iGaming Talks: GammaPlus’ CEO Arturs Zagurilo on Prediction Market Gold Rush

TheGamblest had a chance to talk to Arturs Zagurilo, the CEO of GammaPlus. During the discussion, Arturs told about the prediction market gold rush and why everyone wants a seat at the table, also what the industry look like in three years. TheGamblest: Arturs, could you briefly introduce yourself and tell us a little about your journey in the iGaming industry and your role at GammaPlus? Arturs: I’ve spent a significant part of my career around the iGaming technology ecosystem, working closely with operators, suppliers, and businesses trying to turn good ideas into commercially viable products. One thing the industry teaches you very quickly is that having a great product is only half the job. The other half is understanding the market, the customer, the regulation, and what it actually takes to operate sustainably. At GammaPlus, my role is focused on helping businesses navigate that journey. We work with companies that want to enter prediction markets, expand into a new vertical, or build a platform around a specific commercial opportunity. That means looking beyond the software itself and understanding the business model, market positioning, product structure, and long-term operating requirements. The exciting part is that prediction markets bring together several worlds that previously operated quite separately, iGaming, fintech, crypto, data, and event-driven products. My job is to help businesses make sense of that intersection and, importantly, avoid confusing market excitement with a viable business plan. TheGamblest: What do you think is driving the sudden gold rush of prediction markets and why does everyone seem to want to be involved in it? Arturs: The simplest answer is that prediction markets have moved from being an interesting niche to becoming a serious commercial conversation. For years, the idea of people trading on the outcome of real-world events existed, but it largely stayed within specialist communities. Now, a much wider audience has discovered that markets can be built around elections, economics, entertainment, sports, technology, and practically any event where people have an opinion and a reason to express it. There is also a psychological factor. People don’t just want to consume information anymore; they want to participate in it. Watching an election is one thing. Having a position on an outcome makes the experience much more engaging. I often compare it to the early days of mobile apps. Once people realised the smartphone was not just a phone but a platform for entirely new behaviours, everyone wanted to build something around it. Prediction markets are creating a similar moment: the technology is becoming accessible, the audience is growing, and businesses are asking, “What could this mean for us?” Of course, a gold rush attracts both serious miners and people selling shovels. The opportunity is real, but not every business entering the space will have a sustainable model. TheGamblest: What do prediction markets offer that traditional sportsbooks currently struggle to provide? Arturs: The biggest difference is the breadth of events and the way users interact with them. Sportsbooks are highly developed products, but they are primarily structured around sporting events and established betting behaviours. Prediction markets can extend that model into a much broader universe of real-world questions. A user might be interested in who wins a football match, but they may also want to take a position on an interest-rate decision, a technology milestone, an election outcome, or whether a particular event happens before a certain date. That creates a different kind of engagement because the product is connected to what people are already following in the news. There is also a stronger information and opinion component. Users are not simply choosing a team; they are assessing an outcome based on available information, probabilities, sentiment, and changing circumstances. The analogy I would use is that a sportsbook is like a specialized sports channel, while a prediction-market platform is closer to a broader financial information network. Both involve outcomes and probabilities, but the range of subjects and the way users engage with them can be much wider. That said, prediction markets should not be treated as a replacement for sportsbooks. They are a different product category with overlapping mechanics and a different value proposition. TheGamblest: Where should the line be drawn between “prediction markets” and “sports betting”? Is it as important for regulators as it is for operators? Arturs: The distinction needs to be based on the actual product mechanics, not simply the label used in marketing. Calling something a “prediction market” does not automatically make it fundamentally different from betting. Regulators will naturally look at factors such as the underlying event, how contracts are structured, how users participate, how outcomes are settled, and whether the product falls within an existing legal framework. For operators, the distinction is equally important because it affects everything from licensing and compliance to payments, market access, and customer acquisition. I think the industry needs to avoid the temptation to treat terminology as a shortcut around regulation. You cannot put a new sign above the same building and expect the building regulations to disappear. At the same time, regulators also need to recognise that not every prediction-market product is identical. There can be meaningful differences between a traditional fixed-odds sports bet, an event contract, an exchange-style market, and a platform focused on non-sporting outcomes. The right approach is to examine the product carefully, understand the risks, and create a framework that reflects what the platform actually does. TheGamblest: We’re seeing demand from operators who want to launch their own platforms. Who is actually using