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LISBON 2026

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Fighting Talk Savvas Fellas says Mr Q is thriving despite tax pressures

Mischief Making Paul Mallon on Paddy Power’s World Cup

Beyond Games Founder Alexandre Tomic on Alea’s evolution into a supplier of sportsbooks, sweepstakes and more Also featuring: Betsson, Boyle Sports, Flutter, Gaming1, Novibet and more 1

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EDITOR’S NOTE

Pleased to meet you

h, there’s some characters in this issue! None more so than our cover star, Alea Founder Alex Tomic. Mr Q CEO Savvas Fellas is another. As a journalist, it’s a joy to interview such charismatic leaders. It is refreshing to speak to such fearless characters and I’m sure they are inspiring to work for. Such fearlessness goes hand in hand with founding a business, of course. Founders are usually passionate people and being smart goes with the territory as well. However, being smart, fearless, passionate and charismatic does not always make you a good manager – as many other founding fathers and mothers have found out eventually. It’s impossible to know from the outside, but you get the impression that Fellas and Tomic are grounded enough not to let their confidence spill over into arrogance and have the emotional intelligence to stop their charisma spilling into the kind of bullying behaviour that can accompany the alpha male business leader. Not everyone moves as fast as these superstars. And that’s good too. I’m sure there are individuals working at Alea and Mr Q whose job it is to apply the brakes occasionally. It’s a team game. Another of our charismatic interviewees is Paul Mallon, who is a former Head of Mischief at Paddy Power and has returned to the Irish bookmaker to sprinkle his marketing magic. Reading Mallon’s interview, his clear-thinking strategic genius is evident but it’s also interesting to hear him crediting the finance team,

the procurement professionals, and the lawyers who lay down the turf upon which his fairy dust sparkles. These essential worker bees might be more shy coming forward to be interviewed – and their PR value might not seem as obvious to their comms colleagues – but their insights and expertise are as valuable to their organisations, to the industry, and to us. At SBC Leaders, we aim to highlight their achievements and share their knowledge too – the slightly reclusive maths genius, the introverted techie, the thoughtful HR guru, the annoyingly details-focused compliance chief… Without wanting to sound too much like a lottery advert, it could be you! As we gather for the SBC Summit in Lisbon, power of our community should be obvious. Every community has heroes of different skillsets and personalities. And as we try to reflect the power and enhance the benefits of that community online and in print, we want to feature all those heroes. So step forward, introduce yourself. I look forward to meeting you in Lisbon! Steve Hoare, Editor, SBC Leaders

The SBC Leaders Magazine is brought to you by SBC - Sports Betting Community: Editorial Team: Andrew McCarron, Craig Davies, Ted Menmuir, Joe Streeter, Conor Porter, Charlie Horner, Patrick Killeen, Leonardo Biazzi, Adam Candee, Fernando Noodt Molins, Callum Williams, Viktor Kayed, Martyn Elliott, Lucia Gando, Ted OrmeClaye, Steve Hoare, Justin Byers, James Ross, Louis Thompsett, Kieran O’Connor, Christian Lee, Tom Nightingale, Elisa Marcante, Ana Maria Menezes, Rachael Kennedy Sales Team: John Cook, Rasmus Sojmark, Alyona Gromova, Conall McCabe, Jan Kowalczyk, Camilla Scott, Bob McFarland, Craig Brown, Ed Young, Annabel Selvadurai Creative Lead | Design and Layout: Jessica Camilleri

SBC LEADERS ISSUE 41

20 Mr Q.

06 People

Vaughan Lewis of TEISE Advisory reflects on a life in gambling; plus new BetConstruct CEO Lena Yasir steps into the hot seat

28 Flutter

20 Spotlight: Mr Q CEO Savvas Fellas

Charismatic CEO Savvas Fellas on how the casino you love to hate is thriving despite UK tax increases

14 Spotlight: Paddy

118 Interview:

Marketing guru Paul Mallon assesses the Irish bookmaker’s glorious World Cup campaign

Former Minister and current CEO on how to beat the black market

Power’s Paul Mallon

Beata Stelmach of Totalizator Sportowy

66 Alea

122 Finance Focus: BetPlay Capital’s Tomasz Juroszek Finding investment opportunities in turbulent times

130 Final word:

with Rasmus Sojmark

SBC Founder looks back on a unique World Cup experience

© 2026 Sports Betting Community Limited. All rights reserved. All content in this publication, including articles, photographs, and other materials, is protected by copyright under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The copyright in all materials in this publication is owned by Sports Betting Community Limited or its licensors. You may not reproduce, distribute, or otherwise use any of the content without the express written permission of Sports Betting Community Limited (SBC), except as permitted by law. For permissions or licensing inquiries, please contact sales@sbcgaming.com. The views in the publication are not necessarily the views of SBC or those of the advertisers. Although every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, SBC cannot be held responsible for any errors it may contain. In no event shall SBC be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or exemplary damages, including but not limited to, damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data, or other intangible losses (even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages), resulting from the use or the inability to use the material contained in this publication. Produced and published by Sports Betting Community Limited REGISTERED ADDRESS: SBC, 2nd Floor, 212 New Kings Road, London, SW6 4NZ EMAIL: sales@sbcgaming.com | WEB: www.sbcgaming.com & www.sbcleaders.com

Contents PLAYER PROTECTION

27 Column: Much

ado about something

Steve Hoare on the affordability debate raging in the UK

28 Interview: Rich Clarke of Flutter

UK & Ireland Product Director on the company’s Centre of Excellence for Customer Safety

34 Interview:

Gaming1’s Thibault Collard

Compliance chief on the Belgian operator’s personalisation of responsible gambling

38 Interview: Arizona

regulator Jessica Roza

The South West US state is offering responsible gambling training to its citizens

SPORTS BETTING

43 Column: UK

seeks retail therapy

Ted Menmuir looks at the sad state of the UK’s landbased sector

44 Interview: Santiago Gandara of BetWarrior

How a bunch of ex-PokerStars execs took on Argentina

48 Interview: Coolbet COO Tomas Graham

LatAm and North European specialist on new era with Sega Sammy

56 Interview: FIRST.

88 Interview: Gabriel

Founder and CEO on how to be a tier one operator

Director of Product dives into deep pool of data, AI and analytics

bet’s Tom Light

60 Interview:

Novibet CTO Yiannis Stavroulas

Greek operator on how to pass the Brazil test

CASINO

65 Column:

The UK’s tax troubles

Joe Streeter on the changing face of the UK market after a quarter of increased taxes

66 Cover Story: Alexandre Tomic of Alea

Charismatic Founder on adding sweepstakes, sports betting and more to its platform

72 Interview: Betsson COO Kevin Saliba

COO looks at the complexities of operating in multiple regulated markets

92 Interview:

Alex Cohen of Kalamba Games

COO looks back for inspiration on taking the sector forward

96 Interview:

Kanggiten’s Viktor Cherkas

CEO extolls the virtues of a testing culture

100 Thought

Leadership: Pateplay’s Giorgi Aleksandrov

New CEO outlines what’s next for supplier

104 Thought

Leadership: Andrzej Hyla of Wazdan

CCO highlights the learnings from work with bet365 and Betsson

PAYMENTS

76 Interview: Games

109 Column:

Former Genesis Gaming CEO on the first year of a new name in aggregation

Louis Thompsett makes a plea for collaboration in the fight against fraud

Valley CEO Ariel Reem

80 Interview: Joss

Webster of GAMOMAT

Head of Commercial looks at the evolving role of suppliers

52 Thought leadership:

84 Interview: Markus

Sports data expert begs operators to look beyond the marketing spiel

Director of Global Sales & Marketing on how to maximize margins

DATA.BET CEO Yurii Berest

Kolawole of Hub88

Antl of Greentube

Sharing fraud

110 Interview:

Boyle Sports’ Matthew Greenman

Global Head of Fraud and Payments on a decade on the front line

114 Interview: Rolands Grancovskis of TheLotter Group Head of Payments on stablecoins, MiCA and more

PEOPLE

SBC LEADERS ISSUE 41

My Life IN Gambling VAUGHAN LEWIS

TEISE Advisory Founder and Managing Director VAUGHAN LEWIS surveys a career spent shaping the size and shape of SkyBet, PokerStars, Flutter and 888 Interview by STEVE HOARE

Morgan Stanley: 2004-2017 It was really early days for the internet and shortly after I joined, 888 and Sportingbet became the first two online gambling companies to list on the Stock Exchange. Normally when you join a bank you spend a couple of years in the background but I’m quite pushy, I guess. And when these floated I said I want to do them. Sportingbet was the first one I covered with Nigel Payne and Andy MacIver at the helm. They were in the US having just bought Paradise Poker… It was a fairly simple investment case: the internet is booming, these guys talk about month-on-month growth not year-on-year growth, the valuation is cheap, and it also pays dividends. What’s not to like? Now, it’s obvious that the regulation is what’s not to like… Sky Betting & Gaming: 2017-2018 I built a small team fairly quickly, working for CFO Ian Proctor on the IPO. We looked at all options – trade sale, merger,

acquisition or IPO. It got to within a few days of the intention to float. All the analysts had written their notes and had their presentations ready to show investors… And then the Stars acquisition was announced on a Saturday and I had to ring round all the analysts on a Saturday and apologise! The Stars Group: 2018-2020 Throughout the summer of 2018, just after PASPA was repealed, Robin Chhabra [Chief Corporate Development Officer] and I flew around the US with a little bag and a couple of presentations meeting the sports leagues, the casinos and the media companies to explain how sports betting works and how it can benefit all participants. We ended up with the market access and media partnership for what became FoxBet. After that I spent a lot of time with CEO Rafi Ashkenazi and CFO Brian Kyle in Toronto and New York explaining the business to lenders and shareholders.

The Flutter acquisition came very quickly after SkyBet was acquired. I took on the CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) process. Dan Taylor was representing Flutter and I was representing Stars Group sitting in front of the CMA – a bit like getting grilled in court. After that, the world went into lockdown. We had to navigate that and make sure the deal still went through – without any sports betting. Flutter Entertainment: 2020 I agreed to work with Dan to build out the Flutter international strategy – primarily Betfair international and most of PokerStars, plus a few other bits and pieces like Adjarabet. We created a plan for that and they have massively accelerated that since, with the acquisition of local heroes like Sisal, SNAI and Betnacional. But I don’t want to oversell what I did on that because I left halfway through.

PEOPLE

Leaders making moves

888 Holdings/Evoke: 2021-2025 We did a fairly quick strategic review, where we found the business was overexposed to grey, pre-regulated markets and under-exposed to sports betting and strong, sustainable positions in regulated markets. Maybe a month after I started, Caesars put all the non-US assets of William Hill up for sale. It fitted almost perfectly with what we agreed we needed but there were other issues – not least the fact that 888 was a $1bn business and Hills was a $2bn business. It was a groundbreaking deal: a big reverse takeover, a very complex deal with debt and equity, even on the original plan the leverage was going to be bigger than any deal done before in the UK.

Flutter Entertainment has appointed International CEO and President Dan Taylor as its new group CEO to succeed Peter Jackson, who is stepping down at the end of September. Former Leboncoin and Adevinta CEO Antoine Jouteau has been appointed CEO of Banijay Gaming, the owner and operator of Betclic and Tipico. Nicolas Béraud, founder of Betclic Group and CEO of the betting brand from 2016-2025, will remain Chairman of the Banijay Gaming board, with Joachim Baca continuing as VIce-Chairman. Continent 8 Technologies has appointed Mike Small, President of Akkodis North America and US country president of The Adecco Group, as its new CEO to succeed Founder Michael Tobin, who steps into the role of Chairman after 28 years as chief executive. Rank Group has appointed interim CEO and former CFO Richard Harris as permanent CEO, following the January departure of former chief executive John O’Reilly. Novig has appointed former Underdog VP of responsible gaming Adam Warrington as SVP of external affairs, overseeing responsible trading and communications. Scientific Games CEO Pat McHugh has retired after more than 20 years at the company, with Vice Chair Kevin Schneider becoming interim CEO. Allwyn UK COO Chris Lyman is leaving for a role in consultancy. Charlotte Emery has stepped down from her role as CMO at Entain. Tekkorp Capital founder and non-executive Chairman Matt Davey will become Chair of Bragg Gaming Group following the completion of its acquisition of US-focused betting business Drayton International. Tekkorp owns around 10% of Bragg.

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PEOPLE

After we announced the deal and before we could close it, the William Hill business went into a Gambling Commission licence review, which became public in April 2022. That, alongside the macro backdrop, made it very difficult to issue debt or equity, and the terms were renegotiated with Caesars. The enterprise value came down by £250m and the cash payable at completion fell by £250m. We ended up placing about £160m of equity, when the original plan had been around £500m. Over the same period the Ukraine war started, inflation spiked, and central bank rates went from close to zero to three or four per cent. Debt that was supposed to cost 4 or 5% on around £1.6bn ended up costing 8 or 9% on £1.8bn. Interest went

from a planned £60–70m to over £150m, and ultimately ended up costing almost £180m a year. So the plan changed significantly. Then the Netherlands closed, Germany re-regulated, Russia and neighbouring countries closed, and stricter compliance requirements on the Gibraltar licence led to significant change in the 888 dot.com business – primarily in the Middle East. That had a massive impact on the 888 cash flow. Around the same time CEO Itai Pazner and CFO Yariv Dafna left, the chairman Jon Mendelsohn took over as interim CEO and Kenny Alexander decided to put in a bid for the company, which took up a massive amount of time before the Gambling Commission put a stop to it.

My Life OUTSIDE Gambling I placed my first bet when I was four-years-old. Racing was always around growing up. My dad loved it. He built a chain of estate agents and sold it to one of the national chains and bought a bunch of racehorses. Then he dragged me around all the courses, which is how I got into it. We briefly had horses at home when I was about eight and I rode until I was 13 or 14. I started again when my daughter got into riding, when she was about four. I remembered it being fun and thought I would have a go. Now, we have four horses – two retired racehorses and two Irish cobs, which I ride as much as I can.

The first stake I took in a racehorse was Red Not Blue (Liverpool not Everton) in 2010. Now, we have a mare in foal and another foal up the road. I’ve only got a share of one racehorse in training at the moment. I’ve kinda shifted from owning racehorses to being a retirement home and a breeding home. Racing is the main way I got into betting and into the industry I did. My kids are 17 and 15, so I spend a fair amount of time taxiing them around. We all play tennis. We have a very nice village pub. So my time is split between muay thai, the gym, horseriding, tennis, taxiing the kids around, work and the pub. And the occasional holiday! That’s about it.

Per Widerstrom then took over as CEO and Yariv left, which meant I stepped in as interim CFO. I was building the threeyear strategy plan and the budget. That period was very busy. I wasn’t really speaking to anyone outside the business and was quite grumpy. When I left the business was on an improving trajectory until the UK budget, which was a massive sideswipe equal to roughly £2 a share. TEISE Advisory: 2025-present I’m working for boards on strategic reviews, market entry plans, M&A plans… Having set up 888Africa, I’m also spending about half my time in Africa. There’s growth to come there. You can invest with a lot of confidence. It’s going really well.

PEOPLE

SBC LEADERS ISSUE 41

Taking the helm BetConstruct’s new CEO LENA YASIR on AI, consolidation and navigating tighter margins Words by CHARLIE HORNER

PEOPLE

When costs and taxes increase, operators need to make smarter decisions. They need better data, stronger CRM, better reporting and more efﬁcient systems

etConstruct appointed Lena Yasir as CEO in June as the company entered a new phase of its development. After almost 20 years in senior commercial roles at companies including Evolution, Pragmatic Play and Play’n GO, Yasir is ready for the next step of leading a business through one of the industry’s most challenging periods. “The timing felt right,” she says. “I’ve spent many years working closely with operators and understanding what they need from their technology partners.” That understanding comes at a pivotal moment. Regulatory pressure, tax increases and rising operating costs are squeezing margins across many jurisdictions. “Operators are facing more regulation, higher costs, stronger competition and more pressure to grow profits,” Yasir explains. “I felt this was the right time to come to BetConstruct and help them by being more clientfocused in a true partnership.”

complexity created by expanding technology stacks. “Many operators are using too many systems, suppliers and integrations. That slows them down,” she says. “They need to launch faster, adapt to regulation, manage costs, retain players and protect profitability.” BetConstruct’s answer is consolidation. By bringing sportsbook, casino, CRM, AI, payments, risk management and platform services together, the company aims to reduce technical overheads while allowing operators to focus on growth. “Our goal is to reduce complexity, help operators move faster and give them technology that supports their growth.” Yasir’s priorities are sharpening the company’s commercial focus, improving the partner experience, expanding in regulated markets and using AI to improve retention, personalisation, risk management and profitability.

Simplifying complexity Yasir’s career has centred on helping operators grow revenue, expand into new markets and strengthen commercial relationships. “Operators need strong products, fast support, flexibility, trust, accountability and partners who understand their business.” Her immediate focus is helping operators reduce the

AI with purpose Artificial intelligence has become central to the industry’s future, but Yasir believes its value lies in practical application rather than hype. “AI can help operators understand players better, recommend the right games or offers, identify churn, improve support response times and detect unusual behaviour.”

“

It is also helping BetConstruct improve internal efficiency. “But the goal is not to use AI simply because it’s a trend,” she says. “The goal is to use AI responsibly in ways that improve operator performance and the player experience.” Europe’s regulatory challenge Europe illustrates the pressures facing operators perfectly. Recent tax increases and regulatory reforms across multiple markets have significantly increased the cost and complexity of doing business. “Europe is becoming more challenging,” Yasir says. “Regulation is stricter and operators need to be much more careful with compliance. Responsible gaming and marketing requirements continue to grow.” She believes technology can help operators offset those pressures. “When costs and taxes increase, operators need to make smarter decisions. They need better data, stronger CRM, better reporting and more efficient systems.” “I believe strong technology partners will become even more important in regulated markets.” Latin America’s localisation opportunity While Europe presents challenges, Yasir views Latin America as one of the industry’s biggest growth opportunities.

PEOPLE

SBC LEADERS ISSUE 41

Career history

Markets such as Peru, Mexico and Colombia continue to attract international investment, but success depends on understanding local consumer behaviour rather than treating the region as a single market. “Latin America has enormous growth potential, but success depends on localisation, compliance, retention and long-term brand trust.” Operators need local payment methods, relevant content, mobile-first experiences and CRM strategies tailored to individual markets. “We need local knowledge, local payments, local content, a good mobile experience and strong CRM.” BetConstruct has invested in regional expertise to support operators entering Latin America through both turnkey solutions and standalone products. “Our strategy is to localise properly with local teams, local content and a deep understanding of what works in each market.”

2026-date: BetConstruct Chief Executive Officer 2018-2026: Pragmatic Play VP, Malta and Chief Commercial Officer, UAE 2016-2018: Play’n Go Head of Commercial, Malta 2013-2016: Evolution Gaming Key Account Manager, Malta 2008-2013: Ongame Network Account Manager, Sweden 2007: NITIX International Business Development Manager, Canada 2003-2007: Electronics Workbench, a National Instruments Company North American Sales Manager, Canada

Brazil’s balancing act No Latin American market has attracted more attention than Brazil. Its regulated betting market has become one of the industry’s biggest opportunities thanks to its population of more than 200 million, sporting culture and mature pre-regulation betting sector. “The opportunity is very big in Brazil,” Yasir says. “The population is large, and there is a strong interest in sports and digital entertainment.” Yet she acknowledges that operators must navigate licensing, payments, taxation and evolving regulation. “It’s also a very complex market.” As competition intensifies, Yasir believes success will depend less on marketing spend and more on operational excellence. “Operators will need more than big marketing budgets. They’ll need strong products, local payment options, good CRM, responsible gaming tools and reliable technology.” “BetConstruct can support operators with the technology and flexibility they need to grow in Brazil.” For Yasir, the challenge is consistent across markets: helping operators simplify increasingly complex businesses while protecting profitability. As margins tighten and regulation accelerates, technology providers need to evolve with them – and Yasir is the next stage in the evolution of BetConstruct.

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SPOTLIGHT

SBC LEADERS ISSUE 41

Making headlines Head of Brand and former Head of Mischief PAUL MALLON reveals how Paddy Power won the World Cup Words by TED MENMUIR

ell, it ended in a drab 1-0 win for Spain over Argentina… Once more it hasn’t come home for England as the curtain closes on the FIFA World Cup 2026 and all its affairs. In the aftermath, we reflect on the main narratives of World Cup 2026, was it football’s greatest ever show? Probably not… but it was certainly its most chaotic, all-consuming and politically charged tournament. For 40 days, football existed in a state of bedlam across North and Central America. It jumped from one flashpoint to another: from consternation over travel visas to FIFA’s relentless drive to commercialise every opportunity (take your pick from $80 bus fares to hydration/advert breaks). The chaos reached a boilingpoint following Donald Trump’s extraordinary intervention over a controversial USA red card, renewed accusations over officiating standards, and FIFA allowing a 30-minute half-time show to break up the (admittedly tedious) World Cup Final. Yet it’s that beautiful chaos that captivates audiences, who fixated

on Messi’s enduring brilliance, Germany losing on penalties, the fire and the fury of the Azteca, Cabo Verde’s heroics, Neymar’s tears, and so on and so forth. On reflection for bookmakers the challenge was never about pricing markets correctly but capturing the moments of football’s cultural exchange programme and learnings in North America. Though most bookmakers reserved budget for the marquee event, only one incumbent embraced and emboldened its brand… that was Paddy Power. Returning hero For Paul Mallon, Paddy Power’s Head of Brand, the tournament reaffirmed a belief that has shaped the bookmaker’s marketing philosophy for decades: the brands remembered after the final whistle are rarely those that shouted the loudest, but those that found a narrative. “If storytelling is a forgotten competence,” Mallon tells SBC Leaders, “it’s because we’ve lost ourselves in the fight for instant results in performance

marketing. But this World Cup has shown that storytelling is alive and well.” His thoughts are a striking assessment (perhaps even a damning indictment) of modern marketing. Across betting, brands have become increasingly accountable to dashboards, attribution models and customer acquisition costs, rewarding campaigns that convert in minutes rather than ideas that linger in memory. Yet football’s biggest tournament continues to operate by different rules. Every World Cup creates its own mythology in the heroes and villains that are cast, controversies that will become folklore and unexpected victors that capture the spotlight. For Mallon, the role of a brand is not to interrupt those stories but to become part of them. “We go into these big sports events and the narratives beforehand tend to be dominated by scare stories and fearmongering,” he says. “What we have once again been shown is that elite sport will mostly come out on top.”

