In August 2026, bwin surged to the top of the iGaming charts in both Spain and Belgium, becoming the leading brand by user demand in these markets. This marked a significant shift in Spain, where Bet365 had maintained the top position since at least January 2016, based on Blask's data. In Switzerland, a similar development occurred as Swisslos lost its long-standing top spot after more than five years of data from Blask.
The Blask Index serves as a real-time indicator of market demand for iGaming brands in various countries, derived from normalized search data. Brand's Accumulated Power (BAP) reflects a brand's market demand share over a specific timeframe.
Despite a general decline in user demand for iGaming across most global markets in August compared to July, there were some notable exceptions. The Blask Index showed growth in only 49 of the 139 tracked countries. Out of these, only three markets saw a new brand take the lead. In contrast, user demand dipped in 90 markets, with changes in leadership occurring in 11 of those. Interestingly, in four of the 11 markets, the new leading brands experienced a decline in their own Blask Index. In France and Iceland, the new leaders, Betclic and Epicbet, ascended despite a decrease in both demand and market share after previous leaders fell harder.
The number of iGaming brands dominating more than one country rose from 12 in July to 13 in August, with bwin expanding its presence from no markets to two — Spain and Belgium.
Bet365 had been the dominant operator in Spain for over a decade, initially securing more than half of the country's iGaming demand until April 2018. Although its market share dipped to around 45% with minor fluctuations, it maintained a leadership margin of over nine percentage points until the abrupt change in August 2026.
Within Spain's top 10 brands, some significant shifts occurred, despite the overall stability of the list. Betfair climbed from eighth to third place, achieving a remarkable 114.3% increase in its Blask Index, making it the fastest-growing brand in Spain among operators with at least 0.5% BAP. In contrast, Winamax saw a sharp decline, plummeting from fifth to tenth position after a 59.3% drop, the largest among significant brands in Spain.
The current trend in the Spanish iGaming market is downward, with the Blask Index in August 12.5% lower than in September 2025, the highest point in the last two years. Overall user demand in Spain fell by 1.8% in August, coming on the heels of a 5.4% decline in July. However, despite this downtrend, Spain improved its global standing, moving from 31st to 28th place as other markets performed worse.
For August, user demand led to changes in 14 countries, revealing a dynamic market landscape where some new leaders ascended even amid declining demand. Brands like bwin in Spain and Switzerland's prior leader Swisslos, have seen significant changes after prolonged periods of dominance, marking the end of Bet365's tenure as the leading figure in Spain's market.
