues. Those issues are compounded when existing sports-gaming operators with active state gaming licenses choose to partner with them. Sports betting and daily fantasy sports operators expended substantial resources securing and maintaining gaming licenses and approvals in many states. Those licenses are held at the pleasure of state gaming regulators primarily on the basis of suitability, which assumes compliance with law and reputational soundness. With a majority of states now taking the position that sports event contracts are both illegal sports betting and not “event contracts” as defined by the Commodity Exchange Act, regulated sports gaming operators are risking loss of licensure by launching prediction market apps. In response to these partnerships, several state gaming commissions issued letters warning sports gaming licensees not to get involved in the prediction market business or risk adverse action to licensure. (Pat Evans, iGaming Business, Michigan joins states warning sportsbooks against prediction markets, (Oct. 6, 2025), https://igamingbusiness.com/ legal-compliance/michigan-predictionmarkets-warning-sportsbooks/.) Notably, in December 2025, the Arizona Department of Gaming (ADG) became the first to actually revoke a license. Robert Linnehan, Sports Betting Dime, Arizona Department of Gaming To Revoke Underdog’s Fantasy Sports License Due to Predictions Market Involvement, (Dec. 12, 2025), www.sportsbettingdime.com/news/ betting/underdog-fantasy-arizonalicense-reovked/. sportsbettingoperator.com

FEATURE: PREDICTION MARKETS Arizona issued a Notice of Violation & Intent to Revoke the fantasy sports license of one of the leading DFS operators, due to its partnership with a prediction-market provider, and its involvement in offering sports-event contracts. Specifically, the ADG stated in the notice that it determined that – by contracting with, benefiting from, supporting, and providing financial support to the prediction market – the DFS operator was aiding and abetting the prediction market’s illegal gambling conduct in Arizona. Importantly, in this case, the DFS operator never offered prediction market products within Arizona. (Id.) The ADG’s decision to take adverse action in response to the licensee’s mere involvement with a prediction market in other states raises significant concerns. Although state gaming commissions generally have broad discretion in licensing decisions, the ADG’s decision is an attempt to police affairs in foreign jurisdictions. The Arizona precedent reinforces the risk that, given broad discretionary over assessing suitability, state regulators may interpret partnerships and indirect involvement as sufficient grounds for regulatory action, even absent direct instate offerings. License-driven enforcement action is specific to existing gaming licensees, but only reflects the broader trend of state regulators issuing cease-anddesist orders to and engaging in legal action in the courts against prediction market operators, which now include such gaming licensees. Sports gaming operators who have chosen to launch prediction platforms are thus now at risk of the same claims that state gaming regulators, tribal operators and citizens are lobbing at prediction markets. Operators will need to weigh and consider these and other risks if they are considering offering prediction-market products. Volume 8: Issue 020

RIGHT: Samantha Ahearn is an associate at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP. Based in Boston, Samantha focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation and business disputes, insurance disputes, labor and employment matters, internal investigations, and gaming regulation.

Conclusion Prediction markets present both opportunity and risk for the sports betting, and for fantasy sports industry. While they offer innovation and potential new revenue streams, regulatory uncertainty is significant, subject to regulator and judicial discretion. The recent action in Arizona underscores that state regulators may interpret even external partnerships with prediction markets as a threat to established gambling frameworks, with serious consequences, including license revocation. Loss of license in one state, and more broadly, involvement in activity that some regulators and courts believe is illegal gambling, could have a domino effect in other states and cause lasting suitability impacts. Recognizing this heightened risk, a group of prediction markets, along with at least one sportsgaming operator partner, have formed a coalition to mount a joint defense. (See Mike Breen, Prediction News, New Coalition for Prediction Markets Formed by Top Exchanges, (Dec., 11, 2025), https://predictionnews.com/ news/new-coalition-for-predictionmarkets-formed-by-top-exchanges/.) For states and operators alike, navigating this space will require rigorous legal assessment, careful product design, and close regulatory engagement to balance innovation with compliance and risk mitigation. 15

FEATURE: MACQUARIE CAPITAL

PREDICTING VALUE

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Behind the rise of event contracts. By Chad Beynon

rediction markets let users trade contracts on future events, aggregating collective wisdom to forecast outcomes in politics, sports and finance. The sector has grown rapidly, evolving from niche election betting to mainstream infrastructure in 2025, driven by blockchain and federal regulatory clarity. Challenges include regulatory uncertainty, liquidity risks, ethical concerns and competition with online gaming. Prediction markets have rapidly expanded into sports betting this year, particularly in the United States, letting users trade contracts on outcomes such as game winners or player stats, priced between $0 and $1 to reflect market-driven probabilities. Unlike traditional sports betting, which is state-regulated and only legal for about 60 percent of the U.S. population, prediction markets operate under federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission oversight. This makes them accessible nationwide, including in states where gambling is banned (for the meantime). This federal approach has propelled the rapid growth, though many U.S. states have pushed back. Users buy “Yes” or “No” contracts that pay out $1 for correct prediction. Prices fluctuate like stocks, with peer-to-peer trading replacing fixed, sports-book odds. Fees can be low with high liquidity and users can trade contracts in-play, pick game winners, player stats, spreads, and long-term events. However, the offerings are not nearly as robust as sports books, in my view. 16

Prediction markets earn revenue mainly from transaction-based fees. The fee model aligns incentives for accurate forecasting and profits from high trading volume and liquidity. Common revenue streams include trading fees (flat or percentage, often via maker-taker models), marketcreation fees, deposit/withdrawal charges and premium features. Based on CFTC regulation 40.11, which prohibits certain contracts, these companies are rolling the dice. Last year, the CFTC challenged Kalshi’s attempt to list event contracts to predict the outcome of U.S. congressional races, arguing that these contracts violated the CFTC regulation banning gaming contracts. sportsbettingoperator.com