SPOTLIGHT

“

If storytelling is a forgotten competence, it’s because we’ve lost ourselves in the ﬁght for instant results in performance marketing For the love of the game Before a ball had even been kicked, the World Cup had been criticised for its expanded 48-team format, concerns over climate and athlete wellbeing, and fears that six weeks of football would dilute the spectacle. Instead, it delivered a

relentless stream of moments that no marketer could have scripted. “We feared more teams and a longer schedule, but it’s been an epic World Cup,” Mallon reflects. “From underdog narratives with Cabo Verde to Messi defying gravity once more, there’s been plenty of good stuff.”

For Paddy Power, those moments became opportunities not to sell bets, but to reinforce the brand’s personality. Rather than treating the World Cup as 40 days of promotional activity, the bookmaker sought to become betting’s voice in football’s daily conversation.

SPOTLIGHT

SBC LEADERS ISSUE 41

PAUL MALLON in proﬁle Narrative, pitching and storytelling have defined Paul Mallon’s career. He began as an on-the-beat reporter in Dublin for the Irish Daily Star, before spending more than a decade in journalism honing the craft of finding stories that resonated with audiences. That grounding led him to Paddy Power, where he joined as Editorial Manager before rising through the bookmaker’s marketing ranks and eventually assuming the famous Head of Mischief role. Mallon learned the disciplines of campaign execution, brand management and reactive marketing that would come to define the bookmaker’s distinctive voice.

In 2021, Mallon departed to become Head of Special Ops at London creative agency Lucky Generals, collaborating between creative and strategy teams on campaigns for clients including GambleAware and the Labour Party. He then moved to a brand strategy role at Champion in 2024. Mallon returned to Paddy Power as Head of Brand the following year, bringing with him a renewed belief that the most effective campaigns are rarely those backed by the biggest budgets. Instead, they are built on strong narratives, cultural relevance and the confidence to take calculated creative risks.

SPOTLIGHT

The distinction explains why Paddy Power’s marketing continues to stand apart from rivals. The bookmaker has spent decades cultivating a brand that behaves less like an operator, and more like a fan – be it in football, sports, politics or entertainment. “Many brands can broadcast a message out there, but that won’t drive an emotional response,” Mallon says. “We want our customers to think, ‘YES, PADDY!’” “We’re a sports brand. We bloody love the game. We want our customers to know we feel that connection.” From WhatsApp to Westminster Mallon’s philosophy underpinned some of the tournament’s most talked-about bookmaker campaigns. Case in point: Jude Bellingham. England’s star player continued to dominate headlines wearing the iconic Number 10 shirt. Paddy Power quickly acted on the opportunity to juxtapose Bellingham’s exploits with political upheavals at Number 10 Downing Street, as Keir Starmer was forced to resign as Prime

Minister following a mutiny among his Labour colleagues. In less than 24 hours, Paddy launched its “New Number 10” campaign [see photo below] across front pages and digital billboards, cheekily suggesting England’s playmaker was outperforming Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. “It went from WhatsApp to Westminster in a couple of hours,” Mallon recalls. The campaign was executed in an effortless manner and once more demonstrated Paddy Power’s discipline to react to current affairs, judge the public mood and transform idea to concept to full scale marketing campaign. “Once you crack the line – done in about an hour over a flurry of WhatsApps – it was quick decision-making and working with our media partners to make sure it could be placed in the right editorial environments.” Yet execution and results are only possible because the groundwork has already been done. “We’ve been doing this since 1988,” Mallon explains. “It involves finance, procurement, legal and an army beyond marketing who don’t often get the credit.”

Reactive marketing, he argues, is frequently misunderstood as spontaneous creativity. Yet in reality, the work resembles that of a choreographed orchestra with Mallon as playing the role of conductor. “It’s always a flurry of emails, calls, WhatsApps and it’s rarely a perfect linear process. But it is rigorous and always part of our strategy, so we’re built for it.” Just as importantly, it depends upon trust of his team and capabilities to deliver. “You need the big dogs at the top to come with you on the idea. The grown-ups at Paddy Power are brilliant in terms of trusting the teams. Trust is such a big aspect.” While many betting firms encourage marketing creativity in principle, few are built on it and do not want to take any risk on building their brands, Mallon is equally candid that not every idea survives but it is good to have those goofball moments. “There’s also a hell of a lot of material on the cutting room floor.” The polemics of World Cup 2026 also demonstrated where Paddy Power draws the line.

SPOTLIGHT

SBC LEADERS ISSUE 41

“

You need the big dogs at the top to come with you on the idea. The grown-ups at Paddy Power are brilliant in terms of trusting the teams

Mixing football and politics Football and politics inevitably collided throughout the tournament, whether through Donald Trump’s intervention in the USA’s controversial red card, debates over FIFA’s governance, or broader questions surrounding the commercial direction of the sport. Paddy Power proved willing to enter those conversations, but only on its own terms. Its subsequent “VARgentina” campaign, ahead of England’s semi-final against Argentina, played on supporters’ frustrations with video officiating rather than attacking the opposition directly, tapping into a narrative already dominating fan discussion during the tournament. Once more the creative showed the brand’s instinct for amplifying existing conversations rather than manufacturing

artificial ones. Yet Mallon rejects the suggestion that provocation comes without restraint. “We pick our conversations carefully,” he says. “We go through a variety of stakeholders to make sure we’re playing safe, we’re playing fair and not unduly taking sides.” Mallon views that discipline as Paddy Power’s least appreciated marketing asset. The brand has built a reputation for irreverence, but irreverence with no judgement simply becomes recklessness and can backfire in costly ways. Every campaign passes through legal, commercial and executive scrutiny before reaching the public as though reactive to elements, all campaigns come under the biggest scrutiny at Paddy Power HQ. Ultimately, Mallon believes creativity only works when

it can connect commercial fundamentals – factors that are not mutually exclusive or elusive to one another. “Paddy Power has huge, challenging targets to hit,” he says. “Having a noisy thinking toolbox has been part of our strategy for a long time.” Beneath the headlines sits what he describes as “a finely tuned marketing, commercial and product engine”, one capable of turning brand attention into longterm customer value. “As long as we have the business fundamentals and core customer propositions running smoother than the Spanish midfield, then you can create the noise at the top,” he says. “If you’re just creating the noise at the top, without the fundamentals in place, then you just look like you’re running around setting fire to bins.”

SPOTLIGHT

SBC LEADERS ISSUE 41

BATTLE CRY

Britain’s biggest gambling tax increase in a generation was supposed to sound the death knell for small and mid-size casino operators. MrQ CEO SAVVAS FELLAS begs to differ

hen Chancellor Rachel Reeves unveiled sweeping increases to UK gambling taxation last November, the industry response was almost universal. Higher costs would squeeze margins, accelerate consolidation and strengthen the largest operators. The perceived wisdom was that the likes of Entain and Flutter would have the scale and balance sheets to absorb the additional tax burden and they would gobble up their smaller rivals. By the time the new tax regime came into force on 1 April, many operators had already begun cutting marketing budgets, reviewing headcount and reassessing growth plans. Three months into the new regime, however, Savvas Fellas appears remarkably relaxed. “It’s one of those things we cannot control,” he says with characteristic bluntness. “We don’t want to waste too much of our energy crying over spilled milk. It’s

spilled. It’s done. We had a good plan in the moment. We executed with finesse and speed. We made all the right changes.” The results, he says, have justified that approach. “We’re ahead of all our numbers.” The company boosted revenue by 60% from 2024 to 2025 and Fellas expects to beat that in 2026, with revenue growth expected to be between 60 and 70% between 2025 and 2026. “People think because the tax has gone up your growth should slow down. They’re two completely different things. You can grow loads irrespective of whether the tax is 20% or 40%. You still have to pay the tax, but your growth shouldn’t have slowed down because of it.” Indeed, MrQ continues to grow substantially faster than the wider market, something Fellas attributes partly to competitors becoming more cautious.

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“If a high-tier operator pulls back on Meta, pulls back on Google, that has an impact on acquisition costs. Some businesses are probably saying, ‘The juice isn’t worth the squeeze. Let’s stop feeding the top of the funnel and just extract more margin from the customers we’ve already got.’ That’s their decision. We’re the opposite. You have to keep feeding the funnel.” Rather than worrying about competitors or government policy, he says, the company concentrated entirely on the things it could influence. “We try not to get hung up on things we can’t control. Tax is definitely one of those. So go crack on. Get better value out of your players. Give them better experiences. Give them fewer reasons to leave. Innovate your product. Innovate what it means to sell entertainment. If you do those things, everything else follows.”

At the moment everyone seems to be saying the UK isn’t worth it anymore. Fine. Let them. We’ll just get our heads down and steal market share

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Four levers MrQ’s response to the tax increase centred on pulling four commercial levers. The first was recruitment. The company had around 60 planned hires on its roadmap, but instead of imposing blanket cuts, every position was reviewed individually.

SPOTLIGHT

“We looked at every role one by one. Do we need this? Can we survive without it? Some roles were non-negotiable. Others weren’t cancelled, they were simply ‘not now’.” The second decision was one many casino operators had already taken months earlier: reducing RTP. MrQ had deliberately delayed making the move. “We’d held 96% for longer than everybody else,” Fellas claims. “I actually kept it back for this very reason. It was our rainy-day option. If you’d already moved from 96 to 94 before the Budget, what were you going to do afterwards? Go to 92? Some operators are already there. I’ve even heard of 87%.” MrQ eventually moved to 94%, increasing its operating margin from four to six percent. While lowering RTP often provokes concern about player

experience, Fellas says the impact has been negligible so far. “People don’t really understand how RTP works. They think players are instantly going to feel like they’re losing more. It doesn’t actually work like that. If there is an impact, it’ll show up over long-term retention.” More importantly, he says, the additional margin hasn’t simply been banked. “We’re supplementing that with a much better comping strategy. Don’t just pocket all the extra margin. Redistribute some of it in a really clever, sophisticated, data-led way.” The third area was marketing. Every acquisition channel, attribution model and marketing pound came under scrutiny. “You have to become almost scientific about it. It’s more science than art. Where is every penny going? What’s the

halo effect? Which attribution model actually reflects reality? Gradually you grind away at customer acquisition costs.” Finally came perhaps the biggest strategic question: lifetime value versus customer acquisition cost. Large operators, Fellas argues, can simply afford to wait longer before a customer becomes profitable. “A big operator can just say, ‘We’ll extend the lifetime value window because we’ve got deep pockets.’ We can’t. As a bootstrapped founder-led business there are limits to what we can spend.” Instead of extending the payback period, MrQ chose to increase customer value through innovation. “And that’s where I think smaller companies can actually win.”

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Building entertainment For Fellas, innovation is not about adding another bonus, it’s about rethinking what an online casino product actually is. That thinking began with virtual currency Qoins, which was launched in July. “The obvious thing would be to say, ‘Here’s another currency. Use it to play demo slots.’ That’s rubbish. That’s not exciting. There has to be more to it than that. Players would see through that. Betty have that, for example.” “The principle [with Quoins] is that you acquire this other currency and it will give you the ability to do all these other quirky wonderful things that have not been thought of before.” He’s not revealing what these wonderful things are just yet but swears he has them up his sleeve and ready to roll out.

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“Everyone talks about gambling as entertainment,” he says. “But nobody’s really cracked what entertainment actually looks like online. “We’re trying to move beyond just bets, wins and losses. Shared entertainment can mean lots of different things. Unless you step back from gambling itself, you’re never going to see the problem differently.” He readily accepts that not every experiment will succeed. “What’s the worst that can happen? It doesn’t work. Fine. But if you don’t try these things, you’ll never discover something genuinely new.” That willingness to experiment, he believes, is exactly where smaller businesses retain an advantage. “We’re moving at a pace that’s unprecedented, even for us. Would

We’re moving at a pace that’s unprecedented, even for us

Alongside Qoins sits Q+, MrQ’s subscription model, and a constant programme of product refinement ranging from Face ID logins and Apple Pay integration to increasingly personalised reward strategies. But the project Fellas talks about with greatest enthusiasm is Arena. Rather than focusing solely on gambling, Arena introduces shared entertainment into the casino experience. Sometimes that means players competing simultaneously. Sometimes it means asynchronous competitions through leaderboards. Future updates will also integrate live streaming directly inside the platform itself.

a huge operator with the ability just to stretch its lifetime value window do all of this? I highly doubt it. I doubted it before the tax. I doubt it even more afterwards.” The real threat If tax isn’t keeping Fellas awake at night, another issue certainly is. “The black market. They’re the problem.” His criticism is uncompromising. “They’ve got zero moral compass. Zero. They don’t care about deposit limits. Their KYC is a mess. You could sign up as Little Bo Peep, put your age as six and still deposit.” Yet despite the commercial advantages enjoyed by

unlicensed operators, Fellas insists regulated businesses can still beat them. “They don’t innovate because they don’t have to. Why would they? They don’t pay tax. They don’t have affordability checks. They can advertise 99% RTP all day long. So beat them somewhere else. “You can beat them on product because they don’t care about product. You can beat them on brand because they don’t care about storytelling. They’ll generate an AI kangaroo, throw up a website and buy traffic.” That philosophy also shapes his attitude towards regulation more broadly. Unlike tax, which is binary, newer measures such as Financial Risk Assessments require judgement. “The tax is black and white. You pay it. Regulation is different because there’s interpretation involved. You have to make decisions you can justify if you’re ever sitting opposite the regulator.” Despite the constant narrative surrounding rising costs, tougher regulation and shrinking margins, Fellas remains resolutely optimistic about the UK market. He quotes Warren Buffett: “’Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.’ At the moment everyone seems to be saying the UK isn’t worth it anymore. Fine. Let them. We’ll just get our heads down and steal market share.” It’s a typically confident assessment from one of the industry’s most charismatic founders. Fellas is smart – and he knows it. Whether his confidence proves justified over the coming years remains to be seen. But one senses a leader and his team in tune with their audience – hell bent on creating trust and valuefor-money entertainment. If Britain’s largest gambling tax increase was expected to reinforce the advantages of scale, MrQ is making a compelling case that speed, discipline and innovation might prove just as valuable.

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Column: Steve Hoare on the affordability debate raging in the UK Interview: Flutter UK & Ireland Product Director Rich Clarke Interview: Gaming1 Chief Compliance Officer Thibault Collard Interview: Arizona regulator Jessica Roza 26

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Bad blood

Financial risk checks have exposed the simmering distrust between regulator and industry in the UK, says Player Protection Hub Editor Steve Hoare

where all three matched. So if an operator can’t trust a score, it has to ask for more information and this is where the friction for a player starts. 2. There are four parameters (above) but what does a “significant arrear” mean? There is no detail on whether that means a mortgage default or whether a customer just didn’t pay their mobile phone bill this month? What if a high net worth individual has a County Court Judgement because they forgot to pay a parking ticket or it blew off the windscreen?

he debate around financial risk checks in the UK is on the verge of spiraling out of all control with all sorts of accusations flying. The gambling regulator and the horseracing regulator are at loggerheads, the industry is threatening legal action, commentators are accusing the Gambling Commission of overreach, while others are recommending scrapping the Commission altogether and passing the responsibility to the financial services regulator. After the departures of Andrew Rhodes and Tim Miller from the Commission, many in the industry feel that the regulator is leaderless and directionless. For the first time in years, it also looks a little vulnerable. If financial risk checks are to be the straw that broke the camel’s back, coming so soon after the tax was raised on online gaming, then it’s because the industry has lost faith in its regulator. The theory behind financial risk checks is fine. They are, in effect, a gambling credit score. They use Credit Reference Agencies to detect severe financial difficulties among high-spending remote gamblers. When an account hits specific thresholds, an agency evaluates the individual’s overall financial vulnerability based on four key factors: defaults over set time periods; current significant arrears; multiple arrears; and active debt management plans. The problem is they just don’t work. The pilot raised alarm bells because of three problems: 1.

3. The Gambling Commission has yet to give any guidance on what happens next. For example, if a customer comes up as a ‘maybe’ but hasn’t had a single marker of harm in five years with you, do you wave them on or ask for more information and thus create friction? The Commission says: ‘Trust the score – that will absolve you. You don’t have to corroborate or ask for documents.’ But operators do not trust the Commission’s enforcement team not to come after them. Rebuilding that trust is a big ask for the next CEO of the Commission but in the meantime, their colleagues could do worse than rethink this whole scheme. As GamScore Chief Responsibility Officer Mark Potter told me recently: “It seems like an added layer of compliance that will add cost to operators without providing any real value as it doesn’t paint a clear picture of the person behind the check or their circumstances.”

All three credit reference agencies have different methodologies and provide different credit scores. In the pilot customers were coming up with different ratings from all three – there were very few

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The science of safety UK & Ireland Managing Director RICH CLARKE explains how 550 specialists, billions of data points and hundreds of millions of dollars of investment are making Flutter’s customers safer

Words by STEVE HOARE

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he scale of Flutter’s commitment to customer safety is quite awe-inspiring. When it opened its Centre of Excellence for Customer Safety in Leeds during the Ethical Gambling Forum in April, it was the £1.5m cherry on an investment of hundreds of millions of pounds, dollars and euros. In 2025, the group pumped $158m into its customer safety efforts, in the process building a new platform for detection and rounding out its suite of responsible gambling tools, which are being embraced rapidly by customers. The Centre itself houses 550 employees – that’s a third of the workers in the UK & Ireland HQ who are devoted to customer safety. “The Centre officially opened in April,” explains Rich Clarke, Flutter UK & Ireland’s Managing Director of Customer Product, who oversees it. “But you could probably think about the Centre of Excellence as being born over a few years actually.”

I would say safer gambling is like a steel thread. It weaves through everything that we do

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Bringing everyone together Around half of those 550 people work directly with customers. Director of Safer Gambling Luke Sugden leads a team of product and technology designers coming up with new ideas to make the Flutter products safer, and Director of Technology (Customer Safety) Adam Wilbraham leads a team who implements the new ideas. Their work is backed up by a team of researchers and several teams of data scientists, who build the AI models that identify customers who might be at risk. “We want to build those models, train them as we learn more, evolve them and adapt them,” Clarke says. “It’s a constantly changing landscape.” Clarke’s own career reflects that blend of customer service and technology. After starting in a telecommunications contact centre, he joined Flutter nine years ago to lead customer operations before moving into product leadership. “My actual job title is Managing Director of Customer Product and that covers all of the core product functionalities and experiences that our customers have. But I would say safer gambling is like a steel thread. It

weaves through everything that we do.” Bringing these teams together was designed to accelerate learning. “The Centre of Excellence really came about because we have so many people in so many different roles that have to work really closely together. It’s really helpful if data science and research and operations can all sit near each other. It’s easy to observe a conversation, learn whether the trigger that initiated that interaction was the right type of data, and continuously improve what we’re doing.” The Centre also contains what Flutter calls an Immersion Zone, which is fundamentally an ultra-wide touchscreen cinema designed to explain Flutter’s customer safety work to employees, regulators, academics, journalists and policymakers. More than 2,200 employees have already completed the experience, while visitors have included the Gambling Commission, Gambling Minister Baroness Twycross and other government employees, as well as all the visitors to the Ethical Gambling Forum, including a bunch of competitors and yours truly.

“One of the things that we’re trying to achieve is really to change the narrative around safer gambling,” says Clarke. “The media always focuses on the negative. One of the things that we’re trying to do is really focus people on the positive work that’s been done.” Building the next generation The Centre sits on the foundations of sustained investment. The $158m invested in 2025, followed $140m spent the year before. “Customer safety forms a central part of our company strategy. It’s in everybody’s bonuses to encourage safe gambling. That’s a key metric that everybody in the company works towards,” says Clarke. In 2025, Paddy Power, Sky Bet, Sky Gaming, and Betfair moved their responsible gaming controls to Flutter’s newlydeveloped single NextGen Customer Safety Platform. Over 99% of interventions in the UK & Ireland are powered by this realtime system. The platform was accompanied by the launch of Pulse – Predicting User Likelihood of Self Exclusion – which is an AIdriven predictive model that guides high-risk customers towards the most appropriate interventions.

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SBC LEADERS ISSUE 41 “My philosophy on safer gambling is that it shouldn’t be about blunt thresholds,” Clarke says. “It should be about trying to identify early on the signs that customers might need some support.” He compares the platform to lane-assist technology in a car. “Largely what we’re trying to do is gently nudge customers back into the centre of the lane.” Every week, around one billion data points flow through Flutter’s monitoring systems,

allowing the platform to build an individual picture of customer behaviour in real time. “We’re now processing a huge amount of data to try and spot these really niche patterns in customers’ individual play,” Clarke explains. “NextGen is bringing all of our data together. It’s giving us a clear, holistic picture of every individual in real time and then allowing us to tailor a personalised experience for that individual as and when it’s required.”

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We’re doing lots of experiments in the user experience side of things. There’s a delicate science to that

For most of Flutter’s four million monthly active customers, this happens invisibly in the background. Others may receive personalised prompts encouraging them to review their gambling behaviour, while only a small minority require direct contact from customer operations specialists. The big target Flutter has set a public target of having 75% of customers actively using safer gambling tools by 2030. Academics and other operators claim that convincing customers to use these tools is a tricky task but Clarke says it’s not been a problem for them. The UK and Ireland business has already surpassed 60% and is tracking almost two percentage points ahead of the trajectory that will get them to their ambitious goal. Flutter has focused on making the tools a normal part of the customer journey. Customers are encouraged to adopt tools from the moment they register. They’re prompted on registration – more than once.

