Every new year dawns with high expectations and hopes.
And every year brings curveballs that no one expects.
The gaming industry isn’t immune to the vagaries of unexpected occurrences and stories. We asked gaming industry figures to weigh in on the most important developments and stories in gaming, as well as their own favorite personal moments from the year.
Stories of the Year
Oliver Bartlett, BetMGM VP of Gaming
BetMGM established its identity as the premier online casino destination for TV and movie game titles in 2025. This isn’t just a BetMGM story, it’s a story about the evolution of the iGaming industry and the various ways operators can partner and create integrations and multiple touchpoints for players. While our jackpot network remains a cornerstone of the iGaming experience, this year we elevated entertainment by introducing beloved brands like The Price is Right, Family Feud, and Friends to our platform. We also became the exclusive home of Wizard of Oz slot games, with new releases launching every quarter. We didn’t just add games – we brought pop culture to iGaming. These are shows and movies that I grew up watching and to be able to collaborate with partners to bring them to life for iGaming has been personally and professionally fulfilling.
Our partnership with Fremantle was announced at the beginning of the year and then in the early fall titles such as Price is Right, Family Feud, Plinko were available at BetMGM. It extended beyond slots, and we collaborated with The Price is Right to create “Lion’s Share,” the first custom-branded game in the show’s history. This showcased the convergence of recognizable brands, strategic partnerships, and immersive experiences.
Tres York, American Gaming Association Vice President, Government Relations
2025 was a pivotal year in combatting the illegal gaming market and it’s imperative that we continue building on that momentum. We saw meaningful action at some of the highest levels. A coalition of 50 attorneys general – and later a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators – urged the Department of Justice to prioritize the investigation and prosecution of illegal, offshore operators. AGA research shows the illegal market still accounts for roughly one-third of the size of the U.S. legal market – underscoring how much work remains to protect consumers and uphold integrity.
States continue to take action against offshore operators, with over 20 issuing cease-and-desist letters and over a dozen pursuing enforcement against so-called “sweepstakes” casinos and sportsbooks. The West Virginia Attorney General issued subpoenas, while the Louisiana Attorney General released a first-of-its-kind legal opinion explaining why “sweepstakes” gambling violates state law. State legislatures are also stepping in, with 5 states – including California – passing laws specifically banning these operations. AGA advocacy reinforced those efforts, and our research shows that Americans overwhelmingly view “sweepstakes” casinos and sportsbooks as gambling.
Sports events contracts offered by prediction markets have also emerged as a significant threat to the integrity of the legal, state-regulated gaming industry. Many regulators have taken action to protect consumers, with litigation underway in 5 jurisdictions, and 34 state attorneys general weighed in opposing what they view as unregulated sports betting.
We will continue to work with all stakeholders to protect state-regulated gaming, a top priority of the AGA moving into 2026.
Brian Christopher, BC Ventures Founder, casino game content creator
In a year full of noise from AI breakthroughs to evolving rules around social casinos and even prediction markets — one of the top emerging stories in gaming to me, as both a player and a marketer, has been the advent of live slots. I’m not talking about streaming slots live from a casino floor (I would know!), but technology-powered, interactive live slot experiences, like those coming out of Awager Studios, where players can spin a real physical slot machine from the comfort of their homes!
As a BetMGM ambassador, I had the pleasure of visiting BetMGM’s innovative live play studio in New Jersey and was blown away by the seamlessness of the tech, from near-real-time betting to camera angles that make you feel like you’re right there beside the reels. Whether you’re a casual player or a high roller, you can remotely adjust denominations and bet sizes on your active terminal to suit your needs.
One of my favorite aspects is that at any given time, each machine is in fact reserved exclusively for use by a single active player, and if your game of choice is taken, you can hop on a virtual waitlist.
While the camera angles cover the entirety of the slot machine, I look forward to increased clarity and a wider variety of games – including fan favorite, Brian Christopher’s World Cruise, of course!
Pamela Buckley, Global Gaming Women Executive Vice President
I would have to say that the most significant story, in my opinion, was the approval of three downstate New York casino licenses, most notably the transformation of Resorts World New York City into a full-scale integrated resort. This stands out as the most significant story in 2025 because it represents a shift in the industry’s growth landscape. Historically, major expansion in commercial gaming has been driven by Las Vegas, regional markets, or in smaller states. This marks entering the nation’s largest metropolitan area, unlocking unprecedented economic potential and reshaping the competitive map. New York City offers a scale of population, tourism, hospitality, and entertainment demand in the U.S. and by approving these licenses, the hopes of bringing thousands of gaming positions, hotels, performance venues, dining, and unique experiential spaces, sets a new standard for flagship properties outside Las Vegas.
