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BGC Grand National Charity Bet Campaign Raises Thousands for Good Causes Across the Country

Published

2 years ago

April 18, 2024

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The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has raised over £15,000 for good causes as part of its annual Grand National charity betting initiative.

Over 50 parliamentarians placed a charity bet on Saturday’s Grand National, with the UK’s biggest betting operators handing over all winnings to the MP’s charity of choice.

The eventual winner was 7/1 favourite I am Maximus, ridden by Paul Townend, owned by JP McManus and trained by the legendary Willie Mullins. The Grand National win for a Mullins trained horse comes nine years after Hedge Hunter romped home in 2015.

The parliamentarians who backed the winner were Christian Wakeford MP, Maria Caulfield MP, Justin Tomlinson MP, Greg Smith MP, Peter Aldous MP, Preet Gill MP and Liam Kerr MSP.

While Bob Blackman MP had a winner with an each way bet by backing Ain’t That A Shame which came in sixth.

Some of the winning good causes included Sir Jackie Stewart’s Race for Dementia, Raystede Centre for Animal Welfare and The Fed – social care charity for the Greater Manchester Jewish Community.

Other MPs who took part included Sir Alok Sharma, Dame Caroline Nokes and Scotland Minister John Lamont.

Shadow Gambling Minister Stephanie Peacock MP also took part alongside Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey MP.

During visits, MPs heard from staff about the range of safer gambling measures available to customers in bookmakers.

However, every nominated charity will receive at least £250 after BGC members including William Hill, Ladbrokes, Coral, Paddy Power and Betfred pledged to support charities even if MPs horses didn’t win.

These donations, combined with the winners, raised a total of £15,115.

BGC members – large and small – have raised more than £6 million for good causes since its formation in 2019.

Michael Dugher, chief executive of the BGC, said: “600 million people from all over the world tuned in to watch one of the best Grand Nationals ever, including millions in the UK on ITV. An estimated 12 million people in the UK – roughly a third of adults – enjoyed a bet on the National showing once again that for millions of us having a flutter is part of our great British culture.

“I want to pay tribute to all the thousands of people who work in betting shops to help support hard-pressed high streets and local economies. I would like to thank all those MPs who took part for supporting so many fantastic good causes and for taking the time to visit constituents working in betting shops. We had more MPs than ever before, from right across the political divide, ministers and shadow ministers, supporting the BGC and supporting the Grand National. I would like to thank all of our members for once again supporting the initiative.”

The post BGC Grand National Charity Bet Campaign Raises Thousands for Good Causes Across the Country appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

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Red Bull runs one-day Balatro speedrun event, Boss Rush, on April 17

Published

5 hours ago

April 17, 2026

Wladimir P.

red-bull-runs-one-day-balatro-speedrun-event,-boss-rush,-on-april-17

Eight creators compete across five timed stages with eliminations, broadcast on Red Bull’s Twitch and YouTube channels.

Red Bull will stage a one-day Balatro speedrun competition, Red Bull Boss Rush, on April 17, 2026. The event brings together eight creators for timed runs in the roguelike deckbuilder, with viewers able to follow via individual creator POV streams and a central hub broadcast.

The competitor lineup includes Red Bull Player Ludwig, plus The Spiffing Brit, FrostPrime, Feinberg, Adef, Yahiamice, mbtyugioh and dreads. Red Bull said live commentary will be provided by esports host Yinsu ‘Yinsu’ Collins, card-game specialist Blake ‘Rarran’ Eram, and DrSpectered.

Boss Rush is structured as five 30-minute stages, with players ranked by completion time. Red Bull said the opening three stages use a shared random seed with unlimited resets, and points are awarded by placement each stage; the bottom four are eliminated after stage 3. Stage 4 determines the finalists, followed by a final winner-takes-all matchup.

The event also includes a downloadable Red Bull Boss Rush mod featuring a custom-branded deck and new Red Bull-themed Jokers, Bosses and Skip Tags. Red Bull highlighted additions including ‘Witch’, ‘Princess and Frog’, ‘Zebra’, Old Dog, ‘Pirate’, ‘Genie’, ‘Prince Charming’, and ‘Jester’, each designed to alter scoring or run economics.

Red Bull Boss Rush will stream on twitch.tv/redbull and Red Bull’s YouTube Gaming channel. Scan is supplying gaming PCs for the competition, according to the company.

Relevant data as follows:

Red Bull Gaming on Twitch; https://www.twitch.tv/redbull Primary broadcast destination for the event.
Red Bull Gaming on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/redbullgaming Secondary broadcast destination cited in the release.
Red Bull Gaming: https://www.redbull.com/ Official Red Bull site for event context and confirmation.
Balatro on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2379780/Balatro/ Authoritative reference for the game featured in the competition.
Scan Computers: https://www.scan.co.uk/ PC supplier mentioned as providing systems for the event.

