DYNAMIC EVENTS LIMITED
GAMING
Game Lounge has promoted Keith Cassar to Chief Product & Technology Officer (CPTO), reinforcing the company’s commitment to data products, responsible marketing and AI-driven decision-making. Keith joined in 2020 to build the data function and has since taken on a broader remit across technology, product management, user experience, cybersecurity and AI innovation.
Keith has led key initiatives that strengthened the company’s data standards and transparency work. This includes the Affiliate Trust and Data Index, which set a benchmark for data quality across affiliate platforms, and reporting initiatives that improved how operators and affiliates work with performance datasets. He has also guided the company’s shift towards AI-powered tools that support analysis, content optimisation and faster decision-making.
In his new position, Keith will oversee all product and technology activities, including product strategy, engineering, AI adoption, data governance and UX. His focus will be on scalable data products, measurable performance, and closer alignment across technology, product, data, SEO and content operations.
Industry context and Game Lounge’s leadership role
The iGaming affiliate sector is moving towards higher data standards, clearer reporting practices and more measurable outcomes for operators. Affiliates are adopting advanced analytics, user intent modelling and AI-powered content, driven by regulatory expectations and new search patterns shaped by large language models.
Game Lounge has been active in this shift, promoting transparency and stronger data practices across the industry. Through its work on the Affiliate Trust and Data Index and its focus on accurate tracking, the company has positioned itself as a reference point for data quality and responsible reporting.
Comments
Richard Dennys, Chief Executive Officer of Game Lounge, said:
“Keith has been central to our progress in data and technology. His leadership helped us raise our standards and build stronger internal capabilities. This promotion supports our strategy to lead with data, product quality and responsible marketing.”
Keith Cassar added:
“I’m looking forward to building on the progress made so far. My focus will be on data-driven products, AI-powered workflows and improving the experience for users and partners. Transparency and reporting accuracy remain key priorities as we grow in our markets.”
Looking ahead
Game Lounge plans to increase its focus on data-driven content, AI-assisted optimisation, and stronger visibility on search engines and LLMs. The Product and Technology team will continue developing capabilities that support accuracy, faster decision-making, user trust and long-term scalability. The company will also adapt to shifts in affiliate marketing with more personalised experiences and new data-led offerings shaped by LLM-driven search behaviour.
Game Lounge, founded in 2011, is a global affiliate company with a strong presence in casino and related verticals. It continues to invest in talent and new capabilities to support sustainable growth in a changing industry.
While the new Gambling Policy Commission (GPC) has pledged to drive regulatory change in the UK, questions have emerged over its funding and links to prominent gambling reform campaigners.
Announced out of the blue yesterday (9 November), the organisation claims to have already launched a review of the UK’s legislative framework for gambling. It has pledged to challenge current regulations and champion a change in laws, based on the responses it receives from across the industry and further afield.
However, after digging a little deeper to understand who is funding and supporting the GPC, questions are being raised over its long-term direction.
The organisation’s financial backing comes from Derek Webb, an entrepreneur and prominent campaigner for gambling reform, whose previous efforts have focused on tightening restrictions on the industry. Webb was widely credited with playing a key role in the Fixed Odds Betting Terminal (FOBT) stake cuts, and has since advocated for higher taxes on remote gambling.
Its membership also includes figures with established links to gambling policy campaigning. Most notably, Dr James Noyes, a former senior fellow at the Social Market Foundation (SMF), has previously advocated for stronger affordability checks and substantial increases in gambling tax.
Other members bring experience in economics, academia, politics and horse racing. While the commission brings together a range of professional backgrounds, the involvement of Webb in particular raises questions about how its work will be kept independent of their established positions on gambling reform.
A sentence on the GPC’s About the Project page reads: “Seed funding for the Gambling Policy Commission has been philanthropically provided by Derek Webb.
“The members of the Commission retain full intellectual independence over the research and output of the project. The Commission welcomes the opportunity to explore possibilities with additional funders and grants.”
