GINA Parlay Index rises in first quarter of 2026; Alberta begins new era as iGaming goes live; Merkur Group agrees deal to acquire White Hat Studios; DAZN and ADI Predictstreet agree global partnership; plus the week’s other news from North America.
GINA Parlay Index rises in Q1 2026
The GINA Parlay Index showed that parlay bets represented 32 per cent of all US sports wagering in the first quarter of 2026, up from 30 per cent in Q1 2025.
The parlay win margin also improved in Q1 2026 and was 18.5 per cent, versus 17.9 per cent in Q1 2025.
January was the month which had both the highest share of parlay bets (32.4 per cent) and best margin (20.8 per cent) in the first quarter of the year.
April has started the second quarter strongly with a parlay share of 31.8 per cent and a parlay win margin of 20.4 per cent.
Indiana
Indiana’s sports wagering topped $400 million in June, growing by 15 per cent year-on-year to $403.4 million. All of the betting growth came from online betting, which was up by 15 per cent to $396.5 million, while the state’s smaller retail betting sector saw a fall of 5 per cent to $6.9 million. In the online betting sector, DraftKings was the leading brand on $147.2 million in bets, ahead of FanDuel’s $108.5 million.
Virginia
Virginia’s five land-based casinos won gaming revenue of $575.6 million in the first half of 2026, up by 21 per cent year-on-year. Caesars Virginia was the state’s largest casino by revenue on $200.1 million, ahead of Rivers Casino on $161.3 million. June’s gaming revenue increased by 17 per cent to $92.1 million, comprising $71.1 million in slot machine win and $21.0 million from the gaming tables.
Michigan
Michigan’s three commercial casinos in Detroit saw their revenue grow by 1 per cent in the first half of 2026 to $652.4 million. The half-year total was completed by a 2 per cent rise in June’s revenue to $102.7 million from gaming and retail sports betting, of which just $836,063 came from retail betting. MGM Grand Detroit led the market on revenue of $47.9 million, ahead of MotorCity Casino on $32.1 million and Hollywood Casino at Greektown on $22.6 million.
New York
New York’s mobile betting market had its best June total since launch at $2.25 billion, up by 37 per cent year-on-year. FanDuel was the leading brand with mobile wagers of $804.1 million, just ahead of DraftKings’ $785.4 million. The FIFA World Cup boosted wagers but results were favourable to customers and gross revenue fell by 43 per cent to $116.8 million, the lowest in New York since August 2023 and the margin of 5.2 per cent was the lowest ever in the Empire State.
Missouri
Missouri’s 13 land-based casinos won revenue of $1.01 billion in the first half of 2026, showing a rise of 4 per cent. Slot machines posted a 6 per cent revenue increase to $878.9 million but table gaming in the six month period had a revenue fall of 7 per cent to $133.5 million. For June, gaming revenue was up by 2 per cent to $164.2 million, comprised of slot win of $141.9 million and table win of $22.4 million. Monthly admissions to Missouri’s casinos fell by 1 per cent to 2.26 million.
Iowa
Iowa’s licensed sports betting operators grew wagers by 10 per cent in June to $185.4 million, driven by online betting, which recorded growth of 11 per cent to $176.7 million. Retail betting in the state dropped by 6 per cent to $8.7 million and marked the lowest retail total since July 2025. Despite the good rise in wagers, monthly gross win fell by 15 per cent to $16.4 million at an overall margin of 8.9 per cent, down from 11.4 per cent in June 2025.
In the state’s land-based sector, Iowa’s 19 casinos saw gaming revenue climb 1 per cent in June to $138.6 million. Slot machine revenue increased by 2 per cent to $126.2 million, compensating for a 3 per cent fall in table win to $12.4 million. The casinos recorded 1.29 million admissions during the month, giving a win per capita of $108.
Illinois
Illinois’ 17 land-based casinos earned 9 per cent revenue growth in June to $173.6 million. Revenue from slot machines increased by 9 per cent to $132.4 million and table gaming win was up by 10 per cent to $41.2 million. Rivers Casino held 25 per cent of the monthly total on $44.0 million, more than double that of Wind Creek in second place on $20.5 million. There were 1.3 million admissions to the state’s casinos during the month, a rise of 2 per cent.
