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Welcome to our weekly roundup of American gambling news again! Here, we are going through the weekly highlights of the American gambling industry which include the latest news and new partnerships. Read on and get updated.

Latest News

National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) Board of Directors has announced Heather L. Maurer, MA, CAE as the organisation’s next Executive Director, effective January 7, 2026. Maurer brings more than 25 years of leadership experience in the fields of public health, policy and nonprofit management. Most recently, she served as CEO of National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health, where she led the organisation to its strongest financial position in more than a decade by expanding revenue streams, restructuring operations and building sustainable reserves to ensure long-term growth. As Executive Director, Ms. Maurer will lead NCPG’s strategic direction and oversee its national programmes, partnerships and advocacy initiatives. Her work will focus on strengthening NCPG’s advocacy presence and uniting affiliates, policymakers, industry leaders and community partners to advance policies that prevent gambling-related harm and expand access to support services.

Hard Rock Casino Tejon, developed in partnership with the Tejon Indian Tribe, officially opens to the public following a celebratory Guitar Smash ceremony marking a historic milestone as the first full-scale gaming and entertainment property in Kern County. Located 80 miles north of Los Angeles, the $600 million project is a multi-phase investment designed to transform the region through hospitality, entertainment and economic development. The destination has created more than 1000 permanent jobs and over 5000 construction-related roles, representing the largest private hospitality investment in Kern County’s history. Hard Rock Casino Tejon is expected to continue delivering lasting benefits for the local economy, tourism sector and community development across the Southern San Joaquin Valley. The opening was celebrated with Hard Rock’s iconic Guitar Smash Ceremony, symbolising a bold new beginning.

Partnerships

BetMGM announced that the company is now an official sports betting and online casino partner of the Pittsburgh Penguins. With this multi-year agreement, BetMGM holds partnerships with all three of Pittsburgh’s major professional sports teams. Key elements of the partnership include prominent BetMGM signage and branding throughout PPG Paints Arena, co-branded social media content, exclusive promotions and premium hospitality assets for VIP fan experiences. BetMGM also plans to introduce Penguins-themed iGaming products in the near future. As BetMGM continues to expand into new markets and introduce new features, responsible gaming remains a key focus. Additionally, BetMGM provides resources to help customers play responsibly including GameSense, an industry leading programme, developed and licensed to MGM Resorts by the British Columbia Lottery Corporation.

Hard Rock International and Seminole Gaming joined forces with nonprofit organisation Ocean Conservancy for the Global Sound Waves joint sustainability programme. This collaboration unites Hard Rock team members and communities worldwide with Ocean Conservancy’s mission of protecting the oceans by reducing waste and driving meaningful environmental change. The partnership, motivated by one of Hard Rock’s guiding mottos: Save the Planet, takes a proactive approach to ocean conservation by focusing on upstream waste management, addressing water, food and material waste to prevent it from polluting the ocean. Through comprehensive waste audits and data-driven analysis, Hard Rock and Ocean Conservancy identify diversion opportunities and implement alternatives that set meaningful waste reduction goals across Hard Rock’s global operations.

The post Gaming Americas Weekly Roundup – November 17-23 appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

Atlaslive, a global B2B iGaming platform provider, has been shortlisted in the Sportsbook Supplier of the Year category at the first-ever EGR Latam Awards 2025.

The category honors suppliers delivering market-leading sports betting platforms or software solutions in Latin America, judged on criteria including product quality, commercial success, and client feedback. The awards ceremony will take place on Friday, 28 November 2025, at The Fairmont Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro.

Atlaslive’s nomination reflects its expansion into Latin American markets, offering scalable sportsbook architecture, localized content, and operator-first integration capabilities designed for high-growth regions.

