A new edition of an annual report
SOFTSWISS has published the fifth edition of its iGaming Trends report, which it describes as covering the year ahead for the sector. The 2027 edition was presented in Lisbon ahead of the SBC Summit, and it makes two main points. AI has moved out of pilot projects and into production, and regulators are shifting from periodic audits to watching markets in near real time.
The report was built with data from H2 Gambling Capital and contributions from AWS, among others. SOFTSWISS has said it wanted to address a shortage of reliable data about the industry, and the report draws on that wider evidence base.
AI has moved into production
AI is the report’s most prominent theme. According to the report, operators and suppliers have moved beyond experimentation and are now deploying AI in live systems. The examples cited include generative and operational AI that speeds up delivery, automates routine tasks and supports multi-step workflows.
One example reported in coverage is Cubeia, which says it replaced its entire back-end and front-end code with code written using Claude over recent months. That is a striking claim, and it should be read as a report’s example rather than an independent audit.
The report’s advice is cautious. It recommends a phased approach that starts with low-risk use cases. It also warns companies to protect production data, to monitor models closely from the start, and to scale towards agentic AI only with human oversight and circuit breakers for critical decisions.
Regulation is becoming real time
The report also argues that regulators are changing how they supervise. Market-wide, data-led analysis is replacing audits of individual licensees, according to the report’s findings. Operators are increasingly expected to connect directly to continuous data streams that regulators can access in near real time.
That changes the compliance job. Reporting becomes continuous rather than periodic, and mistakes can surface quickly. Operators that have invested in clean data and reliable systems should find the shift easier than those still relying on manual processes.
What the report says about the next competitive edge
SOFTSWISS’s deputy CMO, Alexandra Kavelich, is quoted in coverage arguing that the next competitive advantage in iGaming will not come from content alone. That point connects the report’s two themes. Content has been the traditional edge in the sector, and the report suggests that technology, data and compliance are becoming equally important.
In a separate interview with SBC News, SOFTSWISS’s CMO, Valentina Bagniya, said she expects AI to become less a standalone trend and more an everyday layer of how iGaming businesses operate. She pointed to fraud detection, payment routing and operational automation as examples of that shift.
What operators should take from it
- Map where AI already runs in your business, and where it could safely go next.
- Start with low-risk tasks, and measure the results before scaling.
- Keep human oversight in place for decisions that affect players or compliance.
- Check that your data is accurate, secure and accessible in the form regulators will expect.
- Plan for continuous reporting rather than periodic submissions.
A note on the report’s limits
Trend reports are written by companies with commercial interests in the sector. SOFTSWISS sells software and services, so its emphasis on AI and compliance tools is worth weighing alongside other sources. The report is most useful as a starting point for internal discussion, not as a forecast to plan against without checking.
The bigger picture
The 2027 report describes an industry that is maturing. AI is becoming part of daily operations, and regulators are building tools that see more of the market at once. Operators that treat both changes as part of the same strategy are likely to be better placed as the rules tighten.
