First featured in our November Inside The Unit newsletter, this piece by Andy Clerkson, Chairman of The Unit, examines the trends reshaping sports betting in 2026, covering prediction markets, advances in voice technology, consolidation across regions, Africa’s momentum, and the realities of AI.
Technology, regulation, consolidation, and shifting consumer behaviour have all played their part in the evolution of sports betting and igaming trends in recent years. In 2026, these factors will converge to reshape how the industry operates.
Through The Unit’s work with operators, founders, regulators, and sports-obsessed fans, we’re seeing clear signals that the pace of transformation will accelerate in the next year. Here are the betting trends we believe will define the industry in the near future.
1. Prediction Markets Will Create Only a Handful of Winners in 2026
The rapid rise of prediction markets in the past eighteen months has shaken up the industry in a way that few could have, for want of a better phrase, predicted.
Kalshi and Polymarket have achieved a level of liquidity, regulatory compatibility, and cultural impact that have launched them into the mainstream, as demonstrated by Polymarket’s recent appearance on America’s most-watched non-sports television programme, 60 minutes. Fanatics Markets, which surprised many when they launched in 24 states last week with the significant backing of crypto.com, will benefit greatly from first-mover advantage.
Kalshi’s volume reportedly rose to nearly $6bn in November 2025, while Polymarket hit $3.7bn. The audiences they have captured want something different from a traditional sportsbook menu. They are receptive to an experience that responds quickly to politics, entertainment, sports narratives, celebrity, and social trends. Outside of the novelty of these new kinds of markets is the crux of their success: participation in prediction markets feels communal, rather than transactional.
In 2026, this growth trajectory will create two expected winners… and maybe three more reluctant ones.
Kalshi and Polymarket will solidify their dominance because liquidity compounds; the pools that are already deep will become deeper, attracting sharper traders, and a greater volume of mainstream users.
But, perhaps more unexpectedly, FanDuel, DraftKings and Fanatics will also benefit from the rise of a phenomenon they initially feared. None of these companies wanted prediction markets to break out, but because of their respective liquidity pools, and since traditional sportsbooks remain the natural destination for risk-tolerant, entertainment-driven users, they are the only incumbents with the resources, brand power and infrastructure to compete. FanDuel and DraftKings’ respective departures from the American Gaming Association (AGA), and their withdrawals from Nevada, clearly signpost their intentions for 2026 and beyond.
Fanatics Markets, meanwhile, may also emerge as a winner with the two leading traditional operators. With a growing wallet-share ecosystem, a powerful retail brand, and the advantage of getting to prediction markets early, Fanatics is one of few companies positioned to generate meaningful liquidity quickly enough to gain traction.
Sadly, everyone else who wants a slice of the prediction-markets pie will end up hungry next year. Given that there are over 25 prediction market platforms getting ready to sit at the proverbial table, that’s a lot of empty stomachs.
Building new markets with hundreds of thousands of trades a day requires liquidity that simply cannot be matched by smaller challengers. Many entrants are significantly underestimating these headwinds, and 2026 will expose that ruthlessly.
2. Voice and Text Chat Technology Will Be Commonplace for Sportsbook Navigation
If you habitually ask Siri to play your favourite album, or check in with Alexa for the weather every morning, you’ll know that consumer behaviour has been signalling this shift in sports betting for years. Side note: the most common voice prompt in the world right now according to Google is “Call Mom”.
Despite the ubiquity of voice assistants in everyday life, the sportsbook user journey has remained puzzlingly manual. Remember the kids in the cafe in Back to the Future II who were horrified by the idea of an arcade game where you actually had to use your hands? Now, they would be happy with the hands-free future on the near horizon.
Already deep-pocketed FanDuel has launched ‘ACEai’ as a voice or text assistant but there are companies like Voxbet, which have studiously refined this technology for years, and are now perfectly positioned to roll out voice or text betting co-pilots with simple integrations into operators. Voice can turn complex multi-step journeys into single-sentence commands. It levels the field for casual users who do not know where, or how, to find complex markets. And in live betting, where every second matters, it creates an entirely new engagement opportunity.
You might think that ChatGPT or whatever big wheel AI engine you use would be able to help you navigate the world of sports betting, but these generic machines are short on detail and accuracy – anathema to the sports bettor. AI engines tuned to the sports betting markets, match classifications, player names, prop bet names, scores and results, and even operator promotions, must be bespoke to deliver on the promise.
This is an industry where speed and simplicity directly correlate to higher engagement and revenue. Voice and single text box chat will arrive to sportsbooks in 2026, because it finally meets the user’s needs in a better way than the interface it replaces.
3. M&A Consolidation Will Continue Across Multiple Regions
M&A will continue to proliferate in 2026, and we have already seen some early indicators of this. Allwyn and OPAP’s consolidation into a single global lottery and gaming giant has reset expectations for size and operational footprint. PrizePicks and Novibet, combining to form the second-largest listed gaming group on the planet, behind Flutter, shows the desire to benefit from economies of scale.
This consolidation is being driven by three interconnected dynamics. First, the gold rush in the United States has cooled. The land-grab phase is over, and many operators now face increased taxes, inflated CPAs, heavy marketing saturation, and regulatory inconsistencies that make independent growth challenging. Secondly, Europe’s mature markets are restructuring under the pressure of tighter regulation and shrinking margins, pushing companies toward vertical integration and cross-border mergers. And third, global capital has shifted from rewarding pure growth to rewarding defensibility and operational efficiency. Investors want predictable revenue, multi-jurisdictional reach, and economic leverage—things that only scale can deliver.
As a result, 2026 will produce multiple mergers, particularly among data suppliers, platforms, odds-tech providers and regional operators looking for either an exit or expansion. The biggest companies will get even bigger. Many mid-tier operators will choose, or be forced to join them. And a handful simply may not survive.
4. Africa’s Betting Growth Curve Will Strengthen Further
Africa is entering the same growth acceleration curve that LatAm experienced roughly a decade ago, but arguably with even stronger momentum behind it. The continent’s betting economy is overwhelmingly mobile-first. Internet adoption continues to rise (mobile broadband reached approximately 84% of the continent’s population in 2024). And football remains central to the culture, with the latest iteration of the Africa Cup of Nations starting soon and more representation at the World Cup than ever before.
Markets like Nigeria and Kenya already anchor the region, but a new wave of high-growth countries, including Ghana, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Morocco and Egypt, are emerging. These markets generate incredibly engaged users, but their betting behaviours differ significantly from Europe or the US. Stakes are lower, frequencies are higher, and community dynamics play a larger role in decision-making. UX must be lightweight, fast and resilient in low-internet-bandwidth environments. Products that assume high-spec devices or large disposable incomes will fail immediately.
Africa in 2026 will reward companies that adapt to this reality rather than attempt to impose a Western model. The opportunity is enormous, but only for those who build for the market as it is, rather than how they presume it to be.
5. AI Is a Flash in the Pan…
I’ve got that one wrong but it wouldn’t be an igaming trend discussion if we didn’t mention AI, right?
