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ANJ: Summary of the Online gambling market for the first quarter of 2021: business continues to grow in all gambling segments
After a singular year in 2020, which ended with a 22% increase in the sector’s turnover, the first quarter of 2021 confirms the very dynamic growth of the online gambling market, with a 35% increase in turnover compared to the same period in 2020. Sports and horse racing betting once again recorded record stakes, while poker, still on the rise, began to return to normal.
In the first quarter of 2021, the turnover of the online gambling sector is up 35% and amounts to 587 million euros. The business was driven by 3.1 million players on accounts, a player base that is up 19% compared to 2020. Each segment of online gambling opened to competition have seen further strong growth in activity this quarter. These performances illustrate the acceleration of the digitalisation of gambling practices, which is a consequence of the health crisis and whose structuring character will have to be confirmed over the long term. As such, the levels of growth recorded in the first quarter of 2021, which are measured in relation to the first quarter of 2020, should be viewed with a certain amount of caution since, on the one hand, they are influenced upwards, for the two online betting segments, by the loss of business linked to the suspension of French sports betting and horse racing betting and, on the other hand, they are oriented downwards for the online poker market, due to the peak of business recorded at the same period last year.
Online sports betting: record stakes and new players
The online sports betting segment, which was the most affected by the first period of lockdown, is the one that has seen the most spectacular growth in stakes this quarter. 2.2 billion euros (+79%[1] compared to Q1 2020) were approximatively bet by the players on the competitions of the quarter, which corresponds to the highest amount of stakes recorded in a quarter. The number of sports bettors in the quarter increased by 29% to almost 2.5 million active player accounts (APA). It is very likely that the growth in activity will continue at a high rate this year due to the two major competitions, the European football championship and the Summer Olympic Games.
The FDJ reports a volume of sports betting stakes recorded on the two distribution channels equal to 1.1 billion euros in the first quarter of 2021, which corresponds to an increase of 46% compared to its results for the first quarter of 2020.
Online horse racing betting: growth continues and expands
The growth dynamic of the online horse racing betting market observed in 2020 is also continuing at a very steady pace. The horse racing stakes, which amount to 481 million euros, increased by 60% compared to the first quarter of 2020, again the highest volume of stakes recorded in a quarter. At the same time, the turnover of the six licensed horse racing betting operators reached 110 million euros, an increase of 48% compared to the first quarter of 2020. Online horse racing betting also recorded a 13% increase in players, with a total of 402,000 active player accounts (APA) over the quarter.
The horse racing betting offer at points of sale remains affected by the health restrictions which, as revealed by PMU, led to the closure of almost 40% of the points of sale for several consecutive months. As a result, the operator posted a 23% drop in stakes placed in its network of sales outlets for a total of 1.3 billion euros.
Online poker: lower growth marks the beginning of a return to normality
Online poker, which recorded the highest turnover increase in 2020, continues to grow at a sustained rate but at a lower rate than in previous quarters. Thus, the sector’s turnover grew by 23% to 120 million euros. The number of online poker players grew by 9% (991,000 active player accounts, (APA)). The results of online poker for the next quarter should however interrupt this dynamic, since they will be calculated with regard to the 2nd quarter of 2020, which had shown an exceptional level of activity due to the first lockdown.
