Fact-based insight for the industry.

FanDuel and DraftKings: Two Strategies for Predicition Products

The sportsbook heavyweights are piloting CFTC-regulated event contracts, using a new product vertical to reach sport fans in non-betting stats while still treating traditional sportsbooks are their main business.

NFL quarterback in a blue uniform holding the football and preparing to throw during a game, representing the central role of American football in US sports betting.

NFL on‑field action, like this quarterback play, sits at the heart of America’s sports‑betting handle and the new prediction‑market products launched by FanDuel and DraftKings. © ZUMA Press / Alamy

REGULATION

FACT-FOCUSED, CLARITY FOR THOSE WHO NAVIGATE CHANGE

Get the facts on legislative updates, compliance demands, and regulatory impacts—crafted for operators, experts, and anyone who needs to know what’s next.

Prediction markets: When bets become commodities

Prediction markets have moved from university labs, offshore sites, and crypto experiments into the orbit of regulated US finance and gambling.

Kalshi, a CFTC‑regulated exchange for event contracts, now lists markets on elections, macro data, and major sports under the Commodity Exchange Act. Trump Media’s Truth Social plans to launch ‘Truth Predict’ on Kalshi’s infrastructure with Crypto.com’s US derivatives arm, and DraftKings and FanDuel have exited the American Gaming Association as they develop their own prediction‑style products, indicating that large sportsbook brands are actively exploring this format alongside their state‑licensed operations.

Digital street‑side display in New York City showing a Kalshi advertisement for live election betting, with stylised profile images of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris facing each other and percentage figures for each candidate, while pedestrians and traffic pass in the background.

A Kalshi advert on a New York street display promotes live election contracts between Trump and Harris, illustrating how federally regulated event‑contract platforms are marketing political markets in public spaces while their legal status is still being contested. Photo by Imago / Alamy.

World map in white overlaying a blue background with transparent red and white dice in the foreground, representing the global spread and regulatory complexity of online gambling.

Digital dice and a world map: The global landscape of iGaming regulation (2020–2025), where compliance and risk are now as strategic as innovation.

The Catalyst Years – What Drove the Regulatory Shift?

How geopolitics, financial risk, digital migration, and public opinion redefined compliance and competition for the world’s online gambling markets.

Blue road sign with multiple white arrows and the word "REASON" symbolising different paths leading to a single idea of what is reasonable.

Many roads to “reasonable”: regulators are narrowing the range of acceptable approaches, but each jurisdiction still charts its own route.

Laws, Requirements, and the New Meaning of “Reasonable Measures” 

A global overview of how 2020–2025 reforms tightened—but did not fully settle—the meaning of “reasonable measures” for licensed operators and their suppliers, and how layered rules on gambling, AML, sanctions, privacy, and marketing now define the real room for manoeuvre

Glass skyscrapers seen from below with the word “COMPLIANCE” and hexagon icons for legal scales, documents, alerts, search and checkmarks overlaid on the image.

Compliance is now a core part of iGaming strategy—not just a box to tick.

Redefining “Reasonable”: How iGaming Operators Are Rewriting Strategy Under Europe’s New Rules

From new Dutch renewal tests and UK platform changes to Italy’s costly concessions and AI‑enabled monitoring, iGaming operators are redesigning compliance strategies—staying onshore where it pays, and redirecting growth to more attractive regulated markets.

Abstract blue image showing bright clock hands and tick marks overlaid on rows of digital numbers, suggesting real‑time data and continuous monitoring.

A glowing clock overlaid with digital numbers, representing how real‑time data is reshaping what regulators and operators can reasonably be expected to see and do.

Redefining From Checklists to Outcomes: The Next Mea ning of “Reasonable Measures”

As AI‑driven risk engines, intrusive affordability checks and diverging channelisation rates collide, iGaming compliance is being judged less by tools on paper and more by what happens to players and where they gamble

BUSINESS

FACTS, SHIFT AND FORESIGHT

Stay ahead with clear, evidence-backed reporting on market changes, technology advances and the strategies defning tomorrow’s iGaming.

Social Media, AI, and the Psychology of Play

Casino dealer at table demonstrating the AIDA marketing model, showing how attention, interest, desire, and action apply to iGaming persuasion channels, with poker chips and slot machines in the background.

Modern casino marketing: A live dealer introduces the game, while the AIDA system —attention, interest, desire, action— remains vital for engaging players across new digital channels.

Old Rules, New Channels: Decoding Persuasion in iGaming Marketing

A new look at how old school trust and new tech rewrite the marketing playbook.

Abstract illustration of a human head with vibrant, tangled wires and digital components, symbolizing decision fatigue and cognitive overload in gambling environments.

