The iGaming industry is entering a new era, and conversations at the recent SBC Player Protection Event made one thing abundantly clear: risk is evolving faster than the systems designed to manage it.
Operators preparing for major events like ICE Barcelona need to move past the traditional, siloed approach to compliance. Insights from a panel with leaders from Entain, LeBull, and Sift highlight five key trends that will define player trust, regulatory resilience, and sustainable growth in 2026.
1. Financial Crime Risk & Player Harm Are Merging
Financial crime, such as money laundering, and player harm, including gambling-related problems, used to be treated as entirely separate challenges handled by different teams. Today, that separation is no longer viable.
Behavioral signals like rapid-fire deposits, identity switching, erratic wagering, or unusual session lengths can indicate both financial crime and potential player harm. The challenge is that these signals often sit in different departments, which can create gaps in monitoring.
Operators who recognize that these signals are not isolated “departmental issues” but rather holistic behavioral cues are better positioned to mitigate risk effectively. By connecting the dots between AML, fraud, and responsible gambling, operators can prevent regulatory issues, protect players, and maintain their reputation.
2. Breaking Silos with Holistic Risk Management
Breaking down silos sounds simple in theory, but executing it is a different story. For example, at Entain, cross-functional governance brings together compliance, fraud, product, and business teams to collaborate on risk management.
Shared dashboards and KPIs are just the starting point. The real goal is cultural alignment, making compliance a partner rather than a blocker, and treating risk management as a shared responsibility across the organization.
This unified approach ensures that decisions are informed by the full picture of player behavior, rather than fragmented insights from individual departments. When everyone shares responsibility for the player ecosystem, risk management becomes a strategic advantage instead of a series of regulatory hurdles.
3. Sustainable Growth = Player-Centric Protection
There is a persistent myth in the industry that strict compliance restricts profitability. In reality, compliance protects profit by creating trust and loyalty among players.
The concept of sustainable engagement involves building controls that are effective without being excessive. For example, guardrails should prevent harm while still allowing players to enjoy the games. Individual player context is critical: what might appear as risky behavior for one player could be perfectly normal for another.
Operators who tailor their approach to both player behavior and local regulations build long-term relationships that go beyond a single transaction. Entain, for instance, relies on a combination of systems, people, and processes to ensure that protection measures are consistent, scalable, and continuously improving.
4. Risk Lives Across the Entire Player Journey
Traditionally, operators focused on the “front door”—KYC and registration checks—to prevent fraud and comply with regulations. While necessary, these controls are not sufficient.
Most regulatory exposure arises after an account is created, as players interact with the platform. This includes deposits, withdrawals, session activity, and engagement with customer support. Risk management now requires downstream monitoring that captures behavioral trends throughout the entire player journey.
Moving away from blunt “block everything” approaches, operators are implementing precision friction. These include step-up notifications, targeted alerts, and contextual warnings that address potential issues without disrupting the player experience. This approach allows operators to maintain safety while keeping engagement high, balancing protection and profitability.
5. AI, ML & Human Judgment Must Work Together
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are critical tools for modern iGaming operators. AI can process massive datasets, identify bot networks, detect synthetic IDs, uncover collusion, and reveal complex fraud patterns faster than human teams alone.
However, AI has limits. It cannot interpret emotional nuance, subtle shifts in player behavior, or cultural context. This is where human judgment is essential. By combining AI insights with human expertise, operators can apply empathy, context, and reasoning to ensure decisions are responsible and player-centric.
The future of risk management is not purely automated, it’s a hybrid model where technology surfaces insights, and humans provide understanding, context, and intervention. This ensures a safer, more scalable, and trustworthy iGaming environment.
The Big Picture
Across all five trends, one theme is clear: risk management is becoming human-centric, data-driven, and holistic. Financial crime and player harm are interconnected, compliance can enable growth rather than hinder it, and technology must flow across teams instead of remaining in silos. Operators who see the whole player, rather than isolated events, will set the standard for the industry in 2025 and beyond.
Heading to ICE Barcelona? The Sift team will be on the ground to share insights and strategies for unified risk intelligence that helps operators scale safely while protecting players. Schedule a time to chat with us at the conference.