Webb sees GPC as an ‘asset’ to Labour government
On the same day the GPC was unveiled, Webb contacted NEXT.io to speak about its aims. He said the organisation will be an “asset” for the current Labour government and deliver an “excellent, independent” investigation of UK gambling laws.
“The Labour Party 2019 manifesto included a commitment to a new Gambling Act,” he said. “I supported Labour in 2024, although I was disappointed that the same commitment was not in their 2024 manifesto.
“As a philanthropist and campaigner for gambling reform I have always taken the view that there is scope for pragmatic evidence-based improvement to legislation.
“I’m confident the Gambling Policy Commission, which I’ve funded for, will conduct an excellent, independent and timely investigation. This will be an asset for the government under Prime Minister Andy Burnham,” he added.
Incidentally, upon its launch yesterday, the new commission acknowledged the work done in recent years to address gambling regulation. This included assessing the suitability of the Gambling Act 2005 and the impact of reforms from the 2023 Gambling White Paper, as well as offshore gambling, consumer rights and protections, gambling-related harm, and how gambling regulation is coordinated across government.
However, it made clear that it believes more could be done to improve and evolve regulation in the UK.
This will be the primary aim of its investigation, with evidence to be accepted until 12 February 2027. However, its findings are not set to be published until 2028.
Who else is behind the GPC?
The GPC brings together economists, academics, political commentators and representatives from sport. However, despite its intention to examine the future of gambling law, there is no direct representation from industry or licensed operators.
Its chairman, Professor Jagjit Chadha, is an economist at the University of Cambridge. He is also a former director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, where he served between 2016 and 2024.
The commission also named Professor James Reade, head of economics at the University of Reading, as its chief economist. His research includes the economics of sport, betting and prediction markets.
The remaining membership includes Professor Chris Bojke, a health economist; Peter Kellner CBE, a political analyst and former president of YouGov; and Professor Lindsey Macmillan, whose academic work focuses on economics, education and social mobility.
Professor Janet O’Sullivan, a legal academic at the University of Cambridge, and Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli, an economist and president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, also sit on the commission.
Philippe Auclair, a journalist and football commentator, is also listed as a member. He has written extensively and critically about offshore and unlicensed gambling, often through the lens of sports sponsorship, most commonly for Josimar.
The membership’s main connection to the gambling industry is through Thomas Savill, director of Plumpton Racecourse. Savill has previously co-authored Securing Racing’s Future, a report examining the financial position and long-term prospects of British horse racing.
In its press release, the GPC listed the members above but did not disclose the full list of those supporting the commission.
Industry questions timing of another gambling review
The GPC’s launch comes as the industry continues to digest the reforms introduced through the 2023 Gambling White Paper. Certain recommendations have only been put into effect recently, with their full impact still to be determined.
This point was raised by the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) when asked by NEXT.io about the new commission. A spokesperson said existing measures should be given time to take effect before further changes are considered.
“The White Paper introduced significant reforms to gambling regulation, many of which have only recently come into effect,” the spokesperson said. “It is important these measures are given time to bed in and their impact properly evaluated.
“Our focus remains on working to ensure these reforms are implemented effectively, protecting consumers while maintaining a safe and well-regulated betting and gaming industry.”
The Gambling Commission – the government-funded regulator of licensed gambling in Great Britain – was also uncertain over the launch. A spokesperson told NEXT.io that the current priority should be to complete the implementation and evaluation of the reforms from the White Paper.
“That process – and our ongoing implementation – is always informed by evidence from a range of sources from industry, consumers and beyond,” said a Gambling Commission spokesperson.
The regulator also made clear that despite the similar name of the new organisation, it had no links to the Gambling Commission itself.
“It is not a statutory body and it plays no role in regulating gambling in Great Britain,” the regulator said.
NEXT.io has also contacted Vicky Foxcroft, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), with responsibility for gambling, and the DCMS for comment on the new commission.
Questions remain over commission’s independence
The GPC has described its investigation as independent. Webb has also insisted its findings will be based on evidence gathered from across the industry and beyond.
However, its funding arrangements – and the previous policy work of some of its key figures – are likely to remain points of contention as it begins its review.