“LATAM has a unique rhythm, and our team has learned to listen to it closely — understanding what operators need today and what they will need tomorrow. Being shortlisted for Sportsbook Supplier of the Year is a reminder of how far we’ve come as a product team and how much impact collaboration with our partners has had on our roadmap. It motivates us to keep building with the same clarity and purpose.”
—Anastasiia Poltavets, CMO of Atlaslive

About EGR Latam Awards

The inaugural EGR Latam Awards celebrate excellence across the Latin American gaming and betting ecosystem, recognising service providers, operators, and affiliates driving innovation, compliance, and growth. The first edition will be held in Rio de Janeiro on 28 November 2025.

About Atlaslive

Atlaslive delivers an iGaming platform that unifies sportsbook, casino, CRM, risk management, and analytics within a single adaptable architecture. Backed by 99.9% uptime and an agile delivery model, it supports operators as they enter new regulated markets and maintain ownership of their technology.

This document is provided to you for your information and discussion only. This document was based on public sources of information and was created by the Atlaslive team for marketing usage. It is not a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell any gambling-related product. Nothing in this document constitutes legal or business development advice. This document has been prepared from sources Atlaslive believes to be reliable, but we do not guarantee its accuracy or completeness and do not accept liability for any loss arising from its use. Atlaslive reserves the right to remedy any errors that may be present in this document.

About Atlaslive

Atlaslive, formerly known as Atlas-IAC, underwent a rebranding campaign in May 2024. It is a B2B software development company that specializes in creating a multifunctional and automated platform to optimize the workflow of sports betting and casino operators. Key components of the Atlaslive Platform include Sportsbook, Casino, Risk Management and Anti-Fraud Tools, CRM, Bonus Engine, Business Analytics, Payment Systems, and Retail Module. Follow the company on LinkedIn to stay updated with the latest news in iGaming technology.

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Vision & Motivation

You mentioned this was a “pipedream 10 years in the making.” What finally gave you the push to take the leap into owning and rebuilding an affiliate site?

It was always a dream of mine to have my own business and ‘be my own boss’ so to speak. I’ve taken an interest in the iGaming sector from a very young age and I knew this was instantly a passion of mine. What gave me the impetus to take the leap was twofold. The first being that I had been delaying this for too long, I decided that this is it, I will take the leap of fate and live and die by my decisions. The Second being I wanted to get out of the monotonous 9-5 routine. Having a young family, I want to prioritise spending as much time with them as possible. Doing this has allowed me to do that.

What does success look like for you with CasinoBonus360—not just in terms of traffic or revenue, but in how the brand is perceived by users?

Taking the site back to its glory days of the late 2010s, having witnessed first hand the success of this whilst at my former role within Catena Media, I know its potential is through the roof. I want CB360 to be a trusted, well reviewed site that users can check out all brands with confidence that this is not just a money grab. The users are being put first.

Why is trust such a central pillar in your vision for the site? What do you think has eroded trust in this space, and how do you plan to rebuild it?

Trust is at an all time low in this industry, scams are everywhere you look. As a consumer, this is evident in all forms of the gambling industry. I want to right the wrongs of others and attempt to restore the faith back to what it once was. We plan to rebuild it through various means, such as delivering a top quality service to all our new and existing users. One that is meaningful and long lasting. This will triumph over any quick financial gain.

Editorial Direction & Content Strategy

You’ve emphasized tougher editorial standards and evergreen content. What does your editorial process look like now compared to the previous version of the site?

We are not comparing ourselves to anyone else because we do not know how other teams operated. The shift has to happen inside the own workflow. In the past, things were faster, more intuitive and less documented. Today the process is far more deliberate with clear research steps, structured fact checking, internal reviews, consistent criteria and a final quality pass. It is a more mature and more disciplined version of how we used to work, still personal but with higher standards and better control.

How are you ensuring your reviews and guides are genuinely useful to users rather than just SEO-driven?

We start with real user questions and not with keyword lists. Every claim needs a source or a test reference. If a keyword does not fit naturally, we leave it out. The content must read smoothly and help the reader get clarity and make a decision. Useful content performs better in the long run than keyword tactics.

