Cost control is not a glamorous term and is certainly not an enjoyable business discipline. Yet it now sits at the top of every executive team’s vernacular, in an era of relentless corporate adjustments as they simply aim to maintain growth.
These are testing times for all iGaming incumbents, competing in the backend of an already disruptive 2020s, in which the only assurance is that everyone is skating on thin ice.
As of April 2026, the UK has entered the “40% era” on iGaming taxes, not quite joining the frosty ranks of France, Germany and Poland, but positioning itself amongst the highest-taxed regimes of Western Europe.
Yet tax increases are only one point of harm, as all business accounts detail the heightening costs of compliance, customer onboarding, marketing, supplier fees, social responsibility and customer care.
Anxieties are topped as investor pressure demands that leadership keep those operating margins from thinning. Yet no executive can retort that in the 2020s those margins have hit the Ozempic needle.
Once more, it’s back to the drawing board, as a revision of all costs is undertaken, in which platform and value chain come under renewed scrutiny. However, this tough environment gives us the opportunity to test an industry dogma: that white label models are no longer fit for purpose?
EveryMatrix: Redefine the model…
The view was put to Richardt Funch, Global Commercial Director of EveryMatrix, who believes that while white label’s “all-in-one model” may be stained in status, it still offers utility in tougher market conditions… just don’t call it a “white label”.
\“White labels have been around for some time but are far less common today. We decided to relinquish our operating licences in the UK and Denmark in 2019 to focus on advanced platform technology via turnkey delivery,” Funch explains.
“Since then the business has gone from strength-to-strength, working with some of the largest regulated tier-1 operators and lotteries in the world and recording our best-ever year for new turnkey business in 2025/2026 in 18 years.”
Funch’s argument is less about revival and more about redefinition. The industry may have turned its back on the traditional white label model, citing that it was always a “cookie-cutter approach that has been proven to no longer work in regulated markets”. Instead, focusing on turnkey delivery that is bespoke to the needs of individual operators and lotteries.
In an era where operators are reassessing every layer of their cost base, the question is no longer whether white label “works”, but whether elements of its efficiency can be repackaged into something more sustainable.
Funch points to a “changed philosophy” prioritising turnkey delivery and optimisation.
“White labels may sometimes offer quick wins, but rarely do they offer more than that, compared to turnkey delivery that offers a long-term, sustainable approach enabling consistent growth.”
The focus on optimised delivery of customised solutions has proved fruitful for EveryMatrix, which now views itself as a pioneer of turnkey delivery to improve margin control on core services.
“We’ve proved this model works for the most respected brands in our industry, with year-on-year growth and leading market positions,” adds Funch, framing what he calls the “EveryMatrix Effect” as operators increasingly opt for turnkey over traditional white label.
GR8 Tech: No quick fix…
“You can change a name, but can you change a reputation?”
The question hangs over any discussion of white label’s place in the regulated iGaming market, according to Yevhen Krazhan, Chief Sales Officer (CSO) of GR8 Tech.
Though white labels still have utility for challenger brands, this is only true if those operators are clear about the trade-offs they are making.
“White-label lost favour when operators realised speed was expensive,” Krazhan tells iGaming Expert
“You could launch quickly, but you gave away product control, roadmap priority, and often part of your margin. In a lightly regulated market, that trade-off worked. In today’s environment, where compliance, localisation and brand differentiation matter, many operators no longer accept that bargain.”
For smaller entrants, that compromise can still make sense — but only as a phase, not a destination. “If your platform is fully dependent on someone else’s stack, eventually you compete on marketing alone,” he adds. “Serious brands want ownership over product, data, and customer experience.”
That shift is being driven by the realities of modern regulated markets. Compliance depth is no longer optional, localisation has become operationally complex, and brand identity must be built on more than front-end marketing. As such the white label model, in its traditional form, struggles to meet those demands without introducing structural risk.
Ai is the glue
As such, the conversation returns to cost control — but not in the simplistic terms that once defined white label’s appeal.
“Tier-1 operators are not looking for generic shortcuts,” Krazhan explains. “They want more efficient market entry while preserving ownership, flexibility, and differentiation.”
For Krazhan, the big bet is on AI maximising the utility of turnkey services for all incumbents. “AI makes every launch model more efficient, white labels included,” he notes.
As such, AI functionalities could kill the dogma. “When localisation, compliance, and risk controls can be automated at the platform level, operators will stop asking how fast they can launch and start asking how much of their business they are willing to not own to get there,” as Krazhan expects demand to shift toward smarter turnkey models, in which GR8 Tech prioritises the development of its geo-specific Championship modules.
As AI spreads across the value chain of iGaming operators, the debate around white label is being reframed in practical, not ideological, terms.
