Betfred to Pay a Hefty Fine, Sweden Takes Action Against BC.Game, Online Casinos Dominate in Denmark & More Weekly iGaming News

We are back with the hottest iGaming news from last week once again, and we have a treat for you. The Nostrabet.com team and I had to go through a lot of different news and analyze all of them, so it’s time to check the hottest picks. As always, we left some of the most intriguing news for last, so make sure to read until the end.

Betfred Will Have to Pay a 900K Fine After the Gambling Harm Prevention Failure

Petfre, Betfred’s parent company, will have to pay the jaw-dropping amount of £ 900K GBP following the serious problems it experienced. Based on the investigation from the UK Gambling Commission, there were significant failures in Betfred’s safer gambling controls. As a result, a person ended up losing around 18000 GBP within 24 hours.

According to the investigation from the UKGC, Petfre’s system of monitoring and intervention simply did not work properly. The company failed to comply with many sections of the Social Responsibility Code Provision, which basically means it failed to evaluate customer risk.

Outside of that, the company also had issues with the harm detection automation process. Betfred failed to flag things like excessive spending, prolonged playtime and special kinds of behavior patterns. It seems like the system flagged someone, and once the player’s account is reviewed, the same person can’t be flagged for the next 7 days. This caused a major issue because a player lost almost 18K GBP within 24 hours.

After it became clear that the company was in the wrong, it agreed to pay the financial penalty of 900K GBP. This amount came following a settlement and all of the funds will go towards the Consolidated Fund.

What’s very interesting is that this is not Betfred’s first serious financial penalty. In fact, the last one took place in December 2025 and the company had to pay 825K GBP. The company had a series of issues related to social responsibility and anti-money laundering in its different betting shops.

It will be interesting to see whether these huge penalties will affect other operators as well. Usually, companies end up stepping up their game once something like this happens, but we will have to wait and see.

South African Authorities Will Try to Fight Offshore Gambling

South Africa is one of the most interesting countries when it comes to gambling because it is the largest market in Africa. There are many regulated platforms that locals have access to, but many choose to focus on offshore gambling companies. As a result, the National Gambling Board (SA’s regulator) decided to take firm measures against them.

According to recent data, turnover from regulated online gambling platforms totaled close to R75 billion. While this number is impressive, the truth is that more than R5 trillion actually went to offshore gambling. This number is jaw-dropping and it puts South Africa as one of the leaders when it comes to these stats.

One of the ways in which the regulator will try to fight these sites is by joining forces with different intelligence units. Many other African gambling regulators will keep a close eye on South Africa and how it performs, as they may have to adopt a similar approach.

Sweden’s Authority Took Action against BC.Game

BC.Game is one of the largest crypto gambling platforms in the world, but it seems like it recently got into trouble. Based on the information we have, Sweden’s gambling regulator took action against it because it was targeting local players. The issue is that BC.Game does not have a stand-alone license to operate locally.

Sweden’s regulator is seriously considering banning Twocent Technology Limited, which is BC.Game’s parent company. It seems like the brand is registered in Belize and it holds a license fron Anjouan.

What’s interesting is that this is not the first time BC.Game was involved in something like this. Two years ago, the company decided to withdraw from Curacao after it received reports that hat the local regulator had removed its license. Once that happened, BC.Game decided to move to Anjouan. Another interesting fact is that BC.Game was one of the main sponsors of Leicester City.

Considering the current situation, it is unlikely that Sweden’s authorities will take action against BC.Game. Even if they ban the site and its domain, people can use many other ways to access it.

Thousands of people were linked to Illegal Gambling in South Korea

It seems like there is a huge underground illegal gambling action in South Korea because locals discovered something interesting. There are more than 2000 suspects linked to illegal gambling and the news comes following an 8-month investigation.

Based on the stats, the local authorities arrested more than 154 people involved in 1746 different cases. Outside of that, the police seized close to 52.2m GBP. It seems like most of the websites that offered these services used the same type of technology.

Speaking of websites, the largest one was actually based in Vietnam and had generated close to 633M GBP before the police shut it down. The police also reported that more than 75 different suspects actually fled Korea.

This is not the first time local authorities have taken action against illegal gambling. In September last year, they arrested 10 people because they were linked with an illegal gambling ring in Cambodia.

South Korea is also among the few countries that actually ban its citizens from taking part in gambling activities outside of their country. Needless to say, this is one of those bans that are impossible to enforce. Koreans often travel to places like the Philippines and Macau and simply play there.

Online Casinos Surpassed Lotteries and became the Largest Gambling Segment in Denmark in 2025

Online casinos have definitely become more popular in Denmark in 2025 and the stats back this up. The gross gaming revenue of online casinos reached 38% of the market, which is 2x more than what it was in 2012.

Overall, the total gross gaming revenue for the Danish market in 2025 was around $1.75B. Interestingly, it is a little bit lower than what it was in 2024. Online casinos lead with a 38% market share and they received a 12.1% increase since 2024.

Monopoly lotteries are next on the list because they were responsible for 30% of the market. This represents a 6.2% decline from the 2024 stats.

Up next is sports betting and it also has a 11.5% decline compared to last year. Nevertheless, sports betting accounts for 19% of the market.

Land-based casinos are last because they only account for around 1% of that revenue. Moreover, they saw a 5.6% decline compared to last year.

Overall, online gambling dominates the Danish market in 2025 and it seems like we will see the same in 2026. Mobile divides have remained the preferred platform for online gambling because 73% of all bets came through them.

Sweden to Allow Players to Self-Exclude themselves for As little as 10 days

Sweden decided to introduce interesting changes related to its centralized gambling self-exclusion system. Based on the report, the regulator will allow people to suspend their gameplay for as little as 10 days. Selpaus, Sweden’s centralized self-exclusion system, will offer these changes because it wants to increase players’ flexibility.

It will be interesting to see whether the new measures will actually work. The stats for May 2026 reveal that a total of 134,5000 people had registered with Spelpaus. This means that the service is important for local players.

North Carolina to Raise Sports Betting Tax to 23%

Legislators in North Carolina are preparing to increase the tax on sports betting and join several other states that have already done that. Currently, the state has an 18% tax but the plan is to bump it to 23%.

While this may seem like a lot, lawmakers are actually generous because the initial plan was to raise it to 36%. We will have to wait and see whether this will be the case, of course, but for now, it seems like most parties have agreed on 23%.

North Carolina is an interesting state because it has had a legal sports betting market since 2024. Based on reports, operators working in the state have paid more than $300M since the market opened. Assuming the new tax becomes a reality, we expect to see even more pouring in.

Visualize Group Acquired eCOGRA

Anyone with some experience in online gambling knows that eCOGRA is one of the most famous game testing agencies around. It seems like it will remain in its position because it recently became a part of the Visualize Group.

There is no official information on the amount the company will pay, but given eCOGRA’s role and popularity, it is likely substantial. An interesting fact is that the Visualize Group already acquired one game testing company earlier in 2026 – BMM Testlab.