Harlequin Carnival

About Harlequin Carnival

Former Scientific Games veteran Chris Armes was appointed as the new executive VP of Gaming Technologies in early August. Armes is set to take up his new role in the autumn of 2026, leading Veikkaus’ technology organisation from its Helsinki headquarters. 

In July last year, Veikkaus iGaming EVP Jarkko Nordlund told iGB: “The competition will be fierce when the market opens, so we must be very competitive. Our aim is to challenge the mentality of our current position, so we need to secure market leadership.” 

According to its interim report for the first half of 2026, released this week, Veikkaus reported a 1% yearly increase in sales revenue of €471.3 million ($546.8 million).

What is Harlequin Carnival?

The company cited analyses from the Office for Budget Responsibility which suggested previous gambling tax rises had reduced expected tax receipts, including a £500m reduction in forecast receipts for 2029-30. This revenue, writes David, would flow to the black market. 

A new report commissioned by Euromat, and produced by Regulus Partners and Helios, has estimated that Europe’s black market has sustained a compound annual growth rate of 18% between 2019 and 2026, and will be worth up to €13 billion by the end of the year.

Entain said it had requested meetings with government officials to present its concerns directly and facilitate engagement between ministers and frontline shop staff before final budget decisions are made.

What is Harlequin Carnival?

“Kugler’s position is that Evolution does not supply games to Iran. He stated that “I know we have players in Dubai”, Spectrum notes, in response to Black Cube’s claims.

Another claim made by Black Cube’s report was that Evolution had accepted wagers in virtual currencies and cash. Spectrum confirms that wagers were made by end users using crypto currencies, however it was the operator, and not Evolution accepting these bets.

After assessing part of a 75-page PDF spreadsheet of transactions provided by Evolution, Spectrum found crypto wagers had been placed on Evolution games provided by Hub88, as alleged by Black Cube.