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EDITOR ' S LETTER
It’ s been a tough few years for gaming, and a theme we explore in this issue is the requirement for companies to do more with less: the need to make more money with less accessibility in regulated markets, to increase player protection measures while also growing player activity, to appease shareholders while grappling with shrinking public funding in the UK.
Despite London’ s prominent role in the gaming industry, the city’ s public equity market has been rocked by weak economic conditions causing listed incumbents like Shell and Wise to reconsider their listings. The overall shrinkage happening in London’ s Stock Exchange is being mirrored by the sector, largely due to consolidation among key players. Our cover feature on p34 explores what this trend means and what’ s behind the allure of other capital markets, particularly US exchanges.
This issue also takes a look at the redundancy crisis rocking gambling hubs Gibraltar and Malta( p72), as well as Finnish monopoly Veikkaus’ plans to seize a leading position in the upcoming liberalised market( p30). And data from the Department of Trust dives into player churn in the UK to assess the stickiness of new gamblers and the overall churn rate of active players( p48).
We’ re navigating through tough times as an industry but there are green shoots emerging in the UK as it returns to growth, and there’ s a lot to still look forward to. Starting with iGB L! VE, of course!
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Global content director, B2B Robin Harrison robin. harrison-millan @ clariongaming. com
Managing editor, EMEA Nicole Macedo nicole. macedo @ clarionevents. com
Production editor Guy Parsons
Digital design lead Theo Szarowicz
Design Digitalstudioworldwide. com
Senior reporter Kyle Goldsmith
Data analysis Tansu Yilmaz
Commercial content Michelle Druker, James Swann- Phillips, Jake Nordland
Managing director Alex Pratt
Managing director, EMEA Digital Sophie Webster
Global portfolio director Richard Linn richard. linn @ clariongaming. com
Non-executive chairman Michael Caselli michaelc @ clariongaming. com
Sales director Ian Larcombe ian. larcombe @ clariongaming. com
Account managers Kane Dalton, Laurie Pilate, Sam Richardson, Jack Rogers, Jordan Thompson, Josh Wright first name. last name @ clariongaming. com
Nicole Macedo Managing editor, EMEA
71
Calls for further restrictive measures on the sector are misguided and plain wrong
The macroeconomic forces shaping capital accessibility, valuations and M & A appetite in the iGaming sector
34
Printed in the UK by Micropress Ltd. Published by iGaming Business Ltd, 3rd Floor, Bedford House, Fulham Green, 69-79 Fulham High Street, London SW6 3JW, UK. www. igamingbusiness. com iGaming Business is published biannually © iGaming Business Ltd 2025. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in any retrieval system of any nature without prior written permission, except for permitted fair dealing under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988. Application for permission for use of copyright material including permission to reproduce extracts in other published works shall be made to the publishers. Full acknowledgement of author, publisher and source must be given. The paper used within this publication has been sourced from a Chain-of-Custody certified manufacturer, operating within international environmental standards such as ISO14001 and EMAS. This is to ensure sustainable sourcing of the raw materials, sustainable production and to minimise our carbon footprint. ISSN 1756-3437.
iGB L! VE 2025 • ISSUE 138 • 05