How the organisation engages with stakeholders across the regulated gambling market, and the extent to which it considers competing views on future regulation, will be important in determining the scope and credibility of its findings.
Source: Next.io
GAN surrenders UKGC licence amid company restructuring
GAN owner Sega Sammy is rejigging the supplier to focus more directly on the US market
Long-running iGaming business GAN has surrendered its Gambling Commission (UKGC) B2B licence amid restructuring in its London office and elsewhere.
According to the Commission’s website, the British subsidiary of the Sega Sammy-owned supplier and B2C operator surrendered its Gambling Software – Remote licence on 4 November, more than 15 years after it was granted.
The news marks the end of an era for GAN, which began operating in the UK in 2002 where it initially offered real-money online skill gaming competitions before moving into the B2B software and content business in 2009.
It also dropped just two days ahead of Sega Sammy’s quarterly report, which recorded ¥10.8bn (€52m) in sales at GAN with a ¥2.2bn loss – with the business reiterating previously announced plans to restructure the segment.
In June, the Japanese entertainment conglomerate outlined it had cut 66 roles across its international operations, with 27 further staff reductions scheduled for the year ending March 2027 for a total of $9.7m in annual cost savings.
NEXT.io recently reported 131 roles were put at risk at GAN B2C brand Coolbet’s Estonian headquarters due to factors including “business challenges, weaker than expected results in the B2B side and growing regulatory and tax pressure in several of our markets.”
According to GAN’s accounts, its UK entity transferred its US B2B responsibilities to its direct Nevada subsidiary in 2021 while retaining ownership of its European operations.
GAN restructures amid financial issues
GAN’s UK office appears to have closed entirely, with Sega Sammy’s website no longer listing it as one of the company’s hubs.
Companies House records also show GAN UK facing a serious deterioration in recent years, with revenue falling 61% to £6.13m from 2024 to 2025 and pre-tax losses rising to nearly £10m.
Against this backdrop, GAN has announced a major programme to refit the company’s B2B strategy for the new landscape.
The company’s turnaround strategy includes plans to shrink and simplify operations across the business, particularly duplicated management, legacy technology, unprofitable contracts and the UK operation.
GAN’s management is currently in the process of retiring its legacy tech platform and transferring clients to a “more scalable, standardised” V2 set-up for its B2B sports betting and casino clients.
Another part of the company’s turnaround plan is the closure of its Bulgarian and UK-based online casino content developer, Silverback Gaming.
Meanwhile, the US is to receive a new focus as GAN’s primary B2B market, where the company plans to expand from Nevada into additional states as well as expand its tribal casino operations.
Simulated and social gaming are also set to be a new focus, which will aim to use land-based casinos’ existing customer bases and Sega Sammy’s own content from its large video games business.
Overall, the plan will look to create an omnichannel supplier that combines GAN technology, Stakelogic’s games and Sega Sammy Creation’s physical casino products.
It is unclear exactly how this relates to GAN’s UK licence, but it appears to be connected to a widescale rationalisation and restructuring of the business towards land-based and US B2B growth.
Source: Next.io
Kambi licenses sportsbook source code to Allwyn in first-of-its-kind agreement
The source code licensing deal will cost Allwyn €50m over a period of three years
By Rory Calland – 10 Nov, 2026
Kambi has entered a unique agreement with Allwyn, licensing out it sportsbook source code to the operator in exchange for €50m paid over three years up to 2029.
The deal fulfils what NEXT.io understands to have been a long-term ambition for Allwyn, allowing it to build its own proprietary sports betting operations and expand its existing €800m-GGR presence in the sector.
Allwyn has also announced the acquisition of the reamining 30% of Instant Win Gaming (IWG) that it didn’t already own for $120m.
A unique deal
Typically, Kambi provides partners with its sportsbook as a white label product, charging a revenue share, but this deal is fundamentally different.
Allwyn will have a perpetual global licence to Kambi’s source code, giving it an underlying platform from which it can build, modify and iterate indefinitely.
