On 4 October 2023, GameArt announced a deal to bring its HTML5 slot portfolio to Dafabet, a sports betting and online casino operator active in Asia-Pacific since 2004.
The press release names no country, game, title count or aggregator. Its only voices are Joan Diaz, Deputy of Gaming at Dafabet, and Vid Daolio, Head of Account Management at GameArt.
It came one week after the 27 September 2023 agreement with IGBSoft, a partner GameArt was already presenting as well established in Asia.
When the deal was signed, GameArt's MGA licence was almost eight months old (reference MGA/B2B/966/2022, granted on 6 February 2023).
In 2018, the trade press presented Dafabet as AsianBGE's leading brand, run from Makati under licences from the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) and First Cagayan. As of 28 October 2026, the dafabet.com footer names Osmila N.V., registered in Curaçao on 28 June 2007.
In the UK, Asian BGE (Isle of Man) Limited gave up its remote casino licence on 12 August 2022. Today dafabet.co.uk appears as a white label on the licence of SCGO Limited, a Maltese company.
In Spain, Eurasia Solutions PLC (operator of dafabet.es, according to the DGOJ) paid a fine cut to €60,000. Some of the site's slots had accepted more than 100 autoplay rounds, and proof of payment was filed on 27 February 2025.
In India, the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act 2025 has banned real-money online gaming since 1 May 2026, including services run from abroad.
On the games side, GameArt has drawn on Asian themes since Dragon Lady (24 November 2015). In 2026 it brings them to the table with San Loong Fortune (24 February 2026), followed by Baccarat Dragon Blaze, announced for 24 November 2026.
The Philippines was among the certified markets cited in the June 2021 Lithuania announcement, whereas the non-exhaustive list GameArt published in August 2026 no longer names a single Asian country.
No single licence covers Dafabet everywhere, so whether the site is legal for a player depends on that player's country rather than on the brand.
GameArt's press release of 4 October 2023 carried a lofty headline, promising to lift the gaming experience of Asia-Pacific players through Dafabet. I covered it the same day. Today I am rewriting that article from the ground up, because three years were enough for the operator to pull out of Brazil, pay a fine in Spain and watch India ban online gambling.
Then there is that word, Asia-Pacific. The release uses it like a postcard with a pretty view and no address on the back. The label stretches to Macau, where baccarat accounted for 83.9% of what casinos won in the third quarter of 2026. It also takes in Australia, where offering online casino games to residents has been illegal since 2001. Between those two poles lie dozens of gambling laws, and the release mentions none of them.
I have not opened an account with Dafabet, nor with any other operator mentioned here: I never deposit. Everything below rests on documents. First the press release, then the registers of Britain's Gambling Commission and Spain's DGOJ. For India and the Philippines, I worked from the laws themselves and from coverage in the legal and trade press. For the games, I relied on GameArt's official pages, checked on 28 October 2026.
The 4 October 2023 press release: what it says and what it leaves out
GameArt announced its partnership with Dafabet on 4 October 2023 in its Company updates feed, presenting the operator as a major name in online gaming across Asia-Pacific (GameArt's press release of 4 October 2023). The Malta-based studio, whose licences and output I trace in my full review of the provider, supplies its HTML5 slots. Dafabet integrates them into its platform for its players in the region. The boilerplate at the end of the release describes Dafabet as a sports betting, online casino, live games and slots brand, present there since 2004.
What the text leaves out says more. Look for a country and you will not find one. The same goes for a game, a title count, a go-live date, an aggregator or the operator's licence. Other GameArt announcements are far more specific: the EGT Digital announcement of 12 August 2026 lists five titles, Lunar Rabbit among them, and seven certified markets. A partnership release with nothing verifiable in it works like the dealer's hole card: you know it is there, not what it is worth.
