Are we the baddies?
Gambling assailed by tax hikes on both sides of the Atlantic
The sector struggles to respond to the threat of increased levies.
In +More: ESPN Bet goes with a new $1 minimum bet in Illinois.
Earnings extra: Rank and Gambling.com.
Sector watch: The insolvency of Bayes will do little to instill confidence in esports.
Hard Rock Bet is growing – we know you know! And we want to bring in some more maestros to make beautiful music in our Sportsbook. You need to be among the very best in the industry to be considered for these roles. Are you up to it?
Losing the war
If you’re explaining, you’re losing: The threat of a substantial tax hike in the UK was a major focus during the earnings calls for the major UK-listed gambling companies this week as executive teams attempted to reassure investors over the threat of a doubling of the tax rate.
The latest to attempt to calm the nerves was John O’Reily from Rank during the casino to bingo operator’s FY25 earnings yesterday.
He told the analysts he believes it is “recognized” by the Treasury that even marginal increases in tax would run the risk of “moving companies that are profitable to being unprofitable.”
Oh, oh, oh, it’s magic, you know: Dan Waugh from Regulus Partners said in a blog issued yesterday that the calls in recent weeks from the Social Market Foundation and the Institute for Public Policy Research for a doubling of tax were an illustration of magic money tree theory.
Never believe it’s not gold: Waugh notes that the he SMF and IPPR contend that substantial duty hikes may be accommodated without affecting consumer spending,
Brown in town: Writing in support of the IPPR report, former UK Prima Minster Gordon Brown cited the example of other high tax jurisdictions around the globe for his support for the idea of raising some gambling taxes to 50%.
One such was the Netherlands, where taxes rose to 34% in January.
But as both Entain and Evoke referenced during earnings calls, just last week the chair of the Dutch regulator, Michel Groothuizen, admitted recently the hike had been “contrary to the policy objective of providing players with more protection.”
Rising tides: Brown also cited the examples of Pennsylvania and Delaware where taxes are considerably higher – 50% and 57% respectively – than in the UK where a consultation has just been closed on harmonizing the three main traits which range between 15% for general betting duty to 21% for remote gaming duty.
Indeed, the situation in the US points to the danger of assuming the status quo over tax will hold with Illinois, Maryland and Louisiana all raising taxes.
You do it to yourself, you do: Chris Grove from EKG points out that the regulated online operators, backed by the omni-channel gaming giants, have “contributed to their own tax headaches by misallocating political capital.
“Instead of focusing on stopping tax rates from going up and advancing iCasino, they spent precious energy pushing legislators to target DFS and sweepstakes,” he adds.
Spend it wisely: Grove suggests the online operators are funding out what their European counterparts – or in the case of Flutter, its home office – already knows, that “political capital is a finite bankroll.”
He adds that “the math is terribly lopsided” and that for most operators, the negative impact of a higher tax rate dwarfs the theoretical upside from curtailing DFS or sweepstakes.
“Higher taxes are immediate, durable, and compounding,” he adds. “Curtailing DFS or sweeps is uncertain, slow, and marginal to P&L. The rational play was to devote all energy toward keeping the tax rate from rising and keep asking until the answer changed.”
Don’t scare the horses: Operators in the UK know to their cost that losing control of the narrative in the world outside of gambling can hurt the sector’s prospects and see investors take fright.
One analyst makes the point that while he is sure that the UK Treasury “understands how businesses work," relying on it to always do the right thing can be dangerous.
As they argue, the Treasury were the brains behind the Labour government's increase in National Insurance which the evidence suggests costs jobs across the economy. “So, they are not geniuses,” the analyst added.
Getting the story straight: Grove suggests there is still time for the online operators in the US to “change the tax narrative” by changing their lobbying strategy.
“They need to make it clear there is a political price for raising gaming taxes,” he argues.
“They need to put serious money into PACs that can reinforce that message. And they need to focus relentlessly on a single priority: stopping further tax increases.”
Does your Bet Builder supplier or in-house Same Game Multi solution support 13 sports, including all of the main global betting sports, plus local variants and even eSports? Does your product allow your end-users to place both Pre-Match and In:Play Bet Builders across multiple sports? Can you offer cashout across all Bet Builder transactions? Does your solution use your own odds rather than another opinion of the market? If the answer to any of these is ‘no’ then come and find out why over 170 operators are using the Algosport Bet Builder solution today.
