Reading Time: 2 minutes

Protecting African sports and regulated betting operators from match-fixing

The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) and the African iGaming Alliance (AIA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance collaboration and promote integrity across Africa’s rapidly developing sports competitions and betting markets. The agreement establishes a framework for cooperation between the two associations, each representing regulated betting operators, to support responsible and sustainable sports betting markets across the continent.

Under the terms of the MoU, IBIA will become the AIA’s strategic betting integrity partner, while AIA will act as IBIA’s primary betting policy and regulation partner for Africa. The partnership will facilitate the exchange of information, joint engagement and coordinated policy initiatives aimed at protecting consumers, regulated operators and sports from betting-related match-fixing.

Peter Emolemo Kesitilwe, CEO of AIA, commented: “Integrity is the foundation of Africa’s betting future. This partnership between the AIA and IBIA represents a decisive step towards ensuring that Africa’s growing betting industry is anchored on trust, transparency, and accountability. As a pan-African industry platform, AIA is committed to working with global integrity leaders like IBIA to harmonise standards, promote responsible gaming, and support regulators in safeguarding markets from manipulation and illicit practices. Together, we can strengthen Africa’s credibility as a world-class, igaming frontier.”

Khalid Ali, CEO of IBIA, said: “Africa represents one of the most dynamic and fastest-growing betting markets in the world. Ensuring that this growth is underpinned by robust sports betting integrity standards and effective regulation is essential. Our partnership with the African iGaming Alliance reinforces our shared commitment to supporting a sustainable, well-regulated African betting industry that safeguards consumers and sporting competitions alike.”

The partnership will enable both organisations to share insights on betting integrity, regulatory developments and policy trends across Africa. The partnership reflects a shared commitment to strengthening integrity frameworks for regulated betting operators and to fostering closer cooperation between the associations’ members.

From 2020 to Q3 2025, IBIA reported 131 suspicious betting alerts across African sporting events, primarily involving football (64) and tennis (62).

Backed by over 90 operators and 200 betting brands, IBIA safeguards sport and regulated betting markets through global monitoring, intelligence sharing and stakeholder collaboration. It monitors over 1.5 million sporting events and $300bn in bets each year. Its alerts have contributed to the successful prosecution of numerous match-fixing cases worldwide, reinforcing IBIA’s role as a trusted partner to regulators, sports and policymakers.

The post IBIA and the AIA sign a strategic partnership to strengthen sports betting integrity across Africa appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Movers and Shakers” is a dynamic monthly column dedicated to exploring the latest trends, developments, and influential voices in the iGaming industry. Powered by GameOn and supported by HIPTHER, this op-ed series delves into the key players, emerging technologies, and regulatory changes shaping the future of online gaming. Each month, industry experts offer their insights and perspectives, providing readers with in-depth analysis and thought-provoking commentary on what’s driving the iGaming world forward. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or new to the scene, “Movers and Shakers” is your go-to source for staying ahead in the rapidly evolving iGaming landscape. 

By Claudia Heiling, Co-Founder & COO, Golden Whale

For years, iGaming has considered itself a data-driven industry. We’ve all spent time refining segmentation, optimising CRM journeys, mapping behavioural signals, and building increasingly complex player models. And with machine learning now widely available, whether bought, built, or borrowed, it would be reasonable to assume that the industry is already fully realising the benefits of AI.

But speak to most operators, product teams, or data leads and you’ll hear a different story.

There are models running somewhere – and usually several. There are predictions being generated. There are dashboards, reports, and insights circulating. Yet the business impact often feels inconsistent. Some initiatives deliver a clear uplift; others stall or never make it past a proof-of-concept stage. Projects that shine in testing environments don’t always translate into live, reliable operations.

The issue is rarely the model. And it’s rarely the data team. The gap is operational.

It’s one thing to build machine learning models. It’s another to make them function as part of the daily working rhythm of an iGaming business.

The operators and providers seeing the strongest and most reliable gains are the ones who treat AI not as an experiment, but as a capability: something that must be designed, deployed, monitored, re-trained, and continuously improved. This is closer to how we already treat core game operations, promotional systems, risk tooling, or CRM orchestration. It’s iterative, structured and ongoing.

In practice, that means building the frameworks around the models, not just the models themselves. Continuous data flows. Automated re-training. Real-time deployment pipelines. Feedback loops that allow systems to learn not just once, but constantly. When we work with iGaming clients who have embraced this operational mindset and leverage our ready-to-deploy MLOps system built for iGaming, the impact becomes both compounding and predictable.