Gary Larkin, Koin President, Marker Trax Chief Strategy Officer
This year’s launch with Eclipse Route Operations (ECL Gaming) marks a major milestone for Koin and for the industry. ECL Gaming became the first route operator in Nevada to implement a fully cashless digital payment solution, and we’re proud to be the technology driving that transformation.
Route operations face unique challenges including diverse locations, varied player behavior, and the need for flexible, compliant tools. Deploying cashless across 37 ECL Gaming properties at launch demonstrated that digital payments can scale seamlessly in this environment. Their patrons now have true choice, with secure funding options including debit, credit, ACH, Venmo, and more, all designed to make transactions faster, safer, and more convenient.
For operators, the impact is just as meaningful, making for better account management, reduced cash-handling demands, and lower processing costs for cash-out–related activities. ECL Gaming has long prioritized a modern, secure, player-focused experience, and this partnership reflects that commitment, signaling where the route industry is headed.
Players want convenience, operators want efficiency, and Koin’s cashless solution delivers both.
Gene Johnson, Victor Strategies Executive Vice President.
This episode begins with a panel discussion at G2E in October 2024. The topic was sweepstakes casinos, a subject so innocuous that I did not have that session on my calendar. Controversy was generated by the distance between investors, seeing sweeps as the growth opportunity for gaming and industry veterans viewing them as illegal gambling.
This was the most contentious session of the entire conference and the issue became one of our company’s main focus after my business partner drove home across the desert that evening and experienced an epiphany in realization that sweeps and a host of other online “quasi-gambling” sites had cropped up since the overturn of PASPA and were exploiting the lack of legal online gaming options to make fat stacks of cash. I call these startups Gaming 2.0 and they include sweepstakes casinos, social sports betting, DFS+, and, most recently, sports prediction markets.
To learn more, I attended the Next.io conference in NYC in March and listened to the keynote speaker, also an investor, explain how sweeps were the “entry point” for investors into a stalled national market for iGaming. We quickly mobilized our efforts in collaboration with industry allies to fight back against a classic sleight-of-hand hiding the fact that secondary currency was clearly being wagered without the player protection, oversight or taxation applied to regulated gaming. Fast forward to G2E 2025 when another sweeps panel, this one containing only critics and no proponents, officially declared “sweeps are dead” with 17 states restricting or outlawing operators. While the struggle continues, the year-long cautionary tale of sweeps conveniently arcs between two G2E bookends.
Matt Bresler, Oddit CEO
The story of the year in gaming for 2025 was undoubtedly the mainstreaming of prediction markets and their profound impact on how we think about gaming, entertainment, and money itself. What started as niche platforms for political betting has exploded into a cultural phenomenon that’s fundamentally reshaping the gaming landscape.
The rise of Robinhood, meme stocks, and /r/WallStreetBets were early catalysts of this conversion, but a separation remained between the demographics, interests, and cultural perceptions of traditional financial markets and sports betting. With the rise of prediction markets – crypto platforms offering prediction market services, Kalshi’s prominent integrations into both DFS/sportsbooks and stock brokerages like Robinhood, paired with FanDuel and DraftKings’ entrance into the PM space – those walls came crashing down.
As a result, 2025 marked the year when the line between financial transactions and retail gambling effectively disappeared. Everything became a prediction market; everything became gambling. We finally united the gambling infinity stones: crypto, stocks, sports betting, DFS, and iCasino into one seamless, gamified financial universe.
In an attention economy where engagement is currency, every transaction becomes an opportunity for a dopamine hit. The real story of 2025 wasn’t just about gaming expanding – it was about everything becoming gaming.
Jonathan Michaels, Michaels Strategies Founder and Principal
To me, the biggest story in 2025 for the gaming industry was the gulf that has developed between the land-based gaming industry and the online gaming industry. All the growth in gaming in the last two years has been driven by the online sector, while the land-based segment grows at a glacial pace. Whether it be through the lack of new states legalizing online sports betting and online casino, the formation of the National Association Against iGaming, and the recent divorce between the AGA, FanDuel, and DraftKings, these two segments only grow farther apart.
However, the internet is here to stay. If we don’t find ways to work together, other options will find ways to fill the void. Sweepstakes and prediction markets are just two of the most recent examples of these new technologies filling the demand that exists for online gaming products. Finding ways to come together to grow the U.S. gaming industry while benefiting both land-based and online gaming companies needs to be an area of focus going forward. Otherwise, we will continue to play whack-a-mole as new verticals, as well as offshore operators, enter the space to fill consumer demand.
Leighton Webb, PayNearMe VP of iGaming
In 2025, the biggest story in gaming wasn’t a new title or regulation—it was the evolution of payments into a competitive advantage. As digital wagering matured, operators realized that every transaction impacts acquisition, retention and compliance.
Players now expect instant gratification: deposits that hit immediately and withdrawals that clear in seconds. In 2025, instant payouts became the defining feature of player experience. If deposits were real-time, withdrawals had to be too.
