iGB L!VE 2026

Question (to Davide Gallino, Director of Media service at AGCOM):When can the industry expect AGCOM to publish the updated responsible gambling communication guidelines?

Davide explained that  AGCOM's objective is to produce guidance that is useful not only to operators but also to consumer associations and the scientific community. The authority wants to provide clear direction on what operators are expected to do when communicating about gambling, particularly in an area where the boundary between responsible gambling messaging and other forms of gambling communication has often been unclear. The aim is to publish the updated guidelines before the summer holidays.

Global Gaming Insider note: Italian consumer and scientific groups have previously argued that permitted responsible gambling campaigns can be used by operators as a form of disguised gambling advertising. 

Italy Update Panel- When the Dignity Decree was introduced in 2018, the government prohibited gambling advertising but also gave AGCOM the authority to issue guidance on how the law should be interpreted and enforced.

A further decree in 2024 introduced a new requirement obliging operators to invest in responsible gambling communications. This creates an entirely new dimension for gambling communications.

Some operators have inevitably approached this as a simple compliance exercise, but AGCOM's recent public consultation suggests a broader ambition.

QUOTE: 

For me, the big concern is that users may get the same internal triggering as they would with a gambling product, without thinking they are actually gambling.

Simon Vincze of Casino Guru expresses his concerns on the safety of prediction markets from the player's perspective. 

iGB Live 2026: Securing Media Partnerships

Love Island and I'm a Celeb still dominate ITV for pulling in the viewer numbers, which make them both prime shows for advertisers. 

But the programmes themselves are only half the story. Localisation is key, and with how expensive it is to scale campaigns, it is worth focusing on one or two prime areas first.

iGB Live 2026: Digital Platforms and the Black Market 

On how he feels about sports teams not aligning themselves with licensed operators, Lyman said:

It’s money at the end of the day, isn’t it?

iGB Live 2026: Digital Platforms and the Black Market 

Lyman discussed how South Africa recently blamed Gibraltar for a rise in illegal gambling activity. However, he also claimed that prior to these claims being made, the South African Government had sent him a list of URLs and Lyman had confirmed that none had licences from Gibraltar. He pointed to this as a classic example of collaborative failures in the industry.

iGB Live 2026: Digital Platforms and the Black Market 

Gamstop has seen a 40% Y-o-Y rise in young people joining the platform to self-exclude. More research is needed to see how NotOnGamstop casinos are targeting young people, and through which channels. Willows brought up his own lived experience with gambling harm. He said that unless you understand why you are attracted to gambling in the first place, then the temptation will always be there. The black market knows how to exploit this. 

iGB Live 2026: Digital Platforms and the Black Market 

Reynold-Jones brought up the subject of the tobacco industry advertising against the illegal market in places like national newspapers. Why does the gambling industry not do something similar?

iGB Live 2026: Digital Platforms and the Black Market 

Lyman has just licensed a prediction market platform in Gibraltar, where the users are crypto native. He also explained that an unnamed social media platform is planning to divert all users across all demographics on its platform towards its own proprietary prediction market product. 

iGB Live 2026: Digital Platforms and the Black Market 

Willows spoke up about “enablers” and those who enable the black market. He has tried to improve digital resilience in young people, but there are always companies looking to target younger demographics by encouraging them to use black market casinos. A major problem in this is influencers, and he recently found – through talking with influencers – that many of them do not understand the difference between the regulated and unregulated market. Reynold-Jones agreed on this point, saying that there is no code of practice for influencers to follow. 

iGB Live 2026: Digital Platforms and the Black Market 

The panel is made up of Luis Portela de Carvalho, Lektou Co-Managing Partner; Andrew Lyman, Government of Gibraltar Gambling Commissioner; Katie Reynold-Jones, GamStop CMO; Lee Willows, Community Care Gaming, Founder and Chair.

