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This week was all about growth. And we are seeing that growth comes with obstacles. Operators are generating more revenue, but black-market activity, self-exclusion failures, and changing player behavior are raising tougher questions about how effectively regulated markets are working.
This week in the online gambling industry:
- Dabble Sports faces more than AU$1 million in penalties over BetStop self-exclusion failures in Australia.
- Belgium’s licensed online gambling revenue rises 5.4% even as first-time player registrations fall sharply.
- The UK gambling market reaches £17.5 billion in annual gross gambling yield, led by online casino growth.
- Genius Sports enters prediction-market comparison with a platform spanning multiple event-contract providers.
- GeoLocs expands beyond geolocation with a new automated fraud and player-risk detection tool.
😄 Catch up with last week’s developments, visit the Sept 5–Sept 11 iGaming Recap!
Here’s the full rundown:
Regulatory & Legal Updates
Europe’s Illegal Online Gambling Revenue Hits €12B, European Gaming
Europe’s unlicensed online gambling sector generated an estimated €12 billion in net revenue in 2025, triple its 2019 total, according to research commissioned by EUROMAT. The study estimates illegal operators now account for roughly 25% of online gambling activity across the 28 European markets examined.
Researchers pointed to cryptocurrency, affiliate marketing and regulatory conditions as factors contributing to black-market growth. EUROMAT plans to use the findings in discussions with policymakers and law enforcement.
Dabble Hit With AU$1M-Plus Penalty Over BetStop Failures, NEXT
Australia’s communications regulator has issued 54 penalties totaling more than AU$1 million against Dabble Sports for breaches involving the country’s BetStop self-exclusion register. ACMA found the operator failed to close 157 accounts after customers self-excluded and sent 839 electronic messages to 165 registered users.
The regulator also found weaknesses in how inactive accounts were checked, with some customers not identified as self-excluded until more than 200 days after registering with BetStop. Dabble has agreed to an independent compliance review covering account closures, marketing controls and its wider self-exclusion procedures.
US House Panel Backs Full Gambling Loss Tax Deduction, Yogonet
The House Ways and Means Committee has advanced a measure that would restore the federal deduction for gambling losses to 100%, before a reduction to 90% is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2027. The provision was attached to H.R. 10357, the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act.
The proposed change would reverse a provision of the 2025 tax-and-spending law that limits deductible gambling losses to 90%. The measure still needs approval from the full House and Senate, followed by the president’s signature, before the scheduled reduction can be prevented.
Financial Performance & Business Moves
Belgium iGaming Revenue Grows as New Player Numbers Drop, SBC News
Belgium’s licensed online gambling market generated €965 million in GGR in 2025, up 5.4% year over year, even as the number of first-time online players fell sharply. Just 110,032 people registered to gamble online for the first time, down 43.1% from 193,342 in 2024.
The Belgian Association of Gaming Operators warned that tougher restrictions may be pushing some players toward unlicensed sites. A separate survey cited by BAGO found 28% of respondents aged 18 to 30 had used an illegal gambling site, while voluntary exclusions through Belgium’s EPIS system rose to 66,998 by year-end.
OpenBet Moves to Acquire Lottery Specialist OmniLogic, iGB
OpenBet has agreed to acquire sportsbook technology provider OmniLogic as it looks to strengthen its position in regulated lottery markets. The deal, which remains subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close later in 2026.
OmniLogic has spent more than a decade supplying sportsbook technology to lottery operators and World Lottery Association members. Its platform supports omnichannel betting alongside trading, risk management and back-office tools, giving OpenBet access to established lottery partnerships across Europe and other regulated markets.
UK Gambling Revenue Reaches Record £17.5B, SBC News
Great Britain’s gambling industry generated a record £17.5 billion in gross gambling yield in 2025/26, up 4.4% from £16.7 billion the previous year. Remote casino, betting and bingo produced £8.3 billion, while land-based gambling GGY increased 1.1% to £4.86 billion.
Online casino was the main growth engine, with GGY rising 14.8% to £5.7 billion. Slots alone generated £4.79 billion, up 15.5%, while online betting GGY moved in the opposite direction, falling 6.6% to £2.45 billion. The Gambling Commission also found overall participation remained stable, with 49% of adults reporting gambling in the previous four weeks.
Technology & Innovation in Gambling
Genius Sports Launches Prediction Market Comparison Platform, European Gaming
Genius Sports has launched Prediction.com, a consumer platform that compares event-contract pricing and live probabilities across multiple prediction markets. The service also includes a cross-platform pricing engine for multi-leg contracts and integrates live sports data so users can track games alongside changing market prices.
The launch comes as prediction-market activity accelerates, with monthly notional volume rising from $32 million in January 2024 to $12.6 billion in January 2026. Prediction.com builds on technology from Legend, the digital sports network Genius Sports acquired earlier this year in a deal valued at up to $1.2 billion.
GR8_TECH Unveils White-Label Platform With Three-Week Launch Target, SBC News
GR8_TECH is preparing to showcase GREAT_WHITE LABEL, a new platform designed to get operators to market in as little as three weeks. The company says the product has delivered 99.99% uptime and reached break-even within the first year in live Latin American operations.
The platform joins GR8_TECH’s existing turnkey, sportsbook, and casino products as the supplier expands its managed-services offering. GREAT_WHITE LABEL will make its public debut at the SBC Summit in Lisbon later this month.
Responsible Gambling & Player Protection
GamCare Warns Everyday Gamification Is Creating New Harm Risks, NEXT
GamCare says gambling-like mechanics are increasingly appearing across gaming, shopping and financial products, creating new pathways to harm outside traditional betting. Its first Signals report analyzed 2,356 anonymized webchat transcripts and identified features such as near misses, streaks, leaderboards and artificial scarcity as recurring concerns.
Some people contacting the charity reported overspending on loot boxes, shopping apps and trading products, while others shifted toward non-gambling products after using self-exclusion tools. GamCare stressed that the findings do not measure prevalence, but called for more research, professional training and shared standards around responsible gamification.
GeoLocs Adds Automated Fraud Detection With Fraud Shield, European Gaming
GeoLocs has launched Fraud Shield, expanding its geolocation platform into automated fraud detection and player-risk management for regulated gambling operators. The tool can identify multi-accounting, account sharing, device manipulation, suspicious behavioral patterns, bonus abuse, and the use of compromised or jailbroken devices.
Operators can set their own risk thresholds and automate responses ranging from monitoring to account restrictions or blocking. GeoLocs says the system is designed to reduce manual reviews and respond to suspicious activity in real time, while giving operators control over how different risk signals are handled.
- Brazilian President Lula da Silva has online gambling in his sites, SBC News on LinkedIn
- New Jersey online casino revenue rises 4.4% to $259.3 million in August, Yogonet on X
- Emergency room visits among people with gambling disorders have doubled, Rick Book on LinkedIn
- As a gambling addict, your number one enemy is the people selling betting tips online, Gladiator on X
Stories from iGaming Forums
- $1.9M in Fake Bets Drove Polymarket Hype: WSJ, Bitcointalk
- Cash avalanche doesn’t pay out when you win large amounts, r/onlinegambling
- Indonesia arrests 5 foreigners suspected in online gambling syndicate, Bitcointalk
Keep up with news and trends in the iGaming industry. Gambling ‘N Go provides a recap each week. Join our spam-free newsletter to stay ahead. We are a GPWA-approved portal that supports responsible gambling. Check out our guides for beginners and experts to find trusted and reliable games, avoid scams, and responsible gambling practices.