The risk of decision fatigue grows with every choice — each new offer, nudge, or message depletes mental resources, increasing the chance of poorer, riskier decisions.

Decision Fatigue Raises the Stakes in iGaming Marketing

The transition from traditional persuasion (Cialdini’s principles) to personalized, automated, and always-on digital techniques

Female casino dealer standing at a blackjack table, dealing cards and making eye contact, highlighting the human connection in live casino games.

Live dealer at a blackjack table, demonstrating the essential human element in iGaming marketing as technology blends personalization with player protection.

Human Touch, Digital Reach in iGaming Marketing

The Paradox of AI-Powered Marketing in iGaming: Can Technology Drive Engagement While Protecting Players?

An illustrative overlay showing a safer gambling prompt notification on a poker table with playing cards, casino chips, and coins. The graphic displays a speech bubble with a red notification circle marked "1," representing player protection alerts that appear on iGaming platforms to encourage responsible gambling decisions.

Safer gambling prompts now appear at critical moments during play—session timers, deposit alerts, and reality checks that pause engagement to encourage player reflection and control.

Safer by Design: How iGaming Marketing’s  Strategy Became Slowing Down

When Friction Becomes Competitive Advantage—How the Industry Rewrote Its Profit Playbook

EDITORIAL REVIEW

WHERE EVIDENCE SHARPENS YOUR UNDERSTANDING

Stories that cut-through noise. Fact lead exploration of industry trends, research, reforms and what’s beneath the headlines.

Closing 2025: Shifts, Opportunities, Risks – and Growth Zones in iGaming

2025 marked the start of a maturity phase for regulated iGaming, with AI, regulation and brand trust reshaping who grows, how, and at what cost.

Three red dice stacked in an unstable tower, illustrating calculated risk in iGaming.

Red dice tower, iGaming 2025, regulated markets, risk management, AI and brand trust, online gambling trends.

Series on: How the state was marketing gambling in Sweden from 1980 – 2025

Four in-depth articles take you on a journey through the history of state-driven gambling marketing in Sweden—from the heyday of the monopoly in the 1980s, through the first signs of liberalization in 2004, to the landmark marketplace regulation of 2019 and the closing of Casino Cosmopol in 2025.

People in period costumes and contemporary clothing stand at a counter in a Stockholm office, receiving lottery tickets from staff dressed in historical attire, with signage for the Bellmanlotteriet lottery visible in the background. The scene is from the first sales day of the Bellmanlotteriet, a historic Swedish lottery.

Bellmanlotteriet Launch—Historic Swedish Lottery, Source Svenska Spel

Selling the Dream: Gambling Becomes the Heart of Swedish Home Life, 1890s–1949

When betting slips became as familiar as coffee cups, Sweden’s government pioneered state-sponsored marketing—turning games of chance into everyday rituals at the center of family life.

Swedish TV personality Lars-Gunnar Björklund launches Lotto by riding an elephant with a promotional banner in a forest setting.

Swedish Gambling History launch of Lotto, Source: Svenska Spel

Big Dreams, Bigger Budgets: How Sweden Marketed Gambling, 1950–1980

How did Sweden’s state monopoly transform gambling into a national ritual—turning Lotto into household comfort, while marketing assured Swedes their ticket was a stake in civic progress?

Eurojackpot TV studio with illuminated draw machines and a glowing logo on a golden backdrop before a lottery drawing.

Eurojackpot—Lottery Draw Broadcast, Source: Svenska Spel 

Commercial Fever—Deregulation and Digitalization Redefine Gambling Marketing, 1981–2000

Saturday Lotto drew families to the TV, “Lotto-Åke” became a cult icon, and instant games made winning feel like a household tradition. But as the new millennium loomed, foreign betting sites, changing laws, and the promise (and peril) of EU membership.

Casino Cosmpol closes in Stockholm 2025

Closing: Casino Cosmopol,Stockholm. Roland Magnusson/Alamy

From Monopoly to Marketplace: Sweden’s Gambling Marketing Revolution, 2001–2025

Familiar kitchens still glowed in Triss and Lotto adverts, but the hum of smartphones, the banner ads, and online jackpots signaled a new era.  Monopoly gave way to pluralism: nostalgia, risk, and responsibility were all up for grabs.

Our series on European Gambling Regulation

Cityscapes of London and Amsterdam with text discussing the comparison of gambling regulations in the UK and the Netherlands from 2021-2025, focusing on channelisation, regulatory push, and economic impacts.

A comparison of the UK and Netherlands gambling regulations from 2021 to 2025.

Close-up of a smartphone displaying a sports betting app during a football match viewing, with fans cheering in the background — illustrating the rise of digital gambling.

