Poland classifies casino streaming alongside trash streams, prediction markets hit $36.6 billion, and Gibraltar issues its second forecast-platform licence

This week’s batch of headlines is mostly about where regulators are drawing lines and where money is moving. For PSPs and operators in high-risk verticals, the useful signal is simple: streaming, predictions, and payment restrictions are all getting tighter, while some jurisdictions are still issuing licences into the space.

1. Poland has classified casino streaming together with “trash streams,” and violators face up to 5 years in prison. For anyone running or financing gambling-related content, that is the sort of line regulators like to make very visible.
2. The prediction markets segment has reached $36.6 billion and has, for the first time, overtaken crypto-gambling. That puts prediction products firmly on the map for PSPs watching where volume may move next.
3. In the UK, 82% of players who contacted the National Gambling Helpline in 2026 had problems with iGaming. That is a data point worth noting for operators and payment teams looking at risk, intervention, and affordability checks.
4. PAGCOR expects gambling revenue in the Philippines to decline in 2026, citing slower growth in online gaming. For payment providers active in the market, that points to a cooling environment rather than the easy expansion story people like to tell on conference panels.
5. 1win has launched Betwave, a social platform for publishing sports predictions. It sits in the same broader category as the fast-growing prediction-market story above, even if the business model and compliance profile are not identical.
6. Wire Markets has become the second company to receive a Gibraltar licence to launch a prediction platform. Gibraltar keeps showing up in these conversations for a reason: it is still willing to license while others are tightening.
7. In Kazakhstan, interest in the illegal iGaming market fell by 50% after payment restrictions were introduced. That is the cleanest reminder in this set that payment controls can move demand, not just block transactions.

For high-risk PSPs, the pattern is hard to miss: regulatory pressure is hitting content, payments, and access at the same time, while prediction markets continue to attract capital and licensing activity. That combination tends to redraw both merchant demand and bank appetite faster than most operators would like.