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Sports-Betting Boost Expected With Texas, Oklahoma In SEC

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With the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners now in the Southeastern Conference, legal sports betting soon could jump by double digits in the region, says one bookmaker.
Starting this season, Texas and Oklahoma are in position to challenge for the SEC football championship — and championships across all SEC sports — in a collegiate conference loaded with rich traditions and annual national title contenders.
The Longhorns and Sooners joined the SEC in July. Both moved over from the Big 12.
This new conference (alignment) leads to better games for the book and better opportunities for the player,” Casey Lewless, manager of two Louisiana sportsbooks, told Gambling.com.
Legal sportsbooks in Louisiana are popular with bettors from neighboring Texas and nearby Oklahoma. Sports wagering is illegal in Texas and Oklahoma.
Because of this, the Margaritaville Resort Casino in Bossier City, Louisiana, expects to see a bump of about 30% in college wagering, Lewless said. That sportsbook already was anticipating more action because of its recent expansion.
The Margaritaville sportsbook is one of two in Northwest Louisiana that Lewless manages for Penn Entertainment. The other is at the nearby Boomtown Casino Hotel.
Lewless pointed to Texas’ rivalry years ago with the Arkansas Razorbacks in the former Southwest Conference as a matchup that will stir interest now that both are in the SEC. Sports betting is legal in Arkansas.
Also, every clash between the two Texas SEC schools — the Longhorns and Texas A&M Aggies — will stir emotions and boost sports betting in close-by states like Louisiana where wagering is legal, Lewless said.
Sports Betting Illegal In Half Of SEC States
The addition of Oklahoma into the SEC means six of the 12 states with schools in the conference do not have legal sports betting. Texas already had a school in the SEC — Texas A&M.
Those six SEC states make up the largest geographic region in the U.S. without legal sports betting. Combined, the six states have a population of more than 62 million, representing about 19% of the U.S. population.
Nationwide, sports betting is legal in 38 states and Washington, D.C.
The SEC states without legal sports betting are:
  • Texas (Texas Longhorns, Texas A&M Aggies)
  • Oklahoma (Oklahoma Sooners)
  • Missouri (Missouri Tigers)
  • Alabama (Alabama Crimson Tide, Auburn Tigers)
  • Georgia (Georgia Bulldogs)
  • South Carolina (South Carolina Gamecocks)
  • The other six SEC states have either in-person or mobile sports betting — or both. Tennessee is a mobile-only state, while Mississippi has in-person sports betting at casinos but not off-site mobile wagering.
The SEC states with legal sports betting are:
  • Arkansas (Arkansas Razorbacks)
  • Louisiana (LSU Tigers)
  • Kentucky (Kentucky Wildcats)
  • Tennessee (Tennessee Volunteers, Vanderbilt Commodores)
  • Mississippi (Ole Miss Rebels, Mississippi State Bulldogs)
  • Florida (Florida Gators)
College Football Kicks Off In August
The overall college football schedule kicks off Aug. 24, including a matchup overseas between Florida State and Georgia Tech in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin, Ireland.
In the SEC, the Oklahoma Sooners, led by head coach Brent Venables, begin their season on Aug. 30 against Temple at OU’s Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium.
The SEC schedule gets fully underway over the Labor Day weekend, highlighted by an Aug. 31 contest between Clemson and Georgia in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
On that same day, the Steve Sarkisian-coached Texas Longhorns host Colorado State in Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin.
The next day’s schedule, on Sept. 1, features another SEC school, LSU, in a matchup against Southern California in the Vegas Kickoff Classic at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
SEC Divisions Abandoned
The addition of Texas and Oklahoma brings the number of teams in the SEC to 16. This season, the conference football championship will be decided between the top two teams. The 2024 SEC title game is set for Dec. 7 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
In previous years, the conference was split into two divisions, with the East and West winners battling it out for for the SEC title.
The 2024 arrangement with no divisions is a departure in the conference structure dating back more than three decades.

FairPlay Sports Media

FairPlay Sports Media Launches ‘Customer Insights’, Delivering Objective Truth on Bettor Sentiment

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FairPlay Sports Media (FPSM), a leading sports media and BetTech network, has unveiled FairPlay Customer Insights, a continuously updated commercial decision-making engine built exclusively for UK betting operators.

Powered by a verified panel of over 1,000 active UK bettors, the self-serve dashboard gives operators instant, objective visibility into brand perception, product feature popularity, and competitive performance.

“A major challenge operators face today is understanding exactly why bettors switch apps,” said Jerome Underhill, Chief Operating Officer at FairPlay Sports Media. “Traditional market research is often too slow, expensive, and disconnected from day-to-day commercial decisions. FairPlay Customer Insights was built as a real-time decision-making engine, providing product teams with clarity on how core features—like their Bet Builder—compare to the competition, while helping media teams pinpoint the triggers that convert transient bonus users into loyal, long-term players.”

The platform updates quarterly to track trends over time and includes ‘flash research’ capabilities, enabling operators to submit custom queries to the panel ahead of major events such as the upcoming World Cup. This feature helps operators de-risk campaign planning with actionable insights.

FairPlay is currently onboarding a select group of operators for a 30-day Phase 1 Proof of Concept, offering company-wide access to validate the platform’s intelligence against operational challenges.