“If you had a slightly larger deposit than normal, we might give you a little prompt to make you aware that you’d had that particular pattern and then give you the option of adding a deposit limit that’s relevant to what you’ve just done.” And then there’s more regular marketing channels. Ahead of the Cheltenham Festival, Betfair rewarded customers who activated a safer gambling tool with a complimentary gym pass. “It’s a really good example of a positive lifestyle benefit for doing something we want the customer to do. That type of thing can only really come from a marketing function,” says Clarke. “Our customers reacted really, really positively. The messaging was along the lines of, ‘Why can’t all gambling operators be like this?’ I was really proud of that.” A culture of continuous improvement Although the Centre now has a permanent home, Clarke insists it is far from a finished project. “We’re constantly learning both from our own data, from our own customers, but also from the research that we’re carrying out.” Flutter works with an external advisory panel of academics and behavioural experts who review the company’s work and challenge its assumptions. “They act as a sounding board on the next things that we’re thinking about doing. It builds credibility if we get them to test the work that we’re doing and make sure it stands up to external scrutiny.” The company also conducts extensive user experience experiments to understand which interventions are most effective. “We’re doing lots of experiments in the user experience side of things,” Clarke says. “There’s a delicate science to that. We’re always working to see what works and what doesn’t work.” The Leeds centre also acts as a global hub for sharing knowledge across Flutter’s international brands.

“Some of the things you see in the UK model are based on learnings from Australia or from the US, and vice versa,” Clarke explains. Looking ahead For Clarke, the next challenge is ensuring customer protection continues without driving players towards the black market. “We’re working so hard to do all the right things – way above what’s required by regulation – and yet you see the black market threat rising.” Flutter’s own research suggests one in 10 of its customers has already used an unlicensed operator. The answer, Clarke believes, is not fewer protections but smarter, more proportionate ones. “We’re working really hard to make sure we do the right thing by customers but also minimise the amount of friction because customers hate it.” That principle also shapes his view of frictionless financial risk assessments. “It’s all about making sure we’re doing the right things for the right reasons, proportionally,” he says. “If we do frictionless risk assessments in the wrong way, that will be another reason why customers leave the regulated market.” Ultimately, Clarke believes the regulated sector needs to do a better job of explaining the progress that has been made. “We might need a bit of help from the media. How do we tell the positive story of all the work that’s been done?” The Centre of Excellence certainly does that. As with all the work that goes on here, the story will be refined and improved as time goes by. “My mission is constantly evolving what we’re doing in safer gambling to keep the momentum going and make every moment safer for customers,” he says. “That’s why I come to work. Everybody in Leeds shares that passion. It’s about doing the right thing for our customers.”

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Gaming1 Chief Compliance Officer THIBAULT COLLARD explains how the Belgian operator put a friendly face on its responsible gaming efforts Words by STEVE HOARE

ne of the trickiest aspects of making gambling safer is communication with the players. Time and again, RG professionals highlight the balancing act that has to be taken to engage but not patronise, and the difficulty of convincing players to use the tools that will help them play responsibly. Belgium-based operator Gaming1 has taken an innovative approach to this issue by giving its product a personality and embedding it into an all-encompassing strategy of safer play. They call it ROBIN. ROBIN stands for Risky Online Behavior Indicator, which is Gaming1’s attempt to wrap proactive detection, moderation tools and customer communication into one coherent safer gambling system with an identity of its own, rather than dumping RG in a compliance tab buried somewhere in the footer. “In a nutshell, I think we can describe ROBIN as our overall responsible gaming approach toward the players,” says the company’s Chief Compliance Officer Thibaut Collard. “ROBIN is not a tool, it is not software, it’s the overall responsible gaming approach.” Collard describes ROBIN as resting on three pillars: moderation, monitoring and communication. First, players need tools to control their gambling, whether that is deposit limits, time limits or self-exclusion. Second, the operator needs technology

capable of spotting risky changes in behaviour. Third, and this is the part Gaming1 believes is too often neglected, the operator has to communicate what it sees in a way that is constructive enough to prompt action. “The third pillar is the communication,” Collard explains. “How do we bring the intel that we detect about the player in a constructive message so that the player is aware and is incentivized to use the proper moderation tool?” That is where the little bird comes in. Creating an identity Gaming1 decided in 2024 that if it wanted its safer gambling work to cut through, it needed a clearer identity and tone of voice. So it sat down with its marketing and communications teams and created ROBIN as the face, voice and companion of the company’s wider duty-of-care strategy. According to the company’s own materials, ROBIN is meant to be conversational, friendly, informative and non-judgmental. The point was not just to build tools, but to make those tools feel accessible. “We needed to give an identity to what we do,” says Collard. “So we said ‘Let’s create a character. Let’s create that little bird, the little protective bird who will be the voice of our responsible gaming strategy.’”

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ROBIN is not a tool, it is not software, it’s the overall responsible gaming approach

On paper, that may sound like simple branding. In practice, it reflects something more substantial. Gaming1’s view is that most of the industry already understands the mechanics of player protection. What it does less well is education. There is plenty of research, Collard notes, on risk indicators such as escalating deposits, longer sessions or increasingly erratic betting behaviour. There is far less on how best to communicate with players once those behaviours are detected. That was the gap Gaming1 wanted to fill. And by 2025, it had started to build a suite of products around it. The big breakthrough was the launch of the player awareness report, a regular activity summary showing players their losses, deposits and time spent, along with links to the most relevant moderation tools. By default it appears every seven days. Alongside it came the shorter-form reality check, which pops up every two hours, and a tailored moderation tool that Collard clearly sees as one of ROBIN’s strongest ideas: the timeout. The timeout is effectively a partial self-exclusion tool. Rather than block themselves entirely, players can choose specific hours of the day or days of the week when they will not be allowed to gamble. Collard gives us an example: a player may not believe they have a gambling problem at all, but knows perfectly well that Friday night after the pub is when their judgment starts to wobble. “Give me a tool that I can use,” he says, voicing the player logic behind it. “So every Friday night I cannot play. We could not do that, so we built a tool.”

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It is a smart recognition that risky gambling is not always permanent or absolute. Sometimes it is situational. That is a more nuanced way of thinking than the old industry habit of dividing customers into the problem gamblers and everybody else. The obvious question, though, is whether players actually engage with any of this. Here, Gaming1 has some encouraging numbers. Between 17 and 30 June 2025, 6,816 unique players saw the new activity report. Of those, almost 40% (2,679 players) went on to visit the responsible gaming page and 78% of those players set limits using the available tools. Most strikingly, 84% set a deposit limit, while 11% set stake limits, with just 3% setting a loss limit. Those are meaningful numbers. They do not prove that addiction has been prevented, and Collard is careful not to overclaim. But they do suggest that if safer gambling tools are put in front of people in a clear and timely way, a decent proportion of them will use them. “With the efficient communication campaigns initiative we put on top of that, we see an increase in engagement with these tools.” Deep RG roots The roots of ROBIN go back well before the bird itself was hatched. Collard identifies 2018 as the first major milestone, when Gaming1 began to define the functional requirements for a proactive detection tool. At the time, he and colleagues in customer service and fraud could already see behavioural patterns developing in front of them. The problem was translating that operational knowledge into usable software. That required new hires, especially in data and analytics, and the first proper version of the software emerged around 2021, roughly when Gaming1 was applying for a licence in the Netherlands. For Collard, that timing was no accident. The Netherlands’ stricter regulatory framework forced the business to sharpen its systems. More broadly, it accelerated a process that was already underway across Europe, where the regulatory environment around responsible gambling is tightening almost everywhere. Collard has seen that evolution from close range because he has spent most of his career around player safety. He entered the industry in 2007 at Unibet in Malta, starting in customer service handling calls, emails and chat for French-speaking customers. He stayed until 2013, moving

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We needed to give an identity to what we do,. So we created that little bird, the little protective bird who will be the voice of our responsible gaming strategy

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employment for the region, we need to embrace these values,” he says. “They’re not just words.” The role of marketing That philosophy also seems to have helped internally. One of the more intriguing by-products of ROBIN, Collard says, is that it brought marketing and compliance closer together. Those departments are not always natural allies in gambling companies. Yet here the marketing team appears to have embraced the project, precisely because it gave them something serious and ethically defensible to talk about.

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I believe we have built an overall group responsible gaming strategy that should allow us to be compliant everywhere in Europe

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through customer service roles before ending up in player safety, covering fraud prevention, antimoney laundering and responsible gaming. Unibet, he says, was already ahead of the curve. “It was a pioneer,” Collard says. “Back then we were already talking about proactive detection technology... So, I kind of got educated in that culture from the beginning.” He then moved back to Belgium just as the local market was opening and joined what was then a small startup of around 35 people, not even yet called Gaming1. Like many early employees in growth businesses, his remit was broad: operations, payments, fraud, customer service, responsible gambling and whatever else needed doing. Twelve years later, Gaming1 has grown into a group of around 1,400 employees, spanning land-based and online gambling operations across Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. That journey matters because Collard’s view of responsible gambling is plainly shaped by the company he helped build. He talks less like a compliance officer guarding the rulebook than an operator who sees player protection as part of long-term commercial logic. “If you want to be a sustainable leisure provider – because that’s what we are – you have to provide entertainment,” he says. “The best way to create loyalty in the gambling industry is that your customers all have the means to moderate themselves, because if a player falls into an addiction, at the end of the day they will stop playing.” This cuts to the core of Gaming1’s culture. Collard insists these values are not decorative. The company has physical establishments, local licences, local regulators and local employees. That creates a different mindset from the one you might find in a purely offshore operation. “If we want this company in Belgium to keep on also creating

The next phase of ROBIN is likely to be less about adding more tools and more about making the whole system faster, smarter and more personal. At present, Collard says, there is still something mechanical about it.

A player moving from one risk level to another may receive the same generic communication as everyone else in that bracket. The future, he argues, lies in realtime, personalised interaction. “Tomorrow the technology will allow us to be personal,” he says. “They will be able to tell you, ‘Hey, Steve, we noticed that you increased your deposit from this to that... we’ve seen that you haven’t tried yet our deposit management tool.’” In other words, ROBIN is moving toward becoming not just a branded safer gambling framework, but an alwayson conversational assistant trained to intervene earlier and more intelligently. “For me the key is to be as proactive as possible and as early as possible,” says Collard. “If we manage to educate our players as early as possible, this is where we are the most efficient to reduce the risk.” For Gaming1, the creation of this culture of safer gambling fits nicely with the prevailing regulatory climate around Europe. “In general in Europe you see that the regulatory framework in terms of responsible gaming is getting tougher and tougher,” says Collard. “I believe we have built an overall group responsible gaming strategy that should allow us to be compliant everywhere in Europe – with very minor adaptations, depending on the jurisdiction.” That feels like the right note to end on because it captures both the promise and the limitation of what Gaming1 is trying to do. ROBIN is not a magic solution. No serious person in the sector believes harmful gambling can be engineered away entirely. But Gaming1 has at least recognised something the wider industry still struggles with: safer gambling has to live inside the product, not beside it. For an industry that still too often treats responsibility as a warning label rather than a design principle, that is a more radical idea than it sounds.

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Open house The Arizona gaming regulator has opened its responsible gaming training to the public. Assistant Director of Government and Community Affairs JESSICA ROZA explains all Words by STEVE HOARE

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he Arizona Department of Gaming has taken an unusual step by making its responsible gaming training programme freely available to everyone, rather than offering it solely to gaming industry employees. Originally developed for tribal casino staff and departmental employees, the online course was launched publicly from day one, reflecting the regulator’s belief that informed consumers are just as important as welltrained operators. “It’s 100% free, it’s on demand and takes about three hours,” says Arizona Department of Gaming Assistant Director of Government and Community Affairs Jessica Roza. “We wanted to make it as low a barrier as possible. We didn’t want people to have to pay for it or create an account. As long as you have the internet, you can start going through the modules.”

The decision reflects the department’s broader philosophy that responsible gaming is not simply an industry obligation but a public education issue. “We decided that more people would benefit from taking this,” Roza explains. “It doesn’t need to be just for our employees or tribal gaming employees. All of Arizona would benefit from learning what responsible gaming is, what positive play is, and what they should look for.” Beyond the industry The training was initially created to help Arizona’s tribal gaming partners meet responsible gaming obligations under the state’s gaming compacts. While tribes can develop their own training, the department wanted to provide a comprehensive resource that could be adopted across the sector. Once complete, officials saw an opportunity to extend its reach beyond the industry.

Although some of the language remains employeefocused, the core messages are relevant to any gambler or family member concerned about gambling harms. One of the programme’s central themes is helping people understand what gambling actually encompasses. “How are people supposed to know whether they have a problem if they don’t consider what they’re doing to be gaming?” Roza says. “There’s a wide variety of what gambling can be.” The course also introduces practical safer gambling tools such as budgeting, explains common myths about gambling, and reinforces the idea that gambling should remain entertainment rather than something that causes harm. “It really focuses on gambling as entertainment,” she says. “When it goes from fun to not fun, then maybe it’s time to pause and reflect.”

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We didn’t want people to have to pay for it or create an account. As long as you have the internet, you can start going through the modules

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We’re a regulator – that’s our primary mission – but we also have a responsibility to think about the harms that people might experience Broader aims The training forms part of a wider consumer education strategy that includes public service announcements and the department’s ‘Check Your Bet’ campaign, which helps consumers identify licensed operators and understand the risks of illegal gambling. While those initiatives are separate from the training, together

they reflect a regulator placing consumer education alongside enforcement. For Roza, championing these initiatives represents an unexpected but natural progression in a career built around public service. “My journey into the Department of Gaming was not necessarily intentional,” she says with a smile. Her professional background is in public policy, government relations and behavioural health. Before joining the Arizona Department of Gaming two years ago, she worked for the Arizona Department of Veteran Services, supporting service members, veterans and their families. The role exposed her to the broader social challenges facing military communities, including mental health and addiction. “I did a lot of suicide prevention work,” she says. After leaving state government for the private sector, Roza realised she missed public service and began looking for an opportunity to return. A legislative liaison position at the Arizona Department of Gaming caught her attention. Gaming regulation itself was unfamiliar territory,

but one aspect immediately stood out. “When I learned what the true mission of the department was – consumer protection – and that we actually have a Division of Problem Gambling within the department, I wanted to learn more about what they do and how I could help Arizonans be safer.” That consumer protection focus now sits at the heart of her wide-ranging responsibilities. As Assistant Director of Government and Community Affairs, she oversees constituent services, communications, public policy, tribal relations and Arizona’s self-exclusion programme. The self-exclusion programme recently moved into her division following an organisational restructuring. “We view it more as a regulatory function,” Roza explains. “Our Division of Problem Gambling can focus on prevention, education and treatment, while our constituent services team focuses on supporting players through self-exclusion.” An evolving regulatory approach The arrangement illustrates Arizona’s attempt to balance regulatory oversight with a public health approach.

PLAYER PROTECTION

“I think there needs to be a healthy balance,” she says. “We’re a regulator – that’s our primary mission – but we also have a responsibility to think about the harms that people might experience.” Arizona’s unique regulatory landscape shapes much of that work. Tribal nations operate the state’s casinos, with 22 tribes managing 26 gaming facilities under compact agreements. Those relationships form an important part of the department’s responsibilities, alongside oversight of sports betting and other regulated gambling products. Roza believes education has become increasingly important as gambling products continue to evolve. The department regularly runs statewide public service campaigns explaining which products are legal in Arizona and warning consumers about unregulated offerings such as sweepstakes casinos. Its Check Your Bet platform allows players to verify licensed operators, understand available consumer protections and report suspected illegal gambling. As gambling continues to change, so too will the department’s training.

One advantage of producing the course internally, Roza says, is that it can evolve alongside emerging evidence. “We’re in control of the content,” she says. “As things change, content’s not always evergreen. If there are new trends, new concepts or new research, we can update it.” Feedback from participants will play an important role. While the department has not yet introduced formal usage tracking, every participant can complete a survey, providing suggestions for future improvements. “So far we’re getting really positive feedback,” Roza says. “The more people that take it, the more feedback we get, and then we can see what we can improve.” One major update is already on the horizon. Arizona is preparing to publish a new statewide problem gambling prevalence study, part of the department’s commitment to commission comprehensive survey research every three years. The findings will not only provide a fresh picture of gambling behaviour across the state but will also feed directly into future versions of the training.

“Once that research is public, we’ll update our responsible gaming training with the most recent research,” Roza says. For a regulator that increasingly sees education as an essential part of consumer protection, the training programme is unlikely to remain static. Instead, it will continue to evolve alongside new evidence, emerging gambling products and the changing needs of Arizona’s players. “We take our responsibility as regulators seriously,” Roza says. “We’re always evaluating what’s working, what’s not working, and trying to be forward-thinking to help Arizonans play safely.”

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Column: Ted Menmuir on the sad state of UK retail Interview: BetWarrior Chief Revenue & Growth Officer Santiago Gandara Interview: Coolbet COO Tomas Graham Thought leadership: DATA.BET CEO Yurii Berest Interview: FIRST.bet CEO Tom Light Interview: Novibet CTO Yiannis Stavroulas 42

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Reaping the whirlwind

SBC Editor At Large Ted Menmuir says the UK’s high street bookmakers are getting a raw deal

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elf-preservation is the first law of nature,” is a view defined by satirist and academic Samuel Butler observing the psyche and class structure of Victorian Britain. Butler lived in an era of transition for Britain’s economy, with the industrial revolution threatening many sectors with extinction. Nearly 150 years later, Britain once again finds itself in an era of profound change. Lessons should not be lost on Britain’s land-based betting sector. Self-preservation, rather than nostalgia, must become the defining principle for retail bookmakers if they are to avoid the fate of photo labs, travel agents and video rental stores. Let’s not treat this threat as a theoretical one and instead recognise the fact it has been amplified by the dire circumstances of 2026. The governance of betting shops was largely left alone during the gambling review’s fiveyear process, as the government and its advisors zoned in on

online gambling as the immediate issue that needed fixing. Yet, it’s the bookies that are the first victims of UK gambling’s generational change, as the cuts are dished out by management seeking to soften direct expenditures as costs increase on the bottom line of online platforms. Of course, it’s not fair… but we had been warned by the executives of Flutter, Entain and Evoke, that the consolidation would begin on the high street. They have followed through on their ultimatums with the closure of hundreds of Paddy Power, Ladbrokes and William Hill shops, which have impacted thousands of jobs. It is the most significant retrenchment of Britain’s retail betting sector since the explosion of retail when fixed odds betting terminals were introduced in the Gambling Act 2005. At the time of writing, Betfred – a business that had expanded its betting estate to 1,200 shops – announced the closure of 10% of its portfolio, which resulted in 600 job losses. Founder Fred Done, who brands Betfred as a “retail champion” noted that each shop closure hurt like a “death in the family” and blamed the government’s unworkable and hostile conditions. The gambling review was framed around the objective of “bringing analogue gambling laws into the digital age”, as declared by then Prime Minister

Boris Johnson in 2019. While that ambition rightly concentrated attention on online gambling, it left bookmakers and betting estates as the analogue criteria. As a result, the industry presented to ministers became almost exclusively an online one. Betting shops featured only as a legacy channel, rather than as a sector requiring its own long-term commercial and regulatory strategy. The high street still represents a business worth more than £2.5bn in annual revenue, making it far from an obsolete channel. Yet can any chief executive convince shareholders to commit fresh investment as new PM Andy Burnham views high street gambling as an antisocial activity? A cruel lesson has been learnt. If self-preservation is the first law of nature, the experience of Britain’s bookies suggests there is a second: in business, irrelevance and silence are often fatal.

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BetWarrior Chief Revenue & Growth Officer SANTIAGO GANDARA looks to technology to build a brand in a market under constant pressure Words by LUCIA GANDO

ounded in 2019 by a group of former PokerStars executives, BetWarrior burst onto the Argentine scene in 2021 with a plan that, by industry standards, resembled a race against giants. In a market where tradition, budget and global reach typically set the pace of competition, BetWarrior chose hyperlocalisation as its disruptive strategy. The aim, therefore, was to become the closest, most agile brand and, above all, the one most aligned with Argentine culture. “We knew that, in terms of investment and scale, we couldn’t compete with the global leaders at that time,” acknowledges Santiago Gandara, BetWarrior’s Chief Revenue & Growth Officer and a member of the company’s founding team. “That’s why we chose localisation. We decided to build a brand designed by Argentinians, for Argentinians, focusing on a superior, fast and, fundamentally, transparent product.” That decision, which today positions it as a leader in social media engagement in Argentina, first required a deep understanding that in a volatile market building rapport with users is the most valuable asset. The challenge of legitimacy The gambling industry in Argentina is at boiling point. The debate surrounding a bill aimed at banning advertising in mass media and eliminating welcome bonuses has placed operators under unprecedented scrutiny. However, for BetWarrior, the root problem is not regulation itself – which falls under provincial authority – but the widespread confusion in society over which sites are legal and which are not.

“The priority today must be preventing minors from gambling, a phenomenon that unfortunately continues on illegal platforms,” Gandara notes. In this sense, he argues that the real enemy is not the regulatory framework, but illegality operating without age controls or player protection guarantees. The current bill, he warns, risks being a misstep. “Hopefully those regulating our industry will be able to finetune the mechanisms so that the law becomes a step forward in building a safe and sustainable sector, rather than indirectly encouraging users to migrate to the informal market,” he adds. The industry’s tarnished image, fuelled by recent media stories, has forced licensed operators into a period of introspection. “Perhaps those of us operating legally should have placed greater emphasis on education from day one,” Gandara admits. In this regard, BetWarrior has committed to raising standards, even when the market does not demand it. Its message is clear and educational: the distinction is straightforward – legal sites are those ending in .bet.ar. “We must be clearer, less defensive and far more transparent. Legitimacy is built through actions, not words,” the executive reiterates. Betting on shared values One of BetWarrior’s key differentiators in Argentina is its sponsorship strategy. While much of the industry has focused on local football clubs, BetWarrior has opted to support the Argentine national team, hockey and tennis.