FEATURE: MACQUARIE CAPITAL However, the District of Columbia disagreed and found that the contracts were permissible. The CFTC appealed and requested that Kalshi be barred from listing the event contracts pending the appeal, but the U.S. Court of Appeals declined to issue a stay. This meant that Kalshi’s contracts were allowed to go live. Kalshi has since expanded its offerings on election markets as well as other types of markets, including sports. With the CFTC signaling a less-aggressive stance on prediction markets under the Trump administration, states have taken it upon themselves to issue cease-anddesist letters, arguing that offering sports event contracts constitutes unlicensed sports gambling in violation of state law. Since the end of August, DraftKings and Flutter Entertainment have lost $10 billion and $20 billion of marketcap value, respectively. Most attribute a large portion of this to the looming threat of the prediction market, in addition to recent negative-estimate revisions (caused from low NFL hold rates). Following additional predictions analysis, our contention has been that prediction markets are not competitive with sports books when it comes to live betting, player props and parlays. Thus we expect minimal cannibalization or share loss those current markets. As a response, DraftKings and Flutter recently announced plans on launching their respective prediction products this quarter (4Q25), as a way to participate in the market hype and potentially engage with customers it can’t currently court. DraftKings intends to only launch in states that do not have live sports betting. Flutter said it will only offer sports contracts in U.S. states that do not have legal Volume 8: Issue 020

ABOVE: Chad Beynon is Macquarie Capital’s U.S. head of research and senior Gaming, Lodging & Theatre analyst. He has followed the sector for over 20 years and collaborates with a global team of gaming analysts. He previously conducted consumer research at Prudential Equity Group and is a proud graduate of the University of Maryland.

sports betting — but intends on offering non-sports contracts in all states. Our near-term prediction total addressable market for DraftKings and Flutter, which will only encompass states that have not legalized sports betting (40 percent of the U.S. population), is $4.4 billion for sports prediction (for 40 percent of the population without legal, online sports betting) and a non-sports prediction total market of $600 million, for a combined near-term prediction TAM of $5 billion. Over the course of the next few months, we expect for investors to further appreciate the additional value and also realize the low cannibalization in OSB legal markets. While others are playing the “wait and see game,” we view the entry for these two companies as a smart-yet-bold way to regain investor attention and ultimately investor value. 17

FEATURE: CREATEFUTURE

ARE YOU READY? How Fanatics launched a market-ready predictions product in five months with CreateFuture. By Mark McGuinness

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he World Cup 2026 will test whether fixed-odds betting remains dominant

or whether predictions reshape fan engagement. This is where Fanatics’ journey comes into play. Sports Betting Operator chatted with Hass Peymani about CreateFuture’s role in Fanatics’ fivemonth deployment of its predictions product. Peymani highlighted leadership, culture and trust as essential for success in regulated markets. Player attention is a shrinking commodity, a pressing concern that keeps sports book leaders awake at night. What happens next? Player attention is scarce and becoming scarcer as we live our digital lives via screen-based interactions. Volume 8: Issue 020

Operators compete on experience, frequency and relevance, not just breadth of betting options. Predictions support a growing trend, driven by social media and players seeking to be part of a shared experience. Predictions help reduce friction, broaden participation and enable repeat engagement without requiring immediate betting decisions. Well-designed predictions build habit and familiarity, while poorly designed ones feel superficial. For sports books, predictions are essential strategic tools for fan engagement. With that strategic context, let’s look at CreateFuture’s roots. CreateFuture is proudly Scottish. How did the journey begin? CreateFuture was founded in Edinburgh in 2010 as xDesign by 19

FEATURE: CREATEFUTURE

our CEO, Euan Andrews. From the start, our ambition was to deliver practical, high-quality outcomes for our customers, over and over again. The core aim is to help, and we help organizations solve real problems through design, engineering, technology and effective

current challenges while building organizations that remain resilient in the future.

communication, rather than relying on distant or theoretical frameworks. The values reflect our own Scottish values: craft, resilience, and a focus on practical and demonstrable outcomes. The business continued to grow and, with that, we saw opportunities and sought to expand through acquisitions, rebranding as CreateFuture in 2023. The new name reflects our belief that transformation is achieved collaboratively, over time, with the right people and leadership alignment. Today, we are headquartered in Edinburgh, with major hubs in Leeds, Manchester and London, and over 600 specialists in product, engineering, cloud, and experience design. Our purpose is to help clients address

in shaping modern sports betting technology. FanDuel is a good example. It was founded in Edinburgh before becoming part of Flutter Entertainment. It combines an entrepreneurial pace with deep technical rigor, delivering different experiences for players. We have been working with FanDuel for over five years, starting back in 2020. The United States market was expanding rapidly. Regulation was accelerating across multiple states, and pressures on talent experience and delivery were paramount. They did not need a traditional management consultancy. They needed strategic partners capable of rapid execution and a can-do attitude. This distinction influenced all subsequent work.

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Scottish heritage has strong roots in iGaming. How does that influence your operator relationships? Scotland has played a significant role

sportsbettingoperator.com

FEATURE: CREATEFUTURE Fanatics launched a market-ready predictions product in five months. What did CreateFuture deliver in practice? Fanatics has a clear ask and requirement. To design, build, and launch a market-ready, fully compliant predictions product that aligned with the Fanatics brand in the marketplace. Second, organizational structure is fundamental to outcomes. We embedded multidisciplinary CreateFuture teams directly within Fanatics’ organization, including product, engineering, mobile, cloud and delivery leadership. We operated as internal partners, where badges were left at the door, rather than external suppliers. Third, ownership. We assumed responsibility for outcomes, including delivery speed, quality and team well-being. This allowed Fanatics’ leadership to focus on market entry, regulation and customer experience. CreateFuture and Fanatics collaboratively designed and built the market-serving application layer that sat between third-party prediction engines and Fanatics’ customer-facing experience. This included ingesting external market data, maintaining an authoritative state and orchestrating user actions such as order placement, validation, and settlement. While the core prediction engine was provided by a third party, we designed and implemented critical trading mechanics around it. This included order books and execution logic, ensuring predictable outcomes under load, and within regulatory constraints. In five months, Fanatics launched its predictions product, proving that purpose and alignment – not shortcuts – drive innovation. Volume 8: Issue 020

ABOVE: Hass Peymani, head of iGaming at CreateFuture

Considering product delivery, you emphasize embedded teams. Why is this model so effective in iGaming? In traditional consultancy models, friction can arise from handovers, misalignment and delayed decisions. In iGaming, this friction quickly escalates risk at both personal and corporate brand levels. Embedded teams help remove some of these barriers by sharing successes and outcomes. Trust comes from daily accountability and dialogue. For operators facing rapid growth and regulatory complexity, this model supports sustainable scaling rather than short-term acceleration. Is culture important in digital transformation? Culture determines whether technology succeeds or fails. It comes down to people and the culture. Across our wider client base, which includes PayPal, Adidas and the NHS, the same pattern appears. 21