|
|
Q1 2020
|
Q1 2021
|
Variation
|
|
TOTAL
|
|
|
|
|
Actives player accounts
|
2 598 000
|
3 078 000
|
+ 19%
|
|
Gross Gambling Revenue
|
435 m€
|
587 m€
|
+ 35%
|
|
Sports betting
|
|||
|
Actives player accounts
|
1 915 000
|
2 466 000
|
+ 29%
|
|
stakes
|
1 220 m€
|
2 181 m€
|
+ 79%
|
|
Gross Gambling Revenue
|
263 m€
|
357 m€
|
+ 36%
|
|
Horse racing betting
|
|
|
|
|
Actives player accounts
|
357 000
|
402 000
|
+ 13%
|
|
stakes
|
300 m€
|
481 m€
|
+ 60%
|
|
Gross Gambling Revenue
|
74 m€
|
110 m€
|
+ 48%
|
|
Poker
|
|
|
|
|
Actives player accounts
|
906 000
|
991 000
|
+ 9%
|
|
Gross Gambling Revenue
|
98 m€
|
120 m€
|
+ 23%
|
For Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, ANJ’s Chairwoman: “The online gambling dynamics goes on and is accelerating this quarter. It calls for a certain vigilance and must be accompanied in order to guarantee the protection of players, especially in the run-up to major sport events such as the EURO football tournament or the Tokyo Olympic Games. As such, the ANJ reminded operators of the need for their commercial communications to emphasise the importance of maintaining a moderate and controlled gambling practice and for bonuses or welcome offers to be sufficiently clear, enabling players to understand the commitments they underlie. Additionally, the ANJ will pay particular attention to tipsters’ Websites which have recently strongly developed. Some of these Websites are in fact involved in misleading practices and present a real danger for players.”
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Canada
XSOLLA STRENGTHENS COMMITMENT TO ATLANTIC CANADA’S GROWING GAME INDUSTRY WITH EXPANDED EVENT PRESENCE
Global Video Game Commerce Company To Support Industry Growth Through Panels, Workshops, And Community Engagement Across Atlantic Canada
Xsolla, a leading global video game commerce company, today announced its participation in two major gaming industry events taking place across Atlantic Canada from June 3-5, 2026, reinforcing the company’s commitment to supporting regional game development ecosystems and fostering industry collaboration.
Xsolla will participate in both Game Invest East and XP Game Connect Atlantic, joining developers, publishers, investors, and industry leaders for discussions centered on the future of game development, investment, and innovation in the local area.
At Game Invest East, held in partnership with Scaffold, Xsolla will contribute to conversations around funding, growth opportunities, and the evolving business landscape for game studios.
Featured on the panel titled “If You Can Make It Here,” Xsolla’s Manny Hachey, Senior Director of Developer Success, joins Kate Edwards, CEO and Principal Consultant of Geogrify, and Amir Satvat, Business Development Director at Tencent Games, founder of Always Supporting the Games Community (ASGC), and a 2026 GamesBeat Visionary Award honoree, to explore how new regions and new entrants can survive and thrive in disruptive times.
Hachey, a native of Atlantic Canada, was personally requested by Scaffold to represent Xsolla at the event — a homecoming that adds a personal dimension to the panel’s central thesis. Having built her career and made her mark in Germany’s games industry, she returns with a firsthand perspective on what it takes to leave, build something meaningful abroad, and come back with proof of concept.
Xsolla will continue its Atlantic Canada engagement at XP Game Connect Atlantic in Halifax on June 5. John Nguyen, Regional Vice President, Canada at Xsolla, and Ted DiNola, Developer Evangelist at Xsolla, will host a workshop titled ‘Full Picture to Fast Lane: Xsolla Ecosystem Overview & Live SDK 3 Integration’, providing practical insights and actionable strategies for developers navigating today’s rapidly evolving gaming market.
Nguyen will also host a panel titled, ‘What Does the Future of Game Development Look Like in Atlantic Canada?’ where he will be joined by industry experts, including Ryan Filsinger from Iron Fox; Shawn Woods, CEO at Alpha Dog and VP of Interactive Society of Nova Scotia; George Greer, Founder of Besszong; and Jade Yhap, President of Interactive NB. The panel will explore the region’s growing role in the global games industry and the opportunities ahead for studios, talent, and ecosystem partners.
“Atlantic Canada continues to emerge as an exciting hub for game development talent and innovation,” said John Nguyen, Regional Vice President, Canada, at Xsolla. “Xsolla is proud to support these events and contribute to conversations that help empower developers, build ecosystems, strengthen industry connections, and accelerate growth across the region.”