Lyman opened up by noting that most regulated markets began as grey markets, and slowly drifted towards regulation over time. 

iGB Live 2026: Turning scrutiny into solutions 

A tool that is not used cannot reduce harm impact. A major factor is pushing for greater education around gambling harm reduction tools. There also needs to be a focus on how young people engage with gambling platforms. Preventative tools need to be used alongside prohibitive policies to protect young people. 

iGB Live 2026: Turning scrutiny into solutions 

Recent research from Episteme and Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona identified that media narratives shape societal perception. When the media uses particular words or narratives, they could actually increase the stigma of gambling harm, and potentially reduce the chances of people coming forward.

iGB Live 2026: Turning scrutiny into solutions

Ewa Bakun, ICE Research Institute Director, took to the Sustainable Gambling Zone to ask the question: How do you know whether your initiatives actually work? Just ‘doing something’ is no longer enough, companies are now being asked to prove that these plans work through evidence-based research.

Panellist recommendations for affiliates:

Focus on quality over volume

Build strong, long-term relationships with operators

Align KPIs with operator objectives

Diversify revenue streams

Adopt a multi-channel strategy rather than depending solely on SEO

Build and maintain a large, high-quality customer database.

Clint Grist points out that within the gambling industry chain, affiliate software is often not independently owned and does not enhance affiliate marketing as well as e-commerce branches.

Tomasz Przybylowicz,  CEO and Founder of Media and Leads Polska, previously mentioned that the biggest challenge is building a competent in-house team. He also noted that while AI is a useful tool for affiliates, it must be used with caution, as it can have its pitfalls. Although AI can handle analytics and optimisation around the clock, human intervention remains crucial.

Peter Gunni, Traffic Lab CEO: " Relationships have been the core of iGaming, but these have deteriorated in recent years. Healthy competition has become toxic competition.''

Stephen McBrinn, Co-founder and CEO of Game Time Digital, noted that Google's algorithm can be inconsistent and that an established SEO strategy can quickly become ineffective. His multi-revenue affiliate business also relies on platforms like Meta and TikTok. Although he is trying to diversify away from Google, he frequently finds himself returning to it. He notes that the value of advertising on Meta is nowhere near that of pay-per-click (PPC) on Google, leading him back to Google for better results.

Fearn emphasises that AI, data and analysis enable personalised consumer experiences, targeted messaging and scalable campaign content. However, companies that excessively rely on AI may produce generic results, risk poor data quality and experience a decline in expertise.

Safety by design: Rewriting how safer gambling is built in by suppliers

A fascinating panel subject, moderated by BetBlocker CEO Duncan Garvie during day one at iGB Live 2026.

Maor Nutkevitch, Peter & Sons Co-CEO opened by explaining the difficulty of localisation with differing regulatory and cultural requirements and preferences across Europe - a challenge that comes before even considering safer strategies.

Founder & CCO of G Gaming, Helen Walton, outlined the difficulty of choosing whether to opt for a ‘one size fits all’ game that will roll out as the same iteration across multiple jurisdictions, or going for multiple bespoke games design for specific markets. She believes the primary option is more financially lucrative and economically viable.

We all want to see player protection incorporated into our games. There is a fine balance between introducing regulations which in fact have the opposite effect.

Helen Walton concurs, saying:

The question for suppliers is, can we create a game that is sticky enough to keep players engaged across markets and with appropriate safer mechanisms implanted. That is the only way we’re going to move forward in this.

Food for responsible thought... 

Africa Summit panellist warning: Regulators often discover that taxes have been increased at the same time as the rest of the industry. As tax policy is often set by revenue authorities and ministries of finance, panellists stressed that these stakeholders need to cooperate more closely with gambling regulators.

Dan Thomson, Chief Commercial Officer at PawaTech, described Africa as a rapidly transforming and growing region, driven by improved broadband connectivity and an expanding population. He said operators are ready to invest in local markets, create jobs, and deploy significant capital - but only if the regulatory environment is stable and predictable.