FEATURE: CREATEFUTURE When company culture and leadership behavior aren’t in synch, platform innovation can struggle, engineering talent can become less motivated and transformation stalls. In iGaming, this cultural communication gap can be intensified by regulatory changes, public scrutiny of how gambling companies behave and the rapid pressure of change. Transformation therefore, is fundamentally about behavior change, both at the leadership level, and within product and engineering teams. Listening matters. Empathy matters. Asking difficult questions often leads to better outcomes. With the focus shifting to industrywide innovation, many sports book operators are still navigating digital scale-up. With the expanded World Cup format, how important is it to innovate with predictions? Predictions are a necessity, not a niche or a nice-to-have. It is clear that player demand is driving adoption and, with recent transactions from the big three prediction brands in the United States, not only are players voting, but financial institutions are on board as well. Predictions often spark debate and public outcries, with some industry leaders embracing them, while others remain skeptical. Predictions aren’t meant to replace fixed-odds sports books or threaten the core sports betting experience. The forwardthinking operators see predictions as an added layer of engagement relevant to today’s digital players, not a rival product to fill the 24/7 calendar. Indeed, predictions are similar to fantasy sports or free-to-play pick’em games. These formats already have huge audiences. In the U.S., fantasy sports are expected to surpass $13 billion in annual value by 2025 and 22

reach nearly $24 billion by the end of the decade. Predictions appeal to today’s player behavior, which is the ease of play, social competition, gamification-style leaderboards and emotional buy-in that today’s player wants. Predictions, therefore, add to the sportsbook’s current, native betting experience to provide a complete product portfolio for today’s modern digital bettor. In practice, due to the format and socialization effects, more will enter the funnel, and engagement will be boosted during marquee events like the World Cup. Fixed-odds sportsbooks remain the main driver of revenue, thanks to strong pricing, risk management, and market depth. Predictions can complement this and help drive acquisition, retention, and reactivation. When done right, predictions and fixed-odds betting strengthen one another, rather than compete, offering a one-stop destination of wagering options. How should C-suite leaders approach competitiveness, regulation and trust in the coming cycle? Regulation is a strategic design input, not just a constraint. The strongest operators design for compliance and adaptability from the outset, building trust with key stakeholders. From a leadership standpoint, this really comes down to three fundamentals. Leaders need to be confident that their systems, both internal and partner-led, can respond to regulatory change without creating operational drag or instability. At the same time, decision-making must be grounded in trusted data, with clear ownership and governance, so executives can act quickly and responsibly. Most often – and most overlooked – is company culture. The sportsbettingoperator.com

FEATURE: CREATEFUTURE

pressure of a modern digital business can sometimes mean growth that optimizes for short-term gains and struggles to scale. Those that embed long-term thinking into how teams are led, rewarded and measured are far better positioned to grow sustainably in regulated markets.

Break it down and three things matter. First up is confidence in your technology stack. You need to know your systems, and your partners can adapt to regulatory conditions by anticipating, adapting, and providing strategic product and technical advice in a collaborative outcome. Second is decision integrity

Trust is a very important asset within a people-first business and culture, and it should be reflected in the P&L. Brands that demonstrate consistency and accountability expand faster, form partnerships more easily, and retain customers longer. Those that do not will increasingly struggle to remain relevant and profitable. Leaders must act decisively and embrace proactive transformation, which is now essential to shaping a competitive and longterm future. In terms of regulation, many view it as a business limitation. The marketleading operators don’t just react to compliance. They design it with transparency and adaptability right from day one.

based on data you actually trust, with clear accountability. The third is company culture, the piece everyone forgets. There are many case studies, but brands that focus on short-term metrics rarely scale well or survive. The ones that win are the ones empowering their teams to think long-term and include culture. In a people-first business, trust is hard currency. It eventually shows up on the P&L. Brands that prove they are consistent and accountable are the ones that land partnerships and keep customers. The ones that don’t will find it harder and harder to compete. The time for hesitation is over. C-suite leaders need to push for deliberate transformation now to secure their future.

Volume 8: Issue 020

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FEATURE: 1XBET

WARRIORS OF MONGOLIA

O

From esports underdogs to global CS2 leaders

ver the past three years, the CS2 team

The MongolZ has risen from the ashes, won several big tournaments, secured a silver medal at a major and climbed to the top of global esports. How did a squad from Mongolia, with a population of just 3.5 million people, manage to surpass the most prominent names from far-moredeveloped esports regions so quickly? It began in 2013. At the time, the most popular esports discipline in the country was Dota 2, so the organization’s first roster was built around that game. Two years later, The MongolZ also formed a Counter-Strike lineup – choosing the most popular entertainment among teenagers in Ulan Bator’s Internet cafés. 24

The squad’s first significant achievement was winning Intel Extreme Masters X Taipei in 2016. But the overall results weren’t strong enough to secure a stable position among the top teams. Finally, at the end of 2022, the last players left the team and The MongolZ effectively ceased to exist. The MongolZ story could have ended there. Fortunately, esports support in Mongolia has improved and a new generation of esports athletes, ready to conquer the highest levels, has emerged in the country.

Enter 1xBet The international brand 1xBet believed in the new project and became the official partner of the young squad. The support of 1xBet helped players sportsbettingoperator.com

FEATURE: 1XBET get back on their feet, providing the opportunity to develop and train in Europe, at the best boot camps alongside top teams. Since the roster remained the same, the tournament operator has given The MongolZ permission to replace IHC Esports in the Asian qualifiers for the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023. Just a week after the rebrand, the team completed the task and headed to Paris for their firstever major. The MongolZ’s performance wasn’t outstanding — just one win in the group stage, finishing 20th-22nd. However, the experience was invaluable. Nevertheless, by the end of 2023, The MongolZ had firmly settled around the 20th spot in the HLTV rankings and no longer suffered any significant dips. At the start of 2024, Valve, the developer of Counter-Strike, launched its own official team ranking system. From that moment on, tournament organizers began issuing invitations based on the Valve Global Ranking. The MongolZ immediately landed at a relatively high 25th place. The total prize money earned in 2024 exceeded $1 million, which allowed The MongolZ to enter the top five most

for the MESA Nomadic Masters Spring 2025 tournament. The organizers came up with a unique format and arranged a show match between the current 2025 roster of The MongolZ and the original 2016 generation. It ended in a crushing lead for the younger squad and it seemed the match would be completely one-sided. However, in the second half,

financially successful teams of the season. The cumulative impact of their performances led the squad to break into the Top 10 for the first time in July. They finished in fourth place in the Valve rankings.

