Latest News
Finnish Minister Says State Should Treat Gambling Monopoly Revenues like Alcohol Profits

Antti Kurvinen, Finland’s minister of science and culture, has proposed that revenues from the state-owned gambling monopoly, Veikkaus, be transferred to the state budget.
On Saturday Kurvinen said that the betting agency’s income is declining, and without a change so will the income of charities and other groups that benefit from its profits. Veikkaus revenues are distributed to organisations in the fields of culture, sports, science, and youth work as well as social welfare and health.
Kurvinen proposed making the change from the beginning of 2024.
“My view is that from the beginning of 2024, Veikkaus’ income should be transferred to the state budget in the same way as, for example, Alko transfers its own dividends and income to the state budget, from which they are used for good purposes,” Kurvinen said.
Kurvinen said that he has reached the same position on the matter as a working group chaired by former Bank of Finland Governor Erkki Liikanen, which last spring proposed a comprehensive reform to divert gambling revenues to general government revenue and transfer current beneficiaries to the budget framework procedure.
The need for reform is due to Veikkaus’ declining income. This is due to a drop in slot machine revenues because of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as measures taken to tackle gambling addiction.
“Without a clear change and reform, we will find ourselves in a situation where the income of Veikkaus’ beneficiaries is constantly falling. This is about the income of Finnish science, culture, youth organisations and especially sports and exercise,” Kurvinen said.
According to Kurvinen, the distribution of Veikkaus revenues through the budget would bring predictability to cash flows, which is essential for beneficiaries.
“Recent years have shown that we are in a strange situation here: the success of a Finnish gaming company determines what kind of resources there are, for example, for top Finnish sports and youth sports or for high-level Finnish research. This creates a strange, uncertain situation,” Kurvinen said.
The problem with the new way of distributing Veikkaus, revenues has been that it would make the funding of beneficiaries dependent on political decision-making.
Kurvinen does not deny that the change would increase the role of political decision-making, but said he considers that a lesser evil than the uncertainty and funding cuts that lie ahead if no reforms are made.
“In the long run, however, it would be clearer and less problematic to make political value decisions than for the success of Veikkaus’ business to be the determining factor in how many opportunities there are for young researchers in Finland or how much art is funded in Finland,” Kurvinen said.
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BetRivers
Rush Street Interactive Launches Industry’s First Integrated Payments Debit Solution at BetRivers, in partnership with Sightline Payments

Sightline Payments® and Rush Street Interactive announced the launch of the gaming industry’s first integrated debit payments solution, debuting on the RSI’s BetRivers® platform.
Rush Street Interactive (RSI) partnered with Sightline to design and launch a groundbreaking program that enhances the way BetRivers customers interact with its proprietary online gaming platform. The collaboration with Sightline underscores RSI’s commitment to putting players first by introducing a first-of-its-kind functionality that delivers secure, seamless, and convenient access to player account balances, setting a new standard for user experience in the gaming industry. Branded as BetRivers Debit, this white-labeled version of Sightline Debit transforms how customers access and use their funds. With this frictionless and customer-centric solution, BetRivers customers gain instant access to their available wagering balance anytime, anywhere and anyway, eliminating the need to repeatedly withdraw and redeposit. RSI anticipates the innovation will help reduce churn and the high payment costs that accompany it.
Beyond convenience, BetRivers Debit includes enhanced protections for patrons: FDIC insurance coverage, advanced fraud security features, and tools that support responsible gaming by promoting financial transparency and sustainable play.
“Rush Street Interactive is an industry leader that strives to be first-to-market with innovations. That’s why it makes so much sense for us to launch our revolutionary integrated payments solution, Sightline Debit, with BetRivers,” said Omer Sattar, Co-Founder & CEO of Sightline Payments. “Backed by our partnerships with Cross River Bank, this solution gives customers freedom and flexibility to use their funds when they want, where they want, all while dramatically reducing the cost of payments.”
“We remain deeply committed to putting our players first, and the launch of the online gaming industry’s first integrated debit payments solution marks a major step forward in enhancing the BetRivers experience,” said Richard Schwartz, CEO of RSI. “We’re proud that our team helped shape this innovative payment solution in close collaboration with Sightline, further underscoring RSI’s leadership in delivering cutting-edge technologies that elevate the player experience. Our collaboration with Sightline Debit demonstrates our commitment to integrity, innovation, and delivering exceptional player experiences. Being first-to-market with revolutionary new technologies benefits the entire RSI operation – from our team to our players to our investors.”
BetRiver’s initial rollout in New York marks the first step in a broader expansion. Sightline and RSI look forward to bringing this innovative solution to additional jurisdictions across the U.S. in the coming months.
The post Rush Street Interactive Launches Industry’s First Integrated Payments Debit Solution at BetRivers, in partnership with Sightline Payments appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry in the Americas.
Betway
Super Group Raises Full-Year 2025 Group Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA Guidance

