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🇨🇦 Booming Games (Malta) Limited has been ordered to pay C$70,000 by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario for breaching rules on auto-play functionality in the Canadian province.

According to the AGCO, Booming Games failed to properly configure, test and monitor certain games before and after launching in Ontario. This meant the games in question went live with prohibited auto-play features for several months.

Auto-play allows players to automatically play online slot titles without having to manually initiate each spin. Ontario law does not permit this feature in any game offered by licensed operators in the province.

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🤝 Online betting and casino operator Midnite has appointed Dale Tang, formerly of FanDuel and OLG, as general manager of its Canada business.

Tang announced the news in a LinkedIn post, confirming he had commenced his new role at Midnite. He will now lead the operator’s launch and expansion into the Canadian market.

Prior to joining Midnite, Tang worked at FanDuel for five years, all of which were spent in its Canada-facing business. Most recently, he was senior director for commercial, analytics and retention in Canada.

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✍️ Nebraska voters will be asked in November whether to open a mobile sports betting market tied to the state’s licensed racetracks.

The Secretary of State’s office said Friday (21 August) that two related petitions had cleared their signature and county-distribution requirements. The measures are slated for the 3 November general election, though the office must certify the full ballot by 11 September.

If approved, operators and their providers would submit operating controls to the State Racing and Gaming Commission for approval. The commission would have until 1 June 2027 to write rules, and the statutory measure would take effect 1 January 2027.

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South Africa's GGR grew 25.7% in a year, to €3.1bn — Africa's most mature betting market. Get the detail in our free Market in Focus: South Africa report.
🇦🇺 New South Wales has announced its most comprehensive gambling reform package to date, targeting the state’s 87,000 poker machines with facial recognition technology and tighter marketing rules.

The Minns Labor government revealed the measures today. They form part of a 2023 election commitment to curb gambling harm, and come as the federal government is also preparing its own tranche of gambling reforms.

At the centre of the NSW package is a statewide exclusion register. Families, friends, police or venues will be able to initiate bans for problem gamblers across every hotel and club with gaming machines.

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📈 Affiliate group Acroud reported €12m in revenue for Q2 2026, representing a 9.4% improvement year-on-year.

Acroud said the 2026 FIFA World Cup had helped deliver the improvements in revenue and NDCs during the quarter. The business described the opening stages of the tournament as a “significant acquisition opportunity, which our team executed strongly upon.”

It noted, however, that monetisation during the tournament was below its expectations, due to a large proportion of customers being located in European time zones not aligned with match schedules, with the tournament taking place across the US, Mexico and Canada.

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👀 Citizens analysts have cast doubt on Bally’s Corporation's ability to complete its ongoing projects.

Bally’s recently published a 10-Q filing with the SEC, in which it expressed doubts over its ability to continue as a going concern. Jordan Bender and Isabelle Slavin of Citizens have in part ratified those doubts, claiming that the operator’s current pipeline is ambitious. That pipeline includes the opening of a downstate casino in New York in 2030, a Chicago project set for early 2027, and a Las Vegas development.

The analysts said: “The situation does not appear dire, and the company reiterated that it is working to secure outside funding for New York, but we do not believe the company has the ability to finish all of its projects without selling or bringing in a development partner at its current leverage levels.”

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SkyCity Entertainment Group has acknowledged it rejected two unsolicited acquisition proposals in May, including a NZ$0.70-per-share cash approach from an Oaktree Capital Management special situations fund.

The disclosure followed media reports that linked SkyCity to discussions with Oaktree. The casino operator also revealed that a second, unnamed party had proposed a separate NZ$0.75 per share offer. Both approaches were confidential and non-binding.

Based on SkyCity’s 1.103 billion ordinary shares, the Oaktree proposal valued its equity at about NZ$772m. The other bid implied roughly NZ$827m.

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🤝 GiG Software will acquire an 80% shareholding in 888Africa from an evoke plc subsidiary for €16.4m, the company announced today.

The announcement confirms a NEXT.io exclusive from earlier this month, which reported that the B2B supplier was close to confirming a deal for 888Africa, marking a return to operating in the B2C market.

