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Real Madrid and Barcelona neck-and-neck as world’s most valuable football brands in the face of COVID-19
- Real Madrid remain world’s most valuable football brand, but Barcelona narrow the gap to just €6 million
- COVID-19 causes total brand value of top 50 clubs to decrease for the first time in 6 years – €751 million or 3.7% is knocked off
- English clubs dominate the ranking with six brands in top 10 and 19 in top 50
- Liverpool inches two spots up into 4th place, following historic Premier League win
- Bundesliga’s 1. FC Köln is this year’s fastest-growing brand, followed by Leicester City and RB Leipzig – all recording over 40% growth
- Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium takes top spot in Buro Happold’s Venue Performance Rating
Real Madrid remain the most valuable football club brand in the world for 2020, according to the latest edition of the Brand Finance Football Annual. Boosted by winning the LaLiga title for the first time since 2017, the club retained its position at the top of the table in the football industry, but against a backdrop of economic and social disruption, caused primarily by the COVID-19 pandemic, Real Madrid’s brand value has declined by 14% to €1,419 million.
Real Madrid’s disappointing on-pitch performance prior to 2019-20, which saw an earlier-than-normal exit from the UEFA Champions League in 2018-19 and a second successive season adrift of LaLiga champions Barcelona, eroded the club’s dominance of the Brand Finance ranking. The situation was exacerbated by COVID-19, along with a lack of stability around the management of the team. Barcelona, Real’s fierce rivals, are just €6 million behind Real with a brand value of €1,413 million, supported by strong and diverse revenue generation and continued domestic performance in Spain.
COVID-19 knocks off €751 million of brand value
Real Madrid is not the only club to see a drop in brand value this year. COVID-19 has caused the total value of the top 50 football brands to decrease for the first time in 6 years. Through its effect on the three main revenue streams – Matchday, Broadcasting, and Commercial – €751 million or 3.7% has been knocked off the cumulative brand value of the world’s top 50 most valuable football clubs.
The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged professional football worldwide and across all levels. Matchday income for the 501 games remaining in the big 5 leagues dropped to zero, but it is often the smaller clubs and leagues which are more reliant on this revenue stream – in Scotland it makes up 43% of total revenue, compared to only 13% in England.
There have been some positive signs, as Southampton vs Manchester City on BBC broke the Premier League TV audience record with 5.7 million viewers, but the longer-term damage to the game’s economic structure has yet to be revealed.
Richard Haigh, Managing Director of Brand Finance, commented:
“Top-level football has been confronted with the largest existential threat since the Second World War. Loss of income, coupled with health concerns about mass gatherings, have raised question marks about the future of the industry and the financial resilience of clubs across all levels. The full damage of the COVID-19 crisis has yet to unfold and it is not inconceivable there will be casualties in the form of club bankruptcies and changes in ownership.”
Despite the huge implications of COVID-19 for football clubs and their financial results, the majority of the brand value is secured by the clubs’ long-term future – provided they can survive the initial shock. For example, only 21% of Real Madrid’s brand value is delivered by the next five years’ financial results.
Premier power
Real Madrid and Barcelona are followed by a cluster of English Premier League clubs in the Brand Finance Football Annual 2020 ranking, with Manchester United in 3rd position after their brand value fell by 11% to €1,314 million. Liverpool, who won their first league title since 1990 in runaway style, are in 4th spot jumping above Manchester City in terms of brand value, rising from €1,191 million in 2019 to €1,262 million, a 6% increase. Chelsea dropped one place in the table to 8th after their value fell for the fourth consecutive year to €949 million. This was arguably due to the club being absent from the UEFA Champions League and also suffering a transfer ban after being charged with breaking Financial Fair Play Regulations.