Two spokespeople and a promise of new games
Joan Diaz, Deputy of Gaming at Dafabet, praises games “characterised by their refreshing simplicity and meticulous attention to detail”. That line has a history. In June 2022, George Wadsworth, Casino Business Owner at Soft2Bet, was already crediting GameArt with “refreshing simplicity and attention to detail” (SoloAzar's report of 16 June 2022). Partnership releases recycle their praise. The words travel from one mouth to the next, and the meaning barely moves.
Vid Daolio, GameArt's Head of Account Management, says the studio intends to shape its offer around what players in such a varied region enjoy. The release also promises new games made with them in mind. None is named. Less than four months later came Golden Furong (30 January 2024), followed on 6 February by Dragon King Megaways, two Asian-themed titles. Nothing on their official pages ties either game to Dafabet.
One week after IGBSoft
The Dafabet announcement closed a busy stretch. On 27 September 2023, GameArt introduced IGBSoft as a fast-growing conglomerate with solid roots in Asia (IGBSoft announcement of 27 September 2023). Ada Lacey spoke for IGBSoft as Sales Manager, and Nevena Aleksieva for GameArt as Head of Sales. A double nomination at the EGR Italy Awards followed on 2 October, then an extended Planetwin365 deal on the 3rd and Dafabet on the 4th. Four releases in eight days, two of them aimed at Asia.
That Asian push never got a sequel in the news feed. As of 28 October 2026, not one headline published after 4 October 2023 mentions Asia, Asia-Pacific or any Asian country (GameArt's Company updates feed). I read that silence as a matter of priorities rather than a break-up, since nothing suggests the deal was ever terminated.
Who operates Dafabet in 2026?
Dafabet is a brand, not a company. According to the most recent sources, at least three companies carry it, depending on the market. Osmila N.V. of Curaçao runs dafabet.com, and SCGO Limited, a Maltese company, hosts dafabet.co.uk in the UK (both checked on 28 October 2026). Eurasia Solutions PLC is the third, named by the DGOJ in 2025 as the operator of dafabet.es.
From Makati to Curaçao: one brand, several companies
In 2018, the backdrop was the Philippines. That December, World Casino Directory reported a deal with Scout Gaming and described Dafabet as the flagship brand and subsidiary of AsianBGE. The group was based in Makati and employed more than 1,000 people. It was licensed and regulated by First Cagayan Leisure and Resort Corporation and the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (World Casino Directory, 14 December 2018). In June 2020, it was Dimitris Karatzas, CEO of AsianLogic, who commented on the brand's expansion into Spain.
The main site carries another name. Its footer, checked on 28 October 2026, states that dafabet.com is operated by Osmila N.V., a limited liability company registered in Curaçao on 28 June 2007 under number 102267. The company's address is the Livestrong Building, Groot Kwartierweg 10. The site itself comes in sixteen language versions. They run from Simplified Chinese to Spanish and include Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean and Polish.
Across these companies, the brand changes hands like a card moving from one shoe to the next. For a provider such as GameArt, the legal counterparty in a “Dafabet” deal therefore depends on the target market, and the 2023 release does not say which one.
What the regulators' registers show
Four countries are enough to trace the brand's path, from its Philippine base to its ventures into Europe and South America.
Licence granted in December 2019, fine paid in 2025
8 Jun 2020 and 27 Feb 2025
Brazil
No authorisation
Ministry of Finance
End of operations announced
10 Oct 2024
UK: a licence surrendered in August 2022
On 27 June 2022, as it announced its shirt deal with Bournemouth, Dafabet presented itself as licensed in the UK and Malta (iGaming Business, 27 June 2022). Forty-six days later, on 12 August 2022, Asian BGE (Isle of Man) Limited surrendered its remote casino licence, which it had held since 1 November 2014. The company's Gambling Commission register page (account 39364) now lists dafabet.com, sports.dafabet.com and uk.dafabet.com/en/casino among its inactive domains.