The post FairPlay Sports Media Launches ‘Customer Insights’, Delivering Objective Truth on Bettor Sentiment appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.

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iGP Integrates Gamzix into iGaming Aggregator

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iGP, the full-service B2B iGaming solutions provider, has integrated Gamzix into its casino aggregator, iGaming Aggregator, further strengthening the content available to operators through the platform.

Gamzix is a Maltese game provider with over five years of iGaming experience and an MGA licence. Known for its mobile-first, engagement-driven titles, the studio develops games designed to perform across diverse markets and player segments.

Through the integration, Gamzix titles are now available to operators via iGaming Aggregator, which offers more than 12,000 games from leading providers through a single API. Designed to move beyond traditional aggregation models, the solution enables operators to launch quickly while maintaining control through multi-brand management, embedded promotional tools, a built-in reporting suite and real-time data visibility.

Jovana Popovic Canaki, CEO at iGP, said: “Operators face constant pressure to scale faster while maintaining control across brands, content, and player engagement. iGaming Aggregator addresses this by combining high speed distribution with built in tools and real time visibility. Integrating Gamzix further strengthens the range of titles available to our partners.”

James Davies, Head of Commercial at Gamzix, added: “iGP’s focus on speed, control, and scalability aligns perfectly with how we approach distribution and long-term performance. We’re excited to bring our mobile-first, engagement-driven titles to more partners through this collaboration.”

The post iGP Integrates Gamzix into iGaming Aggregator appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.

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NSW: More Than 650 Gaming Machine Exemptions Revoked to Address Gambling Harm

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The Minns Labor Government continues to reduce gambling harm by delivering on its commitment to remove outdated exemptions that enabled more than 650 pubs and clubs to operate gaming machines during standard shutdown hours.

Following an announcement in December by the Minister for Gaming and Racing David Harris that exemptions would cease from 31 March 2026, more than 650 venues will be required from 1 April to shut down all gaming machines between 4am to 10am each day, in line with NSW standard shutdown hours.

The six-hour shutdown is a harm minimisation measure intended to provide players with an important break in play.

Of the 672 venues with a varied shutdown period, usually for three hours instead of six, many have been in place for more than 20 years. These were given for reasons including being in high traffic ‘tourist’ locations, a history of earlier opening hours or financial hardship.

Venues that believed they had a strong case to keep their exemptions under the legislation and the revised Ministerial Guidelines, had the opportunity to put their case to Liquor & Gaming NSW.

As of 24 March 2026, 649 have been revoked by Liquor & Gaming NSW under delegation from the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority and 10 by the Authority itself. Thirteen venues remain under assessment. All venues will be considered and an outcome communicated by 31 March 2026.

Sixty-two venues applied to keep their exemptions. Of the 49 applications assessed so far, all have been revoked.

Liquor & Gaming NSW will undertake a compliance campaign after 1 April when the new requirements come into effect, to ensure all venues are abiding by the changes.

A Review of Gaming Machine Shutdown Hours Framework conducted by Liquor & Gaming NSW in 2024 found that a minimum six-hour shutdown period, commencing no later than 4am, is effective at minimising gambling harm.

The move continues a suite of gaming reforms which the Minns Government has implemented since coming into office, including:

• Reducing the cash input limit from $5000 to $500 for all new gaming machines

• Reducing the state-wide cap on gaming machine entitlements, so that every year the number of gaming machines reduces based on forfeiture rates

• Banning political donations from clubs with electronic gaming machines

• Banning external gaming-related signage and internal gaming-related signage that can be seen from outside the venue

• Introducing Responsible Gambling Officers in venues with more than 20 gaming machine entitlements and mandating that extra Responsible Gambling Officers be on duty in venues after midnight

• Mandating that all venues with gaming machines must keep a Gaming Plan of Management and a Gambling Incident Register

• Banning gambling advertising on public transport and the ferries and terminals people catch it from

• Consulting with the community on a third-party exclusion scheme and use of mandatory facial recognition technology to support a statewide exclusion register for NSW hotels and clubs with gaming machines

Launching a NSW-first code of practice for the use of facial recognition in pubs and clubs that use the technology, following full consultation with a wide range of stakeholders including harm minimisation advocates, the NSW Privacy Commissioner and industry.

Minister for Gaming and Racing David Harris said: “The Minns Labor Government takes gambling harm minimisation seriously and that’s why I called for a review of the gaming machine variations back in December that has removed outdated exemptions that enabled more than 650 pubs and clubs to operate gaming machines during standard shutdown hours.

“Following months of review, it was clear these variations enabling about 20 per cent of clubs and pubs with gaming machines to operate outside of the mandated hours, some of which were more than 20 years old, were no longer fit for purpose.

“To enable variations to be revoked, I updated the Ministerial Guidelines and set up a streamlined process for venues to make their case if they wished to keep their variation, and to allow for a transition period.

“These changes are expected to prevent and reduce gambling harm.

“The NSW Government will continue to deliver evidence-based reforms to ensure we are striking the balance of addressing gambling harm while supporting sustainable development of an industry that employs more than 150,000 people in NSW and injects billions into the economy.”

The post NSW: More Than 650 Gaming Machine Exemptions Revoked to Address Gambling Harm appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.

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