Piranha Pays

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The announcement came on the same week that Indian Gaming Association leaders met with CFTC Chair Michael Selig. The meetings centred on prediction market-related discussions that IGA Chair David Bean deemed mostly unproductive. On Wednesday, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court’s decision in Blue Lake Rancheria vs Kalshi.

Per the ruling, the Ninth Circuit determined that Kalshi’s sports event contracts amount to unauthorised gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) when accessed on tribal land.

“Today’s decision reinforces a fundamental principle: when sports wagering occurs on Indian lands, federal Indian gaming law matters,” said Bean on Wednesday.

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Funds held in customer accounts also declined sharply. Operators held £886.6 million ($1.19 billion), down 13.9% from the same point a year earlier.

Retail betting diverged significantly from the wider market, with non-remote betting GGY falling 3.3% to £2.4 billion ($3.2 billion). The number of betting shops dropped for a 12th consecutive reporting period to 5,617 premises—a 3.6% annual decline (down 208 shops from March 2025).

Other retail sectors performed better. Bingo GGY increased 8.2% to £703.8 million ($941.8 million), while arcade GGY rose 10.7% to £800.1 million ($1.07 billion).

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Entain has issued a stark warning in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Andy Burnham about the potential impact of a proposed increase to the Machine Games Duty (MGD). 

Ahead of the government’s Autumn Budget in October, Entain CEO Stella David cautioned that doubling the current MGD rate to 40% could result in widespread closures of betting shops and significant job losses, while potentially reducing tax revenues for the government.

A potential MGD rise was first reported in the The Financial Times, as Chancellor John Healey is allegedly looking to raise the tax, on the recommendation of the Social Market Foundation, which proposed the increase in a recent report.