“Events like Game Invest East and XP Game Connect Atlantic are critical for building stronger connections across the games industry,” said Berkley Egenes, Chief Marketing & Growth Officer at Xsolla. “Atlantic Canada has a growing community of talented developers, creators, and industry leaders, and we’re excited to be part of conversations that help to shape the future of gaming in the region while supporting studios at every stage of growth.”
Through its participation in these events, Xsolla aims to deepen relationships within the Atlantic Canadian game development community while supporting knowledge-sharing, collaboration, and long-term ecosystem growth.
For more information about Xsolla’s participation in these events across Atlantic Canada, visit: xsolla.pro/Atlantic-Canada
The post XSOLLA STRENGTHENS COMMITMENT TO ATLANTIC CANADA’S GROWING GAME INDUSTRY WITH EXPANDED EVENT PRESENCE appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
ai-tools
SEON adds MCP server and new AI tools for fraud and AML teams Subheadline
Updates include Network Detection, AI Chart Builder and an AI Playbook, with integrations for third-party AI tools via the MCP standard.
SEON has rolled out new AI capabilities for its fraud prevention and AML compliance platform, including a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server designed to connect SEON data to external AI tools. The company said the MCP server, Network Detection, AI Chart Builder and an AI Playbook for Risk and Compliance Teams are available now to SEON customers.
The MCP server is positioned as a way for analysts to use third-party AI tools while pulling investigation context from SEON. SEON said analysts can connect tools including Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and Microsoft Copilot to “900+ real-time risk signals spanning identity, device, behavioral, AML and IP data,” with signals accessible “in a single call” via the open MCP standard.
“The software world is moving toward a headless model, where teams don’t need to live inside a vendor’s dashboard to get full control over data and functionality,” said Tamas Kadar, CEO and Co-Founder, SEON. “Our job is to be the best command center for fraud, risk and compliance intelligence. We’re giving analysts the freedom to use whichever AI tools work best for them.”
SEON also introduced Network Detection and AI Chart Builder inside its platform. Network Detection builds on SEON’s network analysis features released last year, and “continuously scans the last two months of transactions across devices, emails, phone numbers and IP addresses” to surface suspicious clusters. AI Chart Builder generates data visualizations from natural-language questions using live SEON data, targeting reporting and dashboarding needs typically handled through BI teams or spreadsheet exports.
Customer TurboTenant said it is already using the MCP approach in production workflows. “The SEON MCP integration has fundamentally changed how our risk analysts operate,” said Eric Taylor, Manager of Trust and Safety, TurboTenant. “Before, they had to manually pull data across multiple systems to piece together what happened. Now, we pull a user’s entire platform journey and all of SEON’s risk signal context directly into Claude, and AI connects the dots on complex fraud patterns without us doing that assembly. It’s opened up OSINT capabilities that wouldn’t have been possible before.”
To support adoption, SEON said it is shipping an AI Playbook for Risk and Compliance Teams alongside the releases, including “pre-built agentic skills” such as a fraud analyst daily briefing and a decline spot-check, compatible with the MCP server. “SEON opening its data layer to any AI we want to use is exactly the kind of architectural decision that fits where the market is going,” said Mostafa Hassanin, CISO, SMG Marketplace.
The post SEON adds MCP server and new AI tools for fraud and AML teams Subheadline appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
Artificial intelligence
SEON Expands AI Capabilities Inside the Platform and Through Any External AI Tool
New MCP server, Network Detection, AI Chart Builder and AI Playbook give fraud and AML teams more ways to put AI to work
SEON, the AI Command Center for Fraud Prevention and AML Compliance, has built a platform where flexibility is an accent of its architecture. With SEON, customers can ingest any custom field or data type, build any rule or alert they need, and investigate in system driven workflows that represent the way their team operates. Most importantly, they can choose a rules-based policy, one driven by AI or a hybrid decisioning model that leverages both. SEON has the capabilities to meet teams how and where they actually operate.