Thomson urged governments to adopt reasonable tax policies and avoid frequent regulatory changes. He noted that operators are sometimes given only a few days' notice to implement new compliance requirements - for example, receiving a notification on a Friday requiring integration with a new payment system by Monday.

The conversation at the iGaming Africa Summit also turned to the growing challenge of illegal gambling. Panellists noted that while enforcement measures- such as blocking websites and targeting financial transactions - are important, authorities are often playing catch-up in what was described as a “whack-a-mole” battle. A well-regulated market attracts responsible operators that can offer competitive, attractive products, driving channelisation. 

Dan Thomson, Chief Commercial Officer at PawaTech, stressed that successful channelisation across African countries depends on creating a market that is attractive to high-quality licensed operators. Excessive taxation and overly restrictive regulation, he argued, discourage responsible operators from entering or remaining in a market.

"Tax is the key," Thomson said, noting that while many African governments are under fiscal pressure, the gambling industry has significant growth potential over the next two decades. Operators are willing to contribute through taxation, but if tax rates become unsustainably high, they may choose to exit the market altogether.

A key point raised during the discussion was that some licensed operators across Africa are still not paying taxes. Across multiple markets, this is estimated to result in approximately $5bn in lost tax revenue.

iGB Live 2026: Securing the Ecosystem 

Entain launched a customer survey, just ahead of the remote tax increasing to 40%. The company wanted to investigate how aware customers are of the black market, before and after the change. In this round of answers, 5.3% of respondents associated no particular risk with black market casinos, while 50.6% were not aware of any black market sites. Around half of those who were aware had seen materials for illegal platforms through social media.

Parker concluded that not all companies are playing ball, and that is unacceptable.

Delafosse goes into what may have impacted specifity results, such as 'false positives' - players who say they don't have a problem but self-exclude soon after. But what does this all boil down to?

With GGR, we really have a situation. We have given licensees access to the algorithm. It is optional and acts as a compliance barometer.

iGB Live 2026: Securing the Ecosystem

“Ecosystem wide threats require ecosystem wide responses” - Parker

Entain has created a regulatory playbook for global governments and international markets. This creates a great launch point for discussions with other regulators about what unique threats are happening in their jurisdiction, as well as which responses are working – and which ones are not.

iGB Live 2026: Securing the Ecosystem

Some fascinating points made by Ross Parker, Entain Director of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs on how to secure the legal gaming market, not just in the UK, but internationally.

He explained how once a market matures, a government is more likely to target it for higher taxes. However, this will cause a greater differential to occur between the legal market and the illegal one waiting in the shadows...

This will only grow as the illegal market can use this differential to offer better bonuses to players, and even outbid for front-of-shirt sponsorships in football leagues.

The ANJ's system uses a kind of traffic light equivalent, green for safe ranging through to red. Bet frequency, deposit frequency (and winning/losing) and self-exclusion history all impact whether someone is an 'excessive gambler' or not. The scientific community has validated the ANJ algorithm's performance with a sensivity of 90% and a specificity of 70%.

If you have a higher income, you are more likely to deposit more. This is something regulators need to take into account. But do they account for this enough, we wonder?

Thomas Delafosse is addressing a key-but-tricky topic: how to detect problem gambling. A first marker of harm is discussed: financial damage. But this is difficult to interpret without knowledge of a player's income.

iGB Live 2026: The UK statutory levy, one year on

Day one at iGB Live drives on with Better Change’s Anna Davies moderates a panel with Dan Spencer, Jessica Wilson and Lee Willows discussing the expectations and realities of the statutory levy.

Davies begins by asking Spencer how exactly the funding is being utilised, to which he confirms that himself and nobody in the audience (by show of hands) is in receipt of the funds.

He explained that the expectation from the levy was that there would be more funds available to organisations such as EPIC Global Solutions, where he is a Principal Consultant, and that it would ensure better reporting and an easier funding application process.

That statement of ‘if you work with operators you cannot have access to the funds’ was never clear.

Concerningly, he outlines a growing divide between those working with access to the levy and those without, who are both working towards the same player protection goal. This divide is coming from a lack of access to funds from those continuing to work with operators.