Had they won, The MongolZ would have become the first Asian squad in Counter-Strike history to win a major — until then, competitions of this level had been dominated by teams from Europe and the Americas. Even winning silver made The MongolZ a topic of discussion worldwide. Thus, in September, The MongolZ were recognized as the best by both rankings, according to the game developer Valve and the most respected Counter-Strike publication, HLTV, which is a partner of 1xBet. Despite all their achievements, The MongolZ remains a young team with a bright future ahead. All that’s left is to wish Asia’s top squad to turn their ultimate dream into reality and win a major.

National Heroes In February 2025, the achievements of The MongolZ were recognized at the highest level: The players were officially included in the roster of the Mongolia national team. The squad was invited to an official reception with the Minister of Culture, Sports, Tourism & Youth, who assured them of the government’s full support. In the spring, the players surprised Mongolian fans by traveling to Ulan Bator Volume 8: Issue 020

the old guard delivered a streak of five winning rounds, closing the gap. In the first half of the current season, The MongolZ struggled to secure their first title but consistently reached the playoff stage of nearly every tournament they entered. In May, this stability was rewarded as the team broke into the Top Five of the HLTV rankings.

Texas Showdown At the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025’s grand finale, The MongolZ faced the ultimate challenge – the world’s strongest team, Vitality. Due to the time difference with Austin, the grand final began at 3 a.m. Mongolian time and finished in the early morning. Despite this, the entire country supported The MongolZ — fan zones were set up in big Mongolian cities.

25

FEATURE: WORLD CUP

THE BIGGEST BETTING TOURNAMENT EVER

T

Why the World Cup is the most misunderstood commercial opportunity. By Mark McGuinness

he 2026 World Cup

bullish acquisition targets, and

tournament will be shared between Canada, Mexico and the United States in June. It will be bigger, louder and structurally different from anything our industry has seen in the last 30 years. For sports book leaders, the real risk is not missing the upside but fundamentally misreading where betting value is

post-tournament recalibration when expectation and reality fail to align. World Cups matter. They always have. For sports book boards and executive teams they represent a rare convergence of cultural relevance, global attention, and brand salience. Few events promise the same potential for first-time depositors, mass reactivation and short-term

actually created. By the time the opening whistle blows at the FIFA World Cup 2026, it will be my seventh World Cup working on the B2C operator side of the industry. My first was 2002. Over more than two decades, I have experienced the same cycle repeatedly: ambitious forecasts,

revenue acceleration. Yet experience teaches an uncomfortable truth. The World Cup is consistently misunderstood as a commercial engine for sports books. The expanded, 2026 format risks magnifying that misunderstanding rather than correcting it.

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sportsbettingoperator.com

FEATURE: WORLD CUP Bigger Tournaments do not Create Linear Growth On paper, the new World Cup 2026 format looks irresistible. Forty-eight teams. More matches. More days. More content inventory. More opportunities to trade. The implicit assumption is simple: More fixtures should equal more bets, more bettors and more revenue. It’s the Poisson distribution curve, right? But betting behavior does not scale mathematically. It scales emotionally. Across every World Cup I have worked on, one force dominates all others: patriotic betting. Punters overwhelmingly bet with their hearts. They follow their nation, their flag and their collective belief. Rational pricing models, form analysis, and expected value calculations are frequently overridden by national pride and national-team progression. This is not a marginal behavior. It is the primary driver of World Cup betting volume. When a national team progresses, betting activity accelerates. When that team is eliminated, interest drops very sharply and immediately. No CRM flow, bonus mechanic or push notification fully compensates for that emotional cliff edge. An expanded group stage does not dilute this effect. In many markets, it prolongs uncertainty before emotional intensity truly peaks, which can actually suppress engagement in the early phases of the tournament.

Emotion over Logic and some Lessons “Patriotic betting” refers to the tendency of gamblers, often described as patriotic punters, to back their home nation regardless of objective probability. It is emotional, not analytical and I’ve had many an Volume 8: Issue 020

argument with sports-book trading directors on this concept. During major international tournaments, fans bet to express belief as much as to seek return. They are buying hope, identity and shared experience. This behavior has tangible commercial consequences. We have seen numerous examples where a surge of patriotic money materially shifts operator risk. During the Women’s Euro 2025 final, British bookmakers such as Ladbrokes, reported losses after overwhelming support for the England Lionesses paid out. Conversely, when national confidence is low, patriotic betting weakens. In the early stages of Euro 2024, UK betting volumes on England lagged noticeably behind markets such as Portugal and Spain, where belief and not probability, drove betting behavior. The lesson is simple: Betting interest is inseparable from emotional confidence. World Cup formats do not change this. They merely redistribute when – and how intensely – that emotion is expressed … in physical bets placed.

The Problem few Executives want to Discuss The second structural challenge is competitive balance. World Cups generate their strongest betting engagement when matches feel meaningful and uncertain. Tight spreads. Credible underdogs. Narrative tension across social media channels. Expanded tournaments inevitably increase the number of mismatches. Heavy favorites. One-sided fixtures. Odds so short they fail to stimulate meaningful betting depth. A 10–0 scoreline may generate highlight clips but it rarely generates sustainable betting volume. From a trading perspective, these matches 27

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FEATURE: WORLD CUP

produce shallow markets, limited bet diversity and low repeat engagement. They fill schedules. They do not build margin. For leadership teams, this matters because volume without

New Audiences or Cannibalized Spend?

intensity is a poor substitute for value.

simply rearrange existing spend. My experience suggests the latter is far more common. Major tournaments tend to redistribute attention, not create sustained new bettors at scale. Casual users appear briefly, driven by national narratives and sign-up offers, then disappear once those narratives and offers end. Acquisition spikes are often followed by steep drop-offs. Without a deliberate, posttournament migration strategy, World Cup activity frequently cannibalizes existing fixed-odds and sports book spend rather than growing lifetime value.