GiG’s announcement set out that the €16.4m price tag will consist of an initial consideration of €6m and a deferred consideration of €10.4m. It will acquire the 80% shareholding from Virtual Emerging Entertainment Limited, a subsidiary of evoke plc. The remaining 20% of shares in 888Africa will continue to be held by the brand’s founders, who remain active in the management of the business.

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📉 Shares in Gentoo Media dropped 26% today as the business cut its 2026 revenue and earnings guidance, after second-quarter sales fell despite higher player deposits and acquisitions.

Revenue fell 9% to €22.9m in the three months to June 30. It was €25m in the restated prior-year quarter. EBITDA before special items rose 5% to €8.9m, however, as the margin widened to 39% from 34%.

The affiliate marketing group also reported profit of €2.7m for the quarter, after recording a €0.5m loss a year earlier. Operating profit rose to €5.8m from €1.2m, with lower depreciation and amortisation charges aiding the increase.

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South Africa's GGR grew 25.7% in a year, to €3.1bn — Africa's most mature betting market. Get the detail in our free Market in Focus: South Africa report.
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👀 Tabcorp’s annual report demonstrated stable revenues alongside significant improvements in profitability, though regulatory risk remains a looming threat as the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) investigation progresses.

Tabcorp’s debt leverage has fallen to 1.2x earnings, well inside its target range, and the company’s net profit after tax rose year-on-year by just under 44% to A$71.1m. But with the AUSTRAC investigation still at an early stage, the company’s published full-year 2026 results show that it is still unclear what action may be taken.

That means those positive financial trends could yet be stymied, given the “serious concerns” identified over Tabcorp’s ability to manage money-laundering and terrorism financing risks properly.

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📢 Flows, the orchestration platform for iGaming, has announced that LCKY Group selected Flows to power innovation across its entire technology stack.

The deal sees Flows become a connective layer across LCKY Group’s six online casino brands and B2B game studio, giving teams across the Group the ability to innovate, launch and build faster across every part of the business.

James King, CEO at Flows, said: “For a huge group like LCKY, this is about giving genuinely great management and teams the tools to move as fast as their ambition. It’s not just orchestration and it’s not just gamification, it’s about accelerating what LCKY can build across the whole business. I’m excited to be working with Alex Manning again and with the wider LCKY team, as they continue to innovate and grow.”

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📈 Allwyn reported net revenue of €1.2bn for the second quarter of 2026, up 27% year-on-year, as the lottery and betting operator continued to benefit from momentum in continental Europe and its acquisition of PrizePicks.

Adjusted EBITDA rose 29% to €458m, giving the group a margin of 37%. Excluding PrizePicks and higher gaming taxes in Austria, underlying net revenue growth was 5%, in line with the first quarter, against a strong comparative period.

The results mark another quarter of expansion for Allwyn as it integrates PrizePicks, acquired in January, and completes its combination with Greek operator OPAP, with digital growth, sports betting and improved UK performance cited as the main drivers of underlying gains.

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🇦🇺 Australian sports betting operator Betr Entertainment posted a statutory loss of A$40.2m for FY26, after spending heavily on its brand relaunch and platform integration.

The ASX-listed bookmaker recorded A$1.59bn in customer turnover for the year to 30 June, 12.3% above FY25. Net win rose 7% to A$158.1m, while gross win increased 10.1% to A$215.7m.

The higher turnover did not produce a full-year profit. Betr reported a normalised EBITDA loss of A$7.1m, compared with a A$7.2m profit a year earlier. Betr CEO Andrew Menz explained: “FY26 was a year of deliberate investment followed by disciplined execution. In the second half we converted that investment into delivery with a A$19.3m EBITDA turnaround between H1 and H2.”

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South Africa's GGR grew 25.7% in a year, to €3.1bn — Africa's most mature betting market. Get the detail in our free Market in Focus: South Africa report.
🤝 The NFL has signed new multi-year sports betting agreements with DraftKings and FanDuel, in addition to Fanatics Betting and Gaming, ahead of the 2026 season.

DraftKings and FanDuel have held league betting partnerships since 2021, although with a slight break that began in March. Fanatics joins them after expanding its existing NFL relationship.

The agreements replace the previous US sportsbook partnerships involving Caesars, DraftKings and FanDuel. Under those agreements, the operators were explicitly named as the league’s three exclusive official sportsbook partners.

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🐄 Exclusive: Black Cow Technology is exploring options for a major restructuring – although is hoping its core assets can be retained in a new business entity.

