New European Rules Roil Global Online Gambling Industry

A wave of new regulation across Europe is roiling the $37 billion global online gambling industry and driving a spate of deal talks. The start-and-stop talks underscore the industry’s challenges.

A number of European governments are overhauling their online gambling regulations—a move that will add costs. But the new rules could also clear up the legal ambiguity around the industry, clustered offshore in low-tax regimes such as the Isle of Man, Gibraltar and Malta. That has had investors and analysts anticipating a bout of deal-making for months.