Non, merci!
Betclic drawn into France image-rights row in the run-up to the World Cup
Players, including captain Mbappé and Cherki, balk at a brokered collective deal.
In +More: Sportradar and Kalshi reach official data deal.
Predictions: New Mexico moves on Kalshi, South Korea moves on Polymarket.
Five steps to heaven: BGC puts forward black-market plan.
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The French kicking off
Allez les Blues: France’s leading online betting operator has been pulled into a renewed dispute over the use of players’ likenesses, after L’Équipe reported that five members of the national squad, including captain Kylian Mbappé and Rayan Cherki, objected to appearing in a Betclic advertising campaign.
The campaign, produced around the French Football Federation’s commercial partners’ day, featured Mbappé, Cherki, Désiré Doué, Michael Olise and Ousmane Dembélé.
According to L’Équipe, the players said they had not been told who the photographs were ultimately destined for.
Mbappé and Cherki, both opposed to promoting sports betting, were said to have taken particular exception.
Two-footed challenge: The collective image-rights deal signed in 2023, itself the product of an earlier Mbappé revolt, permits a sponsor to use the squad’s collective image once at least five players are involved.
That technical threshold is precisely what the Betclic campaign met.
But the fact that the usage appears to be within the rules does nothing to lessen the awkward nature of the dispute.
Et, moi, et moi, et moi: The friction is not new. In 2022, Mbappé refused to take part in sponsor activities at Clairefontaine (France’s national football center) ahead of that year’s World Cup, declining to associate his image with fast-food and betting brands then under contract with the national team.
The federation committed to revising its image-rights agreement, and the new rules followed in 2023 after months of negotiation.
The reappearance of the same complaint suggests that revision did not settle the underlying question of individual consent.
Clunk ’clic: For Betclic, the timing is unhelpful. The Bordeaux-based operator, owned by Banijay, replaced racing-focused PMU as the French Federation partner under a five-year deal signed in 2021 and running up to this year’s tournament.
The deal was reported by L’Équipe at the time as being worth €5m–€8m a year.
The relationship has since deepened, with Betclic adding a sponsorship of the women’s Arkema Première Ligue running to 2030.
The agreement makes the company an official sponsor of the national teams and a major partner of the Coupe de France.
But it is an association whose marketing value rests on players appearing as willing participants.
Now is the season of our discontent: The image-rights complaint adds to an already tense relationship between the squad and the federation in the run-up to the finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Moreover, it is unlikely to be resolved before kick-off on Thursday.
The dispute also highlights the extent to which betting advertising and marketing remains a touchy subject within sports.
Just last week, l’Autorité Nationale des Jeux warned operators over advertising ahead of this year’s tournament.
The findings of a survey suggested French bettors were more likely than in previous tournaments to bet on this year’s World Cup.
It prompted the regulator to launch a new public awareness campaign, Zone à Risques, designed to highlight the dangers of excessive sports betting during major sporting events.
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+More
Sportradar has secured a multiyear global deal making it the official data and solutions provider to Kalshi, spanning MLB, NHL, MLS and UFC, with scope to contract directly with the exchange’s brokers and market makers. CEO Carsten Koerl called it “a critical first step.” No financial terms were disclosed. See tomorrow’s Earnings+More.
Hong Kong police have launched operations Crowbeak and Windshield ahead of the World Cup, targeting an expected surge in illegal gambling activity linked to the tournament. Authorities warned that illegal betting syndicates are increasingly using online platforms, social media, messaging apps and virtual currencies to evade detection.
Cambodia: The authorities have continued their nationwide crackdown on online scam operations, detaining hundreds of suspects in a series of recent raids targeting cybercrime compounds across multiple provinces. The latest enforcement actions form part of a broader campaign launched in 2025 that has already resulted in thousands of arrests, mass deportations and the closure of hundreds of suspected scam sites.
New Mexico files
Stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before: New Mexico has become the latest state to take legal aim at Kalshi, with Attorney General Raúl Torrez filing suit late last week against the prediction markets platform over what the complaint describes as an unlicensed online sportsbook operating in defiance of the state’s gaming regime.
The New Mexico Department of Justice alleges that Kalshi’s event contracts function in the same manner as conventional sports bets.
The suit says this allows residents to wager on sporting outcomes while sidestepping the state’s licensing and regulatory requirements.
According to the lawsuit, Kalshi began offering its sports-betting platform in New Mexico in January 2025.
The same old playbook: Torrez leant on the consumer-protection and tribal-sovereignty arguments that have become standard in these actions.
“New Mexico has a longstanding and carefully balanced system for regulating gaming that protects consumers, ensures accountability and respects tribal sovereignty,” he said.
The complaint stresses that lawful gaming in the state runs either through tribal-state compacts or under strict regulation, with operators licensed only after setting out their plans to address problem gambling.
The New Mexico DOJ also alleges Kalshi permitted participation by 18-to-20-year-olds despite New Mexico’s minimum gaming age of 21.
It also alleges that Kalshi’s operations threaten the revenue tribal compacts direct toward services and infrastructure in tribal communities.
The suit seeks injunctive relief to halt the sports event contract market in the state.