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Perhaps those of us operating legally should have placed greater emphasis on education from day one

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We want users to come for the excitement of the national team, but stay for an experience that respects their time and their money

“These institutions represent pride, effort and identity,” Gandara says. It is a brand strategy that consciously accepts lower immediate visibility – not placing a logo on the front of a shirt – in favour of fostering a broader conversation. For BetWarrior, sponsorship is not merely a tool for mass exposure, but a vehicle to express its personality and commitment to the development of national sport. This approach seeks to build a deeper emotional connection, reducing reliance on physical advertising in stadiums and instead strengthening a bond that it hopes will deliver more solid results in the long-term, rather than short-term visual impact. The 2026 World Cup: beyond the final whistle This interview happened before the World Cup, which it had earmarked as an operational stress test for BetWarrior. The company recognises that major tournaments attract casual bettors, but its ambition is to convert them into long-term users. “The real test is what happens after the final,” says Gandara. To achieve this, the strategy centres on personalisation and simplicity. In a market where users’ time is limited and expectations are high, BetWarrior is developing an immersive experience architecture that allows fans to enjoy the tournament without friction. Technology – supported by an investment of over $10m in digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence – aims to ensure the platform “understands” the player. “We want users to come for the excitement of the national team, but stay for an experience that respects their time and their money.” A challenging macroeconomic context In economic terms, 2025 was a year of extreme challenges in Argentina. With purchasing power eroded and inflation persistent, bettor behaviour has evolved. The crisis has shaped a more rational and conscious user.

“The Argentine bettor is not seeking excessive risk; they are looking for entertainment,” he explains. As a result, betting patterns have shifted towards longer, more sustained and less risky wagers – users want their spending on entertainment to last longer. This reality demands a platform that is not only fast in processing payments, but also capable of integrating machine learning tools so that users feel understood and protected. Loyalty, in this context, is built day by day, in pesos, with cutting-edge technology and, above all, with a consistency that the market rewards. Brazil and lessons from Argentina Having secured its licence in Brazil in 2025, BetWarrior is preparing to compete in the region’s major league. Competition there is fierce and, in many ways, disproportionate. However, the BetWarrior team does not see this as a weakness, but as its speciality. “Argentina taught us how to compete against multinationals with budgets ten times larger,” Gandara recalls. That “Argentine school” – operating in changing environments with limited resources but strong technological creativity – is the asset the team is exporting to Brazil. However, they remain mindful of the risks of replication: “Brazil is not Argentina; it operates on a different scale and at a different pace. Repeating formulas is often the first mistake,” he emphasises. Ultimately, Sangara says, the future of the industry depends on the ability of governments to coordinate across jurisdictions and promote legality through real incentives, overcoming bureaucratic delays in the face of rapid technological innovation. A lot of people talk about sustainable growth, but Sangara hopes that BetWarrior’s use of technology to understand the pulse of a society puts it ahead of the curve so that, even in difficult times, people will continue to seek entertainment as an essential part of everyday life.

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Stay cool

After a period of transition, Coolbet is entering a new phase of growth built on empowered people, aligned ownership and a renewed commitment to product innovation. Chief Operating Officer TOMAS GRAHAM explains why the operator believes its best years lie ahead Words by STEVE HOARE

or Coolbet, the past two years have been an endurance test of huge corporate change that might have left a less sprightly operator a bit directionless. But while the business continues to adapt to new ownership, new leadership and an evolving strategic direction, its figures have continued travelling in the right direction. From 2024 to 2025, a period when Coolbet was mostly in the midst of an extended takeover, casino turnover increased by 27%, gross gaming revenue was up 42%, net gaming revenue grew by 33%, while retention across European markets remained above 75%. The company is on track for another year of double digit growth with its new management team. For Tomas Graham, who joined as Chief Operating Officer earlier this year, those results tell only part of the story. “The previous year was very much a holding pattern,” he explains. “There was a new

ownership structure coming in, senior management changes and the business was going through a period of transition. This year is about continuing that strong performance while getting back to innovation and development.” Graham is quick to point out that Coolbet’s recent success has not been driven by one-off sporting events or favourable market conditions. Growth was already comfortably into double digits before the World Cup began. Instead, he credits improvements to the product itself, operational refinement and a clearer long-term strategy. That strategy is underpinned by one significant advantage. Coolbet owns its technology stack, including its proprietary sportsbook platform. It is arguably the main reason the company has been so attractive to successive buyers. While that platform also powers B2B operations in North America, Graham believes the focus is increasingly shifting from maintaining existing capabilities

towards building new ones. “Our priority now is putting the processes and strategy in place that allow us to develop more functionality and more innovation. That’s really been the focus since I joined.” If the commercial numbers reflect one side of Coolbet’s progress, its culture tells another. Having previously worked in both land-based gaming and online operations (for SkyCity in New Zealand, followed by Coolbet’s Estonian neighbour OlyBet), Graham says his first impression was how different the company felt from many of its competitors. “It was immediately obvious what a great place it is to work,” he says. “There’s a very friendly culture, departments are genuinely empowered to make decisions and people have real ownership of their responsibilities.” That empowerment seems to have ensured a certain level of stability, despite corporate machinations. Many of Coolbet’s

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senior leaders have been with the company for five years or more. HR Director Merilyn Peebo and SVP of Technology Jevgeni Kapparov were among Coolbet’s earliest employees, having joined the company back in 2015. Director of B2B Henri Mikkola joined a year later. VP of Marketing Samir Abdurahmanov joined in 2017. “Most of my direct reports have been here for more than five years,” Graham says. “There’s a lot of continuity because people have been promoted through the organisation.” That blend of experience and fresh thinking is something he sees as one of Coolbet’s competitive strengths. Alongside long-serving leaders who understand the company’s DNA, recent appointments have brought wider industry expertise from outside the business. The result is an organisation that has retained its entrepreneurial character without becoming insular. Evolution not revolution That continuity also helps explain why Graham believes the company’s acquisition by Sega Sammy Holdings represents evolution rather than reinvention. The deal was completed in May 2025 after being initially announced in November 2023. Coolbet now nestles into the Sega Sammy Creation portfolio, which spans from North America to Asia and takes in land-based slots and table games, live casino specialist Stakelogic, and other gaming assets. But for Estonia-based Coolbet, not a huge amount has changed. “I wouldn’t say it’s a change in strategy,” says Graham. “It’s more that what Sega Sammy sees in Coolbet is what Coolbet has always seen in itself.”

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I wouldn’t say it’s a change in strategy. It’s more that what Sega Sammy sees in Coolbet is what Coolbet has always seen in itself

He says the common thread is product quality. Across Sega Sammy’s gaming businesses, the emphasis has traditionally been on premium, high-quality products rather than simply chasing scale. Graham sees that philosophy as naturally aligned with Coolbet’s long-standing reputation for innovation. That alignment is also influencing how the organisation thinks about its technology business. Historically, B2B and B2C operations could sometimes be viewed as separate priorities. Graham wants that distinction to disappear. “The focus isn’t B2B versus B2C,” he says. “The focus is the player.” Whether serving a North American partner or operating directly in Europe or Latin America, the underlying objective remains the same: building the best possible experience for players in different markets. Rather than maintaining separate product roadmaps, the company increasingly views its platform as one ecosystem that adapts to local customer behaviour. That philosophy reflects another long-standing Coolbet characteristic: localisation.

Across both Northern Europe and Latin America, Graham says the company is generally thought of as a local brand. “If we’re going to be in a market, we need to have an identity there,” he explains. “We don’t want to be just another international operator.” Hitting the Jackpot That local-first philosophy has also shaped one of Coolbet’s most successful recent innovations. The Coolbet Jackpot was developed to solve a familiar problem with traditional progressive jackpots by allowing thousands of eligible games across multiple providers to contribute to a shared prize pool. Since launch, it has generated more than €10m in qualifying wagers, attracted over 50,000 participating players and awarded more than 1,140 jackpots. Its distinctive EPIC mechanic reflects the company’s wider thinking around player engagement. Rather than rewarding only one winner, half of each jackpot goes to the winning player while the remaining half is shared between the 10 players who contributed most towards triggering it. The

approach creates anticipation across a much wider group of customers while encouraging repeat participation without relying on increasingly expensive acquisition incentives. For Graham, however, the Jackpot matters as much for what it represents as for its commercial performance. It demonstrates that Coolbet can still create proprietary products that genuinely differentiate its offering. “The next time we’re talking after a major tournament,” he says, “I don’t want to be talking about existing features that performed well. I want us to be talking about something new that we’ve invented – a new approach to personalisation, gamification or product development that didn’t previously exist.” As the company emerges from a period of corporate transition with record financial performance, an experienced leadership team, and the backing of a global gaming group, Graham is confident that will be reflected in renewed confidence in its product roadmap. The strongest growth story is not what Coolbet has already achieved, but what it believes it is now positioned to build next.

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DATA.BET CEO YURII BEREST tells a story about margins, uptime, markets, and what the numbers behind them mean

hen an operator chooses a sportsbook supplier, most decisions are based on the numbers. The problem is that these figures describe the quantity but not the quality, and often correlate poorly with how profitable or straightforward the product actually is. Yurii Berest, CEO of DATA.BET shares his expertise on how operators make the right decisions and which questions to ask. Margin sounds like a straightforward number – is there actually a standard way suppliers calculate it? Not really. What people call “margin” is usually just the theoretical margin built into the odds, and that part is calculated in a fairly standard way. The real difference between suppliers is not the formula itself, but the quality of the pricing model behind it. Take a perfectly balanced event with a true 50/50 probability. Fair odds would be 2.00 on both sides. A sportsbook might instead offer 1.95 or 1.99, with the difference representing its built-in margin. The key question is whether those odds actually reflect reality. If the underlying probability model is accurate, the

theoretical margin is meaningful. If the model is weak, the same advertised margin can produce very different financial results because the probabilities themselves are wrong. How much can a single margin figure really tell about a sportsbook? By itself, surprisingly little. The advertised margin only tells you what was built into the odds. What really matters commercially is the margin the supplier actually retains after bets are settled. In an ideal pricing model, these numbers should be very close. In practice, they often aren’t. A one-percentage-point difference on a theoretical margin of 6–7% already represents roughly a 10–15% deviation in performance. We’ve even seen cases where a supplier advertised around a 10% margin but retained only about 4% in reality. That’s why the most revealing question to ask any supplier is simple: How large is the gap between your theoretical margin and your actual collected margin? Suppliers with mature pricing and risk management can usually answer that with confidence and provide historical data. Those who avoid the question

often either don’t measure it or rely only on high-level financial reports rather than understanding the performance of their pricing models. Two suppliers, similar products, but one’s margin looks better on paper, what’s actually driving that? Only two things matter: the quality of the models and the presence of proper risk management. Models matter most, especially outside Tier 1 matches – Tier 2-4 events carry more exposure to match-fixing or insider information. Suppliers with mature risk management adjust prices or limits for specific bettors rather than moving the line for everyone. DATA.BET, for example, focuses on models themselves with a dedicated data science team. Also, we offer three types of risk management that operators can choose from, depending on how much control they want to keep inhouse. Full Risk Management option validates every bet before acceptance to ensure profitability and stability. Based on data from our existing clients, those using Full Risk Management see up to 30% higher profits than clients without it.

Be critical of numbers that look good, ask what’s behind a metric, and how it was calculated 52

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How marketing can trick you 53

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The way to get a meaningful answer is to ask whether there is a detailed public status page showing the health of individual services in real time. In practice, very few suppliers publish this the way major tech companies do. How reliable are markets’ uptime numbers, and what should operators know about how they are calculated? The first thing to ask is what exactly is being measured. Some suppliers count markets for future stages of a live match, such as the third map, while only the first is being played, as part of their live uptime. These markets add little value to bettors and are often suspended or voided as the match unfolds, making the uptime figure look better without improving the actual betting experience. A meaningful metric should focus on the core markets, such as matchwinner and map/roundwinner, for the current and immediately upcoming stage of play. Everything beyond that is secondary and should have little impact on the overall uptime figure. The actual uptime depends on several factors: the quality

of the data feed, the strength of the pricing models, and the experience of the trading team. These determine how consistently the key markets remain available when bettors actually need them.

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The most revealing question to ask any supplier is simple: How large is the gap between your theoretical margin and your actual collected margin?

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What does system uptime actually mean technically, and how is it usually measured? Modern sportsbook platforms consist of multiple independent components: odds generation, risk management, and bet acceptance, which can fail independently. The fact that bettors can see the odds doesn’t mean the platform is fully operational: the critical question is whether bets can actually be accepted and processed.

Does having more markets or events mean anything for engagement or profit, or is it just a bigger number? Not necessarily, and counting methods are inconsistent: some suppliers count the total number of

unique markets in the system; others – total count per match and inflate the figure by treating individual outcomes as separate (for example, counting 1X2 as three markets instead of one). In practice, these numbers matter far less than it’s marketed to: roughly 15 markets per event can account for 80-90% of total betting volume. A very high total is more of a branding exercise than a real revenue driver. What matters more is popularity and group type: main, period/half, fast, interval, player, and statistical markets. A supplier can report a large total while still missing entire groups, each effectively a separate product within that sport. Event counts are just as inconsistent to compare. Virtual sports can trivially inflate the figure – generating one match every 15 minutes across four streams already produces 150 “events”. The real question is coverage of events where real people are playing, not the total count. If you could give operators one piece of advice before signing with any supplier, what would it be? Be critical of numbers that look good, ask what’s behind a metric, and how it was calculated. Decide what matters to you, and compare suppliers using the same criteria. The cheapest offer isn’t necessarily the best deal: a rev share 10% lower can still mean 40% less profit once running. Calling data “confidential” usually just means it isn’t tracked. Choosing a sportsbook supplier is a relationship that will last for years, so it’s worth real persistence.

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The big switchback FIRST.bet Founder and CEO TOM LIGHT explains why leading operators built their own sportsbooks and why that is changing

hy do major operators build their own sportsbooks rather than use a B2B solution? Because they understand that a sportsbook is not an add-on. It can decide where the customer stays. Players might spend the whole week in your casino, but if your sportsbook is poor, on Saturday they go somewhere else to bet on football. Once they are there, they receive free bets, bonuses and a better sports experience. Then why should they come back to your casino? Casino content is increasingly commoditised. Many operators offer the same games, studios and jackpots. Sportsbook is where an operator can really differentiate and protect the customer relationship. That is why major operators built their own technology. They knew they could not rely on a standard B2B product and still lead the market. What is changing is that operators can now access tier one technology and operational capabilities without building and owning the entire sportsbook stack internally. FIRST.bet was built to solve exactly that problem. We are B2B technology built for B2C operators. We think like an operator because we understand what

matters: margin, retention, conversion, control and the complete player journey. The operator keeps the brand and the strategy. We provide the engine that allows it to compete like a tier one B2C brand without building everything internally. What problem was FIRST.bet created to solve? FIRST.bet was created to close the gap between an internally built tier one sportsbook and the standard B2B products available to most operators. We did not want to build another sportsbook that gives every partner the same front end, pricing and limitations. We built our own engine across trading, risk, product, pricing, engagement and managed operations. Some partners want FIRST.bet to manage more of the sportsbook operation. Others use SportOS, which is FIRST.bet’s modular sportsbook engine, giving operators the core trading, pricing, risk and player management while allowing them to build and control more of the player experience. The delivery model can change, but the standard cannot. The operator should be able to compete with the leading brands on product without spending years building the full operation from zero.

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An operator should consider changing its sportsbook provider when the sportsbook starts limiting the business rather than supporting it

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How can one B2B sportsbook provider allow different operators to compete against each other? By giving them a strong engine without forcing them into an identical product. Operators should be able to choose their own front end, pricing strategy, risk approach, promotions and player journey. Otherwise, every partner ends up offering the same sportsbook with a different logo.

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The operator should be able to compete with the leading brands on product without spending years building the full operation from zero

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Our role is to provide the trading, technology, models and operational infrastructure underneath. The operator decides how aggressively it wants to price, which experience it wants to create and how it wants to position the brand. A good B2B provider should create more competition between its partners, not make them look the same. At what point should an operator consider changing its sportsbook provider? When the sportsbook starts limiting the business rather than supporting it. You see it when the odds are consistently weaker than the competition, product changes take months, good customers are limited

unnecessarily or every new idea depends on several suppliers approving it. A sportsbook should help the operator move faster. If the commercial team understands what it wants to do but the technology cannot execute it, that is not only a technical issue. It directly affects acquisition, retention and lifetime value. The decision should not be based on a feature list. It should be based on whether the product allows the operator to compete at the level it wants. Is gamification really improving sportsbook performance, or is it mainly cosmetic? It is useful only when it changes behaviour. Adding a badge, animation or wheel does not automatically create value. Gamification should increase betting frequency, time on the product and the customer’s connection to the sportsbook. The commercial logic is straightforward. If you offer more competitive odds, the margin on each bet may be lower. To protect lifetime value, you need more turnover and more engagement. With one of our operators, the average number of bets per player increased from around 40 to 110 per month, while we purposefully reduced margin by offering more competitive odds. Lifetime value was maintained, and the player experience improved significantly. How should the industry judge whether a sportsbook is genuinely tier one? Not by the size of the supplier, the number of integrations or the language in a presentation. Look at the product. Are the odds competitive? Is the Bet Builder properly priced? Is cash-out reliable? Can risk be managed according to the individual customer? Can the operator launch ideas quickly? Does the sportsbook increase turnover and player value? Tier one should describe the standard the operator can deliver to the customer. The real test is whether an operator using B2B technology can compete headto-head with brands that spent years building their sportsbooks internally. That is the standard we built FIRST. bet to deliver.

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I often describe the platform as the left hemisphere of an operator’s digital brain, with content being the right

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Technology that travels

Novibet Chief Technology Officer YIANNIS STAVROULAS explains why scalable platforms define the future of regulated gaming

Words by TED ORME-CLAYE

nline gaming cannot escape the reality of modern business, as mass market consumers and investors place the highest operating value on technology execution of platforms and systems. As a highly regulated industry, the upkeep of iGaming platforms is never static, and has to continually adapt and evolve to meet the regulatory demands of individual jurisdictions operators are licensed in. As such there is no one-size-fitsall blueprint for the engineering of platforms that must meet marketspecific compliance duties on Know Your Customer (KYC), anti-money laundering (AML), risk management, customer intervention, duty of care and now safety by design. Effective design, engineering and execution of platforms has become a key measure of the strength of iGaming technology units and their leadership, particularly as operators look to scale across increasingly complex regulated markets. According to Novibet Chief Technology Officer Yiannis Stavroulas the industry’s biggest misconception is still viewing technology as a support function. “Technology isn’t a supporting capability for an operator – it is the business itself. It is our distribution channel, the foundation of the player experience and ultimately the engine that enables the business to operate, scale and evolve.

“That’s why I often describe the platform as the left hemisphere of an operator’s digital brain, with content being the right. Both need to work seamlessly together, but without a strong technological foundation, sustainable growth simply isn’t possible.” Taking on the Brazil tech challenge Founded in 2010 by the engineering duo of Chairman Rodolfo Odoni and CEO George Athanasopoulos, Novibet is a Greek tech success story built from the ground-up to challenge the top of European iGaming ranks. Rather than relying on third-party infrastructure, the company has continuously invested in developing and evolving its own proprietary platform, giving its engineering teams full ownership of the technology stack and complete control over how the platform innovates, scales and adapts to the unique requirements of each regulated market. Stavroulas proudly describes it as “our greatest technological advantage”. “It is fully-owned, cloud-agnostic and designed with security, observability and compliance embedded into its architecture from the outset. That gives us the flexibility to serve multiple regulated markets through a common technology backbone while adapting quickly to local regulatory, payment and business requirements.” Novibet operates across Europe and Latin America, supported by international hubs in Greece, Malta, Brazil and Mexico, which house over 1,400 employees.

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“Technology is ultimately built by people,” interjects the CTO. “Scaling internationally isn’t simply about deploying infrastructure into new markets – it’s about creating engineering teams that share the same architecture, principles and standards regardless of geography. Our objective has always been to operate as one global technology organisation, not as a collection of local teams.” Brazil represents an important market within Novibet’s international expansion and a significant opportunity to demonstrate the scalability of its technology and operating model in one of the world’s largest regulated gaming markets. Novibet has been active in Brazil’s regulated market since it launched on 1 January 2025. It has successfully navigated the complex technical and compliance requirements that were unsettled at launch and continue to be liable to change given the volatile political climate around gaming in a very religious and conservative country. Reflecting on Novibet’s experience of scaling its technology in Brazil, Stavroulas says he “wouldn’t describe Brazil in terms of technological hurdles” but admits it “certainly was a great challenge”. “The most crucial aspect for longterm success was scaling our platform, our engineering organisation and our technology operations into a new continent without creating a separate Brazilian technology island.” From the outset, maintaining a unified technology organisation was considered non-negotiable. Rather than developing independent local systems, Novibet deliberately extended its global platform into Brazil, ensuring that every market continues to benefit from a common architecture, shared engineering standards and continuous innovation. “We wanted Brazil to become a major regional deployment of the same global platform.” As with any other market launch, the firm had to ensure its technological foundations were in line with local requirements. In Brazil’s case, the regulatory framework included specific requirements around residency and local presence. This made having a dedicated regional deployment “essential”, Stavroulas observes, and for this task, Novibet’s “multi-tenant architecture” proved a worthy investment.