The other shift happening is cultural. There has been a lingering expectation in some corners of the industry that AI will replace manual decision-making entirely and that it will “take over” processes like CRM optimisation, fraud detection, or product adjustment.

That’s neither realistic nor particularly desirable.

iGaming is too contextual, too human, too dependent on craftmanship and intuition.
The real value of AI is in augmentation: giving teams better visibility, faster feedback, and stronger evidence on which to base decisions.

In organisations where this mindset has taken hold, you see a different dynamic.
CRM teams run more experiments, more often, because they aren’t spending time rebuilding segments from scratch. Analysts spend less time on manual spreadsheet simulation and more on strategic exploration. Live-ops managers can respond to player behaviour as it changes, not after the weekly report comes in.

AI becomes the layer that enhances judgement, rather than replaces it.

And when AI is integrated technically and culturally, the commercial outcomes are hard to ignore. In setups where continuous learning pipelines are properly established and aligned with live operations, we’ve seen engagement and retention metrics improve dramatically and sustainably, with activity and revenues rising by 100–200%, while bonus and incentive costs drop by 20%+, driving growth and both securing and expanding market share. Operational teams benefit too, with workflows becoming smoother and less manual because the system is handling the constant data processing and iteration.

The improvements don’t come from having more complex algorithms. They come from having a structure that allows those algorithms to perform reliably, adapt to change, and keep learning over time.

This is where the conversation about AI in iGaming is quietly changing.

It’s no longer dominated by model performance or dataset scale, rather it is focused on repeatability, reliability and learning speed.

The distinction matters because it separates having AI, from running AI.

And the operators and providers who get this right aren’t just improving performance in the short term. They are building organisational momentum, a capability that compounds over time and is very difficult to replicate quickly.

In a sector defined by tight margins, competition and rapidly shifting player expectations, that advantage is significant.

So, if there is a “next step” in the industry’s AI journey, it’s not a more complex algorithm. It’s not a bigger data pool. And it’s not a new suite of predictive dashboards.

It’s the ability to learn continuously, responsibly and at scale.

Because in iGaming, as in intelligence, data alone doesn’t win. What wins is the ability to turn learning into action again and again.

The post Movers and Shakers – From Data to Decisions: What It Really Takes to Make AI Work in iGaming appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

New partnership to enhance player engagement and revenue through ThrillPots integration

BOYLE Casino, brought to you by one of the UK and Ireland’s leading independent betting and gaming operators, BOYLE Sports, has strengthened its product offering through a new partnership with B2B jackpot specialist ThrillTech.

The deal sees BOYLE Casino integrate ThrillTech’s flagship ThrillPots product into its gaming and casino offering, enabling player-funded, side-bet jackpots across its digital casino and sportsbook platforms.

The integration is now live for customers in both the UK and Ireland, with additional rollouts planned across other regulated markets in 2026.

ThrillPots allows operators to launch bespoke, player-funded jackpot mechanics designed to drive measurable increases in engagement, retention, and monetisation.

Each jackpot is funded directly by opt-in player contributions, giving operators a fully compliant and scalable tool to boost incremental revenue without disrupting gameplay.

Faye Williams, Head of Business Development at ThrillTech, said: “Partnering with BOYLE Casinos and BOYLE Sports marks another major milestone in our growth across Europe. BOYLE Sports is one of the most trusted and respected brands in UK and Irish betting, and its commitment to offering players fresh, responsible, and high-performing experiences makes this a perfect fit.

“ThrillPots was built to deliver tangible revenue uplift while enhancing entertainment value for players – and we’re excited to see it go live with such an iconic operator.”

BOYLE Sports Gaming Director Steve Payne added: “At BOYLE Sports and BOYLE Casino, we’re always looking for innovative, compliant ways to add excitement for our customers. ThrillTech’s player-funded jackpot model gives us a flexible new mechanic that strengthens engagement across multiple verticals while maintaining our focus on responsible growth.

“The integration process was seamless, and we’re confident our players will enjoy the added thrill that ThrillPots guarantees.”

The partnership follows a series of operator integrations for ThrillTech in 2025, as demand for its licensed player-funded jackpot solutions continues to grow across regulated markets worldwide.

The post BOYLE Casino integrates ThrillTech’s jackpot solution across UK and Ireland appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.