The post Red Bull runs one-day Balatro speedrun event, Boss Rush, on April 17 appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.

Argentina

Blask data shows LATAM casino lobbies diverge beyond Pragmatic Play’s baseline

Published

15 hours ago

April 17, 2026

Wladimir P.

blask-data-shows-latam-casino-lobbies-diverge-beyond-pragmatic-play’s-baseline

Brazil stands out for crash-game visibility, while Argentina fragments across 15 providers, according to Blask’s review of five markets.

Blask has published new data on casino lobby distribution across five Latin American markets—Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Peru—finding a shared baseline of Pragmatic Play dominance but sharply different secondary content patterns by country.

Across all five markets, Pragmatic Play “consistently dominates the top 30 most-distributed titles,” accounting for up to 16 positions in each country, Blask said. Beyond that layer, Blask argues there is “no single playbook” for how operators and aggregators build lobbies.

Brazil is the clearest outlier for mechanics, with crash-style titles such as Aviator and JetX appearing in the top 30, while similar formats are “largely absent” in the other markets analyzed. Blask also points to Brazil as the only country where Pocket Games Soft holds a meaningful distribution share, driven by its Fortune series.

Mexico shows the opposite pattern: the highest concentration of Pragmatic Play titles and a thinner secondary layer. Blask flagged Endorphina as an example of a provider appearing in Mexico’s top 30 but not elsewhere in its dataset.

Argentina is described as the most fragmented market, with 15 different providers represented in the top 30—more than any other country in the analysis—and broader visibility for live and table content. Chile “closely mirrors Mexico” structurally, Blask said, but includes a single non-Pragmatic title with near-ubiquitous placement across operator lobbies. Peru, meanwhile, spreads remaining top-30 positions across 12 providers, including studios not seen in the other markets and “legacy European brands such as Novomatic.”

Blask’s conclusion is that operators should not assume a winning lobby mix in one country will translate regionally. “Beyond the dominant layer, performance is defined not by regional trends, but by local player behavior and demand signals,” the company said.

The post Blask data shows LATAM casino lobbies diverge beyond Pragmatic Play’s baseline appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.

Argentina

Same providers, different games: Blask uncovers hidden patterns in LATAM casino lobbies

Published

15 hours ago

April 17, 2026

GamingAmericas.com

same-providers,-different-games:-blask-uncovers-hidden-patterns-in-latam-casino-lobbies

Casino lobbies across Latin America may look similar at first glance — but a deeper look reveals they operate on entirely different logic. According to new data from Blask, all five major region players (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Peru) share one common layer: Pragmatic Play consistently dominates the top 30 most-distributed titles, accounting for up to 16 positions in each market. But everything beyond that baseline tells a different story.

Crash games cluster in Brazil but not elsewhere

Brazil is the only market where crash-style mechanics achieve consistent visibility at the lobby level. Titles like Aviator and JetX both rank among the top 30, while similar formats are largely absent in the other four markets. At the same time, Brazil is the only country where a second provider, Pocket Games Soft, secures a meaningful share of distribution, driven entirely by its Fortune series. This dual pattern suggests a highly specific local demand profile rather than a regional trend.

Mexico runs on a tighter playbook

While Brazil expands, Mexico narrows. The market shows the highest concentration of Pragmatic Play titles and one of the most limited secondary layers. At the same time, it introduces isolated signals that don’t scale regionally such as the presence of Endorphina, which appears in the Mexican top 30 but nowhere else in the dataset.

Argentina breaks the pattern entirely

Argentina stands apart as the most fragmented market in the region. Its top 30 includes 15 different providers which is more than any other country analyzed. Unlike neighboring markets, where a handful of suppliers dominate, Argentina distributes visibility across a wide range of studios, particularly in live and table segments. The result is a lobby structure that resists standardization.

Chile shows how a single game can outperform the system

Chile closely mirrors Mexico in overall structure but with one key exception. A single non-Pragmatic title achieves near-ubiquitous placement across operator lobbies, becoming one of the strongest outliers in the entire dataset.This suggests that even in highly concentrated markets, individual titles can break through if they match local demand precisely.

Peru stretches the long tail further than anyone else

Peru takes the opposite approach to Mexico. While maintaining the same Pragmatic baseline, it distributes the remaining positions across 12 different providers, many of which do not appear in any other LATAM market analyzed. This includes both niche studios and legacy European brands such as Novomatic, pointing to a mix of underserved demand segments and alternative content sourcing strategies.

One region, no single playbook

The key takeaway from the analysis is simple: LATAM is not a unified market when it comes to content distribution. The same providers appear everywhere but the way their games are positioned, combined, and supplemented varies dramatically from country to country. For operators, this means that copying a successful lobby structure from one market to another is unlikely to work. Beyond the dominant layer, performance is defined not by regional trends, but by local player behavior and demand signals.

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