The Count

What is The Count?

Beginning with the US presidential elections in November 2024, when prediction markets catapulted into mainstream culture, their rise has been undeniable. Kalshi and Polymarket have seen their valuations balloon to $40 billion and $21 billion, respectively, and the majority of the top US bookmakers have scrambled to expand into the prediction space in various forms, either by building their own exchanges, acquiring existing ones or engaging in market-making.

Commercial sports betting generated just under $17 billion in nationwide revenue in 2025, which is why Davenport asserts that the “stakes of this case are exceptionally high”. Kalshi and Polymarket alone posted more than $45 billion in trading volume, which is similar but not identical to betting revenue, in August. That was a 15% decline from July, although that drop is attributed to the conclusion of the Fifa World Cup tournament that month per Yahoo! Finance.

The American Gaming Association estimates that the exchanges have siphoned more than $1.3 billion in would-be tax revenue from states. One of the AGA’s primary spokespeople pin its fight against prediction markets is former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who championed the PASPA case to the Supreme Court.

What is The Count?

“When we attempted to play games in those locales using VPNs, we were repeatedly denied access,” Spectrum states. It therefore said it found the allegations linked to these countries were “unsupportable and lacking credibility and proper foundation”.

Spectrum found that BitCasino.com and Stake.com were knowingly offering its games in these banned markets, which were specifically prohibited within their contracts with the supplier.

These sites were found to be connected to Evolution clients, B2B aggregators Hub 88 and Babylon.

What is The Count?

The group is expected to have an addressable market of up to €34 billion when combining all its available markets, including Portugal, Mexico and Colombia.

Lottomatica’s online and omnichannel capabilities are expected to accelerate Cirsa’s expansion in online gaming.

Lottomatica chairman and CEO Guglielmo Angelozzi noted the combination would create a more diversified business with significant opportunities for growth.