Xace has announced that Petra Maria Poola has joined the company as Group Commercial Director.

Petra brings a wealth of experience from the iGaming industry having formerly held roles at several iGaming companies such as Yolo, Relax Gaming and SiGMA. She will lead the commercial growth of Xace and its group companies, including crypto and iGaming focused xda.io, helping to drive strategic initiatives across banking, fintech and iGaming solutions.

In her new role, she will mainly oversee the growth of the group’s sales, marketing and account management functions, ensuring a cohesive strategy that supports Xace’s ambitious expansion plans.

“I am incredibly excited to start this new chapter with Xace, and work alongside such a talented team and management. Transitioning into the fintech space, while still connected to iGaming, presents an exciting opportunity for growth and learning. I’m looking forward to applying my expertise to help Xace and its group companies achieve new heights commercially, while gaining deeper insights into the fast-evolving world of fintech,” said Petra Maria Poola.

Reuben Abel, CEO of Xace, said: “Petra’s extensive background in the iGaming sector, combined with her commercial acumen, makes her a valuable addition to the Xace team. She will play a crucial role in expanding Xace’s market presence and enhancing its suite of services tailored to the specific needs of the iGaming and fintech industries.”

The Brazilian Ministry of Finance and the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) have signed a sports betting integrity cooperation agreement. It will allow both parties to share information concerning suspicious betting activity connected to Brazilian sport and collaborate on any investigations.

The agreement brings together the governmental body responsible for ensuring that the Brazilian market is legal, safe and reliable, and the largest international betting integrity monitor for private operators in the world. Leading industry data and intelligence company H2 Gambling Capital has forecast that IBIA will cover more than 70% of the Brazilian remote gambling market.

According to ‘The Availability of Sports Betting Products: An Economic and Integrity Analysis’ study published earlier this year, the new sports betting regulatory regime in Brazil is projected to create $34bn in sports betting turnover by 2028. With this increased growth comes a greater responsibility to protect customers, sports and betting operators from match-fixing.

A key element of the new Brazilian regulatory framework is the requirement that operators seeking a licence must join an independent sports integrity monitoring body. This licensing requirement is helping to strengthen IBIA’s capacity to monitor, assess and protect betting transactions in Brazil’s regulated sports betting market and maintain the integrity of Brazilian sporting events.

Regis Dudena, Secretary of Betting and Prizes, said: “Cooperation with IBIA will add to SPA’s work in combating the manipulation of sporting events. And together we will mitigate this problem on a global scale.”

Khalid Ali, IBIA CEO, said: “IBIA is delighted to have reached this agreement with the Brazilian Ministry of Finance and welcomes the government’s increased focus on creating a robust sports betting integrity ecosystem to tackle match-fixing. Collaboration and information sharing are key to the success of this ecosystem. Under this agreement IBIA will identify and report suspicious betting on Brazilian sporting events to the Ministry of Finance to support investigatory actions. That will include detailed customer account data that is only available to IBIA and its members.”

Frederico Alves Soares Justo, General Coordinator of Money Laundering at the Brazilian Ministry of Finance, said: “For the Secretary of Prizes and Betting to sign this agreement with IBIA is the certainty that we are on the right path to curb the manipulation of results. We will make the most of the experience that IBIA has in monitoring the betting market to create mechanisms that curb this practice that undermines the credibility of sport and the betting market. It’s a partnership in which everyone wins.”

IBIA is a globally recognised non-profit organization that seeks to safeguard the integrity of the sports and betting sectors by fighting betting related match-fixing and fraud. It provides a free integrity monitoring service to sports governing bodies, regulators and law enforcement agencies that, importantly, is also free from potential conflicts created by the provision of competing commercial services, enabling all parties to efficiently and effectively cooperate in investigating, prosecuting and deterring sports betting related match-fixing.

IBIA monitors over $300bn per annum in betting turnover across more than 125 sports betting brands globally, making IBIA the largest betting integrity monitor of its type for private operators in the world. The association’s unrivalled access to detailed global customer transactional data has, and will continue, to play a pivotal role in protecting the Brazilian sports betting market and sporting events from corrupt activity.

Swedish gaming operator Cherry AB is exploring options to sell its online casino and sports betting subsidiary, ComeOn Group, as part of a strategic shift in focus.

Cherry, owned by private equity firm Bridgepoint, is reportedly working with financial advisors at Moelis and Jefferies to evaluate the best course of action for its Malta-based subsidiary. According to insiders familiar with the matter, the possible sale could value ComeOn at around €500 million, based on its projected earnings for 2025.

The consideration to sell ComeOn aligns with a broader trend among European gambling operators that are offloading consumer-facing assets to concentrate on their business-to-business (B2B) services and software development.