SBC Eurasia Editorial Team is happy to present a quick recap of the gambling industry events, news, regulations and partnerships that happened last week.
One year ago, Vladimir Malakchi, the former Chief Commercial Officer of Evoplay and industry veteran, launched Xanada Investments – an investment fund focused on financing promising startups across various markets and niches in the iGaming sector. SBC Eurasia asked him 10 questions about his journey, the pivotal choices that shaped his path, and how he reached the success he enjoys today.
Rumen Spetsov, Director General of the Bulgarian National Revenue Agency (NRA), discusses the country’s potential to fend off the black market, foster international collaboration, and be a trendsetter in the new year.
SBC has shaken up its media portfolio with the launch of iGamingExpert.com as its new premier news source for international iGaming news, replacing the CasinoBeats brand. Additionally, SBC Summit Rio 2025 is set to debut the Payment Expert Summit, a specialized event uniting regional and international operators with the industry’s leading payment and fintech providers.
Digitain has signed a new agreement with Winmasters, a licensed operator with a presence in key markets including Greece, Romania, Malta, and Cyprus. The company has also announced a number of personnel changes. Gil Soffer has been promoted to Chief Commercial Officer for Digitain Malta.
PIN-UP’s Chief Analytics Officer, Volodymyr Todurov, showcases their brand new anti-fraud platform Frogo, which is designed to raise the risk management efficiency for online businesses. While BETER has entered into an important distribution agreement with FeedConstruct.
Evoplay, the award-winning game development studio, has announced its most successful year to date, following a period of significant growth, innovation, and international market expansion. While the UK’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has issued a press notice informing of an investigation into KMPG over its auditing of Entain accounts.
China has announced its intention to enhance cooperation with ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries in combating online gambling and telecommunications fraud. While Philippine gaming regulator (PAGCOR) has further reduced the fee rates charged by all electronic gaming (E-Games) operators to 30% from 35% and to 25% for local companies.
The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) CEO Andrew Rhodes has said the regulator will step up scrutiny of suppliers linked to unregulated operators this year. While the Dutch gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has announced the results of its innovative approach towards mapping problem gambling indicators. Using pseudomised player data, which removes personal identifiers in favor of identifiers with placeholder values to protect customer privacy and increase data security, the regulator revealed the impact of this approach.
Tax adjustments to specific gambling segments have been incorporated into Italy’s 2025 Budget Law. The Budget confirmed the decision by the Ministry of Finance to extend existing concessions for online gambling licences for an additional tax year. Additionally, Flutter Entertainment is considering bidding for Italy’s main lottery license, a contract worth around €4.3 billion.
The Selective Consumption Tax (ISC) on online gaming and sports betting in Peru will be 0.3% until July of this year. While Brazil’s National Institute of Social Security (INSS) is reportedly looking at how to ban social benefits as payments for sports betting.
A class action lawsuit has been filed against sportsbook Sportsbet in Australia, alleging that the company engaged in illegal live betting that cost punters millions of dollars.
Star Entertainment Group has reiterated that there is significant uncertainty surrounding its ability to continue as a going concern, with the company saying its options for raising much-needed liquidity are “limited”. While the timeline for the possible privatisation of Holland Casino and Nederlandse Loterij will be delivered this summer.
OlyBet has signed a sponsorship deal with Paris Basketball, establishing itself as the team’s main partner. As part of the deal, OlyBet branding will be featured on the club’s jerseys in the Euroleague. While Betsson Group has renewed its sponsorship with Argentinian football club, Boca Juniors, until the 2028 season.
Clubs in the Jupiler Pro League – Belgium’s top football division – have found ways around a new law that restricts betting companies becoming primary sponsors.
The developer of the popular video game Genshin Impact could face a fine of up to $20 million in the United States for using loot boxes.
Don’t forget to subscribe to our Telegram channel!
