Xmas Lightning

What is Xmas Lightning?

“We saw that they had entered football and advertising, and they have political and economic weight. Understanding that Congress would not prohibit the activity, we decided to put the brakes on and establish the rules.

“It’s not that I want to collect taxes because I need the money. I want to collect taxes for the sake of fairness: if a company sells cars, it pays taxes; if it sells drinks, it pays taxes. If it’s authorised to operate, it has to pay.”

In the interview, the minister mentioned the tax changes proposed by the Ministry of Finance, and more recently, the ban on beneficiaries of social welfare programmes from gambling.

How to play Xmas Lightning

Earlier this year Merkur Group agreed to acquire the slots provider White Hat Studios. Merkur said the acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approvals, would “further accelerate” its US expansion, complementing its 2025 purchase of the Nevada-licensed supplier Gaming Arts.  

Framing the acquisition as the latest step in the company’s online expansion, Merkur supervisory board Chairman Michael Gauselmann stated: “Having made early inroads into the online space in Europe via our Blueprint acquisition in 2012, I am delighted by this latest development and am confident that White Hat Studios will be a great addition to our group.” 

In recent weeks, the gambling sector paid tribute to Paul Gauselmann after the Merkur Group founder passed away at the age of 91.

What is Xmas Lightning?

One customer built its own casino landing page and wanted to use Cubeia’s APIs to make it work with the platform. “Another wanted to use Cubeia’s player account management system to build its own functionality, including personalised bonuses,” Grenstad recalls.

The idea is less about Cubeia providing another AI tool than making its platform and data accessible to AI infrastructure customers are already building themselves. Cubeia is now running a pilot based on the landing-page use case.

This was not necessarily on the horizon just six months ago, Grenstad says, but now he believes Cubeia should ultimately be able to “say yes” when customers arrive with products built using their own AI tools.