Taking on allcomers: Kalshi is now contesting more than 30 state actions, with the company arguing throughout that its contracts are swaps regulated under the Commodity Exchange Act and therefore subject to exclusive CFTC oversight that preempts state gambling law.
The states counter that there is no meaningful distinction between an event contract on a game’s outcome and a traditional wager.
Keeping score: The scoreboard so far is genuinely mixed. Massachusetts, the first state to sue back in September 2025, secured a preliminary injunction, and a 38-strong coalition of attorneys general has filed an amicus brief backing that case.
Yet Kalshi has won preliminary injunctions of its own in federal court in New Jersey and Nevada on preemption grounds, both now on appeal.
The CFTC, for its part, has actively defended the company’s position.
South Korea intervention
Not OK pop: South Korea has become the latest Asian jurisdiction to train its attention on Polymarket, with Gangwon Provincial Police opening an investigation into domestic users of the prediction market platform over alleged illegal gambling.
The probe, opened at the request of the Korean National Police Agency and first reported by Chosun Biz, targets local users rather than the New York-headquartered company itself.
The provincial force’s cyber investigation unit declined to say how many people are under scrutiny.
Election disinformation: The move follows a May review by South Korea’s media regulator into whether Polymarket hosts illegal gambling content, prompted in part by contracts tied to the country’s June local elections appearing on the platform.
South Korea enforces some of the region’s strictest anti-gambling rules, confining most betting, including horseracing and sports, to state-authorized channels.
A platform allowing users to wager cryptocurrency on real-world outcomes sits awkwardly within a regime built for a pre-crypto era.
On repeat: The Korean action caps a difficult stretch in Asia. Late in May, Polymarket was banned in Indonesia and designated a form of online gambling after a bet on the possible early end of President Prabowo Subianto’s tenure spread across social media.
The pattern is consistent: politically sensitive markets attract attention, and regulators respond by reaching for existing gambling statutes rather than carving out new prediction market categories.
That tension matters because the company is pushing hard into the region. It has appointed a representative in Japan and is preparing to lobby for the authorization of prediction markets there.
+More predictions
Illinois legislation that would impose taxes on prediction markets is awaiting the signature of Gov. JB Pritzker after passing both chambers of the state legislature. The budget bill would bring sports event contracts under the Sports Wagering Act, subjecting operators to Illinois’ 20-40% sports-betting tax rate plus a 1.75% per-trade levy, rising to 3.5% after 5 million annual trades. The measure also lowers sports-betting license fees and establishes a regulated, taxed framework for daily fantasy sports operators.
The labor union UNITE HERE has joined growing calls for federal action against sports event contracts, arguing that prediction markets are effectively operating unregulated sports-betting platforms. In a statement, union president Gwen Mills said the expansion of prediction markets threatens thousands of unionized jobs tied to the regulated gaming industry and undermines established state gaming frameworks. Mills urged the US Senate to pass the Prediction Markets Are Gambling Act – legislation introduced in March that would prohibit sports event contracts and other casino-style gambling products offered through prediction market platforms.
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Five-point plan
Five ways: The Betting & Gaming Council (BGC) has launched a new five-point action plan aimed at tackling the growth of illegal gambling operators in the UK, warning that the black market is expanding rapidly and increasingly targeting consumers through online channels.
The initiative comes amid industry concerns that tougher regulations and tax increases could drive customers away from licensed operators and towards unregulated sites.
Recent research cited by the BGC suggests black-market gambling activity could rise from £17bn in annual stakes in 2026 to more than £33bn by 2028 if current trends continue.
The BGC’s plan calls on policymakers to place greater emphasis on preventing migration to illegal operators when developing gambling regulations.
It also urges stronger enforcement action against unlicensed gambling websites, enhanced regulatory and institutional cooperation and increased public awareness campaigns.
According to the BGC, illegal sites offer none of the consumer protections available through licensed operators, including safer gambling tools, age verification requirements and access to dispute resolution mechanisms.
Central intelligence: A central element of the proposal is improved intelligence sharing between government agencies, regulators and the gambling industry to identify and disrupt illegal operators more effectively.
The BGC is also calling for payment providers, internet service providers and search engines to play a greater role in preventing access to black-market gambling products.
The initiative forms part of a broader campaign by the BGC to highlight the consequences of increasingly restrictive gambling regulations, particularly financial risk checks.
The industry has repeatedly argued that excessive friction for customers could encourage bettors to seek alternatives outside the regulated market.
Surveys commissioned by the BGC have indicated significant resistance among gamblers to sharing personal financial information, with concerns that some may migrate to unlicensed operators if requirements become more intrusive.
Calendar
Jun 10-11: Player Protection Symposium, Fort Lauderdale
Jul 8-11: NCLGS summer meeting, San Diego
Jul 22-24: NCPG Annual Conference, Nashville
Nov 10: Gaming in Germany, Berlin
Fresh off the back of our U.S. focused webinar “Beyond the Month Webinar 2026: The Future of Player Protection in the US: Trends, Innovations, and Challenges”, the Mindway AI team will be attending some key upcoming North American events.
SBC Summit Americas, Florida, June 9-11
We look forward to connecting with industry leaders at these events. Drop us a message to arrange a meeting contact@mindway.ai
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