Online betting surges even as overall gambling declines, in the UK

Stacked blue dice arranged in ascending order, symbolising data analysis, probability, and the measurement of gambling risk in Europe.

Measuring Gambling Risk — Data Insights from the UK and the Netherlands

Person’s hands holding a smartphone displaying a VPN connection screen.

VPN usage is a rising digital trend among European online gamblers.

Balancing the odds: UK - Netherlands

FACTS ON: Between 2021 and 2025, the UK’s mature regime kept channelisation high, though new stake limits and affordability checks signal tougher rules. Meanwhile, Dutch channelisation fell below 50% as strict taxes, deposit caps, and ad bans drove players to unlicensed sites, sharply contrasting regulatory outcomes. The lesson: when rules constrain the market more than protect it, regulation risks defeating its own purpose.

UK Gambling participation hits record low

FACTS ON: The UK’s gambling landscape is undergoing a transformation. According to the latest Gambling Survey for Great Britain published on the 22nd of May 2025, gambling participation has dropped to its lowest level since the survey’s inception in 2023, while online casino and digital gambling activity continue to climb. This apparent paradox is reshaping industry strategies, regulatory approaches, and policy debates — across Europe.

Measuring Gambling Harm in Europe

FACTS ON: Across Europe, regulators, policymakers, and industry leaders are grappling with how best to measure and address gambling harm. This article compares the two most influential national gambling surveys: the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) and the Dutch NOGA Online Barometer. These surveys do more than count gamblers—they shape public policy, inform industry practice, and set benchmarks for responsible gambling

Navigating Channelisation and Unlicensed Play

FACTS ON: The slow pace of policy reform, shaped by political debate and shifting public opinion, stands in stark contrast to the agility of unlicensed operators. Throughout the article, this gap is illustrated by how enforcement struggles to keep pace with player migration, rising VPN use, and the relentless dynamism of offshore platforms—now the central challenge for European gambling policy.

INTERVIEWS

MEET THE PEOPLE DRIVING INNOVATION AND POLICY

Direct insight from those shaping iGaming’s future—giving you facts, context, and strategy for what comes next.

The rising complexity of  fragmented compliance

Over the past decade, regulation and what “reasonable measures” actually mean have changed almost beyond recognition.

Our editor speaks with Rickard Vikström, Founder & CEO of Internet Vikings, about three linked questions: how fragmentation has become the defining regulatory challenge, how “reasonable measures” have evolved, and why getting the system right matters more than getting every single decision right.

Portrait of Rickard Vikström in a beige blazer and white shirt, standing in an office setting.

Rickard Vikström, founder of Internet Vikings. Photo courtesy of Internet Vikings

Businesswoman with long blonde hair, wearing a black blazer and green top, seated at a white table holding glasses, with a coffee mug and phone in front of her.

Paula Murphy, Mindway AI – Championing transparency in responsible gambling. June 2025 Photo courtesy of Mindway AI/ Paula Murphy

Player Protection Reimagined: How AI and Neuroscience Drive Early Detection at Mindway AI

Inside the partnership of advanced artificial intelligence and neuroscience expertise powering new standards in player protection, risk detection, and responsible gambling.

A man in a checkered shirt sits at a desk with research papers and a computer

Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Behavioural Addiction at Nottingham Trent University Dr Mark Griffiths. Photo courtesy of Dr Mark Griffiths

Interview with Dr Mark Griffiths: 38 Years of Gambling and Behavioral Addicition Research  

A researcher’s perspective on technology shifts, policy development, and effective player protection in modern gambling.

Prediction Markets: Regulation, Risk and the New Challengers to U.S. Sportsbooks

Next week’s article will continue our coverage of the fast‑emerging prediction‑product vertical, shifting the focus from commercial strategy to risk, regulation and market structure.

This week’s piece examined the structural opportunity and the very different approaches of FanDuel and DraftKings. Next time, attention turns to the other side of the equation: the legal and consumer‑protection risks, the growing role of specialist players such as Kalshi and Polymarket, and how quickly regulation or enforcement could redraw the line between “trading” and “betting” – for better or worse.

 

Stylized drawing of a newspaper labeled 'News' alongside a business handshake, representing market updates and professional agreements in iGaming.

OUR NEWS CATEGORIES

Two people shaking hands, symbolizing business partnership and collaboration.

BUSINESS

Three dice showing sevens float above a balanced scale on an open book, representing gambling regulation and legal frameworks.

REGULATION

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EDITORIAL REVIEW

INTERVIEWS

Our mission

iGaming Review brings clarity and fact to every page. We report what matters—no jargon, just evidence and perspective that broaden your view.
Fact-based, relevant, and written for those shaping iGaming’s future.

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