Betr, the company behind the world’s first real money gaming super app, announced the promotions of Alex Ursa to Chief Operating Officer, Alex Kuwada to Chief Marketing Officer, and Mike Denevi to Chief Content Officer.

Alex Ursa, the first employee hired at Betr, has been promoted to COO after serving as a foundational pillar of the business since its inception over four years ago. Ursa has played a critical role in building the product and business from the ground up. In his new role, he will lead product development and operations, overseeing the continued development and expansion of the industry’s first super app. Prior to Betr, Ursa spent eight years across the Flutter organization, most recently as Senior Product Director at FanDuel.

Alex Kuwada has been promoted to CMO after joining the company two years ago. During his tenure, Kuwada has transformed Betr’s marketing function and unit economics into a primary competitive advantage while serving as a key commercial leader. As CMO, he will lead acquisition, retention, VIP, and other key commercial functions. Prior to Betr, Kuwada spent six years at FanDuel, where he was most recently Senior Director of Growth.

Mike Denevi, the second employee hired at Betr, has been promoted to CCO after serving as Head of Media for over four years. Denevi will continue overseeing content and brand strategy for Betr, which has become the most followed real money gaming brand in the world on social media. Prior to Betr, Denevi spent over ten years at Bleacher Report, where he was most recently Director of Brand Strategy.

“Alex Ursa and Mike Denevi are the first two people I hired at Betr – and I am thrilled to promote them to COO and CCO respectively, along with promoting Alex Kuwada to CMO. Alex Ursa is overseeing one of the most impressive product development feats in industry history – the development of a super app spanning several real money gaming products and prediction markets across one app and one wallet experience. Alex Kuwada is successfully building a paid-organic marketing hybrid growth engine that has yielded the best unit economics in the industry. And Mike Denevi is overseeing the development of one of the strongest, most differentiated brands in the industry – that is also now the most followed. We would not be where we are today without these three executives and I am thrilled to continue scaling Betr into a category defining business with them,” said Joey Levy, Founder and CEO of Betr.

Betr operates Betr Picks, Betr Social Sportsbook, Betr Social Casino, and Betr Arcade in the majority of the country, and holds gaming licenses nationwide and has been publicly commended by the regulatory community for being a leader in responsible gaming. Betr is poised to launch its prediction markets product later in 2026, which will be available within the same single app experience as the company’s other products.

The 5W Research Division has released the 5W Responsible Gambling Communications Audit 2026 — a 24-month industry analysis examining how the U.S. gambling industry communicates about responsible gambling and what that communications posture is costing in regulatory, ESG, and AI-search outcomes.

The audit reviewed 30 operators across sports betting, online casino & iGaming, and land-based casino. Data sources included 47,000+ earned media articles, 180+ ESG disclosures and 10-K filings, 240+ state regulator filings, and 2400+ AI engine queries across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews.

The U.S. gambling industry spent $3.9 billion on marketing and advertising in 2025. Of that:

• $520 million went to celebrity and athlete endorsement partnerships.

• $60 million went to responsible gambling programs and communications.

• Ratio: 8.7 to 1 — the highest of any regulated American consumer category with a public-health dimension.

For context: U.S. tobacco’s ratio is below 1.5-to-1 post-Master Settlement. Alcohol is approximately 4-to-1. Pharmaceuticals run near 1-to-1 under FDA-mandated risk communication.

Six headline findings:

• The 8.7-to-1 Ratio. No publicly traded operator surveyed has issued a specific defense in investor communications.

• Earned Media Underinvestment. $90M on earned media against $3.9B total — 2.3%. 34% of branded search results are not operator-controlled.

• ESG Disclosure Gap. Only 4 of 12 publicly traded operators disclose RG investment as a percentage of marketing spend.

• Regulator Communications Asymmetry. In 11 of 38 legal markets, state gaming commissioners receive proactive RG communications from fewer than three operators per year.

• The AI Citation Gap. BetMGM cited in 78% and DraftKings in 64% of AI responses for strongest RG programs. Six other major operators are cited in fewer than 20%.

• The Pre-Legalization Penalty. In Michigan, Ohio, and North Carolina, operators that published RG content in state media before legalization achieved faster regulatory approval.

The 5W RG Communications Index scored each operator on a 100-point scale. Top performers: MGM Resorts International (81/100), BetMGM Sportsbook (78/100), BetMGM Casino (74/100), DraftKings (71/100), FanDuel (66/100). Bottom performers: Las Vegas Sands (41/100), ESPN Bet (38/100), Fanatics Sportsbook (34/100), bet365 (29/100), Stake.us (22/100).

“The gambling industry has built the most visible advertising ecosystem in American consumer marketing in five years. It has not built the credibility infrastructure to match it. The 8.7-to-1 ratio is no longer a marketing department metric. It is a capital markets metric. It is in Sustainalytics. It is in MSCI. It is in legislative testimony in California, Texas, and Florida. And it is in the answer ChatGPT gives a parent who asks which sportsbook is safe for their kid in college,” said Ronn Torossian, Founder and Chairman of 5W.

The audit recommends five communications investments to close the gap: disclose RG investment as a percentage of marketing spend, build owned-media RG content the AI engines can cite, establish executive visibility on RG topics outside crisis windows, engage regulators proactively in pre-legalization markets, and reallocate 3–5 percentage points of marketing budget toward earned media at parity with celebrity partnerships — representing $117M to $195M redirected at industry scale.

The Swedish gaming giant confirms its industry leading portfolio of games now available in Colombia with Betano for the first time

Play’n GO, the world’s leading casino entertainment provider, has further expanded its presence in Latin America after going live with Betano, the premium online sports betting and gaming brand owned by Kaizen Gaming, one of the world’s leading GameTech companies.

The partnership covers Colombia, one of the region’s most established and trusted regulated markets.

The launch sees Betano Colombia roll out the full Play’n GO portfolio to its players. This includes some of the studio’s most iconic and popular titles, such as Book of Dead and Reactoonz, alongside a wide range of premium content designed to deliver world-class entertainment in regulated environments.

The launch reinforces Play’n GO’s strategic focus on regulated markets and is another significant milestone in its ongoing growth across Latin America.

Colombia continues to be a key market for Play’n GO, widely regarded as one of the most stable and mature regulated jurisdictions in the region. The launch with Betano ensures that more players than ever before in the country will have access to the company’s diverse and high-performing content portfolio.

Magnus Olsson, Chief Commercial Officer of Play’n GO, said: “Colombia is an incredibly important market for Play’n GO. It stands out as one of the most stable regulated markets in Latin America, making it a key focus for our long-term growth strategy globally.

“Betano is one of the biggest names in global gaming, and they share our commitment to quality, compliance, and delivering exceptional entertainment. Bringing our full portfolio live on their platform in Colombia is an exciting step, and we’re confident this partnership will be a strong success for both parties.”