Corporate news

One of Europe and Latin America's most recognisable gambling operators is on the block. With advisors hired and a summer deadline in sight, the race to acquire Codere is already taking shape.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has filed 20 criminal misdemeanour charges against prediction market platform Kalshi, alleging it operated an unlicensed gambling business and accepted bets on state elections in violation of Arizona law, marking the first criminal prosecution of a prediction market company by any US state.

Meta has removed more than 159 million fraudulent ads and shut down 10.9 million scam-linked accounts in 2025, while a joint international operation with the Royal Thai Police, FBI, and US Department of Justice disabled 150,000 accounts tied to Southeast Asian scam centres and led to 21 arrests, as criminal networks increasingly use fake gambling platforms to lure victims.

Austrian prosecutors have filed criminal bribery charges against Novomatic founder Johann Graf and former Ainsworth CEO Harald Neumann, adding fresh regulatory scrutiny to a company already locked out of its AU$1-per-share takeover of Australian gaming supplier Ainsworth Game Technology after minority shareholders blocked the deal in February 2026.

Finland's state-owned operator Veikkaus has signalled ambitions to become a respected international gaming group by 2030, as its full-year 2025 results reveal declining domestic revenues and its B2B arm Fennica Gaming posts near-doubled turnover across 17 global markets all ahead of Finland's licensed market launch in July 2027.

Bally’s Intralot will transition its lotteries leadership on 16 March 2026 as Nikos Nikolakopoulos steps down as President of Lotteries, with chief operating officer Chrysostomos Sfatos set to assume the role while the outgoing executive remains on the board as a non-executive director.

Israeli police are investigating a large Polymarket wager that correctly predicted a United States strike on Iran on 28 February, amid concerns about possible insider knowledge and renewed scrutiny of how prediction platforms handle high risk geopolitical markets.

Nationwide says gambling spend rose in January, with the top 10 per cent of gamblers averaging about £745 a month, as a busy 2026 sports calendar raises concern about higher betting activity and growing demand for support services.

The Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission has rated the gambling sector as a medium to high money laundering risk in its 2026 assessment, citing the scale of online gambling, complex B2B supply chains, and technology driven threats, while highlighting stronger AML CFT supervision and enforcement capability since 2020.

NHS Wales will launch a specialist gambling treatment service and the Wales Gambling Helpline on 1 April 2026, bringing gambling harm support into mainstream healthcare with NHS led referral, treatment and aftercare funded through the statutory gambling levy.

DraftKings has reorganised parts of its workforce as it ramps up automation and scales its prediction market ambitions, with management and analysts pointing to cost alignment, AI driven decisioning, and infrastructure changes ahead of a major 2026 sports calendar.

FDJ United has shifted its online betting and gaming strategy from acquisitions to technology transformation, with CEO Stéphane Pallez outlining accelerated internal platform migration, stack consolidation, and stricter focus on platform control as tax and regulatory pressure intensifies across Europe.