Fan Backlash = Betting Risk Rising ticket prices and accessibility concerns are often dismissed as fan or media issues as why have seen lately. They are not. Fan sentiment directly influences betting. When supporters feel alienated, priced out or disconnected, their engagement patterns change. They watch differently. They bet differently. Sometimes, they disengage entirely. Sports betting is not insulated from the fan experience. It is an extension of it. A tournament perceived as bloated or over-commercialized risks weakening the emotional energy that fuels betting behavior in the first place. Volume 8: Issue 020

A persistent boardroom question is whether World Cups genuinely expand the betting audience or

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FEATURE: WORLD CUP Predictions, Props and the Illusion of Innovation The growth of prediction markets, micro-bets and alternative engagement formats adds another layer of complexity. These products lower barriers to entry and align well with short attention spans. Why? They feel social, intuitive and accessible. But leaders must ask a harder question: What do they replace? If innovation merely fragments liquidity and diverts spend from higher-margin core products, headline engagement metrics can look healthy while underlying economics quietly erode. Performance alone is not the metric. Displacement matters.

What the Dashboards rarely Show Operational dashboards will track registrations, turnover and bet counts in real time. They rarely reveal: • How emotionally fragile engagement becomes after national elimination • How much World Cup activity is incremental versus inevitable

will underperform despite global hype. Most importantly, it means measuring success beyond tournament-period revenue.

• How little of that behavior survives beyond the final • How sharply value drops once belief disappears World Cups are not traditional acquisition events. They are emotionalamplification events – and amplification cuts both ways.

attention, conversation and calendars. But size is not strategy. Having worked through six previous World Cups, I have learned that sports books are rarely undone by the tournament itself. They are undone by financial assumptions carried into it. World Cups do not fail operators. It is misaligned expectations between the C-suite, marketing teams and trading teams that do. For leaders prepared to challenge the narrative, 2026 World Cup remains a powerful opportunity and just not the one most forecasts suggest. And in the sports book and sports betting industry, built on probabilities, realism remains one of the most under-priced assets we have.

Reframing Strategy For C-level leaders, the opportunity is not to spend more on the World Cup but, in my opinion, to think more clearly about it. That means planning for emotional volatility, not just traffic peaks. It means designing experiences that intensify meaningful moments rather than saturate low-value fixtures. It means accepting that some markets Volume 8: Issue 020

Final Prediction World Cup 2026 will be the biggest tournament in history. It will dominate

31

FEATURE: BOOMERANG

COMING BACK TO BARCELONA

O

Boomerang Partners returns to iGB Affiliate

n January 20 and 21, one of the most

prestigious iGaming affiliate events of the year, iGB Affiliate Barcelona 2026, will take place. Among the 11,000-plus participants will be experts, industry leaders and tech vendors, including Boomerang Partners, one of the leading sports affiliate programs in the market, and the official regional partner of AC Milan. Boomerang Partners will participate in iGB Affiliate Barcelona 2026 with Booth 81-L10. As the company reported, it will be traditionally designed with a focus on sports, in line with its strategic direction. Specifically for the event, Boomerang has timed the launch of its large-scale project, 32

“Sports Marketing & Betting Calendar 2026.” We were able to gain access to it in advance and are sharing with you insights about what this project entails, and how it can benefit sports-focused affiliate teams worldwide.

A Year of Sports For sports affiliate marketing, 2026 is expected to be a prosperous year in opportunities, as it can rightfully be called the Year of Sports. From February 6 to 22, the Winter Olympic Games will be held in Italy. And from June 11 to July 19, the long-awaited FIFA World Cup 2026 will take place in the United States, Canada and Mexico. At the same time, both before, during and after these top-tier events, the sports schedule will be packed to the brim with tournaments in dozens of sports. sportsbettingoperator.com

FEATURE: BOOMERANG These include world championships, continental tournaments, local competitions,and many other events that interest bettors. It is truly a time of opportunities and considering, Boomerang Partners’ sports expertise, its “Sports Marketing & Betting Calendar 2026” has come at precisely the right moment.

A Universal Tool for Sports Affiliates Boomerang Partners’ status as an official regional partner of AC Milan is a testament to its focus on the sports vertical. The company is actively developing in this direction and, in September and October 2025, conducted its first sports traffic tournament, the Golden Boomerang League. After studying the “Sports Marketing & Betting Calendar 2026,” we were convinced that this guide can be called a universal tool for sports affiliate teams at any level of experience, from industry veterans to newcomers. The document contains analytical insights, recommendations for conducting and adapting campaigns based on the tournament stage, advice on utilizing specific promotional tools, and more, all of which can be useful to sports affiliates.

A Kaleidoscope of Sports Events We liked the way Boomerang Partners presented recommendations for sports and esports tournaments in 2026. This information is comfortably formatted in monthly grids, and for top competitions, the company added insights on their popularity in GEOs, as well as traffic-peak forecasts. The corresponding block also highlights the most popular sports/esports for online betting and includes expert insight for each. For example, in MMA Volume 8: Issue 020

and boxing, favorites often have odds of 1.10. This is not interesting for bettors. They look for “value” in specifying: not just victory, but “victory by knockout” (KO/TKO) or “total rounds under.” Considering the explosive growth in esports popularity worldwide, Boomerang Partners also pays attention to guidance on relevant disciplines. So the company shared an interesting insight that in CounterStrike 2 (CS2), a team can be a favorite for the match but be an underdog on a specific map (for example, Nuke or Mirage). Players who understand the meta will bet on “Map 1 Winner” or “Total Maps over 2.5,” expecting mappick trades.

