The industry we didn’t expect

With unique visibility into the market from different vantage points, Robin Harrison of Worldgaming (formerly Clarion) and Alexandra Kavelich of SOFTSWISS come together to discuss how trends emerge, how businesses distinguish meaningful change from noise and what today’s industry should be paying closer attention to.

1. Worldgaming (formerly Clarion) and SOFTSWISS observe the market from very different vantage points. Because you see the industry through different lenses, I’m curious: what are the earliest signs of change that you’re noticing today?

Robin

Robin harrison, global content director b2b at worldgaming

There are a few different ways to interpret this question. This might be quite obvious, but the centre of gravity for the industry is shifting. Much of the iGaming industry’s growth has come from the US and Europe but that is definitely shifting to new geos, whether that’s in Latin America or Africa. Africa in particular I feel has huge potential, although succeeding in markets there is going to be challenging.

This, in turn, leads me to believe there may be a “changing of the guard” in terms of the tier one operators. In particular I see Superbet and Kaizen Gaming/Betano performing particularly well in emerging territories, and I’m very interested to see whether that leads them back to taking share in Europe. Whether they’d want to, considering regulatory frameworks becoming more onerous and taxes rising, is another question.

Alexandra

Robin is absolutely right about the geographical shift. Latin America and Africa are indeed reshaping the industry’s growth story. What stands out to me, though, is a different kind of signal. The earliest changes we’re seeing aren’t geographical, they’re behavioural.

A few years ago, operators were mostly asking, “How quickly can we enter a new market?” Today, the conversation is increasingly about different questions: “Do we have the right technology? Can we navigate local regulation? Can we scale without compromising quality or player experience?”

I don’t think that means the industry is mature yet. But it does tell us where it’s heading. As markets become more regulated and competition intensifies, businesses can no longer rely on speed alone. They’re expected to build reliable technology, transparent operations and partnerships that can support long-term growth.

We see these conversations every day. That’s why we invest not only in technology, but also in market intelligence and expertise that help our partners make confident decisions. Now I’m talking about our annual iGaming Trends report series.

To me, this is the strongest signal of change: growth is no longer just about entering new markets. It’s about being ready for what comes after.

2. Today, industry leaders have access to more data than ever before. Has this made the industry better at anticipating change, or are we simply getting better at explaining it after the fact?

Alexandra

We definitely have more data than ever before. But I wouldn’t say that automatically makes us better at anticipating change. If anything, it highlights one of the industry’s biggest growth opportunities. iGaming still has a long way to go in consolidating fragmented data and turning it into meaningful intelligence.

What is changing, however, is the mindset. More companies are investing in building products and business models that are informed by data rather than simply reacting to market shifts. Those who develop this capability will have a significant competitive advantage over the next few years.

A good example is the growing interest in prediction markets. Сompanies are starting to adapt the concept to the realities of iGaming. At SOFTSWISS, for example, we’ve introduced the Prediction Markets Platform that uses a fixed-odds model. It allows operators to capture the engagement value of the trend while fitting naturally into an existing sportsbook or casino ecosystem.

To me, that’s what progress looks like. It’s not that we s