Another eventful week for the gambling sector wraps up and Casino Guru News brings you a brief overview of the most interesting stories, including major business moves and regulatory updates.
In Australia, the gambling regulator in New South Wales, the NSW Independent Casino Commission, raised concerns about the future of Bally's Corporation's takeover of Star Entertainment.
As announced by a local media outlet, citing sources close to the matter, the gambling watchdog and its Chairman, Philip Crawford, reportedly said they were "far from satisfied" with the existing leadership at Star Entertainment. Those concerns otherwise mean that the gambling regulator wasn't convinced that the lifeline offer from Bally's under Star's current leadership may deliver the conditions required to return the latter to profitability and ensure no future issues.
Elsewhere, Stake.com, the fast-growing gaming company, joined forces with Team Vitality. The deal saw the former become an Official Betting Partner of the esports organization's Counter-Strike 2 competitive team. This strategic move reaffirmed Stake.com's dedication to esports, while helping it reach new audiences across the globe and boosting visibility.
VGW, the Australian-based social and sweepstake casino games operator, confirmed it will no longer offer Sweep Coins to its customers in two states in the United States. As a result, the operator suspended Sweep Coins for its clients in New Jersey and Mississippi, taking a proactive approach in the context of the ongoing scrutiny sweepstakes casinos are facing across the country.
Business and finance
Only recently, the Florida Lottery reached an important milestone, surpassing $49bn in funding to education programs across the state. The Lottery acknowledged that its contributions to Florida's Educational Enhancement Trust Fund (EETF) continue to make a difference and benefit educators and students across the state. In the words of Anastasios Kamoutsas, Florida's Commissioner of Education: "The $49bn raised is a major milestone and we are thankful to the Florida Lottery for its funds that support Florida’s children."
This week, Brightstar Lottery released its Q2 results, covering the three months ending June 30, 2025. The company reported revenue of $631m, up by 3% year-over-year, and adjusted EBITDA dip of 5% during the latest period. Notably, Brightstar Lottery acknowledged the completion of strategic objectives, like the finalization of the sale of its Gaming & Digital business and plans to return capital to its shareholders, among other achievements.
The leading B2B esports betting provider, Oddin.gg, continues to expand its LatAm footprint. Only recently, the leading supplier obtained a license from the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. The coveted license was granted to Oddin.gg by the Lottery of the City of Buenos Aires, enabling it to roll out its services and solutions, including Odds Feed, Risk Management, BetBuilder and Widgets.
Regulation and laws
In Massachusetts, the state's gambling watchdog, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, issued a financial penalty against the popular betting and gaming operator, DraftKings. The hefty monetary sanction of $450,000 comes after the operator allegedly accepted prohibited wagers. Besides the fine against DraftKings, the Commission ordered the operator to complete corrective action.
Despite the significant expansion of mobile betting across the United States, Ohio's governor admitted to opposing iGaming legalization. That's the case for state Governor Mike DeWine, who deemed it "not a great idea" to have a casino in "everybody's hands, 24/7." Governor DeWine said that, in his opinion, the legalization of online gambling would result in more issues related to gambling addiction.
Across the ocean, in the UK, St8 successfully obtained a casino aggregation license. Securing the license from the country's gambling regulator, the UK Gambling Commission, marks a major milestone for the fast-growing tech company that is recognized for its state-of-the-art products.
As a result, St8 can now expand its presence and deliver its quality content and solutions to partners across the UK. The license in the UK complements St8's ongoing expansion and comes after the company obtained licenses from important jurisdictions such as Malta, the Isle of Man and Romania.
In the Netherlands, the Dutch Gambling Authority issued warnings against three operators. The gambling watchdog alleged the three operators breached the country's Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Prevention Act, also known as its Dutch acronym, Wwft.
The Authority confirmed the three operators received warnings and won't be facing any immediate enforcement action. Still, the gambling regulator reiterated its stance to enforce the established rules and notified the operators that if they fail the established Wwft regulations on a separate occasion, they may be subjected to tough sanctions.
Responsible gambling
With the approach of the statutory levy in the UK, GambleAware, the charity that focuses on gambling harm prevention and treatment, will be shutting down. The country's transition to a mandatory levy model that depends on the gross gambling yield of each operator is expected to be completed next year in April. With the introduction of the new system, GambleAware will be shutting down.
The leading sports technology company, Sportradar Group AG, introduced a new data-driven approach to user protection called Bettor Sense. The innovative solution seeks to boost responsible gambling and player protection by leveraging a proactive and personalized approach. Ultimately, through Bettor Sense, Sportradar delivers its customers an effective solution that can enhance their responsible gambling capabilities.
The voice of the industry
This week, Casino Guru News had the opportunity to talk to two executives from the award-winning games provider, BetGames. In an exclusive interview, Shlomi Zilbert, Game Producer at BetGames, and Valerijus Vetočkinas, Game Designer at BetGames, spoke about the inspiration in developing new slot games, like the world's first horizontal slot, and potential challenges, among other hot topics.
Casino Guru News recently released a comprehensive analysis that focused on the major changes that are coming to the gambling market in Finland. The country is preparing to transition from a gambling monopoly model, operated by Veikkaus, to a licensed market for online gambling operators. While the gambling monopoly is set to break soon, Veikkaus will retain exclusivity over certain gambling activities like scratch cards and lottery tickets.
Again, this week, Casino Guru News published an interesting report on the FedEx gambling story, and how the company's founder saved it by gambling the last $5,000 on blackjack in Las Vegas. While some see the story as a good example of doing anything to save your business, many argue that the move of Fred Smith, Federal Express' founder, was particularly risky. Luckily for Smith and FedEx, his gamble in 1973 paid off and saved the company from going under.