Washington DC
Washington DC’s sports wagers neared $70 million in June, rising by 37 per cent to $69.6 million as the FIFA World Cup got underway. FanDuel took the highest bets of $28.6 million, but DraftKings narrowed the gap on its rival with a 75 per cent surge in wagering to $21.3 million. Gross revenue had lesser growth of 10 per cent to $7.4 million, at a margin of 10.7 per cent.
Tennessee
In Tennessee, sports wagers increased by 6 per cent to $2.95 billion in the first half of 2026, buoyed by a strong performance in June following the start of the World Cup. June’s sports wagers climbed by 31 per cent to $460.5 million, with adjusted wagering of $456.1 million.
Kansas
Kansas’ sportsbooks saw wagers fall by 4 per cent to $177.2 million in June, as online wagers declined by 3 per cent to $175.6 million. Retail wagers were down by 53 per cent to $1.6 million, the state’s lowest month for retail betting since launch. Monthly betting win fell by 42 per cent to $12.7 million, which was the lowest total of 2026 so far.
In the state’s land-based sector, Kansas’ four casinos reported a 3 per cent rise in gaming revenue for the first half of 2026 to $216.3 million, despite a 1 per cent fall in June revenue to $34.1 million. Hollywood Casino’s revenue rose by 1 per cent to $13.9 million to remain market leader, while revenue from Kansas Star Casino declined 1 per cent to $13.5 million.
Montana
Sports wagers at the Montana Lottery grew by 11 per cent in June to $4.4 million, as the FIFA World Cup got underway. Soccer betting surged by 493 per cent to $1.3 million and accounted for 29 per cent of the monthly total, behind baseball’s $1.8 million. Gross revenue from sports betting fell by 33 per cent to $681,456, at a margin of 15.5 per cent.
Alberta’s new regulated iGaming market went live at the start of the week with 22 operators approved to launch their services in the Canadian province on day one.
Evolution reported a 1.4 per cent drop in net revenue for the first half of 2026 to €1.03 billion, as revenue from Live games fell by 3.4 per cent to €872.2 million.
Merkur Group is expanding its operations in the United States through the acquisition of online slot provider White Hat Studios for an undisclosed amount.
DAZN has agreed a global strategic partnership with ADI Predictstreet to develop and distribute prediction market experiences for sports fans worldwide, with a major strategic focus on the United States.
DraftKings has asked a federal court in Pennsylvania to stop the city of Philadelphia from enforcing a local consumer protection ordinance against the company.
Crypto.com has secured a strategic $400 million investment from Citadel Securities, marking the first institutional funding round in the company’s decade-long history.
This week’s games and platform integrations round-up features Play’n GO, Evolution, Playtech’s Ash, Pragmatic Play, and CreedRoomz.
Congressman Josh Gottheimer has introduced legislation that would require facial recognition age verification for all online sportsbooks and prediction markets in the United States.
The Arizona Department of Gaming is opening a new licensing window to accept up to ten new retail betting licences.
Michigan’s Attorney General’s Office has challenged federal action protecting Kalshi trades, saying the decision undermines Michigan’s authority to regulate businesses.
The Kansas Lottery reported a 44 per cent jump in sales for June to $42.5 million, propelled by strong iLottery sales.
Accel Entertainment has appointed Stan Guidroz as chief operating officer, moving from his current role of CEO of the company’s Toucan Gaming subsidiary.
The Illinois Lottery posted sales of $320.1 million in May, down by less than 1 per cent on the same month last year.
Galaxy Gaming has appointed former long-serving Light & Wonder executive Anand Singh as its new chief technology officer.
Brightstar Lottery has signed a seven-year agreement to deploy new lottery terminals and self-service vending machines for Washington’s Lottery.
Lotto.com has appointed Ruxandra Tereanu as chief operating officer and Amanda Coyle as vice president of human resources, as the company continues its growth across the United States.
The Arizona Department of Gaming has issued cease-and-desist orders to five more unlicensed operators for allegedly engaging in underage gambling and illegal gambling activity.
Fennica Gaming has secured deals to launch its content in Italy with Brightstar Lottery, and in Ontario with Betty Gaming.
Amazon has reached a preliminary settlement that would enable US shoppers to claim more than $200 million from developers after enabling unlawful gambling through its app stores.
The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) has imposed an administrative monetary penalty on Atlantic Lottery relating to three compliance violations.
ThrillTech is set to launch its side-bet jackpot technology in Ontario after securing licence approval to enter the Canadian province.
Lotto.com has expanded into Puerto Rico, making its first market launch outside of the United States mainland.