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Gambling in the USA
BMM INNOVATION GROUP BRINGS THE WORLD TOUR TO SBC SUMMIT AMERICAS JUNE 9-11 IN FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA
BMM Innovation Group (“BMM”, “BIG Group”, or “BIG”), a global technology company providing compliance testing, cybersecurity, and training solutions for the regulated global gaming industry, today announced its participation in the SBC Summit Americas 2026 June 9-11 at the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
BIG will exhibit in Booth No. 730, where the Company will showcase its leading testing, certification, cybersecurity, and training solutions for North America and Latin America.
In Latin America, BMM plays a leading role in gaming testing and certification, with offices in Argentina, Brazil, and Peru. In North America, the Company supports the growing iGaming and sports betting market with its full portfolio of testing, certification, cybersecurity, and compliance-grade training solutions.
Representing BIG’s global brands, BMM Testlabs, BIG Cyber, and RG24seven Virtual Training, the team will feature multilingual business development experts speaking English, Spanish, and Portuguese to support suppliers, operators, and regulators across the Americas.
Attendees visiting the Company’s Booth No. 730 can learn more about BMM’s expert testing and certification services, cybersecurity solutions, and compliance-grade virtual training designed to help gaming companies launch faster, stay secure, and meet regulatory requirements across global markets.
BMM’s International iGaming Leader, María Romero de Alba, said, “SBC Summit Americas is one of the most important gatherings for the gaming industry across North and Latin America, and we’re excited to bring the BMM World Tour to Fort Lauderdale. As iGaming continues to grow across the region, BMM is helping suppliers expand into new markets with trusted compliance, cybersecurity, and training solutions.”
BMM Innovation Group has also been shortlisted for “Compliance Solution of the Year” at the SBC Awards Americas 2026, which will be held June 10 in conjunction with the conference.
To book a meeting with the BIG team at SBC Summit Americas 2026, visit BMM World Tour.
The post BMM INNOVATION GROUP BRINGS THE WORLD TOUR TO SBC SUMMIT AMERICAS JUNE 9-11 IN FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
Brazil
Vitor Paulin ends cycle at Luck.bet with data-driven transformation, new website, and new campaign featuring Caio Castro as legacy
Vitor Paulin ends cycle at Luck.bet with data-driven transformation, new website, and new campaign featuring Caio Castro as legacy.
The executive leaves the operator as of June 1 after leading the structuring of a team of more than 40 professionals and delivering the company’s highest results in Turnover and GGR.
Vitor Paulin, Chief Marketing & Growth Officer (CMGO) at Luck.bet, is ending his cycle at the operator as of June 1, 2026. During his tenure leading the company’s marketing operations, the executive drove a complete transformation that integrated Brand, Performance and Media, Affiliates, Influencers, CRM, PR, Product, and BI/Analytics into a single customer journey — Acquisition, Retention, Monetization, and Recovery.
The results were significant throughout his entire period at the company, with a marked acceleration in the second half of 2025 when he implemented the data-driven methodology: +54% Turnover, +49% GGR, +26% monthly active users, +22% average ticket size, +22% First Time Deposit (FTD), and +16% conversion rate from Registration to FTD.
Vitor leaves Luck.bet with three structural deliverables to the company: the completion of a data-driven culture implementation, a new operator website, the new brand campaign featuring Caio Castro — produced under his leadership and scheduled to launch in the coming weeks — and a new multidisciplinary team of more than 40 professionals structured in squads and operating under a data-driven culture focused on performance and customer-centricity.
“Throughout my time at Luck.bet, we led a complete marketing transformation. In the second half of 2025, with the data-driven methodology fully in place, we achieved +54% Turnover, +49% GGR, +26% monthly active users, and +22% average ticket size. It was a collective effort supported by a multidisciplinary team of more than 40 professionals, including new hires.
I thank Ivan Dutra and the entire Luck.bet team for the partnership and trust throughout this cycle,” said Vitor Paulin, former CMGO of Luck.bet.
