The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) have announced a penalty to Stakelogic for breaching product design errors. See the official announcement from the UKGC below:
Stakelogic BV, which runs games on other operator’s websites and apps, ran slots games faster than the minimum time gap of 2.5 seconds between spins.
An investigation was launched after Stakelogic reported to the Commission that its game Tiger Temple 88 was found to have operated with 1.97 seconds between spins, breaching the minimum time standards.
Following a Commission investigation, the Licensee conducted re-testing of its entire portfolio of games offered to the GB market. This revealed that a further 15 games were found to be in breach of the minimum time gap requirements.
These games were found to be between 0.001 seconds to 0.675 seconds below the minimum 2.5 seconds standards, with many found to have operated at 0.042 seconds or below the cycle requirements set out in the Commission’s Remote Technical Standards (14D).
Tiger Temple 88 was non-compliant between 28 May 2025 to 30 May 2025 and the remaining 15 games were running too fast during various periods between 31 October 2021 and 30 October 2025.
During the Commission investigation it was revealed the errors were caused because Stakelogic were measuring the timeframes inaccurately due to their reliance on using a manual stopwatch to test compliance with the remote technical standards.
John Pierce, Director of Enforcement and Intelligence, said: “With all the technological resources available to an online gambling business, it is unacceptable that Stakelogic were relying on a manual stopwatch to measure the speed of their games.
“After reporting this error to the Commission, Stakelogic immediately self-suspended the use of the affected games until the error had been rectified. They have subsequently taken significant steps to assure the Commission that they now have robust policies and procedures in place to prevent future breaches from occurring.
“We would urge all operators to take careful note of this case and ensure they have effective testing practices in place to ensure they are meeting all the standards we require.”
Minimum online slots speeds were introduced in 2021 as part of a wider package of measures designed to reduce the overall intensity of gameplay and protect consumers from harm. Research showed that fast game cycle speed is associated with increased risks to the consumer.
Stakelogic will pay the money as part of a regulatory settlement with the Commission
July 06, 2026
Stakelogic BV to pay £122,835 for running slots too fast
July 03, 2026
Spotify Pulls Streams On a Hit Song Over Alleged Fraud Tied to Kalshi Betting
Spotify has removed about 500,000 streams from Malcolm Todd’s hit song “Earrings” days after the song topped the platform’s daily U.S. chart for the first time, as its surge has been tied to manipulation based around bets on the prediction market Kalshi.
Spotify has asked both Kalshi and Polymarket to remove its logos from their websites, further underlining that the streaming service has never had a partnership with either company.
“All streaming services face ever-changing stream manipulation,” the company said in a statement. “Spotify has best in class detection and mitigation practices for manipulated streams, and we don’t pay out associated royalties.”
As of this story’s publication, there’s no suggestion Todd or his team was affiliated with the streaming manipulation. Todd is one of the industry’s fastest-rising acts, and “Earrings” has been floating within the top 5 of Spotify’s daily U.S. chart for weeks, which helped the song in being a ripe target for manipulation from bettors. On Sunday, the song was sitting at Number Four on Spotify’s daily chart, and by Monday, the song hit Number One. The Financial Times reported that the daily jump represented a 70 percent climb. “Earrings” has stuck at Number 3 on Spotify’s chart for the past two days.
A Spotify source told THR that given the activity, Spotify would be “adding additional checks to the charts before they’re published.”
A representative for Kalshi said that “we’re in touch with Spotify and are actively investigating this matter.”
The incident reflects potential broader industry-wide issues that could be surfacing as prediction markets have turned the entertainment business’s charts into bonafide betting lines. As of this story’s publication, Kalshi lists dozens of different props based on results for charts from Spotify and Billboard. The streaming services had already seen some level of attempted chart manipulation for years in both more nefarious fraud schemes as well as stan armies trying to help their favorite acts top the charts. The notion that the average music listener can now profit on results they have a chance to manipulate only further incentivizes the activity.