+More
ESPN Bet is the latest operator to respond to the per-wager tax on betting in Illinois, raising its minimum bet to $1. The move is in response to the new tax rate of 25% per wager on the first 20 million bets in a year.
Fanatics has launched a new, enterprise-wide loyalty program called Fanatics ONE offering a selection of rewards and experiences, including fan apparel, trading cards and collectibles and OSB and iCasino rewards. The new offering includes a rebooted FanCash.
The gaming REIT Gaming & Leisure Properties has executed a $1.3bn new notes offering, with proceeds expected to be deployed toward an early-2026 maturity along with loan and construction commitments.
Read across
Caught on camera: Former and existing executives from Evolution knowingly described how their games came to be available in countries such as Iran and Syria according to secret tapes of conversations recorded by private intelligence firm Black Cube, as reported by Bloomberg. In yesterday’s Compliance+More.
What we’re reading
Sportico: The data wars hold a lesson for ESPN’s new NFL partnership.
Deputy Director of Risk Management – Yerevan
Head of Retail Operations – El Salvador
Senior DevOps/Solution Architect – Dubai
Earnings extra
Rank
Eat, sleep, pay taxes, repeat: Given the current backdrop of talk about gambling taxes rising in the UK, Rank CEO John O’Reilly was keen to stress the extent to which the casino to bingo operator is a good corporate citizen, “There are three things this group does,” he said. “We entertain millions of people, we employ a huge number of people and we pay a lot of tax.”
See yesterday’s Earnings Extra edition (PRO subscribers only)
Gambling.com
Finding new ways to make money: CEO Charles Gillespie said he hoped the acquisition of Spotlght.Vegas for an initial $8m will continue the Gambling.com’s run of “capital efficient and successful acquisitions,” adding that the deal expands the company’s client base to include B&M casino operators provides “yet another lever to monetize our audience.”
See last night’s Earnings Extra edition (PRO subscribers only).
Earnings in brief
Bragg Gaming: More proof of the issues in the Netherlands came with the games provider’s Q2 earnings which missed consensus largely due to continued issues in the country. Bragg’s percentage of revenues from the Netherlands is now projected to fall from 49% in 2022 to ~32% in 2025. Revenue still managed to increase by 5% to €26.1m but adj. EBITDA fell by 4%.
DigiPlus: The Philippine operator behind BingoPlus, ArenaPlus, and GameZone saw H1 revenues rise 47% YoY to PHP47.8bn ($836m) driven by the rollout of new games and licensing approval from PAGCOR. EBITDA rose 65% to PHP5.51bn.
Puts & takes
Penn’s new Joliet casino
‘This is what a regional casino should look like’: The analysts were taken on an away day to Penn Entertainment’s new Hollywood Casino Joliet and they liked what they saw.
Jefferies said the $185m outlay on replacing the former riverboat property that operated on the shores of the Des Plaines River since 1992 was “appropriate.”
“The amenity and food offerings are strong and the location is a considerable upgrade from the prior riverboat access,” the team said.
Backhanded compliment: The team from Citizens were also impressed, saying the property is a “stark contrast to the majority of Penn’s casinos.”
“The property was bright and open, and as management noted, it was shifting away from a traditional casino with a coffee shop, steakhouse, and buffet in order to cater to the non-gaming/younger customer,” the team added.
Truist noted comments from management hosting the tour that Penn remains supportive of iCasino proliferation “if done correctly.”
But they noted that Penn believes that B&M operators who have “invested millions in analog operations” should be treated “more favorably vs. digital-only players.”
100+ Operators Can’t Be Wrong
They use OpticOdds for:
⚡ Real-time prematch and in-play odds
⚡ Global market coverage and settlement
⚡ Flexible Bet Builder
Connections
The big deal: IGT has signed a multi-year deal with Caliente, extending its PlaySports technology and services into Mexico and Latin America. The agreement will see 42 Caliente sportsbooks in Mexico adopt the PlaySports platform and Trading Advisory Services, with a phased rollout enabling access for over 100 additional venues across eight countries.
FDJ United has selected EveryMatrix’s PartnerMatrix Intelligence’s data-driven tracking toolset to power its multi-brand affiliate strategy across regulated European markets. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers announced a new multi-year official sportsbook partnership with Hard Rock Bet. Blueprint Gaming has released an exclusive new slot title for bet365 called Kong 3 Even Bigger Bonus, Wazdan is expanding its Multidrop network promotion to cover 16 different countries as part of its online strategy.Betby has further grown its proprietary esports feed with the addition of three new e-sim titles, eBoxing, eVolleyball, and the world’s first-ever virtual version of Kabaddi.
