Gaming
Innovative new AdTech provider Interact makes a splash with charity: water partnership
Interact, a pioneering new AdTech platform that offers immersive in-game advertising solutions for brands, has announced that its innovative new technology raised awareness of the ‘Clean Water Pledge’ by charity: water. The display campaign resulted in hundreds of thousands of impressions, with one in four [27.5%] users tapping on the interactive in-game billboards.
The success of this partnership marks a strong start to the year for Interact. Launched in December 2021 by leading video game publisher Playstack, Interact is a new form of advertising technology. Interact seamlessly places brands into games in a non-disruptive way, making them part of the play. Its unique approach makes in-game brand engagement easy, accessible and relevant to developers, brands and players alike.
Interact prides itself on delivering non-intrusive ads that encourage engagement without disrupting gameplay in any way. Building on years of knowledge and gaming industry experience, Interact’s SDK integrates easily into games, using simple tools to deliver advertising solutions. The expert team works with top brands, building bespoke ads with multiple touch points, that work for developers, players and brands.
The perfect partnership for Idle Aquarium and Idle Sea Park, the charity: water interactive billboards integrated seamlessly into the mobile game in locations, just like those where they would be seen in real life – such as beside exhibitions. Over the course of 15 days, the billboards were watched for over 180 hours, with an impressive 27.5% of viewers tapping to find out more.
Peter Griffin, Head of Brand Partnerships at Interact, said: “At Interact, we are really passionate about creating campaigns that really make brands part of the play – adding to in-game player experience rather than disrupting it. We focus on finding the right brand partnerships and ensuring that our ads make sense, resulting in lifelike experiences in games, that are just like you would see in the real world. We work closely with developers, making it easy for them to integrate our SDK into their games in a way that benefits everyone.
“Supporting charity: water to deliver in-game ads in Idle Aquarium and Idle Sea Park was a collaboration that just made sense. It fitted so well with the games, and was such a relatable brand for players. We are really happy with the results the campaign achieved, especially for such a worthy cause.”
The charity: water campaign, which was launched in partnership with Walk-In Media to coincide with World Water Day [Tuesday 22 March], saw groundbreaking interactive ads served in Playstack’s Idle Aquarium and Idle Sea Park mobile games. Using cutting edge new technology from Interact, interactive water-themed billboards were placed into the in-game parks, which players could then click on to find out more about charity: water and the ‘Clean Water Pledge’.
Ellie Scouller, Brand & Communications Senior Manager, charity: water, said: “It’s been a great experience working with the Playstack team to test this new form of in-game advertising. We’re always looking for innovative and engaging ways to tell more people about the water crisis and our work.
“There are currently 771million people living without access to clean water, that’s 1 in 10 or ten times the population of the UK. It’s a massive problem but one we know how to fix, we just need more people to help. A big thank you to Playstack for their support of our World Water Day campaign. We look forward to working more with them in the future!”
Interact places great importance on measurement across its campaigns, offering the best possible value for its clients. Giving prominence to accuracy, Interact calculates impressions by a number of set criteria including viewing angle, screen space and visibility duration.
With Interact, brands really are part of the play.
Powered by WPeMatico
Australia
Regulating the Game 2026 Draft Program Unveiled, Spotlighting the Issues Shaping the Sector
Regulating the Game has published the draft program for its 2026 Sydney conference, outlining a comprehensive agenda of keynotes, featured addresses, panels, and expert masterclasses examining the most consequential regulatory, policy and operational issues facing the global gambling sector.
Regulating the Game 2026 will be held 9–11 March 2026 at the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth and represents the sixth edition of the conference as a forum for rigorous, cross-jurisdictional engagement on gambling regulation and sector performance and uplift.
The draft program confirms that each conference day is anchored by keynote and featured speakers, whose addresses are designed to frame and contextualise the broader program of talks, panels and masterclasses that follow. These speakers bring senior executive leadership, policy and advisory insight, and deep subject-matter expertise, helping to frame the regulatory and operating environment, its trajectory, and the lenses through which the agenda is explored.