Behind the scenes, operators began embracing Payment Experience Management—a combination of software and money movement services that optimizes the end-to-end payment journey across customers, support and operations. By optimizing routing, automating exceptions and reducing manual intervention, Payment Experience Management helps operators protect margins, grow top-line revenue and strengthen fraud controls. It’s not just about faster payments—it’s about smarter operations.
In 2026, we’ll see operators blend instant payments with invisible compliance. The next frontier is trust.
Personal favorite moments of 2025
Oliver Bartlett
Omnichannel is a big differentiator for BetMGM and my favorite moment this year was when BetMGM launched Rakin’ Bacon titles exclusively online and on-property at Borgata and MGM Grand Detroit. Rakin’ Bacon is a very popular franchise and AGS is a fantastic partner. We were able to do in-person activations and engage with players in fun ways around the game and Cornsquealius, the game’s mascot, who is a favorite of players and many on the team here at BetMGM.
Maureen Beddis, American Gaming Association Senior Vice President, Membership and Events
Courtesy AGA
Every year, the global gaming community gathers in Las Vegas for G2E, but this 25th anniversary year felt especially meaningful. From accepting the Key to the Strip on behalf of the AGA to introducing a new main stage session on mental health, the week was filled with moments that truly resonated. One of my favorites was the inaugural Dealers Championship – an incredible showcase of the frontline professionals who bring the casino experience to life every day. It was an honor to celebrate their talent, craftsmanship, and dedication.
Brian Christopher
On the business side, we’re excited to return to ICE Barcelona and add SBC and Next.io Malta to the calendar in 2026. See you on the (casino) floor!
Pam Buckley
One of the most fun and fulfilling parts of 2025 for me was seeing GGW successfully execute six different activations at G2E. Each activation brought its own energy, creativity, and sense of purpose, and it was incredible to watch our team come together to deliver meaningful experiences for our community. From planning to onsite execution, every moment reinforced how far we’ve grown and how deeply our mission resonates. Being part of something so dynamic, visible, and impactful made G2E a standout highlight for me this year and a true celebration of what GGW can accomplish.
Gary Larkin
Being selected for the Cox Innovation Award at the Vegas Inc. Top Tech Awards was an especially meaningful personal highlight this year. Recognition for contribution in an industry that’s often overlooked reinforced the importance of the work happening each day at Koin. As founder and president, I’m especially grateful to our team whose hard work and dedication have shaped Koin into what it is today and continue to drive our progress forward
Gene Johnson
Personally, I was most affected in 2025 by the passing of Ernest Stevens, Jr., longtime Chairman of the Indian Gaming Association. I first met Ernie in 2010 when I found myself sitting next to him on a discussion panel and he proceeded to learn what I was all about. In working with IGA, I became privileged to call him a friend and mentor. Over the course of my career, which started in Atlantic City casinos, I’ve experienced many types of leadership: autocratic, controlling, collaborative, neurotic, and transactional. Ernie was one of the very few transformational leaders who I have encountered in my life. When you worked with him you felt that you were contributing to a greater good and building a better world, not just for Indians, but for everyone. I miss his presence in our world.
Matt Bresler
By far, the most memorable moment for me personally was the launch of our direct-to-consumer betting discovery app Betflow, the culmination of years of hard work by our team. Betflow brings the joy of sports fandom and the ease of iCasino to sports betting through novel bet selection mechanics and data-driven storytelling at scale.
We are the decision-making layer for sports betting, uniting the adjacent but surprisingly fragmented ecosystems of sports, sports betting, and gambling enthusiasts together. The overwhelming interest from consumers and the broader iGaming industry in our betting stimulation technologies has been truly memorable.
Jonathan Michaels
For a long time, gaming lacked a center for innovation where entrepreneurs and experts could come together to help build the future of the industry. Zero Labs, a Las Vegas-based start-up incubator, has helped solve that. I’ve gotten to participate in a few of their cohorts as subject matter expert and every time, I come away with a new sense of energy and excitement about the business. I think what Quinton Singleton, Ryan Rubio, and Roberto Garcia have built is awesome and anyone in the industry who has an interest in entrepreneurship should take part in it.
Danielle Lewis, PayNearMe Strategic Sales Executive
It’s refreshing to see the continued blend of operational and personal advancement in the gaming space. While we attend the shows to keep up with industry trends and shake important hands, there’s emphasis on celebrating all who make the gaming community what it is, including women. GGW engaging Kendall Toole in an honest dialogue about mental health on the Main Stage at G2E was a milestone I’ll remember.
And as always, the gaming world is a perfect blend of work and play. Having a colleague get hit by a flying pastry at SBC Americas’ Steve Aoki party was, literally, the icing on the cake.
