Two senior figures in the online gaming sector, Robin Harrison of Worldgaming (formerly Clarion) and Alexandra Kavelich of the iGaming software provider SOFTSWISS, have laid out a shared diagnosis of where the industry is heading: away from a race for new territory and toward a contest over resilience, data interpretation and regulatory trust. Speaking from opposite vantage points, one in B2B media, the other in platform technology, both point to a behavioural shift among operators that they argue matters more than any single new market. The conversation, framed around emerging trends and how to separate signal from noise, surfaces a tension the sector has been slow to confront. Growth, it turns out, may have been the easy part.
What the Shift Actually Signals for Operators
Before the strategic detail, the headline reading: the centre of gravity is moving, and so are the questions operators ask themselves. Below are the practical interpretations executives should weigh.
- Geographic rebalancing is underway. Harrison points to Latin America and Africa absorbing growth that once came almost entirely from the US and Europe, with Africa carrying outsized potential despite hard market-entry conditions.
- A possible reshuffle at the top. Operators such as Superbet and Kaizen Gaming/Betano are performing strongly in emerging territories, raising the question of whether they push back into Europe (where rising taxes and tighter rules may dull the appeal).
- The operator question has changed from “how fast can we enter?” to “can we scale without breaking player experience?”
- Data abundance has not delivered foresight. Fragmented information remains the bottleneck; interpretation is now the differentiator, not access.
- Fundamentals are being reframed as strategic assets rather than back-office hygiene: reliability, compliance, security and scalability.
The Centre of Gravity Is Moving
Harrison frames the geographic story plainly. Much of the industry’s expansion has historically flowed from mature Western markets, and that flow is diverting toward newer regions. He singles out Africa as a market of “huge potential” while conceding that succeeding there will be difficult. That mix of opportunity and friction is exactly what makes the shift worth watching.
And the operator hierarchy may not survive the move intact. If Superbet and Betano consolidate strength in emerging territories, the harder question is whether they choose to redeploy that momentum into Europe at all. Regulatory frameworks there are growing heavier, taxes are climbing, and a clear-eyed operator might simply decline the invitation.
Kavelich reads the same map differently. The earliest signals she sees are behavioural rather than territorial. Operators, she argues, have stopped optimising purely for entry speed and started asking whether they have the technology and local regulatory navigation to last. That is not maturity yet, in her framing, but it points toward it.
More Data, Less Certainty
Both reject the assumption that more information automatically produces better anticipation. Kavelich is blunt: the industry still has “a long way to go” in consolidating fragmented data into usable intelligence. What is changing is mindset, not capability. Companies are increasingly building data-informed products instead of reacting after the fact, and she expects that the firms developing this discipline early will hold a measurable edge over the next several years.
Harrison anchors the point in a regulatory example that cuts against the industry’s own messaging. The sector warned that tax increases in the Netherlands would damage the market. The data, he notes, supports that warning, with 2025 tax revenue rising by just €2 million, yet the government continues to tighten controls regardless. His read: the numbers exist, but the industry is failing to present them in a way that moves external stakeholders.
That gap between evidence and influence is the unresolved thread running through the whole discussion.
Interpretation as the New Moat
Ask which is more valuable, access to information or the ability to read it, and both answer the same way. Information has become a commodity. Almost anyone can pull the same reports, the same regulatory updates, the same AI outputs. Harrison says this has already reshaped how Worldgaming covers the market, pushing toward the “why” behind events rather than the “what.”
Kavelich extends interpretation beyond present-tense analysis into early signal-connection: spotting which emerging trends translate into scalable business and which fade. She cites the rise of prediction markets, where SOFTSWISS has introduced a fixed-odds Prediction Markets Platform designed to slot into existing sportsbook and casino ecosystems. The point is not knowing the future. It is adapting a signal into something operable.
The Risk of Always Looking Ahead
Here the two converge on a quieter warning. The industry’s appetite for what’s next, both suggest, risks blinding it to value already in hand.
Harrison draws a comparison with land-based casinos, a more capital-intensive sector with longer development cycles and, in his view, a longer-term temperament. He cites Wynn, Sands and MGM Resorts withdrawing from New York’s downstate licensing process as evidence of operators willing to make disciplined, unsentimental calls that online firms rarely match. Kavelich’s framing is sharper still: the real danger is not missing today’s opportunities but being distracted by novelty and forgetting what builds lasting value.
Her list of fundamentals, technical reliability, compliance, security, scalability, player experience, rarely makes headlines. But she argues these are precisely what earn the trust that lets operators adopt new technology and enter new markets in the first place.
Speed Versus Resilience
The final distinction is the cleanest. A fast-growing industry optimises for speed; a healthy one optimises for resilience. Kavelich’s questions for a maturing market are different from a young one’s: is the technology reliable enough, is trust being built with regulators and players, will this still deliver value in five years?
Harrison’s metaphor lands the concern. The pursuit of growth, he warns, risks becoming a hamster wheel that some companies cannot step off. Exciting, yes. Sustainable, not always.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which regions are driving the next phase of iGaming growth?
Latin America and Africa, according to both interviewees, with Africa flagged as especially high-potential but operationally challenging. The traditional engines of US and European growth are no longer the only story.
Has access to more data improved the industry’s ability to predict change?
Not automatically. Both argue that data without interpretation, industry experience and effective communication offers little foresight. The bottleneck is fragmented information, not its scarcity.
What is a prediction markets platform in an iGaming context?
It adapts the concept of prediction markets into a fixed-odds model that fits inside existing sportsbook or casino operations, letting operators capture engagement from the trend without rebuilding their ecosystem.
Why does the Netherlands tax example matter?
It illustrates a communication failure. The data backed the industry’s warning, with 2025 tax revenue rising only €2 million, yet regulators kept tightening. The numbers existed; the persuasion did not.
What separates a healthy industry from a fast-growing one?
Priorities. A fast-growing industry chases the next market and the next trend. A healthy one invests in resilience, compliance and trust that compounds over time.