Strategy Adaptation Depending on the Tournament Stage Boomerang Partners presented analytical insights in the guide that are crucial for adapting strategy, depending on the stage of the sports tournament. There can be three such phases: pre-event, live and post-event. Player behavior changes significantly during each of these phases, so sports affiliates must take this into account. For example, it is known that players bet more often in live betting than in pre-match betting, but did you know that national bias intensifies during live play? As indicated in the guide, geographical influence has great importance – users bet actively on their home team, especially when it is winning. It is also essential to mention traffic migration. Although the volume of bets increases during the final stages of tournaments (playoffs, award matches), sports affiliate teams should already be actively preparing for the post-event stage. 33

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sportsbettingoperator.com

FEATURE: BOOMERANG This is because some users seem to freeze after the tournament ends, while experienced bettors move to other tournaments and sports. Therefore, affiliates must prepare for this process by directing experienced players to specific competitions, for example, tennis. Promoting cross-sport markets helps stabilize post-event churn.

At the same time, sports affiliates must regularly review conversion and traffic data to refine audience targeting and the selection of offers.

Industry Trends When planning strategies for 2026, Boomerang Partners also recommends adapting to industry

“Sports Marketing & Betting Calendar 2026” contains many insights that sports affiliates can apply in practice. This concerns various aspects of strategy planning, including launching specific activations for popular live markets, and adapting budgets based on match status or tournament stage. For example, Boomerang Partners recommends not missing strong organic demand during peak events. This will enable sports affiliates to drive ready-to-convert SEO traffic to the operator’s platform, particularly when the product features live streams. We noticed that the guide places high importance on effective

trends. These include quite obvious ones, like the growing popularity of mobile betting and the increase in live betting volume compared to pre-match. But there are other significant trends as well. So, the company notes that localization extends beyond translation. Affiliate campaigns now utilize local slang, sports heroes and currencies to resonate with target audiences. For this reason, affiliate teams must adapt creatives and landing pages for local culture or sports preferences, to maximize conversion and engagement. Considering that the global esports online betting market is projected to surpass $18.5 billion by 2026, the guide suggests paying attention

preparation, which is logical because without competent planning it’s difficult to expect high results. For example, when adapting traffic for different promotion channels, Boomerang Partners recommends conducting the following preparation:

to this direction when planning affiliate strategies. The company recommends promoting campaigns in emerging geographical regions, collaborating with influencers and using localized content to capture the engagement of Gen Z.

• Analyze historical performance and trending sports content • Conduct target-audience segmentation, depending on geographical region, device type and traffic type • Plan push notifications and social media posts to match event buildup • Prepare creatives that will highlight pre-event promos and sign-up bonuses

Details at the Boomerang Partners Booth

Recommendations for Affiliates

Volume 8: Issue 020

Planning to officially present the “Sports Marketing & Betting Calendar 2026” in Barcelona, Boomerang Partners invites exhibition participants to visit their booth to learn more about the project. The guide will also be available for free download on their official website. 35

FEATURE: EASTERN EUROPE

THE CULTURAL DIVIDE

S

Why sports betting habits in Eastern Europe look different from the rest of the world. By Marko Mitevski

ports​wagering is spread worldwide. However, the methods by which people bet, their reasons for betting and how markets are structured differ significantly from one region to another. Eastern Europe – essentially comprising the Balkans, the ex-Soviet republics and the Central European countries – has been quite frequently a little different. The variations in past, regulation, technology usage, trust in society and the unaccounted-for economy result in betting behaviors that are quite different from those in Western Europe, North America or Asia. 36

A Different Regulatory and Market Legacy Over a long period of time, gambling has been liberalized in a large part of Western Europe and North America. Eventually, it was integrated into formal economies through licensing regimes, consumer protections and rules regulating advertising. This institutionalization has made online platforms, credit card staking and regulated advertising the default experience for a large number of bettors. On the other hand, some parts of Eastern Europe have different histories – a mixture of late market liberalization after the collapse of state sportsbettingoperator.com

FEATURE: EASTERN EUROPE monopolies, regulatory frameworks that are not fully developed and a rapid, uneven transition to private markets. In places where regulation was slow, informal or semi-legal, operators were able to fill the gap. Thus they shaped consumer habits that have existed for a long time, in which people are used to dealing with cash, doing transactions in person at shops, and local bookies rather than app-first betting. This uneven regulation explains the presence of some Eastern European bettors who still prefer physical parlors and cash-based ‌systems.

The Social Meaning of Betting Gambling’s social aspect varies from one society to another. In those where there have been state lotteries for a long time or formally regulated betting, gambling can be seen as normal entertainment. On the other hand, in some places betting is still deeply intertwined in the informal social networks – cafés, local clubs, workplace pools – where reputation and trust are the most important things, not corporate brand names. In a lot of Eastern European communities, the social side of the communal act of betting is emphasized so much that wagering is considered as one of the ways of talking. It is a local ritual rather than just a simple transaction. Such a social setup consumes different products and helps operators who have a good personal relationship with their clients – local shops, agents or community bookmakers – rather than faceless, global platforms to be successful.

The Shadow Economy One of the most obvious differences is the continued influence of the shadow economy in some areas of Eastern Europe. Illegal or semi-legal betting Volume 8: Issue 020

operations can be easily turned into money laundering, racketeering and other criminal activities – issues that are less noticeable in tightly regulated markets. In areas where the capacity of the state was weakened due to political transitions, criminals took over gambling to have a new source of income, thus creating the informal infrastructures that are still there. Hence, the first effect of this is that some betting activities are done off regulated platforms and thus on unrecorded, cash-based networks. The second one, however, is that it affects public perception. Thus betting becomes more linked to risk, corruption and the underworld. As a result, this determines the ways and places of betting. A number of recent investigative and policy reports have uncovered money laundering and unlicensed gambling in parts of the Western Balkans.

Media, Sponsorship and Normalization Throughout​Europe, one of the main ways in which the normalization of betting has been carried out is through the sponsorship of sports by betting companies. The presence of betting logos on shirts, stadium hoardings and TV deals is one of the ways in which wagering is becoming a part of sports 37

FEATURE: EASTERN EUROPE fandom. This trend can be seen all over the continent but it has created different dynamics in Eastern Europe. In those markets where consumers had less access to regulated, online platforms, sponsorships were a very powerful tool to create awareness and demand for betting – even though the regulatory framework was not advanced. The influence of wagering companies on the commercial side of clubs and leagues has, in fact, been pointed out as a structural factor that determines the change of fan habits. The latter are becoming inured to betting as a normal way of sports consumption.