Inspired Entertainment has announced the launch of V-Play Football Brazil with EstrelaBet. The integration is powered by Altenar, Betsson has strengthened its Danish platform through a new partnership with ELA Games. RubyPlay has partnered with Rush Street Interactive to bring its slot titles to Delaware, Instant Win Gaming has secured a two-year contract extension with the New Hampshire and Virginia lotteries.
Octoplay's Jackpot Hunt has gotten so big that we couldn't fit it in our banner.
Sector watch – esports
Bye Bye Bayes-by: Bayes Esports, one of the most notable names in esports data, has filed for insolvency. The majority of staff have been let go, with a small team remaining to facilitate the company’s insolvency.
The Charlottenburg District Court (Berlin) ruled on 1 August 2025 that Bayes is illiquid and over-indebted, commencing a Hauptinsolvenzverfahren (insolvency proceeding) under EU regulation.
A meeting will be held at the district court on 12 September 2025 to decide on an insolvency plan and approve any transactions such as asset sales or proposed mergers.
GRID-locked: Bayes once held exclusive data rights to the largest contracts in esports, including ESL/FACEIT and Riot Games (thus covering most major tournaments and titles). In the last year, competitor GRID has secured both deals (replacing Bayes) and also has won the Esports World Cup tender.
GRID announced the ESL/FACEIT partnership at the end of July, marking the cessation of Bayes’ last flagship partnership.
In June and July, former employees of Bayes revealed widespread redundancies, with GRID revealing exclusive deals with the World Cup and ESL/FACEIT in the same month.
An Oddin situation: Berlin-based GRID now has a near-monopoly on esports data rights, with Oddin.gg having partnerships with tournament organisers PGL and Starladder. The two companies penned a strategic data partnership in 2023, allowing Oddin to use GRID’s official data for its B2B solutions.
Boom, headshot: The insolvency of one of the esports industry’s major players in data will do little to instill confidence in a vertical that has become synonymous with overpromising and underdelivering.
Industry insiders have previously commented that Bayes’ data offering was “prohibitively priced” compared to competitors’ products.
The company was vocal in its opposition to AI-scraping of data feeds, winning a court ruling against Pandascore in 2013 and often running media pieces across gambling industry news, talking about the dangers of “illegal data.”
My way or the highway: Prominent esports B2B suppliers Abios (part fo Kambi), Oddin.gg, and Data.Bet all have existing partnerships with GRID, so the absence of Bayes is unlikely to have major ramifications for bookmakers.
Should GRID price appropriately, the consolidation of most major esports properties under one rights holder could provide a net benefit to the industry.
Only having to acquire data from one supplier could lower barriers to entry.
Has the hype train run out of steam? A recent report from Abios suggested esports is now in the top five most traded sports. But given that esports is an umbrella term for multiple competitive titles, such headline-grabbing lines can be misleading.
Prohibitive sponsorship rules, the challenge of multi-jurisdictional sponsorship, and dealing with an abundance of intellectual property rights holders remain significant barriers to the explosive growth once spoken about.
Looking to break into the North American sports betting market? IGT PlaySports is your winning play. Trusted in over 30 jurisdictions, we deliver reliable retail, mobile, and platform technology to launch your sportsbook FAST. Our turnkey solution also includes an expert trading team with decades of experiences – right here in Las Vegas – to handle your primetime action. Whether you're starting fresh or scaling up, we’ve got the tools and expertise to put you ahead of the game. Ready to play? Contact us today!
https://www.igt.com/products-and-services/playdigital/sportsbetting
Upcoming earnings
Aug 20: Better Collective (report)
Aug 20: Better Collective (call)
Aug 26: Gentoo Media
Increase Operator Margins with EDGE Boost Today!
EDGE Boost is the first dedicated bank account for bettors.
Increase Cash Access: On/Offline with $250k/day debit limits
No Integration or Costs: Compatible today with all operators via VISA debit rails
Incremental Non-Gaming Revenue: Up to 1% operator rebate on transactions
Lower Costs: Increase debit throughput to reduce costs against ACH/Wallets
Eliminate Chargebacks and Disputes
Eliminate Debit Declines
Built-in Responsible Gaming tools
To learn more, contact Matthew Cullen, chief strategy officer: Matthew@edgemarkets.io
An +More Media publication.
For sponsorship inquiries email scott@andmore.media.
