Gambling is reshaping video games, time, money and attention in 2026, report says

For years, gambling lived on the outer edges of the video game business. It was boxed in by geography, hemmed in by regulation, and treated as culturally separate from mainstream gaming. However, the wall has now largely come down.

The State of Video Gaming in 2026 by Epyllion’s CEO Matthew Ball argues that gambling, especially iGaming, online sports betting, and prediction markets, has become one of the biggest forces redirecting how players use their time and money. Instead of operating in parallel with games...