Can you walk us through how your team scores or tests casinos? What makes your approach different from competitors’?

We play for real. We register, verify, deposit, withdraw and talk to support. We score what happens, not what is promised. No gut ratings and no hidden deals. Every score follows the same criteria and the same pressure test. If a casino fails on trust or transparency, it gets called out.

What are some examples of content you’ve either removed or completely rewritten during the rebuild—and why?

Anything that wasted space or repeated nonsense is gone. Old fluff bonus pages, outdated lists, weak guides and duplicated topics were cut. Only the content that delivers real answers survived. Everything else was removed because it did not deserve attention.

SEO & Technical Evolution

You’ve worked with an SEO/site manager to shift toward a more data-driven SEO approach. What’s been the biggest mindset shift in how you approach SEO now?

We stopped chasing keywords and started aiming for accuracy. SEO is now a data tool, not a shortcut. We choose topics where we can deliver real value and real testing. No more trying to win fast. The goal is long term authority, not temporary spikes.

You’ve spoken about moving away from “keyword stuffing.” How do you balance SEO goals with writing content that feels natural and user-focused?

We write like humans and fix anything that sounds robotic. SEO helps with structure, but it never dictates the voice. If the text feels fake or over optimized, it gets rewritten. Users come first. Algorithms follow later.

What are the key technical improvements you’ve made (or plan to make) to the site’s infrastructure to support long-term stability and performance?

We stripped the site down and rebuilt it in a way that does not break every time the internet sneezes. The code is cleaner, the plugins are trimmed down, caching is actually doing its job and every asset is optimized instead of thrown in raw. The structure is modular so we can grow without creating a monster we cannot maintain.

We also stopped pretending that Google is the only gatekeeper. Search is shifting toward AI driven answers, so the site needs to be fast, clear and machine readable. That means better schema, tighter linking, cleaner layouts, consistent data structures and content that is easy for AI systems to interpret. The goal is not just ranking but becoming the source that AI tools pick because the information is solid and well structured.

Industry Insights & User Perspective

With your background in the gaming industry, what are the biggest misconceptions affiliate sites have about what players want?

Number 1 is surely welcome bonuses, these are a thing of the past. The average consumer is now smart enough to know that welcome bonuses are traps. They actually have the opposite intended effect of what they were originally designed to do. In fact, we are targeting brands that have as low of a wagering requirement as possible. We do not enlist brands that have over 20x wagering requirements. This is completely unrealistic to anyone to ever obtain any chance of a withdrawal. Gambling should be fun, it should not increase the anxiety of the user.

What red flags do you think users should be aware of when reading affiliate content on other sites?

Always check out the authors on site and see if they are real people, most sites put down fake characters for one reason or another which just erodes the authenticity of the brand. This is by far away my number 1 red flag.

How are you collecting feedback from users, and how does that inform your content and design decisions?

We are conducting surveys with our users on a monthly basis and asking for what they like and what they don’t like. This will allow us to adjust our articles and content accordingly. We firmly believe in consumer first at CB360 and this is the motto will stand by for the lifespan of our site.

Looking Forward

What challenges are you expecting in the next 6–12 months, and how are you planning to tackle them?

The number one challenge is to increase the traffic on site. Whilst we have overhauled all the outdated content with brand new, relevant, beautiful pieces of work, we are still struggling to see a big increase in traffic. This may be due to google updates that have hampered SEO of late. We are looking at all avenues into new avenues to increase traffic.

Do you see CasinoBonus360 expanding into new verticals, formats, or markets in the future?

For now, we shall take things one step at a time, we have a 12 month plan which we are executing, and should it come to fruition, we will examine our options further down the line.

If you could give one piece of advice to someone considering launching or rebuilding an affiliate site today, what would it be?

Get ready for a lot of work, it is easier said than done, but the rewards will be worth it.

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