Winter Champions

About Winter Champions

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has published a report setting out red-flag risk indicators across the gaming and gambling sector. The indicators cover money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing. 

FATF released the report – Risks of Gaming and Gambling – on Wednesday. It updates the body’s 2009 analysis of the casino sector. In addition, it draws on questionnaire responses from 80 jurisdictions and written comments from a further 29, alongside industry consultation.

The report identifies land-based and online casinos and sports betting as carrying the highest money laundering exposure. By contrast, lotteries and scratchcards present lower risk. 

About Winter Champions

While it’s tempting to use AI to help you write a submit, we please ask that you avoid doing so, as once again, the more personal an entry is, the better we can judge it across our key criteria.

The submission form will close on 1 October, at which time nominations will be put to our esteemed panel of judges for final review.

More information on judges, submissions and deadlines can be found here. You can also access interviews with last year’s winners and the final list for 2025, as well as for every year prior.

How to play Winter Champions

Americans wagered nearly $167 billion on sports in 2025 through regulated sportsbooks, an 11% increase year-over-year, according to data from the American Gaming Association (AGA).

The blurring line between financial investing and gambling has been accelerated by the rise of prediction markets—exchanges offering event contracts that are federally regulated as financial derivatives. U.S. News found that over 40% of active sports bettors now also participate in sports prediction markets.

Financial advisors continue to urge consumers to view sports wagering strictly as entertainment and to only risk funds they can afford to lose.