Across the three days, the program integrates:
- Context-setting sessions that frame the regulatory and operating environment and its direction, including examinations of where gambling regulation and policy are heading, how enforcement and sanctioning approaches are evolving post-inquiry, and how governments and markets are responding to persistent black-market and grey-market pressures. These sessions establish the policy, strategic and operating lenses through which the broader agenda is explored.
- Moderated panels that interrogate regulatory assumptions and reform outcomes in practice, including discussions on harm minimisation in increasingly data-driven environments, the limits and consequences of intensified regulation, and the interaction between market design, consumer behaviour and regulatory intent.
- Expert masterclasses, including a session led by Jay Robinson focused on embedding the Responsible Gambling Officer role with purpose, authority and practical impact, and a second masterclass convened by the International Masters of Gaming Law, with final scope and focus to be confirmed. Together, these sessions are designed to support practical capability uplift and address the implementation risks that sit between policy intent and operational reality.
- Industry Spotlight sessions, introduced in 2026, comprising tightly curated 15-minute presentations from incumbent organisations. These sessions provide a platform to articulate strategic direction, investment priorities and innovation pathways, and to examine what lies ahead for the sector as regulatory expectations, technology and market structures continue to evolve.
Collectively, the agenda addresses:
- The trajectory of gambling regulation, enforcement and sanctioning frameworks
- AML/CTF reform, financial crime risk and supervisory expectations
- Safer gambling governance, harm minimisation and behavioural insight
- Black market and grey market dynamics in increasingly regulated environments
- Technology, data governance and the use of AI in regulatory and compliance systems
- Leadership, accountability and the operational reality of reform delivery
While the program is deliberately broad, particular attention has been given to curating sessions and contributors that surface topical and often unresolved issues facing the sector. The agenda is designed to frame the current environment and its direction, provoke informed debate, stimulate curiosity, and act as a catalyst for new ways of thinking, innovation bets and next practice across regulation, policy and operations.
Paul Newson, Principal at Vanguard Overwatch and Founder of Regulating the Game, said the 2026 draft program reflects a deliberate architecture:
“The program is designed to open up the problem space, not to close it down. Early sessions are intended to frame the environment honestly and rigorously, so that the discussions that follow can interrogate options, trade-offs and solutions with clarity and discipline.”
He added:
“Regulating the Game is deliberately structured to move from context to analysis to application. The draft program makes that progression clear and intentional.”
The program is supported by flagship events including Pitch!, the RTG Global Awards Gala Dinner, and an expanded Exhibition Showcase, which together complement the formal agenda and support cross-sector engagement.
The draft program reflects the core structure of the conference, with final speaker confirmations and minor refinements to be completed in the coming week.
The post Regulating the Game 2026 Draft Program Unveiled, Spotlighting the Issues Shaping the Sector appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
Adam Smart Director of Product Gaming at AppsFlyer
AppsFlyer State of Gaming Report: AI Is Flooding Mobile Gaming Marketing Channels and Raising the Cost of Standing Out
State of Gaming for Marketers 2026 reveals how AI-driven scale, global UA spend, and China-based publishers are reshaping mobile gaming competition
AppsFlyer, the Modern Marketing Cloud, today released the State of Gaming for Marketers 2026, an in-depth analysis of how AI, creative scale, and rising paid pressure reshaped mobile gaming marketing in 2025. Drawing on AppsFlyer data, the report examines how studios adapted as marketing activity expanded faster than player attention.
In 2025, AI-enabled production coincided with a sharp increase in advertising across iOS and Android. Creative output scaled rapidly across all spending tiers, with top gaming advertisers producing between 2,400 and 2,600 creative variations per quarter, up 25–30% YoY. That expansion increased pressure on paid acquisition channels. Paid install share rose 10% YoY across iOS and Android, while ad impressions increased 20%, indicating a significant rise in the number of ads competing for the same pool of players. To manage rising marketing volume and fragmentation, AI-enabled tools became a common part of daily workflows with 46% of AI assistant queries focused on reporting and performance breakdowns, reflecting the need for faster visibility as data volumes grew.