NEXT.io understands that the thinking behind such a deal centres around being in control of how quickly the operator can innovate and differentiate its products.
In a statement, Allwyn explained the benefits of vertical integration further, saying: “It will also enable economies of scale from a common platform and the potential to maximise cross-selling and other synergies with Allwyn’s activities in adjacent product verticals, in particular with its substantial iGaming operations.”
Allwyn’s inorganic growth strategy
The operator’s strategy has always placed an emphasis on inorganic growth, and CEO Robert Chvatal has previously stated the company’s preference to run a proprietary sportsbook.
Indeed, Allwyn previously had a €217m agreement in place to acquire a 51% stake in Novibet, a deal that was primarily designed to give Allwyn access to its own sportsbook technology.
Competition concerns eventually led to the deal being spiked, but this approach will now finally allow Allwyn to bring top-tier technology in-house.
CEO of Allwyn Digital Kresimir Spajic commented: “Our agreement with Kambi, leveraging its proven, scalable technology and deployment expertise to bring our sportsbook platform in-house, represents an important step in that strategy, giving us greater freedom to evolve our offering, tailor products to individual brands and markets, and build a scalable foundation to accelerate future growth.”
Financing
Werner Becher, Kambi’s CEO, detailed the supplier’s upside, saying: “It also brings Kambi significant long-term commercial value and shows how we can create additional value from the capabilities we have built, through strong, long-term partnerships.”
The company claims that, based on current assumptions, the partnership is expected to contribute between €45m and €50m to Kambi’s operating profit during the period 2027-2031.
On top of the source code licensing deal, the two parties have entered into a “long-term trading services agreement.”
NEXT.io understands that an unspecified number of staff members from Kambi will be deployed to Allwyn to help build out the capabilities required to work with the source code.
Once the multi-year deployment is complete and the required infrastructure is implemented, those staff members will officially transfer.
Instant Win Gaming
Allwyn has further exemplified its growth strategy by teaming the Kambi announcement with the planned acquisition of the remaining 30% interest in IWG.
The operator already owned 70% of the UK-based instant-games supplier, but it is expected that this step will “simplify Allwyn’s corporate structure,” according to the company statement.
The $120m agreement is expected to complete in Q1 2027 and IWG’s founders will remain in their executive positions.
Source: Next.io
Brazil’s betting ban hits entire supply chain: The price nobody calculated
Suppliers are left with unpaid tax invoices and contractors with cancelled deals, while the regulator admits it never assessed the ban’s impact
By Anamaria Bacci – 10 Nov, 2026
Suppliers to Brazil’s betting industry are torn between reclaiming their losses and waiting for the market to reopen, after being stuck with unpaid tax invoices and cancelled contracts amid an industry ban imposed without a proper impact study.
Provisional Measure (MP) 1.394, signed on 25 September, shut down Brazil’s regulated betting market overnight, and since Monday (9 November), operators can no longer challenge it in the lower courts: Justice Luiz Fux has suspended all such lawsuits nationwide.
The impact of the ban, however, extends well beyond operators to payment providers, technology suppliers and contractors. NEXT.io spoke to a range of industry stakeholders to find out who is footing the bill.
Costs pass down the supply chain
Marlon Tseng, co-founder of payments company PagSmile, said some of the firm’s operator clients “left [tax] invoices open and did not go ahead with payment” after the ban. An executive at an international technology supplier that served operators in Brazil, who asked not to be named, said suppliers are left with “millions in tax invoices that will never be paid”.
PagSmile has not yet decided on layoffs, but Tseng said it cannot indefinitely maintain a structure designed for a market that no longer exists.
Nor do the costs stop when operations do. Under the MP, companies must keep records for five years and continue reporting to the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA), the regulator within the Ministry of Finance, which keeps systems and compliance costs running, according to a study by consultancy LCA for the Brazilian Institute for Responsible Gaming (IBJR).
Individual professionals are exposed too. Many in Brazil’s betting industry work as contractors through their own companies, an arrangement known as PJ, rather than as employees. An executive at an operator that recently closed in Brazil said PJ contracts were cancelled after the MP despite termination clauses, as companies treated the ban as force majeure. He believes this happened at several companies, although few are willing to say so.
