About this app
About Free The Dragon
Quarterly data from January to March 2026 reinforced this trend, with online verticals generating £2.2 billion, and remote casino alone accounting for 68.3% (£1.5 billion) of that total.
The first quarter of 2026 saw a total industry GGY of £4.4 billion including lotteries, or £3.4 billion excluding lotteries.
As of 31 March 2026, there were 2,154 licensed gambling operators, marking a 1.1% decline on the previous year. However the number of separately licensed gambling activities edged up 0.4% to 3,097.
What is Free The Dragon?
Lottomatica and Cirsa have agreed a blockbuster merger that would create the second-largest listed gaming and sports betting operator in the world.
Announced on Wednesday, the all-share deal is expected to close in Q2 2027, forming a combined group with a pro forma adjusted EBITDA of around €2 billion ($2.3 billion).
Cirsa’s implied pro forma value, before synergies, corresponds to an multiple of approximately 6x its expected 2026 EV/EBITDA which will be between €800 million and €820 million, according to the operator’s most recent earnings.
How to play Free The Dragon
The number of Bet Builder bets on the 2026 World Cup doubled compared to the 2022 tournament, with the increase particularly pronounced in-play, where seven times as many live Bet Builders were placed. They accounted for 22% of all live bets, compared with just 3% four years earlier.
‘Meeting these modern expectations through manual trading is no longer realistic at scale’
Player propositions were included in 65% of Bet Builders, up from 25% in 2022. Meanwhile, player shots on target became Kambi’s second-largest pre-match betting offer by turnover, while other popular selections included a player to score or assist.
