Golden Toad

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SmartSoft CEO Guram Gotsadze said the company’s decision to join the AiA reflected its growing focus on the continent and its commitment to supporting the development of regulated and sustainable gaming markets.

“Africa is an important and growing part of SmartSoft’s international strategy, and joining the African iGaming Alliance represents an important step in strengthening our long-term commitment to the continent,” he commented.

Peter Kesitilwe, CEO of the AiA, added: “SmartSoft already has significant exposure to African markets, and we look forward to working with their team on issues ranging from B2B licensing and market access to responsible gaming, channelisation and sustainable regulation.”

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Some politicians stated their opinion that the legal gambling age in the Netherlands should be increased to 21 from the current barrier of 18 years old.

This isn’t the first time this policy has been mooted in the Dutch parliament. A 2025 bill proposed raising the age for “higher-risk” activities like online slots.

Van Bruggen insisted more time was needed to establish whether an age limit hike to 21 would actually have the adverse effect of pushing young people in the Netherlands towards unlicensed offerings.

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However Hjalmar Ahlberg, who covers GiG as an analyst for Redeye, suggests the decision to acquire 888Africa and re-enter B2C may be partly down to headwinds being experienced by the company’s B2B business.

“It started off pretty good when the new management and the spin-off was completed,” he comments. “They had a really good pipeline of customers, and I mean, their projections looked pretty solid.

“[But] part of that was some sweepstakes operators, and I think that market became a bit more uncertain compared to when they started to look at those kinds of customers. And then they also had, they called it a tier one customer I think in Brazil, which was supposed to launch in early 2026, but then they decided not to enter that market. So I think they had some opportunities that did not end up as expected.”