Grape Escape

What is Grape Escape?

Helios, a specialist consultant in gambling web traffic, analysed the number of black market websites actively marketing across the 28 markets included in the report, between March and May.

This data was cross referenced with SimilarWeb traffic analysis to confirm the scale of activity. In some markets, the number of illegal sites being actively marketed was much higher than those that have local licences to operate.

This was true of France, Portugal, Netherlands, Germany, Cyprus, Belgium, Spain, among others.

What is Grape Escape?

In a LinkedIn post on Monday, Keurmerk Verantwoorde Affiliates (KVA), the Dutch casino affiliate quality mark, voiced concerns about the role of Google search in directing Dutch consumers towards illegal online gambling sites.

The group highlighted potential risks posed by Google’s organic search features beyond paid advertising, which include autocomplete and suggested queries. 

Using data collected primarily through Chrome’s incognito mode to exclude personalised search histories, the KVA identified several autocomplete and pre-fill search queries that directly suggested illegal gambling platforms to users.

How to play Grape Escape

Veikkaus, Finland’s state-owned gambling operator, has continued to restructure its internal organisation in preparation for the country’s newly liberalised gambling market, which will open on 1 July 2027. 

The reshuffle aims to strengthen the company’s competitive capabilities amid evolving market conditions.

The latest round of changes, announced on Wednesday, includes 15 existing roles being terminating, and 17 new positions established. These will impact several of its units, including the Data & AI department, two business units and finance teams.