The result, he said, is a workforce caught between claiming what it is owed and keeping the door open in case the market reopens. “You want to receive what your contract guarantees, but you are also afraid of creating friction, of everything being reversed and of being left without a job because you caused a dispute,” he said. “We don’t know what tomorrow holds.”
Nobody measured the impact
The scale of these losses was not calculated before the ban came into force. Less than 24 hours before the MP was published, the SPA said in response to an access-to-information request that it held no study on the impact of a ban. There was no estimate of the effect on market revenue, tax receipts, sports sponsorship, the migration of bettors to illegal sites, or public health.
The SPA stressed that this was not a matter of secrecy: the assessments simply did not exist. On the same day, the Ministry of Justice classified the MP’s drafting documents under seal for a period of five years.
When asked by NEXT.io, the Ministry of Finance said the SPA contributed “technical input and suggestions” to the MP on regulatory aspects and implementation, but did not say whether any impact study had been carried out.
The government defends the ban on public health grounds, as it did at the STF public hearing on 3 November, but never estimated its economic cost.
The industry has done its own sums. The LCA study for the IBJR found the ban hits a supply chain linked to at least 42 economic activities, from technology and advertising to events and corporate services.
In 2025, the regulated market supported around 15,500 jobs – 10,000 direct and 5,500 indirect. Direct jobs alone accounted for R$460m (€74.4m) a year in wages and R$87m in social security contributions. Invested capital exceeded R$7.5bn.
A preliminary survey by the National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL), released in October, counted around 3,500 layoffs and 4,167 workers placed on collective leave since the MP. These figures come from the industry itself, but they are the only ones available: the government has presented no estimate of the ban’s impact on employment.
‘A dangerous precedent’
Fernando Garita, managing partner and co-founder of consultancy Kabata Group and a former CEO of Betsul Brazil, said that in more than 20 years in the industry, what worries him most is legal uncertainty created by the state itself.
“The government regulated the sector, required investments worth millions, certifications, licences and strict controls. Now it decides to ban the activity without sufficient transparency on its technical and legal grounds,” he said.
In markets such as Nevada, New Jersey and Puerto Rico, Garita notes, there are procedures to justify and challenge decisions of this kind. “We are creating a dangerous precedent for any regulated sector,” he said.
Claim or wait
For lawyers, the lack of any impact assessment strengthens the case for compensation. José Frederico Cimino Manssur, a partner at Natal & Manssur Advogados specialising in contracts and betting regulation, says there are grounds to refund the portion of the licence fee covering the period in which companies were barred from operating, as well as compensation for other losses, including loss of profits.
“The state opened the market, regulated the activity and received the licence fees while that regime was in force,” he said.
The MP expressly bars any refund of licence fees, and the Attorney General’s Office (AGU) has already rejected compensation requests. A federal appeals court injunction that restored CDA Gaming’s licence on 3 November, calling the retention of the fee “a genuine confiscation”, was overturned on Friday (6 November) at the government’s request, taking the Casa de Apostas brand offline again.
Justice Fux’s suspension, requested by the Prosecutor General’s Office, stands until the STF rules on the four challenges against the MP, for which no date has been set, and must still be upheld by the full court. In it, Fux describes betting as an “admittedly harmful activity of high social risk”.
According to a count by Folha de S.Paulo, the decision froze 13 lawsuits in São Paulo’s federal courts, 12 of them filed by companies controlling 29 brands, including Blaze, EstrelaBet and Stake. The market’s largest operators, such as Betano, Bet365, Superbet and Sportingbet, did not go to the lower courts.
“The social problems associated with betting need to be tackled. But shutting down within 30 days an activity authorised by the state itself, without refunding the licence fee, raises a serious legal certainty issue,” Manssur said.
The government argues the opposite. In a statement sent to NEXT.io, the Ministry of Finance said the licences were terminated “for reasons of public interest” and that operators have no right to a full or partial refund of the fee, adding that reporting obligations to the SPA remain in force.