“Brazil was the market where we first applied our hub-and-spoke architecture across continents,” he says, citing the establishment of a new regional technology spoke in São Paulo, Brazil’s business capital. This spoke enabled the firm to maintain platform integrity while expanding in this new regulatory environment. Novibet then began to build on this by establishing and growing a local technology team, which was subsequently integrated into its global technology organisation. “At the same time, we were among the first operators to successfully integrate with the regulator’s systems, which was another important milestone,” Stavroulas adds. “Overall, Brazil has been the most challenging test to date for our architecture, organisational strategy and engineering culture. We passed it successfully, with strengthened confidence in our platform and our team.” Tech’s role in the black market battle The first year of the Brazil market’s existence has seen the market emerge as a mulit-billion one, but also one with limited technical guidance and a heavy exposure to black market activity. Illegal gambling is not just a challenge for Brazil, however. It has dominated discourse around multiple markets, including regulated markets in which Novibet operates, such as Greece and Ireland. Stavroulas observes that the black market cannot be thwarted on compliance alone – effective enforcement must be matched by technology that delivers a trustworthy and reliable player experience. “For us, the only way to offset illegal operators is by being not only legal, but also trustworthy and respectful,” Stavroulas remarks. “Competing in a regulated market is about consistently delivering an experience that players can trust. “That means operating with transparency, responsibility and respect in every interaction. Ultimately, trust is one of the strongest competitive advantages a licensed operator can have.” Regulators across Europe and Latin America, just like the licensed markets they oversee, are equally concerned

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with the extent of black market activity. In Novibet’s home market of Greece, for example, the regulator was granted sweeping new powers for the task earlier this year. Of course, regulators are not just focused on the illegal market. The industry has seen regulations tighten across multiple markets, such as in Novibet’s core market of Brazil, or have found themselves with new regulatory frameworks to navigate, in markets such as Ireland. Next generation technology With this in mind, how far can technology innovation take an ever-evolving but also highly regulated industry like online gambling, which will always find itself under some form of regulatory spotlight? “Of course regulation constrains innovation, just like traffic rules limit our travelling speed,” says Stavroulas. “But both exist for the same reason: to create a safer and more sustainable environment for everyone involved. A market without effective regulation is ultimately shaped by the most reckless participant, and that rarely benefits the industry in the long term. We’ve seen similar patterns across many sectors, from social media to consumer products. “In gaming, regulation plays an equally important role because responsibility, transparency and player protection are fundamental to building trust and creating experiences that remain positive over the long term. “For Novibet, this is what success looks like, and regulation is a natural ally.” Looking ahead, Stavroulas believes the distinction between technology companies and gaming companies will continue to disappear. Success will increasingly depend on engineering excellence, platform scalability and the ability to deliver highly personalized yet responsible digital experiences across multiple jurisdictions. “Technology will increasingly define how operators innovate, expand and compete. But technology alone is never enough. The organisations that lead the next generation of regulated gaming will combine worldclass engineering with responsibility, operational excellence and an unwavering commitment to earning players’ trust.” That philosophy continues to shape Novibet’s long-term technology strategy as the company expands its international footprint.

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ON THE FOLLOWING PAGES 65 Column: Joe Streeter on the tax impact in the UK 66 Cover Story: Alea Founder Alexandre Tomic 72 Interview: Betsson COO Kevin Saliba 76 Interview: Games Valley CEO Ariel Reem 80 Interview: GAMOMAT Head of Commercial Joss Webster 84 Interview: Greentube Director Markus Antl 88 Interview: Hub88 Director of Product Gabriel Kolawole 92 Interview: Kalamba Games COO Alex Cohen 96 Interview: Kanggiten CEO Viktor Cherkas 100 Thought Leadership: Pateplay CEO Giorgi Aleksandrov 104 Thought Leadership: Wazdan CCO Andrzej Hyla of Wazdan 64

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Swimming or sinking We knew that the UK market would change in the wake of a doubling of remote gaming duty from 21% to 40% but while we have yet to see a mass exodus of operators, the current transition of the market should ring alarm bells, writes iGaming Expert Editor Joe Streeter

hile the market has shifted, I believe there is a vulnerability for the middle of the UK market, specifically those with a limited international portfolio and a heavy reliance on slots. For the sake of a thriving regulated market, a full spectrum of operators should be empowered to succeed. Not just those at the top of the table. The new tax era has opened the door to a potential widening of the gap between the tier one operators and the rest of the market, with bigger players vocally sharpening their teeth and not shying away from their appetite to increase market share. We are only just beginning to see the impact of the tax changes, but I fear that the top of the industry is ready to swallow the bottom of the chain – all while the middle is embroiled in struggle.

Beyond just surviving, Entain has stated that it is eyeing a greater slice of pie in the UK as a new ecosystem takes shape. Asked to comment on the early consequences of the tax hikes, which were slammed by Entain CEO Stella David, she said: “It’s really too early to say. I think the more important point is that we have definitely been increasing our share in the UK in advance of those tax increases and part of our strategy is to continue to increase our share. “Certainly in gaming, if you look at the market, there is a long tail of tier two and tier three operators all having very small percentage shares of the market, so within the regulated sector, we definitely see there’s an opportunity to continue to build on that share gain. We will see over time just how much of an impact that the black market has on the overall growth of the regulated sector.” The UK provided a salvation of optimism for Flutter, even in a backdrop of wider struggles, the firm’s departing CEO Peter Jackson emphasised his belief that it can grow its market share following the taxation transformation of the UK market. During a deeply challenging quarter for the firm in its latest results, UKI revenue grew 4%, with iGaming growth of 7% driven by

a 22% increase in average monthly players and a sequential improvement in Sky Gaming. Hardly spectacular, but what it highlights is that there is very much room for big operators to swim in murky waters. Conditions I fear won’t treat lesser operators as kindly. On the other hand, tax hikes not just in the UK, but across Europe caused FDJ United, the operator of Unibet and 32Red, to fork out an additional €52m in tax during the first half of 2026. The UK’s black market threat is on the cusp of exploding and as the regulated market juggles incoming affordability changes, the only way to combat its growth is through a balanced sector that is accommodating to a wide spectrum of operators servicing a diverse audience.

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It’s not enough just to provide games anymore – we need to add other types of value

COVER STORY

Alea Founder ALEXANDRE TOMIC and his team are reinventing aggregation with a new sportsbook, sweepstakes products and much more

Words by CRAIG DAVIES

lexandre Tomic has never been comfortable standing still. Over the past two years, Alea has quietly become one of the fastest-growing companies in iGaming, recording revenue growth of more than 300% in consecutive years. The business has expanded from around 25 employees in 2022 to over 120 today, while its aggregation solution now offers more than 23,000 games from over 170 providers to operators in more than 70 countries. Latin America has become a major engine of that growth, the company is about to add sportsbooks to its product line, and Alea is steadily transforming itself from a pure game aggregator into a much broader technology ecosystem. Company founder Tomic might have stepped down as CEO in early 2024, handing operational leadership to former COO Jordi Sendra, but his fingerprints are all over the company’s strategy. Freed from the demands of day-to-day management, he now spends his time thinking about where gaming is heading next – and how Alea can get there first. It is a role that feels tailor-made for one of the industry’s most outspoken entrepreneurs.

“I’m obsessed with the company,” he says matter-of-factly. That obsession increasingly centres on one question: what does an aggregator need to become in order to remain indispensable? Beyond game aggregation The answer, Tomic believes, is simple. It needs to become much more than a game aggregator. For years, suppliers competed on the size of their content libraries and the speed of their integrations. Today, almost everyone can connect hundreds of studios. Tomorrow’s competitive advantage will come from everything built around those games. “We are in the middle of operators and providers,” Tomic explains. “We need to constantly re-evaluate our value proposition.” He knows the challenge well. As operators grow, many eventually establish direct commercial relationships with the largest game studios. That can leave aggregators occupying what Tomic calls an “uncomfortable position” between both sides of the market.

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SBC LEADERS ISSUE 41 Rather than fight that reality, Alea has decided to evolve beyond it. The company’s strategy now rests on three pillars. The first is infrastructure – building secure APIs and scalable technology capable of supporting an increasingly complex global network of operators and suppliers. The second is data, helping partners better understand player behaviour and content performance. The third focuses on engagement, creating products that allow operators to differentiate themselves regardless of which studios they integrate. “It’s not enough just to provide games anymore,” Tomic says. “We need to add other types of value.” The philosophy is taking shape. Alea Jackpot, developed after customers repeatedly requested a jackpot solution, became the first major product built entirely within the company’s own ecosystem. Rather than asking operators to integrate yet another third-party supplier, Alea embedded the functionality directly into its platform. Operators can now launch campaigns across multiple brands and currencies through a single interface, while a built-in Simulator models prize structures and financial outcomes before campaigns go live. According to Alea, those projections achieve 99.9% accuracy. Jackpot is not simply another product launch. It is a statement of intent. Latin America’s moment Latin America in general – and Brazil in particular – has been key

to Alea’s extraordinary growth trajectory of recent years. While many businesses waited for regulatory certainty before committing resources, Alea spent much of 2024 preparing for Brazil’s regulated market. Certification, taxation and technical requirements remained uncertain for months, yet the company worked alongside game providers, certification agencies and operators to ensure it was ready from day one. By the time regulation arrived, Alea was already certified and entered the market with one of the largest portfolios of compliant content available through an aggregator. Preparation extended well beyond certification. The company established a local entity, recruited Brazilian talent, adapted its customer support to local working hours and invested heavily in understanding the country’s legal and operational requirements. Although Brazil’s opening months proved difficult for much of the market, activity has since recovered strongly. For Alea, Brazil is not an isolated opportunity but part of a wider Latin American strategy that also encompasses markets such as Mexico and Peru. It is also evidence of a company increasingly willing to make longterm bets before others. Learning from starting over While Alea’s recent growth has been explosive, it is far from an overnight success story. The company is just six-years-old but before Alea there was SlotsMillion, which launched in 2012. The B2C operator enjoyed notable success, pioneering virtual reality casino gaming

and expanding through multiple licences and acquisitions. But by 2020, the relationship between the company’s founders had reached breaking point. “We worked together for 20 years, and we just couldn’t stand each other anymore,” Tomic recalls. “We should have split before. It didn’t happen in a nice way.” The business was divided. His former partner retained the larger B2C operation. Tomic inherited the much smaller B2B aggregation business. “The B2C was a much bigger operation than the B2B. On the other hand, it’s a much more volatile operation,” says Tomic. Following a three-to-four year period of gradual growth, Alea has bloomed. Tomic says the company has a “much nicer” spread of customers, rather than three huge clients representing up to 80% of the business. In February 2024, Tomic stepped away from the CEO role, appointing Sendra to lead the company’s daily operations while he focuses on long-term strategy and marketing. Tomic’s co-founder Charlotte Lecomte remains Chief Product Officer and together the pair are responsible for the company’s culture of curiosity and innovation. The next chapter That curiosity increasingly shapes Alea’s roadmap, with a sportsbook supplied by FIRST the latest addition to the ecosystem, after repeated requests from operators already using Alea’s solution. Rather than requiring another complex integration, customers can now access the sportsbook through the same technology stack that powers their casino offering.

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INSIDE THE MIND OF ALEXANDRE TOMIC For someone whose professional life revolves around software platforms and commercial strategy, Alexandre Tomic spends a surprising amount of time thinking about consciousness. The Alea founder openly describes himself as a biohacker, experimenting with ways to improve both physical and mental performance. That curiosity has led him into the emerging field of psychedelic-assisted therapy. Among the subjects that fascinate him most is DMTx – an experimental protocol involving extended DMT sessions under clinical supervision. His interest has been shaped through conversations with neuroscientist Dr Andrew Gallimore and through his investment in Eleusis, a retreat in Saint Vincent exploring psychedelic therapies. Tomic also speaks openly about ketamine-assisted therapy and believes psychedelic treatments could play an important role in tackling addiction. His interest stems from a wider view of gambling’s responsibilities. “I always say I don’t think we bring real value to society,” he says. “We do entertainment, but also some people that are gambling do have issues.” Having built his career in gambling, he believes the industry has an obligation to help those harmed by its products. “Psychedelics are proven to be extremely effective with addiction, whether it’s opiate addiction or alcohol addiction, as well as posttraumatic stress.” Whether those therapies become mainstream remains uncertain. But, like many of Tomic’s views on technology, they reveal a willingness to explore unconventional ideas if he believes they offer meaningful solutions. It is the same curiosity that continues to shape Alea’s evolution and one that suggests the company’s next chapter may be just as unexpected as its last.

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Beyond the sportsbook lies an even broader vision. North American sweepstakes have already become a meaningful contributor to the business, growing from approximately €1m in monthly GGR during 2024 to €13.4m by early 2026. Remarkably, almost half of April’s sweepstakes revenue came from games released within the previous six months. Alongside Alea Jackpot, sportsbook and sweepstakes show how far the company has already moved beyond game aggregation. Tomic sees the traditional divisions between verticals becoming less relevant as players move across casino, sportsbook, live gaming, and emerging formats. Suppliers, he argues, need to start thinking in the same way. Video games provide one example of that more fluid approach. Within a single gaming ecosystem, players can move between different game modes, interact directly with other players through P2P mechanics, and engage with purchasing, reward and other monetisation features. Tomic sees potential for the regulated gambling industry to adopt some of these dynamics for adult audiences, while stressing that this should be done without blurring the boundaries between gaming and gambling. “That I find extremely interesting, and I think that we’re going to see more and more of that in our industry.” Keeping perspective You would think somebody of Tomic’s future-embracing ilk would be all over artificial intelligence but he is less gung ho on the subject than you might think.

While acknowledging its transformative potential, he questions whether AI alone can replace the experience required to build secure, enterprisegrade infrastructure. “We’ve tried to do it ourselves with AI, and it’s a catastrophe,” he says. “At least today, it doesn’t work. AI is not able to develop properly secure, robust APIs.” That pragmatism perhaps best encapsulates both the man and the company. Tomic

is rarely interested in following industry fashions for their own sake. Instead, he asks a different question: what genuinely helps operators grow? Over the past few years, Alea’s answer has evolved from content aggregation to infrastructure, then to data, engagement products and an increasingly complete technology solution. The pace of change shows little sign of slowing. Game aggregation, it seems, was only ever chapter one.

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We’ve tried to do it ourselves with AI, and it’s a catastrophe. At least today, AI is not able to develop properly secure, robust APIs

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Building a global platform

KEVIN SALIBA, Chief Business Development Officer at Betsson Group, spoke to SBC Leaders about a myriad of challenging factors when it comes to ensuring success for a multi-jurisdiction operation in the casino sector

Words by JOE STREETER

an you tell us about the challenges when it comes to adjusting to new markets? How much do you have to change your approach in terms of the casino offering? Every market requires adaptation. However, I would argue that the casino experience is the one which requires less adaptation than, for example, sportsbook, payments or onboarding. For casino, Betsson endeavours to bring a strong common casino platform with access to a broad portfolio of content governed by central processes, with the offering’s presentation adapted to local preferences. Regulatory requirements can affect which games may be offered, how they function and how they are presented. Depending on the jurisdiction, operators may need to account for requirements relating to stake limits, game speed,

certification, product availability, bonus mechanics, reality checks and reporting. Our proprietary platform is particularly important here. It forms the core of the customer experience and handles payments, customer data, accounts, transactions and game offerings. This gives us a high degree of control and allows us to adapt more rapidly when market conditions or regulatory requirements change. Approximately 90% of Group revenue was generated through Betsson’s own platform in 2025, which demonstrates how central that capability is to the business. What role do advertising restrictions have on market entry as a multi-brand operator? Advertising restrictions are a significant part of a market-entry as they often favour the incumbent operator, with new entrants challenged to get their brand to market. When entering new

markets we favour entering with a single brand, and that is typically Betsson, the flagship brand. However, a multi-brand portfolio does provide flexibility to select a brand with the strongest resonance to a particular market and customer segment. However, launching several brands only creates value when each can be differentiated and communicated effectively. In a heavily restricted environment, customer acquisition becomes expensive and brand building can take longer. This can affect which brand we enter with, the number of brands we launch and the pace of investment. In certain markets, the appropriate strategy is to concentrate resources behind the flagship Betsson brand. We have already been consolidating more of our international marketing behind Betsson, allowing us to strengthen the impact of global sponsorships and realise greater economies of scale.

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Do market nuances impact Betsson’s ability to operate with economies of scale? Betsson’s business is, first and foremost, local. Indeed, the lion’s share of revenues are now locally regulated and the question of economies of scale largely depends on the

extent to which global practices resonate locally. This has to be reviewed on a market-bymarket basis because regulatory frameworks vary. Some demand localisation to a greater extent than others, not only in terms of what is put to the customer but also in terms of back-office

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The model is not complete centralisation or complete localisation

operations and obligations towards the regulator. The model is therefore not complete centralisation or complete localisation. We look to centralise the capabilities where scale genuinely adds value, while keeping market-facing decisions close to the customer.

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Technology, data, cybersecurity, responsible gaming systems, compliance frameworks and certain operational processes can support multiple jurisdictions. Local teams then apply their market knowledge to areas such as brand positioning, content selection, payments, partnerships, and marketing. The local team is key to understanding the market zeitgeist. This allows us to avoid rebuilding the business for every jurisdiction while still recognising that local relevance is essential. Betsson’s proprietary platform gives us scalability, but equally importantly, it gives us the flexibility to configure the proposition when market conditions change. Scale provides the common backbone, while local expertise determines how that capability is deployed. What are the most fruitful economies of scale in 2026, given the massive variation in regulatory frameworks in local markets? Technology ownership is a clear example. Our proprietary Player Account Management platform supports payments, customer information, account management and game delivery. It allows functionality to be developed centrally and subsequently configured for different brands, markets and regulatory requirements. Compliance and regulatory reporting are also increasingly important areas of scale. Reporting obligations are becoming more extensive and complex, and Betsson has developed tools that automate a large part of these deliverables. That is a good example of an investment that can improve both efficiency and regulatory control across several jurisdictions. Other meaningful economies of scale include data, AI, cybersecurity, fraud prevention, responsible gaming, payments

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Geographical diversiﬁcation is central to managing risk and supplier integrations. Betsson works with third-party casino providers, but those providers undergo technical, security and compliance assessments before being integrated into our platform. Brand investment is another area. By increasingly focusing international marketing and major sponsorship assets behind the Betsson brand, we can build stronger global awareness and use the same investment more effectively across several markets. How does political instability impact Betsson’s ability to operate with economies of scale? I’d say that political and regulatory predictability are important when assessing any type of investment. Changes in government policy, taxation, licensing conditions or product restrictions can materially affect the timing, structure and expected return of a market entry. However, uncertainty does not remove the benefits of scale, but it does require flexibility. Technology, operating models and investment plans must be capable of responding when conditions change. Our experience across many regulated jurisdictions helps us anticipate some of those challenges and adapt more efficiently, although every situation must still be assessed individually.

Geographical diversification is also central to managing this risk and at Betsson we’ve been doing this for years. Operating across a broad portfolio of markets reduces dependence on any single jurisdiction and supports more sustainable earnings over time. At the same time, diversification is not a substitute for disciplined market selection. We consider regulatory maturity, enforcement, taxation, channelisation and the robustness of local customerprotection frameworks before committing significant resources. How much has Latin America’s success highlighted the growth of the firm and what has gone so well in these markets? Latin America has become a central part of Betsson’s growth and diversification. In the second quarter of 2026, revenue from the region increased by 32% to a new record, making it Betsson’s largest region and accounting for more than a third of group revenue. That performance has been built over several years rather than through one initiative. We entered several markets and acquired relatively early, invested consistently in our product and technology, developed strong brands and empowered local teams with a deep understanding of their customers. The performance has also been broad-based. In the latest quarter, Peru and Argentina were particularly strong, supported by earlier product investments, established brands and welltargeted marketing linked to the FIFA World Cup. Our presence has also become increasingly embedded in the region. During 2025, we opened a new office in Buenos Aires and launched offerings under local licences in Brazil and Paraguay. This reflects a long-term commitment to building sustainable positions, rather than approaching the region solely as a short-term acquisition opportunity.

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I would like to see companies learning from each other, not working in isolation and solving the same problems repeatedly

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Shared knowledge CEO ARIEL REEM on a year of change at Games Valley and the evolving challenges of iGaming operators

hat exactly is Games Valley and what makes you different? Games Valley is an aggregation platform built to help operators launch faster, manage content more effectively and scale across regulated markets. Through a single API, we provide access to more than 150 premium providers and 15,000 games, but content volume alone is not what makes us different. Our focus is on everything around the games: fast integrations, exceptional uptime, self-service tools, transparent reporting and real-time performance data. We help operators understand what content is working, optimise their lobbies and make better commercial decisions. You have been in the role of the CEO at Games Valley for almost a year. How has the year gone and what plans do you have for the future? It has been a very productive first year so far. We have significantly strengthened the team, bringing in Robert Dowling as Chief Revenue Officer, Shaun Hart as Chief Financial Officer and Tereza Melicharkova as Marketing Director. We have also expanded our content offering with leading providers

including SPRIBE, BGaming and Imagine Live, among others. The next stage is about building on those foundations. We will continue improving the platform, expanding into regulated markets and investing in the data and intelligence tools that help operators understand performance and optimise their offering. This is about building a smarter type of aggregation, where we’re a genuine growth partner rather than simply a content supplier. You’ve lived and worked in two of Europe’s great iGaming hubs, Gibraltar and now Malta. What makes these locations so valuable for the industry, and how has Malta shaped your experience? There is something unique about working in a relatively small place that is packed with so much industry talent. You are constantly surrounded by experienced operators, suppliers and entrepreneurs, which makes relationship-building and exchanging ideas much easier. Malta has that same strong sense of community I experienced in Gibraltar, while also offering an excellent quality of life and a highly international business environment. It is a fantastic place to build a company, recruit talented people and stay close to partners from across the industry.

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Operators often focus on headline factors such as content, pricing and market access, but how significant is the hidden cost of operational friction in aggregation? Invisible friction often appears in small operational delays. That might be in the form of slow integrations, inconsistent reporting, manual processes or having to raise support tickets for routine changes. Individually, these issues seem minor, but over time they create real costs. Before you realise, you’ve fallen behind the competition. They can also make it harder for operators to respond quickly to changing player trends or understand what is driving performance. This is really important, particularly when operating across multiple regulated markets. We’re able to remove much of this friction behind the scenes for a couple of reasons. Firstly, we talk to our partners and understand how their businesses work. And secondly, because we’re not weighed down by legacy tech.

With so many aggregation platforms offering similar catalogues of games, what should operators really look for when choosing a longterm partner? Content access is only the starting point. Operators should look closely at the technology behind the platform, including integration speed, uptime, scalability and how easily it can adapt to new markets and suppliers.

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Operators are not only competing with other gambling brands, but with streaming, gaming, crypto, trading and every other form of digital entertainment

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Why is simply focusing on more content no longer a competitive advantage in aggregation? Most operators can now access the same thousands of games through multiple aggregators, so content volume alone is no longer a meaningful differentiator. In fact, adding more titles without the right structure can make a casino lobby harder to manage and dilute player engagement. We’ve found that the real competitive advantage lies in helping operators understand what performs, why it performs and how to act on that information. That means reliable infrastructure, real-time data, transparent reporting and tools that allow operators to optimise their portfolios quickly.

They should also ask what happens after launch. We are here to help our partners grow, and that means we need to take the time to understand, on a deep level, the challenges they face. We’ve really focused on building a platform that enables us to do that.