Technology Adoption: Uneven but Rapid Mobile wagering is the main reason for the change of the consumer habits worldwide. Thus the speed and the way of the adjustment vary from place to place. For example, in a lot of the Eastern European nations the penetration of smartphones elevated rapidly. However, digital payments and identity-verification infrastructures have not kept up. Therefore a hybrid market has been created in which mobile apps are available, but cash and voucher systems are still widely used. This hybrid situation results in distinctive product preferences. Very

38

small microbets, peer-to-peer bets and locally customized promotions are oftentimes more preferred than the wider, credit-card-driven model, which is usual in other regions. Concurrently, online adoption speeds up dramatically where operators choose to invest in local-language apps and payment workarounds. The resulting image is one of significant local differences instead of one single “Eastern European” ‌standard.

Problematic Gambling Patterns The willingness to take risks based on culture and the social visibility of betting determine the distribution of problems. Research has demonstrated that in countries where there are fewer restrictions on advertising and where there is easy access, younger groups tend to normalize gambling more. This is particularly the case when sports betting is presented as a natural continuation of fan culture. Studies of public health carried out in different regions demonstrate that the prevalence and patterns of problematic gambling depend on the factors that influence them. These include access to gambling, local norms and whether bettors are using regulated channels that provide them with security measures like self-exclusion or deposit limits. sportsbettingoperator.com

FEATURE: EASTERN EUROPE

Why “Culture” Matters more than Stereotypes People often want to simplify the differences between regions by stereotyping. For example, Eastern Europe = a corrupt bookmaker; Western Europe = a well-regulated industry. However, the culture in this area is a complex explanation that involves the past of the state economies, trust in institutions (whether there are regulated markets or not), media practices and the everyday social rituals related to sports. It is possible that two countries next to each other have very different betting ecosystems. Just look at how regulators reacted to liberalization, how quickly digital payments took off, and how local communities discuss risk and ‌reward.

What to Watch If​they are serious about reducing the negative effects of this activity and uniting divided groups, the cultural diagnosis suggests a few practical steps that policymakers should take. Firstly, they should enhance licensing and cross-border cooperation to attract activity from underground operators. Secondly, they should allocate Volume 8: Issue 020

funds for payment and ID systems so that legal apps can operate without problems. Third, they should restrict advertising in areas that disproportionately target children and, finally, they should create consumerprotection measures that correspond to the habits of the local populace.

Summary The​variances in sports betting activities between Eastern European and the rest of the world are not so much due to the different characteristics of the regions. Rather, they are the result of the interaction of history, institutions, technology and social practices. Different betting cultures have adapted to the variations in regulation, digital infrastructure and public messaging in their respective regions. This has produced a range of habits from app-first, regulated play to cash-based, community-centered wagering. Recognizing that complexity is important, efficient policies, safer markets and healthier fan cultures need to be created. And this has to be done according to the realities of each region, rather than being forced from a one-size-fits-all playbook. 39

FEATURE: IBIA

FAIR PLAY Global Betting Integrity in Focus: IBIA Q3 2025 Report

T

he International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) has published its

Q3 2025 Integrity Report, recording 93 suspicious betting alerts across seven sports and five continents. The figures, drawn from IBIA’s Global Monitoring & Alert Platform (Global Map), offer a detailed account of where integrity pressures intensified during the quarter and provide further insight into evolving patterns within the regulated betting market. The data shows that irregular betting activity continues to surface globally. Europe accounted for 38 percent of all alerts, maintaining its position as the region with the highest concentration of reported cases. North America represented 16 percent, followed by South America at 14 percent, Asia at 40

11 percent and Africa at five percent. Another 16 percent of alerts could not be accurately attributed to a single geographical region and are therefore itemized as global. These geographical variations highlight the dispersed nature of integrity risks and reflect the breadth of IBIA’s global network. A sport-level breakdown reveals that tennis, football and table tennis dominated Q3’s alert profile. Tennis generated the highest number of cases, with 28 alerts, including several associated with events outside the main professional tours. Football followed with 23 alerts, spanning tournaments and fixtures across Africa, Europe, North America and South America. Table tennis accounted for 22 alerts, the majority linked to competitions outside International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) sportsbettingoperator.com

FEATURE: IBIA handball each generated two alerts, while boxing accounted for one. The country-by-country distribution, spanning Cameroon, Brazil, Argentina, Japan, Germany, Czechia, the United States and many others, illustrates the global scale at which suspicious activity can emerge. It also underscores the value of crossborder cooperation, driven by IBIA’s responsible, regulated operator members. IBIA’s bespoke Global Monitoring & Alert Platform remains central to these efforts. The association represents 90-plus companies and over 200 betting brands, analyzing customer activity across more than $300 billion in annual betting turnover and monitoring over 1.5 million sports events

oversight. Together, these three sports comprised nearly 80 percent of all alerts for the quarter. Beyond these dominant sports, the report recorded 15 alerts in esports, reflecting the sector’s continued growth and the challenge of monitoring decentralized, transnational events. Basketball and

each year across more than 80 sports. Its services are licensed, approved or recognized in numerous key jurisdictions, including the Netherlands, Germany, Ontario, 32 U.S. states and Brazil. Through this network, IBIA continues to provide evidence-based intelligence to regulators, sports bodies and law-enforcement agencies, forming a critical safeguard against bettingrelated corruption. The Q3 findings reaffirm the global and dynamic nature of betting integrity challenges, with operators and stakeholders increasingly reliant on robust global-monitoring systems to protect consumers, sports, and betting products from suspicious betting activity. With comprehensive data sharing and coordinated action at the heart of its mission, IBIA continues to support a safer, more transparent sports betting environment worldwide. The full Q3 Integrity Report is available at www.ibia.bet.

Volume 8: Issue 020

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FEATURE: IBIA

PROTECTING THE INTEGRITY OF THE GAME Reflecting on IBIA’s second year of athlete-integrity education in Canada. By Jean-François Reymond, IBIA Education Ambassador

T

he International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) and PFA Canada have just completed the second year of their athlete-

integrity-education program together. This milestone marks not only the success of a national initiative but also highlights IBIA’s broader strategy: safeguarding sport and regulated sports betting markets through a prevention-first model rooted in trust, education and collaboration.

