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For Kesitilwe, tackling the illegal market is not just a regulatory priority but a fundamental player protection issue.
“Oftentimes when you see governments increasing taxes, banning iGaming, it’s mainly because of illegal operators because they don’t comply,” he declares. “An illegal operator may not provide age verification, responsible gambling tools, secure treatment of player funds, or an effective complaints mechanism.
“So illegal operators undermine licensed businesses that invest in compliance, contribute to taxes and operate under regulatory oversight. We are where we are because of illegal operators. Oftentimes, licensed operators have licence conditions that they need to abide with.”
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However Hjalmar Ahlberg, who covers GiG as an analyst for Redeye, suggests the decision to acquire 888Africa and re-enter B2C may be partly down to headwinds being experienced by the company’s B2B business.
“It started off pretty good when the new management and the spin-off was completed,” he comments. “They had a really good pipeline of customers, and I mean, their projections looked pretty solid.
“[But] part of that was some sweepstakes operators, and I think that market became a bit more uncertain compared to when they started to look at those kinds of customers. And then they also had, they called it a tier one customer I think in Brazil, which was supposed to launch in early 2026, but then they decided not to enter that market. So I think they had some opportunities that did not end up as expected.”
About Hungry Wolf
Developers could absolutely take away lessons on entertainment and engaging the local audience from this longstanding tradition.
Perhaps casinos in Japan could be more slot-heavy, suggests Leckert. “It’s obvious that, culturally, the Japanese have enjoyed playing these machines. Slots might be more successful in Japan than in Macau or Singapore.”
But Klebanow argues that pachinko engages only one specific demographic of Japan’s spciety. Despite the industry’s scale, the format appeals primarily to young men.