Much of the industry conversation focuses on regulation, taxes and acquisition costs, but what are the biggest challenges operators are not talking about enough? One of the biggest is operational complexity. Many operators are managing fragmented data, legacy systems, manual processes and multiple supplier relationships, all of which quietly slow decision-making and increase costs. Another is relevance. Operators are not only competing with other gambling brands, but with streaming, gaming, crypto, trading and every other form of digital entertainment. That places much greater pressure on the product experience. To succeed, operators need better tools, clearer performance insight and the ability to adapt their content quickly, rather than simply adding more of it. If you could change one thing about the iGaming industry, what would it be? I would like to see the industry become more mature at sharing knowledge and learning from each other. There is a huge amount of expertise across operators, suppliers and regulators, but too often businesses work in isolation and end up solving the same problems repeatedly. Greater openness around technology, compliance and player behaviour would help the entire sector move forward more quickly and responsibly. Competition will always be important, but there is also room for more collaboration on the challenges that affect everyone. A more connected industry would ultimately produce better products, stronger businesses and a healthier environment for players.

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Beyond content Meeting Operator Needs GAMOMAT’s Head of Commercial, JOSS WEBSTER, reflects on how the relationship between operators and game studios is evolving – and why the studios that thrive next will be those prepared to look beyond content alone

s competition in the online casino market increases, expectations around collaboration between operators and game studios are evolving. A strong content portfolio remains essential, but it is no longer enough on its own. Operators increasingly expect flexible collaboration models, seamless integrations and partners who understand their individual market and business needs.

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Increasingly, they’re looking for partners who can adapt to different operating models, market requirements and commercial priorities without adding unnecessary complexity. As a result, game studios are evolving beyond pure content supply towards a broader role as strategic content providers. This shift is largely driven by a more crowded market: operators are under growing pressure to differentiate their offering and deliver sustainable performance, and that pressure is passed on to the studios they work with. It’s also being accelerated by rapidly evolving technologies, which are changing player expectations and increasing the pace of innovation. As new audiences enter the market and social channels play an ever-greater role in discovery, game studios must adapt to changing player expectations while continuing to deliver value for operators. Layered on top of this is a patchwork of regulatory requirements that shift from market to market, meaning speed, flexibility and compliance now go hand in hand for any studio hoping to keep pace.

Today, success is deﬁned by how easily operators can integrate content, collaborate more effectively with their providers and adapt to changing market demands

Evolving the content provider role One important shift has been rethinking what operators expect from a modern content provider. Today, success is no longer defined solely by the strength of a game portfolio, but by how easily operators can integrate content, collaborate more effectively with their content providers and adapt to changing market demands. That means giving operators greater flexibility in how they access and integrate content, while making onboarding and collaboration simpler, faster and more efficient. Modern content providers need to adapt to different operator requirements and ways of working. Aggregators continue to play an important role, as operators in different markets have different preferences, and it’s ultimately their choice whether to access content through an aggregator or directly. This gives operators more ways to access our content while allowing us to better respond to their individual needs. We’ve modernised our integration processes. As a result, integrations that once took months, owing largely to legacy systems, now take just weeks, thanks to modern technologies and more efficient ways of working. This approach also extends to our in-house engine, enabling us to develop and deliver games more efficiently. As a result, we’re able to respond more quickly to changing market requirements while accelerating the delivery of new content to operators.

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In today’s market landscape, a one-size-ﬁts-all portfolio is rarely enough

Building a portfolio with purpose If flexibility is the foundation, then the portfolio is what gives it substance. Our strategy starts with understanding how our strengths create the greatest value for operators. That means continuously expanding our portfolio by balancing proven player favourites with new game concepts, giving operators a portfolio that addresses a broad range of player preferences and market requirements. Rather than chasing every short-term trend, our focus is on building a balanced portfolio with lasting relevance for operators and players. In today’s market landscape, a one-size-fits-all portfolio is rarely enough. Different markets have different player preferences and commercial requirements. Successful portfolios are those that balance consistency with local relevance, allowing operators to offer familiar player favourites while responding to regional preferences and regulatory differences. By adapting our portfolio to different market needs while maintaining a consistent portfolio identity, we’re able to help

operators create a more relevant and differentiated offering for their players. For operators, this means a portfolio that is better aligned with local market needs, supports long-term player engagement and creates greater opportunities for differentiation. Direct dialogue For us, this reinforces a simple belief: the best way to understand what operators need is to ask them directly. That’s a key reason why we’ll be making our debut at SBC Summit Lisbon with our first dedicated stand, providing the ideal opportunity to engage directly with operators. Having a dedicated presence gives us the space to discuss integrations and portfolio fit on a case-by-case basis, gain valuable feedback on what’s working, and develop a deeper understanding of how operator priorities continue to evolve. Those conversations are just as valuable as showcasing new content because they provide insight into the practical challenges operators face across different markets.

Our commercial approach is designed to support closer collaboration with operators. The result is faster decision-making and a shorter path from initial discussions to bringing content into an operator’s portfolio. Operator opportunity Taken together, these developments reflect a studio focused on becoming an even better partner for operators. At the heart of that philosophy is the understanding that every operator has different needs. Those differences extend far beyond content alone, encompassing commercial priorities, technical requirements and regulatory environments. Recognising those differences is what enables stronger, longerlasting partnerships. In the years ahead, the strongest operator partnerships will be built on more than content alone. They’ll be built on flexibility, close collaboration and portfolios that reflect the needs of different markets. That’s the path we’re committed to, and one we’re excited to explore alongside our operator partners.

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Maximizing margins

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Greentube Director of Global Sales and Marketing MARKUS ANTL wants to help operators fight regulatory headwinds with its ever-expanding portfolio of games that fit regulations and bridge the gap between land-based gambling and online

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t is no secret that operating an online casino in Europe has become a more difficult task in the last two years. Tax rates are increasing, advertising opportunities are being clamped and other forms of regulation are making some markets nigh on commercially unviable. That certainly puts strain on operators, and it puts more pressure on suppliers to provide technological solutions that can extend the lifetime value of a user, boost engagement and help protect margin. Greentube has put its proverbial foot on the accelerator this year, extending its reach across European markets and releasing an engaging suite of slot titles designed to leave players wanting to come back for more.

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“We are adapting games to fit regulations and are finding workarounds to keep players entertained while at the same time maximizing operators’ margins. “Through the ongoing rollout of new game content, enhanced retention features supported by our technology platform, and more efficient promotional tools, we are creating stronger commercial outcomes for both Greentube and our business partners.” The result is that Greentube is a go-to partner for operators in almost every single regulated European jurisdiction. “Our focus continues to be on further strengthening our relationships and collaboration with existing partners while evaluating additional markets for future expansion,” Antl adds. “We

“We also launched new titles within established game families, including Firecracker Frenzy - Money Toad and Piggy Prizes – Railroad Rumble. Both launches reinforced the importance of building strong brands and demonstrated our ability to further develop successful game families and mechanics while preserving the elements that make them successful.” These launches came just after the studio updated its product roadmap, focusing on an omnichannel approach and providing operators’ more opportunities for customised solutions. Antl explains: “After reshaping our content strategy at the end of 2025, we are looking forward to bringing this strategy into motion. Further

Game families deliver proven performance for players, operators and suppliers alike

The studio’s products are designed to be a handy solution for operators of all sizes, particularly those who are focused on driving bottom line growth. “We operate exclusively in regulated markets and have done so successfully for many years. That experience enables us to navigate evolving regulatory requirements effectively,” says Markus Antl, Director of Global Sales and Marketing at Greentube.

are planning to further increase our business in the US, South Africa, Italy and Alberta among other markets through content launches and enhanced promotions.” Expanding global presence 2026 has been a busy year so far for Greentube, which has already entered Slovenia and Alberta and plans to go live in Bulgaria in the near future. Regardless of jurisdiction, the objective is the same.

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improving content quality, offering extended content customisation and continuing to bridge the gap between landbased and online.” He outlines that the product strategy changes came following a period of reflection and learnings from Greentube’s experiences over recent years. The result, Antl asserts, is that Greentube is well-positioned to offer top-tier games for both clients and end-users.

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We are adapting games to ﬁt regulations and are ﬁnding workarounds to keep players entertained

What games are popular? Slot developers are always eager to monitor performance metrics and with Greentube live in so many jurisdictions, a look at the data paints a vivid picture of online casino player demands throughout 2026. Antl notes that the results from 2026 so far are varied and show that games right across the Greentube portfolio resonate with players. Asked which Greentube games have been most popular this year, Antl remarks: “It is a mix of Greentube’s topperforming legacy content, which players know from land-based venues, such as Book of Ra, Sizzling Hot and Lucky Lady’s Charm, and newer content featuring enhanced mechanics and stronger persistence features such as Piggy Prizes - Wand of Riches 2, Starlight Jackpots – Captain’s Catch, Firecracker Frenzy - Money Toad as well as the latest evolution of the well-established Charming Lady’s brand, Charming Lady’s Boom. “For us, this demonstrates that the migration of players from land-based gaming to online channels remains strong. Given the nature of our top-performing titles, we can see that players continue to be drawn to the prospect of significant wins. The way those opportunities are presented and communicated is important, but ultimately the game’s mathematics and overall player experience remain key drivers of success.” The fact that legacy content remains popular reinforces the idea that players like familiarity. That’s why Greentube has decided to build up franchises from games that have worked well in the past. That strategy is evidenced by

the roll out of titles adding to franchises like Piggy Prizes, Cash Connection and Starlight Jackpots. “Game families deliver proven performance for players, operators and suppliers alike,” Antl says. “Once a game family has demonstrated sustained success, it provides a strong foundation on which to build new titles and introduce additional mechanics and features. It is important to maintain player trust while introducing new features and enhancements that increase entertainment value and support long-term player retention.” What next? With 2026 being a busy year of geographic expansion and product releases, 2027 is shaping up to be another productive year for Greentube. While the industry still faces regulatory challenges, pressure continues to reduce costs and improve technological processes to make things more efficient. Greentube is aware of that and has multiple plans for the year ahead to ensure it remains competitive across all markets. Ultimately, it all comes down to achieving the goals of providing well-designed, engaging content that delivers engaging experiences for players and commercial results for operators. Antl concludes: “We are going to continue executing our new content strategy while increasing our flexibility and adaptability. AI will help to further improve certain processes, time to market and cost structure. “In the next 12 months we will deliver top global game content, carefully designed localized and customised content and upgrades to our Meta Retention Features and overall service.”

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Hub88 Director of Product GABRIEL KOLAWOLE explains why the next stage of operator tooling means moving data analysis from reactive to predictive

ub88 has spent almost a decade shaping the future of iGaming connectivity, linking global operators to content from 200+ providers under a single integration. That scale solved one problem – access – but made way for another. With billions of player interactions flowing through the platform, operators were sitting on more data than ever, with less clarity about what to do with it. It’s a challenge Hub88 has been building its way through, investing heavily not just in the breadth of its content, but in giving its partners the operational control to make sense of what that scale generates.

it and stitch it together. That’s manageable if they have a business analyst, but less so for a small team without the bandwidth. That is the gap our new tool Player Analytics closes. It acts as a consolidation layer, pulling together everything that used to live in separate places. Transactional history, preferences, stuck winnings, fraud-related cases, and campaign and reward history are all in one place.

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What does a typical online casino operator’s day-to-day data set up look like? A lot of operators are working with data that is fragmented, particularly those with leaner teams. They may have reports on title performance, their revenue over a period or a player report, but they don’t link up. If an operator wishes to crossreference any of these reports, they require someone who can manually pull the data, interpret

The information operators need has always existed; it has just been scattered across systems and someone had to know how to piece it together

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support agent needing to go looking for it. As a platform provider, the faster an operator’s customer service team can act on a flagged issue, the more trust they build with that player.

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A lot of operators are working with data that is fragmented, particularly those with leaner teams

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Following the launch of Player Analytics earlier this year, what can an operator see today that they couldn’t previously? Previously the player report was close to a registration list. It showed who was signed up to a brand, with no device, no last login, no session duration and no location detail at either registration or session level. Transactions sat in a separate report, so isolating one player’s activity meant going elsewhere to filter it, and there was nothing on the currencies they were playing in, the games they favoured, or how any of that had moved over time. Campaign and reward history was not visible against the player either, so a manager could not see what had already been offered to the person they were looking at. Flagged activity existed, but as a single feed across all of an operator’s brands rather than anything tied to an individual. And nothing in that view could be acted on, because there was no way to segment a group and export it. Down to individual player level, a casino manager can see registration location, last login, active duration, device used and how their behaviour has shifted across adjustable time frames. They can see which games a player favours and how their spend and session patterns are moving. Those signals cut both ways. They tell an operator when someone has had an experience worth putting right, and when a pattern warrants a closer look, whether that is a service issue or a player protection one. A flagged activity view surfaces big wins and or a crash round against the specific player, without a

Operators can also segment and act within the same view, pulling every player from a specific country, exporting the list and launching a reward campaign on the spot, without requiring a separate layer on top. How does your AI assistant, HubAI, fit into this ecosystem, and what impact will it have on efficiency? HubAI plugs directly into relevant pages whereby managers can see data. Rather than exporting a CSV file and handing it to

an analyst, HubAI reads the page data live and surfaces the insight directly. For example, flagging that a single player accounts for a disproportionate amount of turnover, which creates significant revenue volatility. The information operators need has always existed; it has just been scattered across systems and someone had to know how to piece it together. What we have tried to do through Player Analytics and HubAI is make this thinking accessible without requiring a data analyst. Our partners no longer need deep technical expertise to get a smart, and trustworthy, answer out of their own data. This is what you describe as the ‘consolidation layer’. What is next in terms of giving partners the longterm view? Above this sits Player Analytics Pro, which we are building now. Even with everything consolidated, a manager still has to ask a question before they get an answer. ‘How much have we already given this player?’ is a fair question, and today someone has to go and look. The next stage means the platform raises it before anyone thinks to ask. Player Analytics Pro will flag players heading towards churn, identify high-value players at risk of disengaging, surface reactivation opportunities and flag players who are being over-bonused. That last one is the clearest example of the shift. Players Analytics made what a player has already been given visible. Pro is the difference between being able to look that up and being told about it unprompted.

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Back to the future Kalamba Games Chief Operating Officer ALEX COHEN looks back to the 1970s for a clue as to what happens next in the prediction markets space in the US

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hy are we discussing Class II mobile, ADW and prediction markets right now? We’re at an inflection point. Class II mobile, ADW and prediction markets are emerging where regulation, technology, and user expectations intersect. At Kalamba we see all as opportunities to expand what regulated gaming can offer – if we approach them with product design that respects regulatory frameworks while making experiences accessible and engaging for mainstream players. Do you see any historical parallels with gaming verticals that emerge from gaps between federal and state legislation? The history of tribal bingo and the path to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) offers an interesting example. In the late 1970s, as the first tribal bingo rooms emerged, most states felt they had a strong position that these were illegal gaming. The federal public law 280 gave states criminal jurisdiction over reservations, and in most states, it was illegal to run a private gaming organisation. However, under [former President Jimmy] Carter, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) gave shelter to the first high-stakes tribal bingo operations. Then when Reagan took office, it would be reasonable for a bystander to assume that he would roll back many of the approvals given by the Carter administration, but by that time it had already gained momentum. When the US Supreme Court finally issued a ruling in California vs Cabazon in 1987, it gave the final word that tribal gaming was here to stay. That sequence – agency initiative, early court wins, legislative lag, then (rushed) regulation – mirrors what we’re seeing with prediction markets today. How do you see the market stabilising between different forms of gaming? Historical examples show us that innovation can outpace enforcement and legislation. Rather than reacting to policy shifts, the industry can use robust legal interpretations and compliant product design to claim new territory. More specifically, that means building products that align with existing statutes while demonstrating consumer protection, responsible play, and clear regulatory compliance.

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Rather than reacting to policy shifts, the industry can use robust legal interpretations and compliant product design to claim new territory 93

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Our role is to translate complex market mechanics into accessible, entertaining experiences – turning traders into players

What role can Kalamba play in that process? Kalamba’s strength is product design and regulatory experience. We’ve built games and platforms for heavily regulated markets across Europe and Latin America, and we know how to adapt technology to unique frameworks. Our role is to translate complex market mechanics into accessible, entertaining experiences – turning traders into players – while ensuring operators can deploy them within compliance boundaries. Prediction markets are often technical and intimidating. How do you think they could be made more accessible? Simplification and UX-first thinking. In most cases, there are some very powerful tools available to customers, but a typical customer may be a bit daunted or confused. There are some clear opportunities for products that guide a customer through strategies to make the most of the infrastructure of the exchange. Are there product design patterns that work particularly well for prediction markets? When I watch the flow of short-duration markets, such as ones that resolve within less than half-an-hour, they often have an interesting dynamic. It seems like there must be some opportunities to make the markets more efficient while generating some profit for customers, and a product that makes these more accessible could make a very interesting proposition for customers. What regulatory risks should operators and suppliers be mindful of? Function matters more than form, so when you look at alternative markets, it’s important to remain true to the regulatory landscape that makes each market work. For example, Class II games look virtually indistinguishable from traditional slot games, but they are categorized as bingo games. That does not mean that they are slot games that just have a bingo

card on them; it means that to be compliant, they must be bingo games, even if there’s some extra layers built onto them. How do you advise new users who want to try prediction markets? Start small and learn. Treat prediction markets like a financial product: understand the mechanics, manage exposure, and avoid chasing quick wins. Our public guidance echoes this: begin with smallscale trades, learn the market dynamics, and scale responsibly as you gain confidence. What’s Kalamba’s immediate focus in this space? We’re exploring Class II mobile and prediction market formats that can be deployed in regulated contexts. That means prototyping short-duration markets, experimenting with gamified UX, and working with legal teams to ensure compliance. We’re also engaging with tribal partners and operators to understand their priorities and constraints. Final takeaway for partners and stakeholders? Momentum matters. Industries that build momentum become difficult to stop; regulation often follows reality. Our job at Kalamba is to help shape that reality responsibly – by creating products that are compliant, engaging, and scalable. We believe prediction markets can evolve into a mainstream entertainment category, and we’re committed to building the technology and experiences that make that possible. Where can people learn more or engage with Kalamba on these initiatives? Reach out to our partnerships team or follow our public updates. We’re actively discussing Class II mobile and prediction market opportunities with operators, tribal partners, and regulators – and we welcome constructive collaboration to build safe, compliant, and compelling products.

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Discipline is boring – it is also what separates a 5% year from a 30% year

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From 50 experiments to adding 36% to GGR. Kanggiten CEO VIKTOR CHERKAS explains how A/B testing becomes an operating discipline

hen does an operator’s growth stall because of how they make decisions, not what they build? Growth usually stalls before the product does. Most operators already have enough features. What they lack is a way to know which changes move the numbers. When decisions are made on opinion, you get motion without direction. You run on last quarter’s assumption, and you ship things without knowing what worked and what set you back. That gets read as a product problem when the real issue is how decisions get made. The operators who keep growing replaced “we think” with “we tested.” Every meaningful change goes through a controlled experiment, so each decision rests on evidence and builds on the last. Without that loop, you plateau no matter how many features you add.

What does a real testing culture look like across a full year, not a one-off experiment? A single test is a stunt. What matters is keeping the habit alive for years. Over a year that means a continuous backlog of hypotheses, running across the whole funnel: registration, deposit, retention, reactivation. Some win, most don’t, and that is fine. The value is in the win rate over time, and in killing weak ideas cheaply before they reach the roadmap. As an example, after migrating to Kanggiten, the VOX Casino team ran around 50 experiments across five funnel stages in twelve months. Not one big redesign, but fifty small, measured changes. That produced a 36% GGR increase and an 18% lift in LTV. The compounding did that. A culture also documents its losing tests, so you stop relitigating the same ideas. Discipline is boring – it is also what separates a 5% year from a 30% year.

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Europe is in the middle of a major regulatory shift right now. When the map changes like that, what does it mean for operators, and where do you see opportunity? Europe is going through its biggest regulatory shift in a decade, moving in two directions at once. Some markets are opening: Finland is ending its state monopoly, with licence applications in 2026 and the market live in 2027, open to private operators for the first time. Others are tightening. Germany is reviewing its 2021 treaty and already runs strict deposit limits, the Netherlands has brought in monthly loss limits, and the EU’s new antimoney-laundering rules raise the bar for everyone this year. For operators, both directions redraw the market. A newly opened market is a reason to expand. When a market you already run in changes its rules, you have to reassess. Both are migration and expansion events. That is where the platform matters. Entering a market or

adapting to new rules, the real risk is losing the conversion performance you spent years building. The opportunity is doing that without resetting to zero. You keep the funnel you optimised and keep testing while you move.

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Entering a market or adapting to new rules, the real risk is losing the conversion performance you spent years building

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What changes between running five tests a year and running 50? Everything downstream of it. At five tests a year you are guessing with a little validation, and most of your funnel never gets examined. At fifty you work through the whole player journey and find the leaks you didn’t know you had. On VOX the wins came from unglamorous places. Registration time dropped 20%, click-to-registration rose 16%, first-deposit conversion rose 17%, and time to first deposit fell 25%. None of those are headline features. They are funnel mechanics you only surface by testing. The gap between five and fifty is not ten times the effort. With the right platform each test is cheap. It is ten times the learning, and learning is what compounds into revenue.

For an operator entering a new market, white label is often the fastest route in. When does it make sense, and where does it stop being the right tool? White label is really the easiest way to get a brand live. It runs under our master licence, so the operator does not need their own. For clients who want speed, or who are testing a market before committing, that means a live, revenue-generating product in weeks rather than months. But the model depends on the market. White label

works where that licensing is accepted. A locally regulated market is different. Germany, the Netherlands, Finland once it opens: those require a local licence that belongs to the operator. That is turnkey: the operator holds their own licence and brand, and we provide the platform. We are the technology provider there, not the licence holder, and with the EU’s new anti-money-laundering rules this year, being precise about that line matters. So the first question is never “white label or turnkey.” It is “which markets are you targeting,” because that decides the model. Across both, what matters most is the platform. Ours came out of ten years of B2C operations, so registration, cashier, and bonus logic are shaped by what we saw converted. VOX is the proof it holds up in Europe: the operator behind those 50 experiments. The platform should be modular and hold under load, and the partner should be transparent. It should reduce an operator’s risk, not add to it. If an operator is choosing a platform right now with growth as the priority, what should they stress-test that they probably aren’t? How fast they can run an experiment. Not the feature list; they all look similar in a demo. Ask how long it takes to launch a real A/B test on the registration flow, and whether it needs a developer. Then ask how many tests their setup runs in a quarter. Then stress-test migration: how much performance survives a move, and how quickly. And look hard at the relationship. Quick decisions and a clear commercial line matter more than they appear to on day one. It comes down to the commercial result: how fast you go live, and whether the platform keeps scaling into profit as you grow.

