Sportsbook Rising Star of the Year

GIA NORTH AMERICA

Sportsbook Rising Star
of the Year

Gaming Intelligence Awards 2026 |Sportsbook Star of the Year

The Sportsbook Rising Star of the Year category recognises the operator that has delivered outstanding performance, innovation and impact across North America’s regulated iGaming market.

This award celebrates excellence in product delivery, commercial success and contribution to the continued development of the sector.

Congratulations to all our winners!

The Rising Star category honours breakout performances by new or rapidly scaling brands that have disrupted the status quo, and bet365 is doing exactly that. All three of our nominees are fighting to break DraftKings and FanDuel’s stranglehold of the US sports betting market, which is no mean feat. Kudos to Fanatics and Hard Rock Bet, but bet365 has built an unrivalled case to be our Sportsbook Rising Star of the Year after accelerating its rollout across the US in the last two years.

While heavily established internationally, bet365’s recent launches in West Virginia, Michigan and Maryland demonstrate a massive operational scale-up, with the operator now live across 18 US states. This has helped bet365 more than double its US market share to around 5.6 per cent in Q2 2026. By successfully adapting its global platform to American betting habits, and executing one of the fastest multi-state expansions in recent history, bet365 is on its way to becoming a North American heavyweight.