“Collaboration going forward is going to be impossible.”

Jessica Wilson, Associate at Harris Hahan, stated that when calculating the levy, the first invoices were issued well and were received by everyone. However, many operators were surprised by how high their amount was and it turned out they had been submitting inaccurate return data, which led to inflated levy contribution.

Unfortunately the commission’s guidance is not a one size fits all.

With no clear successor to Andrew Rhodes at the GC, it's interesting times in the UK market...

One takeaway from Tim Miller's remarks: With fewer major penalties for player protection failures, the regulatory focus should turn to illegal operators - a much bigger challenge to address.

Tim Miller addresses the issue of the illegal market, pointing out that it consists of large, well-organised criminal organisations that engage not only in illegal gambling but also in much more serious crimes. He emphasises that these operators cannot be tackled by individual regulators alone. Miller highlights the necessity of collaboration among various stakeholders, including the government, technology companies, affiliates and B2B suppliers. He warns that affiliates and B2B businesses that support the illegal market can expect increased criminal action against them in the UK and beyond.

We've just had industry veteran Michael Baker-Mosley at our stand for a Huddle. Stay tuned for that to come. We also asked him who'll win the World Cup... Can anyone look past France right now?

Happy July, everyone! As the industry descends upon London, we'll have updates throughout iGB Live from our several-strong team right here on our live desk.

Of course, at 5pm UK time today, everyone at the ExCel might be a little distracted by a certain England World Cup match against DR Congo. But, until then, there's business to be done...

Just about to arrive in London ahead of this year’s iGB Live. A great variety of panels and conferences this year, with some standout ones being a review into the UK statutory levy one year on, case studies into interactive sports gameplay and including safety measures by design. Be sure to check back for our coverage on each one!

The African iGaming Alliance (AiA) and World Gaming have announced a strategic partnership aimed at supporting the growth of sustainable and well-regulated gaming markets across Africa.

As part of the collaboration, the organisations will launch the Africa Summit at iGB L!VE London on 1 July. The summit will bring together regulators, operators, suppliers and industry stakeholders to discuss market development, regulatory cooperation, investment opportunities and sustainable growth across the continent.

Sponsored by SmartSoft Gaming, the event will provide attendees with direct insights from African regulators and operators on key regulatory priorities, commercial opportunities and the evolving dynamics of gaming markets across the region.

World Gaming to expand sustainability programme at iGB L!VE London

Following the success of its sustainability campaign at ICE and iGB Affiliate Barcelona earlier this year, World Gaming has confirmed a second phase of initiatives for iGB L!VE in London.

Measures being introduced include the Better Stand Programme, a new Sustainable Stand Award, fully recycled gangway and features carpet, and plastic-free badge wallets for all attendees.

Portfolio Director Margaret Dunn said the company remains committed to promoting social and environmental responsibility across the gaming industry. At January's events, 56% of segregated waste was recycled, up from 47% in 2025, while 90% of event features were fully reusable.

World Gaming has announced a new curated Visa Support initiative ahead of July’s iGB L!VE.

While most attendees can complete their travel requirements using the guidance on the event website, the service - delivered in partnership with law firm Branch Austin McCormick - will provide tailored assistance for those with more complex visa situations.

CHIPS Charity has been named the official charity partner for July’s iGB L!VE in London, as the organisation works towards delivering its 800th wheelchair in 2026.

Born out of the land-based gambling industry, the charity provides bespoke wheelchairs for young people whose families cannot access or afford them, with each chair tailored to individual needs and costing up to £9,000. World Gaming will unveil a programme of activations at the event to raise awareness among attending iGaming professionals.

Registration is now open for iGB L!VE 2026, as the global iGaming industry turns its focus to London following January’s ICE and iGB Affiliate events in Barcelona. Organised by the World Gaming team, the event will bring together operators, affiliates, tech vendors and game providers to build partnerships and drive growth.