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henever a company appoints a new CEO, the natural tendency is to focus on the individual: “A new CEO? What’s his story?” In reality, very little of this story is about one person. I joined the gaming industry because I was fascinated by products – at this point it is pretty much all I know… What started with game design and product development gradually evolved into broader responsibilities across operations, strategy and business growth. Looking back, the progression feels less like a carefully planned career path and more like a series of opportunities to take on new challenges whenever they appeared. The transition to CEO is one of those moments. For me, the role is not about becoming the face of the company. Pateplay was built long before I arrived, and its future will be determined by the quality of its people rather than the title written on any individual’s business card. My responsibility is simply to help create the conditions that allow young and talented people to do their best work. That perspective comes largely from working alongside our founder, investor and my namesake Georgi Aleksandrov (no relation). Few people in this industry have witnessed as many cycles, technological shifts and market transformations as he has. One of the advantages of joining a company founded by an industry veteran is the ability to learn from experience that cannot be found in books or presentations. The transition itself was never about replacing one generation with another. It was about combining different perspectives. Experience remains one of Pateplay’s greatest assets, while younger leadership brings a different sense of urgency, adaptability and

willingness to challenge assumptions. The combination of the two is what makes this chapter particularly exciting. If there is one thing I have learned so far, it is that leadership is less about making every decision and more about building an environment where good decisions happen consistently throughout the organisation. The founding and history of Pateplay To understand where Pateplay is heading, it is important to understand where it came from. The company was founded in 2022 with a clear objective: to bring together decades of gaming expertise and apply it to a rapidly changing market. While the industry often focuses on innovation, successful innovation usually starts with experience. Pateplay was built on knowledge accumulated across both land-based and online gaming over many years. From the beginning, the company avoided the temptation to chase every trend. Instead, the focus was placed on building strong foundations, creating quality products and establishing longterm relationships with operators. That philosophy remains visible today. Pateplay has grown into a business operating across multiple verticals, including slot games, live casino products and land-based gaming solutions. While these areas are often treated as separate industries, we see them as different expressions of the same objective: creating engaging entertainment experiences for players. The company has expanded significantly in a relatively short period of time, but growth itself has never been the goal. Growth is the result of doing other things well — building good products, maintaining strong partnerships and investing in young, talented people.

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Few people in this industry have witnessed as many cycles, technological shifts and market transformations as our founder

Building on experience New Pateplay CEO GEORGI ALEKSANDROV on the next chapter in his life and the life of the company

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The gaming industry is changing faster today than at any point in recent memory

Perhaps the most important part of Pateplay’s story is that it is still being written. We remain a relatively young company, which means there is still tremendous room to evolve, experiment and improve. What comes next? The gaming industry is changing faster today than at any point in recent memory. Technology is evolving. Regulation continues to expand. Player expectations are becoming increasingly sophisticated. At the same time, competition has never been greater. For companies operating in this environment, success will depend less on individual products and more on the ability to build complete ecosystems that deliver longterm value to both players and operators. We believe the future belongs to companies that can combine great content with great technology. For Pateplay, the next phase of development will focus on diversification, international expansion and continued investment in players’ experience. We see significant opportunities across regulated markets and across all three of our core verticals: online slots, live casino and landbased products. At the same time, we believe one principle will remain unchanged regardless of how the industry develops. Gaming has always been a people business. Products matter. Technology matters. Regulation matters. But behind every successful game, every successful operator and every successful supplier is a team of people solving problems together. As CEO, my role is ultimately quite simple: preserve what has made Pateplay successful so far, while helping the company prepare for opportunities that have not yet arrived. The spotlight may naturally fall on leadership transitions, but the real story is much bigger than that. It is the story of a company built on experience, driven by talented people and focused on creating long-term value in an industry that never stands still.

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Chief Commercial Officer ANDRZEJ HYLA highlights Wazdan’s partnerships with bet365 and Betsson to show how the supplier-operator relationship is evolving

ot long ago, the relationship between content suppliers and operators was relatively straightforward: suppliers developed games, operators integrated them, and success was largely measured by the performance of individual titles. Today, that model no longer reflects how the strongest partnerships work. Operators are no longer asking only what is launching next. They want to know which game best suits their audience, how it should be positioned in the lobby and what will keep players returning after the initial excitement fades. A valuable supplier helps answer those questions and remains involved long after integration. This shift reflects a broader industry reality. Competition has intensified, acquisition costs have risen and retaining players has become more challenging than ever. Success now depends not just on delivering great content, but on ensuring every launch supports the operator’s wider commercial strategy. That changes the supplier’s role in practical ways. It may involve analysing an operator’s existing portfolio to recommend the next release, adapting a proven format for a specific brand or creating promotions that extend the lifespan of existing games. Wazdan’s collaborations with Betsson

and bet365, alongside the performance of its Multidrop campaign, illustrate how this broader role works in practice. Collaboration starts long before launch One misconception about modern supplier partnerships is that collaboration begins when a game goes live. In reality, the most successful partnerships start much earlier. The newest release is not automatically the right choice for every operator. A familiar mechanic may resonate with one player base, while another responds better to a different volatility profile or launch strategy. Even casinos operating in the same jurisdiction often require different content plans. Previous launches provide valuable insight. If a mechanic consistently encourages repeat sessions, future recommendations can build on that evidence. If a title generates initial interest but struggles to maintain engagement, the next launch may need a different approach. Operators then add context that performance data alone cannot provide, such as game placement within the lobby and how players responded to marketing activity. That dialogue should continue throughout development. When both parties understand the intended audience and the

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objective of the launch, decisions become more informed than simply following a standard release schedule. A bespoke title such as 16 Coins Betsson demonstrates this approach. Early collaboration allowed Betsson’s brand identity to be integrated without compromising the gameplay that had already proved successful. By launch, both supplier and operator shared a clear understanding of how the game would be positioned and how players would be encouraged to return beyond launch week. Personalisation creates stronger partnerships The growing demand for bespoke content is one of the clearest signs of how supplier relationships have evolved. Rather than simply requesting the latest releases, operators increasingly want games that reinforce their own identity while retaining gameplay that has already demonstrated its appeal. Wazdan’s collaboration with Betsson on 16 Coins Betsson illustrates this well. Built on one of the company’s most successful formats, the game combines the familiarity of the established Coins series with Betsson’s branding. The result is recognisably part of a proven game family while offering an experience tailored to Betsson’s audience.

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Betsson used a proven format to deliver a game built around its own brand. bet365 gained a competitive advantage through exclusive early access

The same thinking can apply to distribution. Through its exclusive pre-launch agreement with bet365 for Magic Fruit$: Oranges, Wazdan gave the operator early access to premium content before its wider release. This created a valuable period of differentiation in a market where many operators launch the same games simultaneously. Although the two collaborations took different approaches, both started with a specific operator objective rather than a standard launch plan. Bespoke development and exclusive access are no longer occasional additions to a commercial agreement; they have become practical ways for suppliers to help operators strengthen their competitive position. Supporting the entire player journey Even the strongest game portfolio can only achieve so much without sustained player engagement. Support after launch should reflect how content is actually performing. When engagement slows, the answer may be a targeted network promotion rather than simply introducing another new release. This allows operators to drive players back to games already within their portfolio and extend their commercial lifespan. Network-wide promotions have become particularly effective. Rather than asking individual operators to fund their own prize pools, Wazdan runs shared campaigns across

its network of connected casinos. Operators participate through games already in their portfolios, while players compete for rewards across the wider network, increasing both the scale of the promotion and the incentive to keep playing. Wazdan’s Multidrop campaign demonstrates the impact of this model. Across multiple operators and markets, it generated a 219% increase in unique active players, a 265% rise in game rounds and a 366% increase in total bet value. These results show that a supplier’s contribution extends well beyond the launch of an individual game. As with the Betsson and bet365 collaborations, success begins with understanding an operator’s objective before identifying the most effective solution. Execution is equally important. Wazdan manages campaign configuration and supplies ready-to-use marketing and CRM materials, reducing the operational burden on operator teams. This is where full-cycle support becomes tangible: suppliers take responsibility not only for developing content but also for helping deliver measurable commercial outcomes. The future belongs to strategic partnerships As the industry continues to mature, the distinction between supplier and strategic partner will become increasingly blurred. The next stage will be less about adding more services and more about making faster, betterinformed decisions. Artificial intelligence, for example, could

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identify early signs of declining engagement or highlight which player segments are most likely to respond to specific offers. Its value, however, will depend on how effectively suppliers and operators translate those insights into meaningful action. The continued expansion of regulated gaming across North and Latin America makes this even more important. A launch strategy that succeeds in one jurisdiction cannot simply be replicated in another. Suppliers must understand local player preferences, operator requirements and regulatory expectations while adapting each activation to the market in question. Meeting these demands requires more than content alone. Successful partnerships are no longer measured by the number of games integrated, but by the long-term value suppliers and operators create together. We already see this model in action. Betsson used a proven format to deliver a game built around its own brand. bet365 gained a competitive advantage through exclusive early access. Multidrop showed how post-launch support can drive measurable increases in engagement and betting activity. Each example follows a different route but the principle is the same: understand what the operator is trying to achieve, provide the right solution and remain involved long enough to measure the results. Suppliers that consistently deliver this level of strategic partnership will help define the next chapter of online gaming.

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ON THE FOLLOWING PAGES 109 Column: Louis Thompsett asks for collaboration in the fight against fraud 110 Interview: Boylesports Fraud and Payments Head Matthew Greenman 114 Interview: TheLotter Head of Payments Rolands Grancovskis 108

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Sharing harm, hoarding fraud

British gambling operators already share data on their most vulnerable customers with direct competitors, why can’t they do the same for fraud, asks Payment Expert News Editor Louis Thompsett

hrough GamProtect, a disclosure of gamblingrelated harm made to one operator can travel to every rival brand where the customer holds an account. It took the Gambling Commission setting the challenge in 2020, an ICO sandbox to establish a lawful route, and a trial beginning in 2023 with four major operators – but health information, among the most tightly protected categories in UK law, now moves between competitors as a matter of routine. Operators do not share the same way over payment fraud, and the reason offered is data protection. The concern arises as GDPR sits awkwardly beside the antimoney-laundering and responsible gambling duties operators also carry, and there has long been confusion over which obligation takes precedence. But the conclusion sometimes drawn from it – that GDPR bars handing customer payment data to a competitor – is wrong. Financial services settled this argument a generation ago. Cifas – the UK’s fraud-prevention

service – has spent decades running the National Fraud Database, where banks, insurers and lenders lodge confirmed fraud cases and interrogate one another’s, an arrangement Cifas credits with keeping upwards of £1bn a year out of criminal hands. All of this is lawful under the same UK GDPR and Data Protection Act, resting on legitimate interests with a proper evidential standard behind every entry. Fraud prevention is among the most comfortable lawful bases the regime offers. So, how is it that an industry shares the legally treacherous thing – a person’s health – yet flinches from the legally mundane one? Part of the answer is commercial, because fraud detection has become something operators compete on, and no firm is keen to publish its loss numbers or hand a rival the benefit of its hard-won pattern library. Fair enough, as instincts go. But it looks like commercial reluctance is camouflaged by the language of compliance, even though Cifas demonstrates daily how competitors can pool fraud markers lawfully, under the ICO’s watchful eye. Perhaps the more decisive part of the reason is to do with ownership. Operators hold plenty of fraud signals of their own – chargebacks, bonus abuse, account takeovers. The view any single operator lacks, the same stolen card or mule account surfacing across six competing brands, accumulates instead

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inside the acquirers, PSPs and orchestration platforms whose fraud-scoring engines they sell as a product. GamProtect was built because a regulator pressured the industry until it responded with action. Nothing plays the same role across payments in iGaming, and the companies best placed to build it have little reason to – a shared utility giving this intelligence away would compete with the scoring they already sell. GamProtect, Cifas and the legislation underlining both are UK creations, but the idea exports to any regulated market where operators hoard fraud. None of these issues are insurmountable, though. GamProtect took a regulator’s challenge, an industry delivery body and several years of ICO sandbox work to get off the ground – a fraud equivalent would need the same sort of ingredients, plus buy-in from the payments firms currently holding the data. Until someone assembles those pieces, operators will go on absorbing losses individually.

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Passing the fraud test MATTHEW GREENMAN has been tackling fraudsters for over a decade at 888, DAZN BET and now Boyle Sports. He sets out what changed, and what the industry still lacks

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Words by LOUIS THOMPSETT

ayment fraud in gambling has become faster, smaller in individual value and harder to detect over the past decade, says Matthew Greenman, Global Head of Fraud and Payments at Boyle Sports. Cards carried most of the fraud Greenman policed in his early years at 888, and the market in stolen card data has changed since. A compromised card is now sold to 100 buyers instead of one, he says, and the money goes to whoever engages with the data first. “Fraud is getting quicker and it’s getting more fluid. It isn’t just a question of volume any more.” Onboarding controls, ongoing due diligence and source-of-funds checks have made large single-shot fraud impractical across the sector, Greenman says. Fraudsters have broken their activity into smaller pieces in response. “Now it’s little dribs and drabs – a lot of small accounts, trying to hide the behaviour. It isn’t as blatant as you’d have expected in years gone by, where someone could stake a thousand pounds on a 100-1 shot and disappear. Those days are gone.” The fraudsters of today also run scripts and bots, which has cut the time between a control going live and an attempt to defeat it.

even reached the site you’re into onetime passwords (OTPs) and multifactor authentication.” Each control added cost conversion. The aim is to leave 99.9% of customers untouched while stopping the rest, Greenman says, and operators rarely achieve it cleanly. “You always end up adding more friction in order to catch more fraud.” Visa cut the excessive threshold under its Acquirer Monitoring Programme from 2.20% to 1.50% for merchants in April 2026. Greenman says the falling thresholds limit how far an operator can settle that tradeoff in the customer’s favour. Twelve years, three operators Greenman started at 888 – now Evoke (soon to be Intralot Bally’s) – in a service role, moved into sportsbook risk management, and then took on operational fraud across the group’s casino and poker brands. He later added operational payments, including chargebacks and withdrawal optimisation, to his skillset. Fraud evolved faster after the COVID boom, Greenman says. Payment mandates gave operators more to fight with over the same period: the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) brought strong customer authentication into European payments, and 3d Secure (3DS) changes tightened the checks available at authorisation.

Layering controls, counting the friction The same automation reaches operators as account takeover, credential stuffing and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, which Greenman says are now routine across the sector; no single control addresses them. “You can’t fight fraud with a single hose any more,” he says. “You need a layered strategy, deciding which control goes in and at what point in the customer journey. Before a customer has

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You can’t ﬁght fraud with a single hose any more. You need a layered strategy

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Stolen card data became easier to obtain as those controls came in, sold through dark web marketplaces, and Greenman says the availability of that data is the change he noticed most. He left to join DAZN BET as one of its first half-dozen employees, overseeing payments and KYC from Gibraltar while the operator entered four regulated markets within 18 months. He returned to the UK and joined Boyle Sports in November 2023, taken on as the operator’s first employee with in-house ownership of payments and fraud. Automation sits on a rule base Greenman has worked on the balance between automation and manual review since arriving at Boyle Sports, using automation to bring down operational overheads. Layered controls generate more decisions than a team can review, and Boyle Sports uses machine learning models supplied by its partners for part of its decisioning. “AI is a buzzword, and a lot of people say it without knowing what it does or ever touching it,” Greenman says. “However intricate the automation is, it’s still underpinned by a rule base. It’s doing what you trained it to do. There’s always going to be a buffer of collateral damage in that.” “Abusers will always pivot faster than you can retrain a model.” Open banking waits on adoption It’s true the method of payment moves part of the decisioning off the operator itself. Account-to-account (A2A) payment authenticates the customer inside their banking app, using the PIN or biometric the bank already holds. Open banking nonetheless sits on the Boyle Sports roadmap rather than in the cashier. Greenman first worked with it at 888 as a sourceof-funds tool rather than a payment method, because demand in the core markets was low. Adoption was high in the Nordics, he says, because A2A payment is already embedded in the local infrastructure.

Cashier contribution for open banking lies in the single digits to 10% for most operators. Where it reaches double digits, Greenman says, usually reflects non-organic migration to cut processing costs rather than customer preference. “Getting open banking to the point where there’s enough data behind it to be viable is another story.” How a product is presented moves adoption more than the underlying rail does, Greenman adds. Boyle Sports offers Revolut Pay, which is A2A, and adoption is high. “The user experience is built so differently that it feels like a different product. You get the instant journey, the notifications, the pop-up when a withdrawal lands. Revolut are ahead of the game in that sense.” Amazon launched Pay by Bank on its UK site with TrueLayer in February 2026, and eBay followed on 19 February. Greenman says mainstream retail deployments of this scale do more for consumer trust in account-to-account payment than the gambling sector can do for itself. Verification, data sharing and scheme coverage Regulators decide where those checks sit in some markets rather than operators. Ireland’s remote licensing regime went live on 1 July 2026, requiring identity and age verification before registration, which means documents before a first deposit rather than checks spread through the customer journey. Betfred suspended its Irish operations from 30 June, the day before licensing began, telling customers it was taking a temporary pause while it aligned with the new GRAI regulations. Greenman says predicted lifetime value rises at market level while first-time deposit numbers fall, and he expects other jurisdictions to follow Ireland. “Fraud drops off, because you know the customer before you let them have a financial footprint.” Where participation is voluntary, Greenman says the same controls are worth what their coverage is worth. Shared intelligence between operators

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Getting open banking to the point where there’s enough data behind it to be viable is another story

is the change he would most like to see, and an attacker probing one operator’s cashier is probing 10 others in the same week. “Fraudsters farm these scripts across multiple operators to see how far they get,” he says. “When one operator blocks them, they double down on whichever site lets them get a step further.” Mastercard has committed to removing the 16-digit card number by 2030, replacing it with tokenisation and biometric authentication. Greenman says the change will help and that the schemes need to move together. “We don’t only operate in Mastercard. The schemes need to align on tokenisation and name verification, because with roughly a 60-40 split between Visa and Mastercard, you

don’t win no matter how good one scheme’s product is.” Greenman gives Visa’s Account Name Inquiry as an example. The service returns a name match from the issuer, and issuer support is mandated in the UK, US and Canada but optional elsewhere. “If only a handful of banks support it, the service doesn’t work,” he says. “Fraudsters quickly work out which issuers aren’t returning a name, and they move on.” Greenman expects fraud to keep adapting faster than any single control can. Cross-operator intelligence sharing and scheme-wide alignment on tokenisation and name verification are the two changes he says would make the biggest difference, and both depend on coverage rather than on any one operator’s spend.

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Settling in seconds, spending in ﬁat ROLANDS GRANCOVSKIS has run payments at TheLotter through crypto’s swing from pariah to rulebook. Here he sets out where stablecoins earn their keep, what they really cost, and why open banking is now their biggest rival

Words by LOUIS THOMPSETT

olands Grancovskis, Group Head of Payments at online lottery operator TheLotter, first used stablecoins to receive settlements from payment providers, not to take crypto from players. He moved into payments from customer operations at the Maltabased operator, building systems for a global business and pushing to give customers more local ways to pay. “I ran into certain issues,” he says. “I wanted to provide a legitimate payment method for a customer, maybe in Asia. However, my European partners did not provide this payment method, so I needed to deal with the PSP from there. And while this PSP would gladly contract with me and process the payments, I then had an issue getting settlements from them.” A bank transfer out of Asia or Africa, for example, might be complicated, slow, expensive, or tangled in tax charges, he says.

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“Then suddenly we had a tool in the form of stablecoins,” he says. “It was USDT first. Now it’s a USDC settlement, within minutes, from wherever in the world.” Business-to-business (B2B) settlement answers its own compliance questions, Grancovskis says. “The KYC, the CDD, the AML – they’re all answered, because you know the party you’re dealing with.” The counterparty is known, the invoices exist, the transfers run on the same chain every time, and his team clears them as routine. “When it comes to customer deposits, it’s a completely different ball game.” Every licence in the world requires some monitoring of how crypto is handled, he says, and however crypto-friendly the industry has become, every crypto method still sits in the high-risk bracket by default. Working out the source of funds and source of wealth behind a coin means asking the customer for more documents than a fiat deposit ever

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would. “These customers require more due diligence than others.” On-chain analytics do the first sift before the money arrives. TheLotter’s provider evaluates the risk and the origin of a transaction before it is even received, Grancovskis says, and the screening runs in the background where the player never notices. “It clears that the transaction is legitimate, that it’s not coming from a sanctioned country or a sanctioned account. But it’s not enough to be considered due diligence – and neither should it be.” The proper due diligence kicks in once the deposit is accepted, he says, unless it has been done already. The bill nobody puts on the slide Moving $100,000 anywhere in the world by stablecoin costs a fraction of

what Swift would charge, Grancovskis says, with network fees running to a few cents or a few dollars. He believes the low cost of stablecoin fees is something not spoken about often enough. “These on- and off-ramp fees, nobody ever talks about them,” he says. The sender exchanges into the coin before sending and the receiver exchanges back out, and both cover a cost. Volumes and rates differ from one operator to the next. “We advertise how cheap the transaction is, because the fees are a couple of cents,” he says. “But as a whole I think the industry is not discussing these percentages enough – the cost of moving money in and out. It’s not cheap at high volume, and when you add it up, it’s a significant amount of money.”