At the STF hearing, Attorney General Jorge Messias argued that the state can halt an economic activity when it undermines fundamental rights. “The government must act when the instruments of protection prove insufficient,” he said.
Along the supply chain, caution prevails. PagSmile does not rule out legal action, but is not announcing a compensation claim for now. “Our goal is not to create a conflict with the public authorities,” Tseng said.
Between the court and Congress
With the lower courts frozen, the fight now centres on the STF, where trade groups have asked for the ban to be suspended. The IBJR, whose members include international operators, told NEXT.io it intends to ask Fux to order the government to hand over the studies behind the ban.
Meanwhile, Congress has until 4 March 2027 to vote on the MP, and several of the 99 amendments tabled so far would keep sports betting while restricting online casino.
Even that partial reopening would not end the dispute, however. “I see solid grounds for the operators’ compensation claims, because online gaming is the larger part of the market,” a lawyer in the sector told NEXT.io.
Souce:Next.io
Playtech lifts full-year earnings guidance amid Americas growth
The London-listed supplier warned the Brazilian shutdown and an increase in UK gambling tax could weigh on further growth in 2027 however
By Rob Fletcher – 10 Nov, 2026
Playtech has increased its full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance to more than €300m, citing a “continued strong performance” across the Americas.
After a positive performance in H1 – during which revenue and earnings were higher year-on-year – Playtech said its medium-term range for adjusted EBITDA was €250m to €300m. This was in line with an initial forecast of €270m for the year ended 31 December 2026.
However, in a trading update covering the period from 1 July to 30 September, Playtech said the total will now likely be above this forecast range. It also noted that it will surpass current analyst estimates of €271m to €285m, and a consensus of €279m.
Brazil and UK developments could stunt further growth
Setting out its reasons for the increased guidance, Playtech referenced several developments and performance points from the period.
These included how its past motor racing (PMR) product continued to generate strong revenues after benefiting from being first to market with Hard Rock Digital. However, it also noted the arrival of competing third-party PMR suppliers, with this set to have a more significant impact on its market share in 2027.
Playtech also expects Brazilian regulatory developments to affect Adjusted EBITDA for three months in 2026. While it said it can absorb this impact, the consequences could be greater in 2027 if the market shutdown remains in place.
Meanwhile, Playtech continues to face higher costs from the Remote Gaming Duty (RGD) increase in the UK, with the full-year impact due in 2027. This comes alongside increased taxation in other European markets.
“We have continued to deliver an excellent performance in 2026 to date,” said CEO Mor Weizer. “We saw sustained momentum in regulated markets, notably the Americas.
“Performance in the US, driven by our partnership with Hard Rock Digital, has remained strong, contributing significantly to profitability and cash flow, while Mexico and Colombia have benefitted from tailwinds after the Men’s FIFA World Cup.”
Mixed outlook for 2027
In terms of how the business may perform in 2027, it said current analyst consensus for the adjusted EBITDA total to be around €266m across the same analysts.
In terms of how the business may perform in 2027, Playtech said analyst consensus for adjusted EBITDA is around €266m for the year.
Playtech stopped short of publishing its own guidance for the coming year. However, Weizer flagged several developments he said will impact Playtech – both positively and negatively – moving forward.
Despite forecasting headwinds, he added: “We remain confident in the underlying strength of the business and the significant opportunities ahead as we continue to expand our presence in regulated and regulating markets and work towards the top-end of our medium-term targets.”
Share price reaction
Playtech’s share price climbed by more than 4% at the time of writing.
UK investment bank Peel Hunt published a note to investors titled ‘No brakes on NASCAR’ in tribute to the strong performance of Playtech’s PMR product.
“Playtech’s success with Past Motor Racing results from astute investment by management,” wrote Peel Hunt analyst Ivor Jones.
“We believe that this ability to lead rather than follow is, and will continue to be, a decisive factor in Playtech’s success,” he added.
Peel Hunt reiterated its Buy recommendation for the stock and 690p target price.
Soucre:Next.io