We are two weeks away from 2026, so it is time for our last iGaming news recap of 2025. Like every other report before that, our team at Nostrabet.com has analyzed all of the latest news and will share more details about the most interesting ones.
Betano To Partner with the Romanian Paralympic Committee
2025 has been a wild year for Betano because one of the world’s leading betting sites got into tons of partnership deals. The latest one is from a few days ago and it is with the Romanian Paralympic Committee because Betano will be the main sponsor for the National Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Sibiu.
After digging deep into Betano’s new partnership deal, it became clear that the company will try to back up future events as well. Additionally, the site will make a donation of 20 new wheelchairs.
This is definitely one of the more interesting moves that Betano made in 2025. It also shows that the site wants to focus on other sports outside of football. Considering what has happened this year, we would not be surprised if the company continues its “aggressive” sponsorship deals in 2026 as well.
Interwetten to Offer Games from Peter & Sons
Peter & Sons and Interwentten have signed an agreement that would allow one of Germany’s leading gambling brands to offer the providers’ slot portfolio. This will enable Peter & Sons titles to be available across several regulated European markets.
Initially, the games will be available in Sweden, Greece, Germany and Spain, but will eventually reach even more. In case you did not know, Peter & Sons is a game studio from Barcelona and has a lot of big titles like Xibalba, Wild 1, Barbadossa, and many others. It was founded in 2019 and slowly expanded across regulated markets in many countries.
In terms of Interwetten, the brand has been on the market since the 1990s and you can find it worldwide. The website has been active since 1997, making it one of the oldest online betting operators.
Betfair and Paddy Power have to Pay 2M GBP Due to UK Social Responsibility Failures
Following a series of failures related to social responsibilities in the UK, Paddy Power and Betfair agreed to pay a regulatory settlement. Based on the information we have, both companies will need to pay around $2.7M.
The fines come after it was discovered that four operators owned by the brands in question did not comply with the rules. The investigation took place between April and May 2024. We won’t go into details about all of the violations, but they involve the operators’ failure to communicate with certain groups of people who were at risk.
Aside from these two, the UK Gambling Commission also ruled on several other cases. Some brands were fined because of breaching the AML and social responsibility rules. NetBet is one of them and the company had to pay a fine of close to 650K GBP.
Chicago’s Weird Addition Tax on Sports Betting
The US has become one of the biggest markets in the world for sports betting, and Illinois is among the states where this is legal. Having said that, it is also one of the places where there is a city-level tax on sports betting because Chicago wants to add a 10.25% one. Nothing is set in stone yet, but if the changes get accepted, starting from January 1, 2026, operators will have to pay that 10.25% in addition to Illinois’s 20-40% tax on gross gaming revenue. To make matters worse, sports betting operators also have to pay a 2% tax in Cook County and this is where Chicago is located.
The estimates show that the 10.25% tax could generate revenue of over $26M. Whether this will happen is still up for debate and we will keep an eye on it.
Keep in mind that Illinois used to have a 15% tax on sports betting before, making it one of the most attractive states. Sadly, things have changed in 2024 when local lawmakers decided to make the tax between 20% and 40% based on the operator’s revenue.
To make matters worse, Illinois also added a new per-wager tax on sports bets. Based on it, companies have to pay 25 cents for each bet until they reach 20 M. After that, the amount jumps to 50 cents.
Brazil Will Offer a Self-Exclusion Platform
Brazil became one of the world’s leading sports betting destinations in 2025. The country opened its doors to sites from all over the world, and as expected, this also led to a lot of betting-related problems.
In an attempt to help those who need it, Brazil decided to launch a centralised self-exclusion platform. The idea here is to help people who want to block their access to different betting sites.
Once someone enables this option, they won’t be able to access any of the regulated sports betting sites in the country. What’s more, this person should not receive any kind of targeted ads related to sports betting platforms.
Based on the information we have, the self-exclusion platform was developed by the Federal Data Processing Service. Those who decide to use the self-excluding feature can activate it for as little as a month and up to one year. It is also possible for online bettors to self-exclude themselves indefinitely.
Most of the Amendments to Finland’s Online Gambling Bill Were Rejected by the Parliament
Finland was one of the European countries that was going to experience loads of changes in its gambling sector in 2026. Following the discussion in the country’s parliament, however, the latter voted down most of them.
The proposed bill had some interesting ideas, such as raising the minimum gambling age to 20 instead of 18. Another interesting proposal was going to request people to go through a mandatory two-factor authentication for each login option. Lastly, the gambling tax was intended to increase to 25.5%.
Continuing with the changes, Finland was going to ban all ads on TV and radio, except for the ads for Veikkaus. The latter is the country’s operator and has a monopoly over the local market.
We’ll keep an eye on this case because there is a high possibility we will see some changes. After all, Finland is one of the more attractive countries for online gambling.
The UK’s Gambling Commission Has New Bonus Rules Taking Place in January
The Gambling Commission in the UK decided to publish fresh guidance about the new rules related to promotions. Based on our research, companies should not mix two types of gambling within the same bonus and users should have the freedom to choose what they want to use the bonus for.
Outside of these cases, other bonuses have to target a specific category, and operators should not have crossovers between different products. In other words, a bonus that people can get for the casino section should only be usable on casino games, not sports betting.
Ethiopia decided to halt all Sports Betting Operations in the country
While most countries are trying to “open” their legislation to online betting, Ethiopia decided to do something completely different. Based on the information, the country revoked all sports betting licenses. These actions follow an investigation that identified different issues with licensed companies.
The decision mandates that all sports betting sites stop operating immediately. Things like unsettled wagers and customer balances need to be taken care of, and it is the operator’s responsibility to do so.
Outside of that, all banks and other financial institutions must block all transactions associated with betting companies. Keep in mind that this is not the first time something like this has happened because Ethiopia suspended more than 22 operators before.
NetBet to offer Reevo games in Romania
Romania is one of the interesting iGaming locations in Europe that welcomes all kinds of online betting operators. NetBet is one of them and the site got into a deal with Reevo. As a result, the operator will feature games by prominent studios for players in the Balkan state.
In addition to offering games, NetBet will also benefit from the supplier’s tech. It is worth mentioning that this is not Reevo’s first partnership deal of the year. The company also started working with Novibet and has been maintaining a fast expansion pace. You can also find the brand in Switzerland, and it works with the likes of betFIRST, 7 Melons, and other brands.
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