Super Group (SGHC) Limited, the parent company of Betway, a leading online sports betting and gaming business, and Spin, the multi-brand online casino, today announced that the Group anticipates delivering another quarter of strong financial and operational performance in Q3 2025, outperforming prior expectations despite what is usually a softer seasonal period. Continued momentum in sports betting, supported by optimized pricing and more efficient trading, was complemented by consistent engagement in casino and improving operational leverage across the Group’s core international markets.
This continued momentum reinforces confidence in the full-year outlook, and as a result, Super Group is raising its full-year Ex-U.S. revenue and Ex-U.S. Adjusted EBITDA guidance, which underscores the Group’s belief in the scalability of the business and the strength of the Group’s brand-led, data-driven model.
- Group revenue is now expected to be between $2.125 billion and $2.200 billion vs. prior guidance of greater than $2.04 billion
- Group Adjusted EBITDA is now expected to be between $550 million – $560 million vs. prior guidance of $470 million – 480 million
Neal Menashe, Chief Executive Officer, commented, “Our performance through the third quarter continues to demonstrate the resilience of our model and the strength of our execution. We’re seeing strong contributions from both sports and casino, deeper customer engagement, and continued margin improvement across key markets. As a result, we’re pleased to raise our full-year outlook and remain confident in our ability to deliver for our shareholders.”
Alinda van Wyk, Chief Financial Officer, noted, “The consistency of our financial performance this quarter gives us confidence in our ability to drive both top-line and margin expansion. With cost ratios improving and our product-led strategy gaining traction, we remain focused on disciplined execution and long-term value creation.”
As previously announced, Super Group will host its Investor Day beginning at 8:00am EST/1:00pm UK on September 18th, 2025. The full agenda and live stream of presentations can be found on the Super Group Investor Relations website and dedicated Investor Day website. A replay will be available after the event concludes.
The post Super Group Raises Full-Year 2025 Group Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA Guidance appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry in the Americas.
eSports
Esports Charts and GG.BET have presented an interactive map with data on tournaments around the world

Esports Charts, an analytical service that analyzes esports viewership, has partnered up with betting brand GG.BET, to present Esports Map, an interactive map with data on the most popular esports tournaments in 110 different countries. Each tournament also comes with historical moments when favorites and outsiders unexpectedly switched places in the bracket.
The analytical service Esports Charts has added a new interactive tool to its website, the Esports Map. It features the most popular tournaments by country, as well as data on peak viewership, winners, and prize pools. It also contains information on the most popular games in each country. There are also separate analytics dedicated to the United States, with information available for each of the 50 states. Data has been collected for a period spanning from 2017 up to right now, and is continuously updated.
GG.BET, who partnered with the project, supplemented the tournament information with interesting facts about participating teams. The insights include historical breakthroughs by underdogs and unexpected losses by tournament favorites. The information is provided using past outright betting data.
Esports Map allows users to track the esports industry’s development in various parts of the world. For instance, although League of Legends remains the most popular game and the League of Legends World Championship has kept its spot as the top esports tournament for many years, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) is visibly closing the gap between the two games. Worlds 2024 in London had 6,856,769 peak viewers, breaking the world record among all esports games since 2017. However, MPL Indonesia’s Season 15 of MLBB has kept its place in the top spot for 2025, with 4,132,224 peak viewers. Today, MLBB remains the only mobile game capable of attracting such a massive audience, and its fan base is growing, especially in Southeast Asia. Analysts are looking forward to Worlds 2025 in China, which will allow them to update the available data and compare how different games are developing.
“Esports Map is a new project from Esports Charts, which we’ve launched alongside GG.BET as our first partner. We aimed to create a tool that would be interesting and useful to both fans and industry professionals. At its core lies Esports Charts’ analytics, supplemented by betting insights from GG.BET—covering everything from peak viewership and prize pools to discipline trends and stories of unexpected victories.. When combined, this data turns into a live snapshot of esports that can be tracked by country and region,” said Esports Charts’ press office.
“GG.BET regularly supports projects that help people understand esports at a greater depth. Esports Map provides an easy-to-understand visual representation of the industry’s progress in individual countries around the world and displays the breakdown of games by region. It will be of interest to fans and will prove useful to professionals who are developing the industry,” added GG.BET’s press office.
Esports Charts and GG.BET have previously worked together on an analytical project dedicated to the BLAST Premier 2024 season. That project displayed data on views, unique statistics about both the game and bets placed, an analytical breakdown of the season, and exclusive infographics on teams and players.
The post Esports Charts and GG.BET have presented an interactive map with data on tournaments around the world appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry in the Americas.
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