Reflecting on his legacy at the operator, the executive highlights the integration between departments:
“The biggest legacy is structural: we transformed the operation into a data-driven marketing machine focused on results, integrating Brand, Performance, Affiliates, Influencers, CRM, PR, Product, and BI/Analytics into a single journey — Acquisition, Retention, Monetization, and Recovery.
I leave with the migration to the new Luck.bet website completed, the upcoming campaign featuring Caio Castro ready to go live in the coming weeks, and a team of more than 40 professionals consolidated and operating. The house is organized for the next cycles,” he added.
Regarding next steps, the executive plans a short break for strategic reflection before starting a new cycle: “I will take a short window for perspective before the next executive cycle.
In the coming weeks I will be open to conversations with market leaders — my main focus remains iGaming, with a natural extension into companies born digital such as fintechs, retail-techs, e-commerce, and the new economy in regulated markets in Brazil, Latin America, and Europe.
And who knows, I may also venture into entrepreneurship — I have no shortage of ideas for new products!” he concluded.
The post Vitor Paulin ends cycle at Luck.bet with data-driven transformation, new website, and new campaign featuring Caio Castro as legacy appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
AGS
AGS celebrates 10 straight years as a best and brightest company to work for in the nation
For the 10th consecutive year, global gaming supplier AGS announced it has been named one of the Best and Brightest Companies to Work For® in the Nation.
Presented by the National Association for Business Resources (NABR), the Best and Brightest Companies to Work For awards are not pay-to-play. Instead they are based on an independent, research-driven assessment of company practices and employee survey results.
Ten straight years places AGS in rare company by any measure; in gaming, it’s unprecedented.
No other gaming manufacturer has been recognized in the program or been awarded this designation, making this recognition a standout achievement for the team and the industry.
“Ten years of this honor is a testament not to us as a company, but to the remarkable individuals who power everything we do,” said David Lopez, President and Chief Executive Officer of AGS.
“We’ve built something truly special here – a people-first culture of long-term excellence that I’m incredibly proud of and that continues to propel us forward.”
Companies are evaluated across a comprehensive set of criteria that reflect the employee experience.
These include compensation and benefits, engagement and retention, education and development, achievement and recognition, civility and inclusion, leadership, communication, community initiates and corporate responsibility, and overall workplace well-being.
AGS earned high marks for its focus on key areas such as benefits, communications and shared vision, civility and inclusion, and employee enrichment, engagement and retention – surpassing the Best and Brightest benchmark, which reflects the median score of other participating companies.
In 2026, only 19 other companies in the country reached the 10-year mark, and just 46 organizations in total have been recognized for more than 10 years.
“What makes this recognition meaningful is that it’s based on how our employees truly feel,” said Kim Nasuta, Senior Vice President of Human Resources at AGS.
“Ten years in a row speaks to the consistency of our values and how deeply embedded they are in how we hire, support, and grow our people.”
This milestone reflects a decade of AGS’ consistent, employee-first culture – an accomplishment that is difficult to sustain year after year.
Ten years through real change is even harder. In that stretch, AGS doubled its employee count and office footprint, tripled its game studios, and expanded from two countries to ten.
The company looked different almost every year. The culture didn’t.
AGS was also awarded the same honor in the Atlanta market, which reflects the local impact, while the national honor acknowledges AGS’ broader commitment to culture across its U.S. footprint, which includes offices and game studios in Las Vegas, Reno, Scottsdale, Austin, and Oklahoma City.
The Metro Atlanta offices – home to many of the company’s R&D, engineering, and operations teams – continues to be a foundation of the Company’s innovation and culture.
Additionally, AGS supports a vast network of remote sales and field service employees located near customer operations throughout the country – extending the Company’s culture of connection and performance beyond physical offices. AGS also has a strong global presence with teams located in eight countries outside of the U.S.
This latest recognition follows AGS also being named to the 2026 USA TODAY Top Workplaces USA list for a second year in a row, solidifying its position as a standout employer in the gaming industry and beyond.
The post AGS celebrates 10 straight years as a best and brightest company to work for in the nation appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
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