Outside of the music charts, earlier this year a MrBeast editor was accused of insider trading over the YouTuber’s videos on Kalshi.
Still, while issues abound, the prediction markets are seeking to further embed themselves into Hollywood. Polymarket entered into a partnership with the Golden Globes earlier this year, and Kalshi has struck deals with the likes of CNN, CNBC and Fox News.
July 02, 2026
Grim New Prediction Market Lets Gamblers Bet on Raging Wildfires
Ever wanted to role play a claims adjustor in Southern California? Now you can — with Wyldfyre, the world’s first standalone prediction market dedicated to wildfire risk.
Even more than usual, this summer promises to be hot, dry, and primed for horrifying wildfires throughout North America and beyond; families are already fleeing deadly blazes in California. With mainstream prediction markets like Kalshi shying away from wildfire bets amidst growing scrutiny, it stands to reason that there’s money to be made for anyone willing to lower their scruples even further — every crisis is an opportunity, after all.
Unlike more general-purpose prediction market services like Polymarket, Wyldfyre is built entirely around forest fires, per High County News, which first spotted the gambling site. “You can’t predict fire,” the site’s vibe-coded splash page announces, “but you can trade on it.”
Essentially, Wyldfyre promises to be the “first prediction market for California wildifre.” Every county, city, and region is “priced in real time” through a combination of satellite data, live data from first-responders — and, of course, the wisdom of the crowd, the site explains.
Acknowledging that there are 7,000+ fires each year in California alone, Wyldfyre promises to turn “collective intelligence into better wildfire forecasting — one trade at a time.”
Though Wyldfyre only offers simulated bets at the moment — “paper trading now, real money coming soon,” the website currently declares — the shell site is a potent microdose of the growing prediction market industry.
At face value, the site’s creator would have you believe Wyldfyre is some sort of public service, allowing unparalleled access to Johny Public’s collective wisdom on wildfires, as if that were somehow a useful metric for forecasting wildfire activity. The reality is that gambling on the outcome of such a specific event introduces a perverse incentive to create the conditions that fulfill a person’s bets. In other words, allowing somebody to wager on whether a major fire will break out in their neighbor’s yard gives them a strong financial reason to go set their neighbor’s yard on fire (and really, in a dog-eat-dog economy like ours, it’d be irrational not to.)
Outside the gambling world, nobody seems very keen on the idea. “Systems that tie financial gain to wildfire outcomes risk encouraging misuse, including arson, and are not compatible with our mission,” a US Forest Service spokesperson told High County.
With swelling inflation, a major housing crisis, and rising layoffs, it’s no secret that the economy is coming apart at the seams. If prediction markets like Wyldfyre have their way, struggling workers might soon find that striking a match is all it takes to get into the green — an indictment on both an economic system that’s driven millions to the breaking point, and on the bottom feeders who’ve decided that climate catastrophe is nothing but a yet another financial opportunity to be tapped.
Zuckerberg asks Meta to explore working with Polymarket and Kalshi
The social media company's executives have said Arena, Meta's new prediction market app under development, will differ from Polymarket and Kalshi, which accept real-money wagers, because it will instead rely on video-game-like "points", the report said.
Prediction markets surged in popularity during the 2024 U.S. presidential election and have evolved into an asset class that lets investors wager on a variety of events, from monetary policy to sports tournaments.
But they have also drawn increasing scrutiny as well-timed trades ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's major policy surprises have potentially led to millions of dollars in profits for unknown traders.
Zuckerberg's target demographic for Arena is 18- to 34-year-olds and Meta is aiming to reach at least 100 million monthly active "predictors" for the app, according to the report.
Arena is being tested internally and may not be released, the report said, adding that Meta plans to eventually integrate parts of Arena into Facebook and Messenger.
The Times first reported on Tuesday that Zuckerberg recently dispatched a small team at his company to create a smartphone app similar to Polymarket and Kalshi.