Desert Drag

About Desert Drag

This summer, the Commission reached settlements of £900,000 with Betfred over safer gambling failures, £4.75 million with Evolution over weaknesses in its AML risk assessment and supply-chain oversight, and £122,835 with Stakelogic after games were found to be running faster than permitted.

Taken together, the cases provide further ammunition for the anti-gambling lobby at a time when it is already facing political pressure, tax increases and demands for tighter restrictions. Each apparently avoidable failure makes it harder for the industry to argue that existing regulation is sufficient.

Yet Dan Waugh, partner at Regulus Partners, pushes back against the idea that enforcement notices reveal a fundamentally non-compliant sector.

What is Desert Drag?

Moving forward, prediction markets could see a bump from appearances by several high-profile teams in primetime during Week 2. On Thursday, the Buffalo Bills will make their regular-season debut at Highmark Stadium against the Detroit Lions. Enthusiasm among supporters of the “Bills Mafia” for the opening of the $2.2 billion stadium could pad weekly totals on prediction markets. New York is one of the nation’s largest markets for sports betting and predictions.

The week will conclude with a matchup on Monday Night Football between the New York Giants and the Los Angeles Rams, the putative Super Bowl favourite. On Kalshi, the Rams had a 75% probability to defeat the Giants as of Wednesday afternoon.

“It’s going to be a great test for our team,” said Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart on Wednesday.

What is Desert Drag?

But its share price has taken a tumble over the last year, dropping up to 37% since September 2025. Its market cap currently sits at £3.39 billion.

The operator first started trading on LSEG’s main market in February 2016 under its previous company name GVC Holdings. This followed its delisting from the Alternative Investment Market (AIM exchange).

Its share price decline began after reaching an all-time high in September 2021. Over the course of five years it has slipped 73% to 530p.