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There’s such huge competition for stablecoins in Europe – something we didn’t have a couple of years ago

Spending the coin before cashing it out claws some of that back, and more suppliers take stablecoin now, though rarely out of charity. “You might find a service provider for marketing, which is happy to be paid in stablecoins,” Grancovskis says. “However, it may add a markup of 0.5%, because in the end he still needs to exchange this stablecoin to fiat.” The main business costs any organisation faces – office rent, wages, licence payments and taxes – still go out in fiat, he says, and staff “will not accept salary today in stablecoins.” Every payment comes down to a small piece of arithmetic between settlement speed and exchange cost. “It is about finding the sweet spot.” The crypto the player never sees A customer pays in their own currency, and behind the scenes the settlement happens in crypto. Payouts run the same way in reverse: TheLotter funds a provider in the customer’s country with stablecoin, and the provider pays the player locally. “There are more and more use cases like this, but it’s not shown to regular customers, so they wouldn’t even notice,” Grancovskis says. Adoption of direct crypto deposits from players, he adds, really depends on the market. Crypto banking partners used to sell the machinery in pieces – one firm to wire the operator’s wallet to the customer and move the transaction, others for everything around it. “Today I work with partners that can give me the full scope,” he says. “On-chain analytics, taking the deposit, holding it, paying a vendor, exchanging into fiat – all in one house. Sometimes it’s a bit more expensive. Sometimes it’s much more operationally efficient.” From pariah to rulebook Crypto was barely regulated and barely noticed a decade ago, Grancovskis says. Adoption then became so huge that every regulator and banking solution was banning it, he says, because it was completely unknown, treated as high-risk and “often incorrectly related to crime.” He rejects the framing. “I believe in crypto. It’s much easier to trace funds than with fiat,” he says.

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“Operators often find regulation painful, but quite often it’s what actually lets you get things done,” he says. He dealt with the Malta Gaming Authority a couple of years ago over TheLotter accepting B2B stablecoin settlements from its partners, and with no common framework to lean on, doing it legitimately was hard graft. The EU’s Markets in CryptoAssets Regulation (MiCA) has since supplied the rulebook, in force from June 2023, its stablecoin provisions live from June 2024 and its rules for crypto-asset service providers from December 2024. “MiCA is the main book for regulation for us now. It’s very complicated, but it’s public. As long as you follow it, you’ll be fine.” A MiCA-licensed provider, he adds, “knows everything you need to do. The regulator is fine with it. It opens a lot of doors, it answers a lot of questions.” Too few providers hold the licence yet, he says, and the regime is young; markets outside Europe are moving the same way. “I hope I’m not being naive, but MiCA 2.0 might be the first time a second regulation comes out more open than the first,” he says. MiCA’s drafters were trying to close every possible loophole, in his reading, and might have slightly overregulated it, with certain cases blocked unnecessarily. The European Commission opened its review of the framework, already christened “MiCA 2.0” by the industry, in 2026, with a report due in 2027 and stablecoin issuers lobbying for looser eurodenominated settlement thresholds. Open banking is the competition he watches now. “There’s such huge competition for stablecoins in Europe – something we didn’t have a couple of years ago,” he says. “I can send a SEPA transfer across Europe and it’s done within seconds. It’s basically the same solution stablecoins gave me, and it removes the exchange issue.” PSD3, the EU’s third Payment Services Directive, will push open banking further still: EU lawmakers reached political agreement on it in November 2025, with adoption expected in 2026 and enforcement from around 2027. “Let’s see how that plays out,” he concludes.

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We intend to ﬁght the black market for every additional percentage point by improving our offering for players

Poland’s Totalizator Sportowy is proving that an online casino monopoly can fight off illegal competition, says CEO BEATA STELMACH Words by PATRICK KILLEEN

ith Finland’s gambling monopoly set to fall in July 2027, Poland’s Totalizator Sportowy is set to be one of Europe’s last monopolies standing. While there are advocates for a liberalised market, Totalizator continues to maintain a strict monopoly on the majority of Poland’s gambling activities. In 2017, the state-owned lottery was handed exclusivity over the online casino market, as well as land-based slot machines outside of casinos. Online sports betting, meanwhile, is open to private operators. But it is online casino that presents the front line of the fight against the black market and it is the online casino monopoly that grates most with Totalizator’s competitors. However, despite huge competition from the illegal operators, the company has managed to maintain an online channelisation rate estimated at around 76%.

With the likes of Germany and the Netherlands struggling to get anywhere near that figure despite their liberalised markets, Poland’s achievement is notable. Furthermore, Chief Executive Officer Beata Stelmach says that figure is rising, a feat almost unheard of in modern Europe. More than profit Stelmach joined Totalizator in February 2025. It is not her first stint in public service. From 2011 to 2013, she spent two years as Undersecretary of State at Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the government of Donald Tusk, and in the early 1990s she was Director of Poland’s Security and Exchange Commission. Around those two roles, she has had a number of high profile roles, including that of CEO of the Polish arm of GE, and a number of non-executive director roles at large banks. “Every industry I have worked in has shaped me both

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as a leader and as a team player – from diplomacy, through the financial sector, to executive management,” Stelmach explains. “In our company, which is state-owned, what struck me most was the scale of responsibility associated with this business, not only towards the state but also towards society as a whole.” Her first year-and-a-half has been an undoubted success, with net sales and revenue rising 30% to a record high in 2025. But for Stelmach, profit is not Totalizator’s main driver – and she believes that is a key driver of its success. “Our success is measured not only by financial results, but most importantly by the way we distribute those means. They go back to society through sports and cultural funding, which is distributed by the respective ministries – overall over PL23.7bn ($6.35bn) since 1994,” she tells SBC.

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Pushing diversity Stelmach’s influence has been felt beyond mere financial success. She joined during Totalizator’s 70th anniversary celebrations, which Stelmach said she “felt the gravitas of” when overseeing them. A big focus has gone into equality and diversity, two key topics not only reshaping the gambling industry, but throughout the world of business. One report from the European Commission found that just 35.2% of leadership roles across the EU were held by women in 2024, while a more recent report from Vegas Kings stated that women hold around 29% of executive and senior leadership roles in the gambling industry. This issue is, says Stelmach, close to her heart, so diversifying Totalizator’s workforce has been a big focus of her leadership. “I have been actively involved in these areas from the very beginning and I am pleased to see that these efforts are now delivering tangible results,” she says. “Women account for approximately 77% of our workforce and their share in management positions stands at around 39%, which is above the market average. “A new colleague has also just been selected to join the management board, and her appointment is further evidence that competence, talent and leadership are recognised at every level of our organisation. “This diversity of perspectives and experiences is one of our greatest strengths and a key

factor in the success of the team we have built together.” Slaying pirates While Totalizator seems to be fighting off Poland’s illegal market, as with the majority of European countries it is an ongoing battle.

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Our public mission is the top priority across all business operations. I often say that our company does not want to make proﬁt at any cost

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“The money also flows back to the state budget in the form of taxes that we pay – for instance, for our online casino the revenue tax amounts to 50%. And we make sure we also give it back by allocating our own resources, which we are not obliged to contribute at all. “It is a deep sense of duty and responsibility that keeps this business going and the public mission is at the very centre of it.”

While channelisation statistics continue to be debated, all estimates point to Totalizator taking market share. “Each year we are seeing a smaller market share for illegal operators when it comes to online casino,” says Stelmach. “While Poland’s channelisation rate is relatively high, there is always room for improvement, especially when not only money is at stake, but also people who fall victim to criminal activity.” “We do not just sit back and rest on our laurels. We intend

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to fight for every additional percentage point by improving our offering for players, because the more people we attract to the regulated operator, the better the outcomes for player protection and the good causes that we support.” In partnership with Playtech, which has supplied Totalizator’s online casino platform since it was granted the monopoly, the digital platform has been refined, adding live casino and more to a product that is looking increasingly resilient in the face of the illegal competition. Whether Poland establishes a liberalised market is something that only time will tell. For now, however, it seems that the future is in the responsible hands of Totalizator and current results make it hard to argue that the Polish gambling sector is not on the right track. “There is still so much that I would like to do,” Stelmach concludes. “Totalizator Sportowy supports various athletes and sports projects. They are real-life examples of pushing boundaries, striving for excellence and always aiming for the highest goal. This mindset inspires me when it comes to business. “So when earlier you asked me about the 80% channelisation rate, I would like to ask: why not aim higher and convince as many people as possible to choose the legal, secure and transparent platform that we offer? “But let us remember that Totalizator Sportowy’s legacy is first and foremost about the infrastructure and projects scattered across Poland. They make Polish people more active and inspired, they promote physical activity, culture and education, as well as strong community ties. “By supporting these, we strengthen Poland’s potential on so many levels. Personally I am very proud to be a part of this legacy as Totalizator Sportowy’s CEO.”

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BetPlay Capital Partner and Lead Strategist TOMASZ JUROSZEK explains how to find winning investments when every element of the sector is tested and operating margins are squeezed to their tightest limits

Words by TED MENMUIR

his summer’s cinema box office has been dominated by blockbuster director Christopher Nolan’s interpretation of Homer’s The Odyssey. Of intrigue to critics and audiences was how Nolan depicted mankind’s relationship with the whims and wrath of the Greek gods, who both aid and punish the hero Odysseus throughout his rambling journey home to Ithaca. The Greek gods were irrational, flawed and selfish in who they favoured and the burdens they placed upon individuals and the circumstances surrounding them. In 2026, Greek mythology might provide the most fitting metaphor for the current condition of capital investment in the global gambling industry. As economic elements contract, perhaps we should be asking which Greek god has the gambling industry managed to offend? It is precisely in these conditions that seasoned investors reveal whether they are simply following market sentiment or capable of reading beyond it. For Tomasz Juroszek, Partner and Lead Strategist at BetPlay Capital, the current cycle cannot be viewed simply as one of crisis or opportunity. “Recent years have been really rough for investors in gambling. We’ve seen constant pressure from legislators around the world to tighten regulation, increase tax rates and generally reduce society’s willingness to gamble,” Juroszek tells SBC Leaders. “It has been especially evident in mature European markets, while in North America the competitive landscape has been reshaped by the emergence of prediction markets. War and inflation have also reduced disposable incomes in many countries, leading to a further slowdown in the industry. Overall, sentiment is not great.”

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War and inﬂation have also reduced disposable incomes in many countries, leading to a further slowdown in the industry. Overall, sentiment is not great

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“BetPlay was created as a small family investment fund led by my brother Mateusz and my father Zbigniew to reinvest the dividends generated by our businesses. Initially it was a passive, long-only fund. “After I returned to Poland, we developed an internal investment strategy and decided to leverage our industry knowledge and relationships to invest across both public markets and private opportunities.”

The best description of where the industry is today is Kalshi seeking a $40bn valuation, which is much more than Flutter and DraftKings combined. I think that speaks for itself

Value above d rama For much of the past decade, gambling investment was driven by expansion. Regulated markets opened across North America, mergers and acquisitions accelerated, digital migration fuelled revenue growth and investors rewarded businesses capable of delivering scale. Today’s landscape is markedly different. Operators are balancing peak gambling taxes, greater compliance obligations, more demanding responsible gambling standards and slower growth across Europe’s mature markets. Marketing costs continue to rise while investors have become increasingly selective over where they deploy capital. Rather than viewing these conditions as evidence of decline, Juroszek sees them as a signal that sentiment should be focused on value investing. “Sentiment matters a lot, especially in publicly traded equities. Today we’re probably seeing the lowest valuations in the history of our industry. Many companies are trading on single-digit multiples, but investors still aren’t rushing to buy them. That tells you how powerful market sentiment has become.” The distinction is important as cheap valuations alone are not enough to justify an investment. Understanding whether the market has overreacted – or whether a business is genuinely facing structural decline – requires a far deeper analysis than financial multiples alone. For BetPlay Capital, assessing longterm management quality, competitive positioning, capital allocation and regulatory resilience has become every bit as important as earnings growth. The tougher the market becomes, the more active an investor must become.

Building a new testament For Juroszek, these observations are drawn from experience rather than theory. The Juroszek family are the former majority owners of STS, transforming the bookmaker into Poland’s dominant betting operator before selling a controlling stake to Entain in a deal valued at approximately £750m. Rather than representing an exit from gambling, the transaction laid the foundations for a different role within the industry. Alongside his brother Mateusz, Juroszek helped transform BetPlay Capital from a family investment office into one of Europe’s most active specialist gambling investors. Today the fund has built a portfolio spanning operators, suppliers, affiliates and technology companies, with investments in Flutter Entertainment, Entain, Evolution, Better Collective, Raketech and Incentive Games, among others. Unlike traditional investors, BetPlay Capital approaches opportunities through the perspective of operators who have built, scaled and exited one of Europe’s leading betting businesses.

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“Our original approach was simple: invest for the long term in the industry’s leading businesses and keep transactions to a minimum. But with the sector in a prolonged downturn over the past two or three years, we’ve had to become much more active. We take profits faster and we cut positions without sentiment whenever our investment thesis is no longer working.” As such, where once operators were rewarded simply for growth, they are now increasingly judged by their ability to preserve margins and allocate capital effectively under more demanding conditions. “When companies can’t find sufficient growth, either organically or through acquisitions, the logical response is to improve earnings through tighter cost control. It’s probably the most prudent strategy in today’s environment, and if I were in their position, I’d be doing exactly the same.”

The emergence of prediction markets has created an entirely new investment narrative, one that has rapidly captured the imagination of capital markets. “The best description of where the industry is today is Kalshi seeking a $40bn valuation, which is much more than Flutter and DraftKings combined. I think that speaks for itself.” The comparison is less a criticism of prediction markets than a reflection of where capital is flowing. Established gambling businesses continue to generate significant revenues and cash flows, yet many remain valued at historically depressed levels. New entrants, meanwhile, command premium valuations based on their perceived ability to redefine markets. “From a long-term perspective, I see today’s market as a significant opportunity because it’s difficult to imagine valuations becoming much lower than they are today. “The challenge isn’t valuation, it’s timing. Investors are focused on hypergrowth sectors like semiconductors rather than value opportunities in gambling, but I believe that’s part of a cycle and valuations will eventually return towards historical averages.”

The US monsters While Juroszek believes current valuations represent a compelling long-term opportunity, he is equally conscious that investor attention has shifted elsewhere and nowhere is that more evident than in the US.

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Ads under the microscope In the latest of our series of columns from the International Masters of Gaming Law (IMGL), Pinsent Masons Partners DIANE MULLENEX and ANNABELLE RICHARD on a new era of gambling marketing in France

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cross Europe, gambling regulation is shifting beyond questions of licensing and product design to a more sensitive issue: how gambling is advertised, to whom, and how relentlessly. From Italy’s long-standing advertising ban to the Netherlands’ proposed near-total prohibition on gambling advertising, regulators are redrawing the boundaries of customer acquisition and retention. France is no exception, but its approach is more nuanced. Instead of reaching immediately for sweeping prohibitions, French regulators have so far favoured a form of controlled moderation: reducing advertising pressure while keeping the regulated market visible.

stance. Operators’ marketing strategies were subject to closer scrutiny, advertising budgets were monitored, and the regulator called for moderation in promotional activity. The aim was straightforward: to avoid betting advertising becoming so pervasive that gambling appears almost inseparable from sport itself. Europe’s diverging paths Across Europe, advertising regulation is increasingly diverse. Italy remains the best-known strict model, with comprehensive restrictions on gambling advertising. Belgium has adopted some of the toughest marketing rules in Europe. Ireland has introduced watershed restrictions, Croatia is implementing broad limits on traditional and digital advertising, and the Netherlands has proposed measures that would remove most online gambling advertising and promotional bonuses. The UK sits somewhere in the middle. Rather than imposing a statutory ban, it pioneered the “whistle-to-whistle” concept, restricting gambling advertising during live sports broadcasts from the start of a match until shortly after the final whistle. Its own regulatory debate continues to evolve, with growing scrutiny of bonuses, customer incentives and sponsorship arrangements. France appears to be watching these experiments closely. The ANJ has encouraged discussion around a French version of a whistle-to-whistle restriction for sports betting advertising. However, the bill on the Organisation, Governance and Funding of Professional Sport was adopted on 21 July 2026 without the provisions that would have introduced such a ban in France. Although lawmakers have so far been reluctant to adopt these measures, the debate illustrates how quickly advertising regulation has moved up the agenda. A new draft bill has recently been introduced by a small number of French deputies seeking a total ban on advertising by sports betting operators. It has not yet been discussed by the National Assembly. At this stage, however, there is little reason to think it would be preferred to the whistle-to-whistle ban debated, and rejected, earlier in July.

From market growth to marketing scrutiny The French gambling market continues to perform strongly, driven in large part by online sports betting and major sporting events. At the same time, concerns about excessive gambling, the exposure of young people and the “normalisation” of betting have moved steadily up the public policy agenda. The Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) has made player protection central to its strategy and increasingly expects operators to show not only that they comply with the law, but that they act responsibly in the way they promote their services. Historically, regulation was mainly concerned with ensuring that gambling remained fair, transparent and free from criminal influence. The debate is now broader. Regulators are asking whether advertising can itself contribute to gambling-related harm, and whether certain marketing practices create risk even where the underlying product is legal. The World Cup effect For operators, events such as the FIFA World Cup are unrivalled opportunities to acquire new customers. For regulators, they also bring a familiar concern: advertising saturation, and the exposure of minors and vulnerable individuals to gambling messages at moments of intense public attention. Ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the ANJ adopted a more interventionist

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The real challenge: balancing protection and channelisation A central challenge for all regulated markets is channelisation: steering consumers towards licensed operators rather than unregulated alternatives. This is where the French approach becomes particularly interesting. French authorities are acutely aware of the threat posed by illegal online gambling. If legitimate operators become invisible while unlicensed brands continue to reach customers through offshore websites, social media, influencers and search advertising, player protection objectives may be weakened rather than strengthened. Players cannot be protected if they are pushed towards operators outside the regulatory framework. This concern is seen increasingly across Europe. Several jurisdictions are tightening advertising rules while also expanding enforcement powers against illegal operators. The emerging consensus is that advertising control and enforcement need to move together. The future may therefore lie not in banning gambling marketing altogether, but in drawing clearer, more credible lines between responsible advertising and aggressive customer acquisition.

with specific rules. They are looking at overall promotional strategies, customer incentives, sponsorship arrangements and the cumulative effect of marketing campaigns on consumer behaviour. For operators, success will depend less on finding creative ways around restrictions and more on showing that growth objectives can coexist with meaningful consumer protection. Those most likely to thrive will be those that build responsible gambling considerations into marketing strategies from the start, rather than treating compliance as a final legal check before launch. France as a preview of the future? France is often described as a highly regulated gambling market, yet what is emerging today is not simply more regulation, but a different kind of regulation. The ANJ is increasingly acting not only as a licensing authority, but as a market steward: shaping commercial behaviour and encouraging moderation without necessarily resorting to outright prohibition. Whether this model succeeds remains to be seen. What is clear is that the debate has changed fundamentally. The question is no longer whether gambling advertising should be regulated. It is how regulators can reduce gambling-related harm while preserving sustainable, competitive and channelised regulated markets. France’s answer, for now, is measured restraint rather than prohibition. For an industry still searching for the right balance between growth and responsibility, that restraint may prove to be one of the most important regulatory experiments currently taking place in Europe.

The rise of responsible marketing Looking ahead, the most important trend may be conceptual rather than legislative. The industry is moving from a compliance-based model of marketing to a responsibility-based one. Regulators are no longer asking only whether individual advertisements comply

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The International Masters of Gaming Law is a member association of the world’s leading gaming lawyers, regulators and advisors. IMGL members are: • The leading gaming lawyers in their jurisdictions • Pre-qualified by invitation-only membership of IMGL • Committed to growing your business successfully wherever you are To find an expert IMGL legal advisor in your market, scan the QR code & filter by jurisdiction

For more information about IMGL, our conferences and the beneﬁts of becoming a member, reach out to Brien@ IMGL.org or visit www.IMGL.org

COMMENT

SBC LEADERS ISSUE 41

Final word with

Rasmus Sojmark

very four years, the World Cup reminds us of something that’s easy to forget in our increasingly digital world: nothing replaces bringing people together. I was fortunate enough to be at the final as a guest of Soft2Bet, and it reminded me why the FIFA World Cup remains unlike any other sporting event on the planet. You’re surrounded by people from every continent, speaking dozens of languages, all wearing different colours, yet for those 90 minutes everyone is connected by the same emotion. Football has an extraordinary ability to make national pride feel universal. What struck me wasn’t just the football. It was the conversations in bars, the stories exchanged on the metro and complete strangers discussing their journeys across the world to reach one stadium. Sport gives us the reason to gather, but it’s people who make the experience unforgettable. I’ve always believed that’s true in business too. At SBC, we often say we’re not simply in the events business. We’re in the business of creating connections.

Conferences and exhibition halls matter, but the real value often comes from the conversations that happen between them. The World Cup is arguably the world’s greatest networking event. It just happens to have a football match at its centre. And I got to rub shoulders with some incredible people, such as Matt Damon, David Beckham, Shakira, Tom Brady, Jack Ma, Michael Rubin, Eli Manning... and plenty more. And another thing… official betting partners were displayed on the perimeter boards for the first time. Our industry has matured. Licensed operators are increasingly recognised as legitimate entertainment businesses and commercial partners. That’s a big step forward. Yet the sponsorship wasn’t the story. The football was. The atmosphere was. The memories people took home were. Great events aren’t remembered because of the number of sponsors, the size of the venue or the attendance figures. They’re remembered because of how they made people feel. As we prepare for the SBC Summit in Lisbon, it feels like it has become our own World Cup.

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For one week the global gaming industry comes together in one city. Everyone arrives with their own story. Some are launching companies. Others are entering new markets, looking for investment or searching for their next opportunity. The event provides the stage for those stories to meet. That’s why we invest so heavily in networking and experiences that extend beyond the conference rooms. Business is built by people, and people build trust by spending time together. As I left the World Cup final, surrounded by thousands of supporters beginning their journeys home, I found myself thinking about Lisbon. When people come together, barriers come down. Ideas travel faster. Friendships are formed. Businesses grow. Communities become stronger. In a world that often feels increasingly divided, creating opportunities for people to meet has never been more valuable. Bring the world together, and remarkable things happen. Stay cool, Rasmus Sojmark, Founder & CEO, SBC

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SBC Leaders Magazine Issue 41