GOLDEN JOKER

How to play GOLDEN JOKER

As has been widely documented, sports event contracts are currently the lifeblood of the prediction market industry, but Bernstein notes that won’t be the case on a permanent basis. In fact, the research firm estimates that sports derivatives’ share of industry volume will decline to 35% in 2035, indicating that the aforementioned volume increase will be led by other categories.

The research firm estimates that by 2035, financial derivatives, including event contracts linked to commodities, cryptocurrencies and stocks, will account for 49% of turnover on yes/no exchanges, topping sports to become the largest volume driver. The research firm sees event contracts tied to key performance indicators (KPIs) leading the charge.

“We expect new products such as KPI markets, which allow users to trade a single corporate metric, such as production, deliveries, or subscriber growth, rather than the stock price itself,” observe the analysts. “Further, perp futures are expanding from crypto to commodities and single stock perps.”

About GOLDEN JOKER

Sports betting is billed by the gaming industry as a form of entertainment, but for a growing proportion of the betting public, covering the spread is key to covering the rent.

A new survey from U.S. News is sounding the alarm over Americans increasingly turning to high-risk endeavors, including sports betting, to help make ends meet and pay their monthly household bills.

U.S. News surveyed 1,200 Americans who placed a sports wager within the last 12 months. The media organization found that more than half of respondents (51%) placed a sports bet to help pay household bills, while 21% wagered specifically to cover their rent or mortgage payment.

About GOLDEN JOKER

Harrison Barrett, VP of business development, spoke to the iGB team at iGB L!VE 2026 to discuss the evolution of Soft2Bet’s MEGA platform, which started out as a purely gamification layer but has become “much more compelling than simply leaderboards, missions and point-based rewards”.

As Barrett puts it, MEGA is “ultimately a retention tool that helps our partners move away from heavy bonus and costs”.

With ice hockey and UFC-themed initiatives driving engagement in North America and a 45% lifetime value increase seen with the launch of MEGA Shoot, a player-versus-player simulation penalty shootout game initiative which launched during the World Cup, it is an exciting time for the Malta-based platform provider.