Field Notes and Impressions Preventing sports betting-related match-fixing starts with education in the locker rooms. That is why IBIA, supported by members bet365, Betway and FanDuel, committed CA$300,000 to fund athlete-bettingintegrity education in Canada from 2025–27. Over the past two years IBIA and PFA Canada’s sports-integrity Volume 8: Issue 020

ABOVE: IBIA education session delivered with Atletico Ottawa FC

trainers have travelled coast to coast to deliver their “Protecting the Integrity of the Game” athleteeducation workshops from Ontario to Alberta, including stops in Nova Scotia, Manitoba, British Columbia and places in between. In each of the 2024 and 2025 training cycles, nearly 200 players and staff from eight Canadian Premier League (CFL) teams have attended in-person, sports-integrity-education workshops. IBIA’s training model is based on building trust and peerto-peer learning. It helps athletes understand how they can avoid and prevent sports-integrity breaches, including by using the FIFPRO “Red Button” app for anonymously reporting sports-integrity concerns. Having the opportunity to speak directly to a group of 25 professional footballers, many of whom hail from countries all around the globe, at each 43

FEATURE: IBIA

WITH THE GROWTH OF SPORTS BETTING ACROSS CANADA, THIS TRAINING HAS PROGRESSED PFA CANADA’S GOAL OF SUPPORTING ATHLETES AND KEEPING INTEGRITY AND FAIRNESS AT THE HEART OF OUR SPORT. MARCO CARDUCCI, PRESIDENT PFA CANADA, AND CAPTAIN, CAVALRY FC workshop is a fantastic opportunity to spread the sports-integrity message. The program is equipping them with the necessary knowledge and understanding – from the rules and sanctions to how to identify threats, how bet-monitoring technology works, and how to report suspicious approaches. It has been very encouraging to see how the teams and athletes have engaged with this program, taking time to prioritize sports betting integrity during their competitive season, when it matters most. Each session reaffirms the importance of face-to-face communications. Players are posing interesting and challenging questions about what they can and can’t do in various scenarios. They are also sharing and discussing the experiences they and their peers have faced. It reminds me of the conversations we had with athletes in Europe, when we were pioneering the development of athlete-integrity education more than a decade ago, and how new and important this is to the players. 44

ABOVE: IBIA education session delivered with Calvary FC

Why the ‘3Rs’ are Imperative While uncommon, the unfortunate truth is that to corrupt sporting competitions – and financially benefit from defrauding betting markets – the active involvement of athletes or officials is needed. Many athletes, especially those early in their careers, have never been taught about match-fixing, betting rules or how reporting systems work. Without that foundation, they are vulnerable (sometimes entirely unknowingly) to approaches from corrupters. Education campaigns like IBIA’s are fundamental to help building a culture of ethic and respect within the sports ecosystem, and to help protecting athletes’ careers. Since 2010, IBIA – working alongside EU Athletes and the European Commission – has trained over 35,000 professional athletes in Europe. The experience and lessons from those training sessions have been synthesized into IBIA’s tailored, 3Rs training model: sportsbettingoperator.com

FEATURE: IBIA

THE IBIA SPORTS INTEGRITY TRAINING WAS SUPER INFORMATIVE FOR OUR PLAYERS, PROVIDING ESSENTIAL INFORMATION ON THE RULES OF SPORTS BETTING, THE CONSEQUENCES OF BEING INVOLVED, AND WAYS TO REPORT ANY ILLEGAL ACTIVITY. RESOURCES LIKE THE IBIA ARE BEYOND INTEGRAL CALLUM IRVING, CAPTAIN OF VANCOUVER FC • Rules: Explaining the betting and integrity regulations that athletes must understand. • Responsibility: Highlighting athletes’ obligations to safeguard their sport. • Reporting: Providing safe, confidential ways to report approaches and concerns. These three principles form the backbone of every IBIA education program, but the content is always adapted to the needs of different countries and sports. Just as IBIA designed the “Protecting the Integrity of the Game” initiative alongside PFA Canada, we are excited to be in discussions with other Canadian sports and jurisdictions to expand this important educational activity. Volume 8: Issue 020

ABOVE: IBIA education session delivered with Forge FC

Why Trust Matters One of the most important lessons learned globally by IBIA is that the messenger matters as much as the message. Although I was a professional basketball player for 12 years, I was a much better union organizer. One thing I learnt in those years about the psyche of professional athletes is fundamental to how IBIA approaches integrity education today: the importance of trust. Quite simply, if the message is not delivered by someone athletes trust, it will not get through. That is why IBIA works with ex-athletes, coaches and player-association staff – people with first-hand experience of elite sport, and who understand the concerns and challenges players face. 45

FEATURE: IBIA

IN A WORLD WHERE GAMBLING IS ACCESSIBLE AS EVER, IT’S IMPORTANT WE GIVE PLAYERS THE EDUCATION ABOUT HOW TO MITIGATE THE RISKS AND MAINTAIN THE INTEGRITY OF OUR SPORT JOSH HEARD, CAPTAIN, PACIFIC FC

Anybody who has spent time in a sports locker room knows that a corporate presenter with a slide deck isn’t going to work. Athletes need to relate to and trust the person to whom they’re speaking. PFA Canada is an essential partner in this effort. As the representative voice of professional footballers in the country, it already has the relationships, access and credibility needed to engage players meaningfully. Its presence created an atmosphere of trust and openness from the outset. Our work with PFA Canada has reinforced the value of partnering with organizations that represent players. Their close connection with athletes helps ensure that the message is delivered effectively, as players feel more comfortable and confident from the beginning. 46

ABOVE: IBIA education session delivered with Pacific FC

Honest Exchanges IBIA’s train-the-trainer model also enables PFA Canada to continue providing consistent education throughout the season, at the right times and in the right environments … such as the locker room, where players are most at ease. Ultimately, that trust is what encourages honest conversation, questions and — crucially — reporting. After all, if a player doesn’t feel safe coming forward, even the best reporting system in the world won’t make a difference. These are insights and experiences that IBIA will carry into 2026. As we extend the “Protecting the Integrity of the Game” initiative into a third year, we greatly look forward to further safeguarding past participants of the program, as well as bringing the message to new athletes and new sports. sportsbettingoperator.com

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