Today, the company extends that same flexibility to the use of AI in the fight against fraud and financial crimes. A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server opens SEON’s data layer to whichever AI tool a team prefers. Two additional capabilities, Network Detection and AI Chart Builder, connect SEON’s existing capabilities in automation and business intelligence. To support adoption, an AI Playbook for Risk and Compliance Teams ships alongside them, giving customers a practical starting point for putting their MCP connection to work quickly.
Access to AI Has Outpaced Access to Risk Data
For most fraud and AML teams, AI is accessible but still hard to put to real work. Analysts have ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini at their fingertips. What they don’t have is a clean way to get their investigation data into those environments. Instead, they manually paste in transaction records, customer profiles and risk signals, losing context at every step and creating security risks for their organization. According to the 2026 Fraud and AML Leaders Report, 98% of fraud and AML leaders are already using AI in their workflows. The tools are there. The data pipeline is not.
An Open Foundation for Any AI Tool
SEON’s MCP server addresses that gap. Analysts can link Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot or any custom agent to SEON’s 900+ real-time risk signals spanning identity, device, behavioral, AML and IP data. All signals are accessible in a single call, so the AI spends its token budget and processing time on analysis rather than pulling data from multiple systems. Because the integration uses the open MCP standard, customers are free to use whatever works best today and switch to a stronger option tomorrow without rebuilding anything.
“The software world is moving toward a headless model, where teams don’t need to live inside a vendor’s dashboard to get full control over data and functionality,” said Tamas Kadar, CEO and Co-Founder, SEON. “Our job is to be the best command center for fraud, risk and compliance intelligence. We’re giving analysts the freedom to use whichever AI tools work best for them.”
“The SEON MCP integration has fundamentally changed how our risk analysts operate,” said Eric Taylor, Manager of Trust and Safety, TurboTenant. “Before, they had to manually pull data across multiple systems to piece together what happened. Now, we pull a user’s entire platform journey and all of SEON’s risk signal context directly into Claude, and AI connects the dots on complex fraud patterns without us doing that assembly. It’s opened up OSINT capabilities that wouldn’t have been possible before.”
Meeting Teams Where They Are
Some customers are ready to run their entire risk operation through an agentic platform. Others want AI working inside the SEON interface they already use. Most are somewhere in between. SEON supports all team preferences, whether they work inside the platform or outside it.
Network Detection builds on the network analysis SEON released last year, including Similarity ranking and the Network graph. It continuously scans the last two months of transactions across devices, emails, phone numbers and IP addresses to identify clusters that are only suspicious when viewed together. Coordinated fraud rings and money laundering networks now surface before an analyst opens an alert.
AI Chart Builder turns natural-language questions about your business into instant data visualizations. Analysts no longer wait on business intelligence teams for dashboard projects or are forced to rebuild reports from spreadsheet exports. They ask a question and the chart appears, built on live SEON data.
These join an AI portfolio SEON has shipped over the past year. Existing capabilities include AI-assisted rule creation, scoring insights, AML screening analysis, automated case summaries and regulatory report generation.
“The next generation of fraud and KYC challenges won’t look like the last one. AI agents will interact with our marketplaces as customers, and AI agents will be used to impersonate and exploit our customers as well. Our team needs an intelligence foundation that’s ready for both,” said Mostafa Hassanin, CISO, SMG Marketplace. “SEON opening its data layer to any AI we want to use is exactly the kind of architectural decision that fits where the market is going.”
A Fast-Start Kit for Teams Ready to Build
To help teams get started quickly, SEON is also releasing an AI Playbook for Risk and Compliance Teams. The playbook is a practical guide to connecting AI tools to SEON and building investigation workflows that match how analyst teams actually operate. It ships with pre-built agentic skills, including a fraud analyst daily briefing and a decline spot-check, both compatible with SEON’s MCP server and ready to deploy on day one.
The MCP server, Network Detection, AI Chart Builder and AI Playbook are available now to SEON customers.
The post SEON Expands AI Capabilities Inside the Platform and Through Any External AI Tool appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
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