Liquidation is one eventuality being explored alongside several other options, which could also include administration or selling the business to a third party.

NEXT.io understands the situation arose after the supplier’s private equity backer, JJK, opted against providing additional capital to the business earlier in the year.

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🇳🇱 The Dutch Lottery (Nederlandse Loterij) has launched legal action against Skyhills and the parties behind the gambling operator over alleged illegal activities in the Netherlands.

Setting out its case, the lottery said Skyhills is operated by Curaçao-based Skyhills N.V., which does not have a Dutch licence. Despite this, Skyhills allowed Dutch consumers to create accounts and gamble on its platform.

Commenting on the case, Nederlandse Loterij CEO Arjan Blok hit out at how Skyhills was using “devious” advertising, including on TikTok, to explicitly target Dutch players, especially young people. They can gamble there completely unprotected, with all the associated risks,” Blok said. “That is unacceptable. That is why it is good to see that, following our first step, the Skyhills site went offline immediately.”

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🇳🇿 SkyCity has completed the sale of its 99 Albert Street office building and adjoining Victoria Street properties in Auckland, closing out a deal that formed part of the casino operator’s wider drive to raise cash and cut debt.

New Zealand-listed SkyCity confirmed settlement of the sale of the properties in Auckland today, in a deal worth NZ$74.5m (€37.9m).

The properties were sold to Christchurch-based commercial property manager Mainland Capital, in a joint venture with Russell Property Group. The sale forms part of SkyCity’s asset monetisation programme, launched alongside a NZ$240m equity raise last year to strengthen its balance sheet.

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👀 Star Entertainment has come under renewed scrutiny over its responsible gambling controls after leaked internal records described shrinking compliance teams, growing review backlogs and pressure to keep customers gambling.

The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) cites a number of anonymous sources in its report, with one describing the group’s problem-gambling approach as “appalling”.

These revelations could have a material impact because they cut directly across the areas regulators are assessing when deciding whether Star has become suitable to control its own casino licences again. The leaks do not automatically prevent Star from regaining its licences, but they strike at the exact remediation areas regulators are evaluating.

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South Africa's GGR grew 25.7% in a year, to €3.1bn — Africa's most mature betting market. Get the detail in our free Market in Focus: South Africa report.
🤝 Lottomatica has agreed to absorb Spanish operator Cirsa in a €2.8bn all-share merger.

Lottomatica has led the Italian market from the front through its digital transition, proving its ability to turn lottery and retail success into European omnichannel dominance. The Italian market leader will now attempt to replicate that transition in Spain after agreeing a binding merger agreement with Blackstone-owned Cirsa.

In terms of ownership, Lottomatica shareholders will own around 67.5% of the company, with Cirsa accounting for the remaining 32.5%. Blackstone is the majority shareholder of Cirsa and will remain the largest shareholder of the new entity with a 24% stake – the US investment group will also nominate two of 13 members of the board of directors, which otherwise consists of Lottomatica’s existing directors.

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🇭🇺 The Hungarian government has launched a review into whether to shut down the Supervisory Authority for Regulated Activities (SZTFH), the body that regulates the country’s gambling, tobacco and mining sectors, and hand its powers to bodies managed by the government instead.

A resolution published in the Hungarian Gazette on 31 August called on the justice minister to prepare a report on the feasibility of terminating the SZTFH and transferring its tasks elsewhere within government. The minister has until 30 September to report back.

The review follows revelations that the SZTFH had granted CAI Hungary Kft, a company linked to businessman István Garancsi, a 35-year casino concession running until 2061 to operate the Sopron casino, without putting the licence out to public tender.

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🤝 Avanti Studios has appointed Jonas Ericson as chief financial officer as the live casino supplier startup builds out its senior leadership team.

Ericson joins after six-and-a-half years at Klarna, where he most recently served as global head of finance. He previously worked across financial transformation, accounting, new products and M&A at the Swedish payments group.

Ericson said in a press release: “No one in the live casino space is even attempting the ideas that Avanti Studios has already implemented, and I’m looking forward to using this position to grow the brand’s profitability and global impact as CFO.”

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Looking at Kenya? ~8M players, mobile-first payments, and brand-new 2025 regulation — the full picture's in our free Market in Focus: Kenya report.