“AI has dramatically increased the speed and volume at which games and marketing assets reach the market,” says Adam Smart, Director of Product, Gaming at AppsFlyer. “The result is not a shortage of creativity, but a surplus of it. As paid activity and creative supply expand faster than player attention, marketing success depends on how effectively teams can measure, interpret, and act on an increasing volume of fragmented signals.”
Additional key insights from the State of Gaming for Marketers 2026
- Global gaming app UA spend reached $25B in 2025. Midcore UA spend increased 28% YoY on iOS, while Android spend remained largely flat.
● China-headquartered publishers increased their share of global gaming UA spend. Their share grew by 26% YoY in the UK, and 22% globally, with gains strongest on Android.
● iOS paid installs reached record highs. Share in the UK rose across Casino (+13%), Hypercasual (+10%), and Midcore (+30%).
● iOS advertisers expanded media mix to find incremental scale. iOS gaming advertisers increased the number of media sources they used by up to 15% YoY, reflecting growing fragmentation and the need to diversify beyond core channels.
● AI is still used primarily to manage marketing scale, not strategy. With 46% of AI assistant queries focused on reporting and performance breakdowns, teams are using AI to keep pace with rising data volumes rather than replace decision-making, but some genres are already employing more complex tasks and asks.
Methodology
AppsFlyer’s State of Gaming for Marketers 2026 is based on anonymized, aggregated data from 9.6 thousand gaming apps worldwide, analyzing 24.8 billion total installs, including 14.1 billion paid installs, alongside ad spend, creative production, monetization, AI-assisted workflows, and media source usage across iOS and Android during 2025.
The full report is available at: appsflyer.com/resources/reports/gaming-marketers/
The post AppsFlyer State of Gaming Report: AI Is Flooding Mobile Gaming Marketing Channels and Raising the Cost of Standing Out appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
Arena Racing Company
Arena Racing Company awarded United Arab Emirates Gaming-Related Vendor License
Arena Racing Company (ARC) has been granted a Gaming-Related Vendor license from the United Arab Emirates’ General Commercial Gaming Authority (GCGRA), an independent entity of the UAE Federal Government with exclusive jurisdiction to regulate, license, and supervise all commercial gaming activities.
The license, operational with immediate effect, affords ARC the opportunity to provide its products and services to licensed operators in the region. Notably, the Racing1 Markets service, an all-in-one horse and greyhound racing solution delivered in conjunction with Racing1 alliance media rights partners at 1/ST CONTENT, Racecourse Media Group (RMG), and Tabcorp, alongside technical partner Pythia Sports. ARC has been added to the list of licensed vendors as per the GCGRA website.
Jack Whitaker, Commercial Manager at ARC, said: “Obtaining this license is a great achievement for ARC and its Racing1 partners. The emerging regulated UAE market is incredibly exciting, and we look forward to showcasing our innovative products and services in the region.”
The post Arena Racing Company awarded United Arab Emirates Gaming-Related Vendor License appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry Newsroom.
-
Carl Gatt Baldacchino Head of Account Management SlotMatrix7 days agoSlotMatrix revives classic slot action with Crazy 777 U.S launch
-
Adam Pentecost Chief Revenue Officer at Gaming Corps7 days agoGaming Corps partners with BetMGM for exclusive Ontario launch
-
BGaming7 days agoLand Diamond-Encrusted Prizes in BGaming’s Jewel Boom Super Drop
-
Compliance Updates6 days agoRomanian B2B Licence Granted to iGP, Boosting Its Regulated Operations in Europe
-
Africa7 days agoSoccabet goes live with QTech Games retail solution in Ghana
-
Compliance Updates6 days agoGlobal Gaming Solutions welcomes the Isle of Man Government’s commitment to the iGaming sector
-
Latest News3 days agoSKIP THE QUEUE WITH THE MIDNITE SHUTTLE: MIDNITE TEAMS UP WITH SNOOKER LEGEND TO OFFER FANS A FREE SHUTTLE SERVICE FROM ALLY PALLY STATION
-
BETER6 days agoBETER enters sixth US state with North Carolina approval