GammaPlus: sports betting companies, casinos, crypto startups, or a completely new type of customer? Arturs: It is a broader mix than many people might expect. We are speaking with established gaming businesses that see prediction markets as a way to diversify their offering, but we are also seeing interest from fintech-oriented companies, crypto-native businesses, entrepreneurs, and founders who have never operated a traditional sportsbook or casino. Each group comes with a different starting point. A sportsbook operator may already understand player acquisition, wallets, payments, risk, and regulated operations, but may need help adapting those capabilities to a new product structure. A fintech or crypto company may understand trading behaviour, digital assets, or market participation very well, but may need more support around gaming operations, compliance, user engagement, and the realities of running a consumer-facing platform. Then there is the completely new entrant, the person who sees the opportunity and thinks, “I want to build a prediction-market business.” That is where education becomes particularly important. Our role is not simply to hand everyone the same platform and wish them luck. A successful launch depends on understanding who the customer is, what markets they want to offer, which jurisdictions they can operate in, and what makes their product different. The technology is important, but the business model comes first. TheGamblest: Regulation of prediction markets is still being written in real time with variations by jurisdiction. How do you advise clients to adapt to rules that may change during the time of implementation? Arturs: The first piece of advice is not to build a business around assumptions that have not been legally validated. When regulation is evolving, flexibility becomes a commercial advantage. We encourage clients to think in terms of adaptable architecture, modular product components, jurisdiction-specific configurations, and compliance processes that can evolve without requiring the entire platform to be rebuilt. It is similar to designing a house in an area where building standards are changing. You do not ignore the regulations, but you also do not permanently weld every component together in a way that makes future changes impossible. We also encourage clients to separate what is technically possible from what is commercially and legally deployable. A platform may be capable of offering a certain market, but that does not mean it should offer it in every jurisdiction. The businesses that will manage this environment best are those that treat compliance as an ongoing operating function rather than a document completed before launch. Regulation is not a one-time checkbox, particularly in an emerging category. TheGamblest: Currently, sportsbooks, fintechs, crypto businesses and providers are actively exploring the prediction markets industry. Who do you think will win the central place? Arturs: I don’t think there will be one single winner in the sense of one industry taking everything. More likely, we will see different players succeed in different parts of the ecosystem. Sportsbook operators bring operational maturity, customer acquisition experience, payments infrastructure, and an understanding of regulated gaming. Fintech companies bring strong experience in financial interfaces, user behaviour, data, and market-based products. Crypto-native businesses often bring a strong understanding of decentralised infrastructure, digital communities, and new forms of participation. Technology providers bring the infrastructure that allows all of these businesses to move faster. The companies that establish a strong position will probably be those that combine these capabilities rather than relying on only one of them. A prediction-market business needs more than an attractive interface. It needs reliable market creation, settlement, liquidity, compliance, payments, user trust, and a clear commercial model. It is a bit like Formula 1. Having the fastest engine helps, but you still need a good driver, a reliable pit crew, and a car that actually finishes the race. The market is likely to reward businesses that understand the full operating ecosystem, not just the most visible part of the product. TheGamblest: What will the prediction market industry look like in three years after this gold rush cools off? Arturs: I expect the market to become more specialised, more regulated, and considerably more professional. Right now, there is a lot of excitement around the category itself. In three years, the conversation will probably shift from “Should we enter prediction markets?” to “What is our specific reason for being here?” We will likely see clearer segmentation between platforms focused on financial-style event contracts, consumer prediction markets, gaming-led products, crypto-native models, and specialised verticals. There will also be consolidation. Not every platform launched during this period will survive, because launching a product and building a repeatable business are very different things. The companies that remain will need to demonstrate strong liquidity, trustworthy settlement, meaningful user engagement, regulatory clarity, and sustainable acquisition economics. Simply offering hundreds of markets will not be enough if nobody is using them or if the business cannot operate profitably. I also think the user experience will become much simpler. Today, many products still require users to understand concepts that are unfamiliar to the mainstream audience. The next stage will be about making participation intuitive without removing the underlying sophistication. The gold rush may cool down, but that does not mean the opportunity disappears. In most technology markets, the real businesses are built after the hype—when the serious operators stop asking whether something is fashionable and start asking whether it works. And that is usually where the interesting part begins.