The brand did not leave the British market, though. As of 28 October 2026, dafabet.co.uk appears on the record of SCGO Limited, a company based in St Julian's, marked “White Label” (domains registered by SCGO Limited). As the holder of a remote casino licence active since 6 April 2017, SCGO answers to the regulator for whatever happens on the site. So the licence no longer belongs to the house that built the brand.
Spain: €60,000 over autoplay rounds
In Spain, the brand obtained its B2C licence from the DGOJ in December 2019. Six months later, it announced that its betting offer was moving to R. Franco Digital's IRIS platform (SBC News, 8 June 2020). The DGOJ's resolution ES 2025/016 identifies Eurasia Solutions PLC as the company behind dafabet.es and cites it for a serious infringement.
The facts fit into a handful of dates. On 18 December 2024, some slots on the site let players set more than 100 autoplay rounds, which Article 14 of Orden HAP/1370/2014 prohibits. Inspectors recorded it in a report dated 26 December. The operator itself put the number of affected games at 188, all from a supplier referred to as MGA (a game developer, not the Maltese authority with the same initials). It fixed the settings on 27 December and suggested the supplier might have changed them on 22 November. Proposed fine: €100,000. Eurasia Solutions accepted responsibility and paid voluntarily, which brought the amount down to €60,000.
That cap exists to limit strings of spins launched without any action from the player. I see it as a useful reminder. A certified game protects nobody if the settings around it drift, even when, according to the operator, the drift comes from a change on the supplier's side.
Brazil: three months on a shirt, then the exit
In Brazil, the brand appeared on Guarani's shirt from July 2024, when the Campinas club was playing in Série B. The contract was meant to run until the end of the 2025 Campeonato Paulista. Dafabet, however, was missing from the Ministry of Finance's list of authorised betting sites. It announced the end of its Brazilian operations as of 10 October 2024 (Poder360, 10 October 2024), one day before at least 2,000 other unauthorised platforms were due to be blocked.
What does Asia-Pacific really mean for an online casino?
In India and Australia, the answer is a ban. India has outlawed online money games since 1 May 2026, and Australia bars online casinos and slots under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001. In the Philippines, where Dafabet was based in 2018, it was the offshore sector serving foreign players that shut down at the end of 2024. For readers anywhere else, one principle settles most cases: a licence granted in one country does not make a site legal in another. Regulators publish their licensees so that anyone can check. Britain's Gambling Commission keeps a public register, and the Malta Gaming Authority a licensee register searchable by name or website.
India: a total ban since 1 May 2026
Enacted on 22 August 2025, the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act 2025 came into force on 1 May 2026. The start date was set by a notification from India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), dated 22 April (SCC Online, 23 April 2026). Section 1(2) expressly extends the Act to online money gaming services operated from outside India. Another notification, also dated 22 April, set up the Online Gaming Authority of India (analysis by King, Stubb & Kasiva on Mondaq, 12 May 2026). Three bans form the backbone of the law:
Offering: providing an online money game, whether it relies on chance, skill or both, is punishable by up to three years in prison and a fine of up to ₹1 crore (₹10 million).
Promoting: advertising these games can cost up to two years in prison and a ₹50 lakh fine (₹5 million).
Transferring: banks and payment providers may no longer move money intended for these services.
Yet as of 28 October 2026, dafabet.com still offers Hindi and Telugu versions, plus a Bengali version labelled India. For a European studio whose games run at such a partner, that detail calls for a written question before any integration: in which countries, exactly, are my titles being served?
Philippines: the end of offshore operators
Signed in Manila on 5 November 2024, Executive Order No. 74 ordered online games offered from the Philippines solely to players abroad to shut down no later than 31 December 2024. It also ruled out any new licence and any renewal (full text of Executive Order No. 74). The order targets the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), yet it also covers licences issued by any special economic zone authority. Games offered to Philippine residents fall outside its scope.
Its application to CEZA was nonetheless debated. In early January 2025, the Philippine Department of the Interior and Local Government pointed out that economic zones such as Cagayan's were not exempt. CEZA's CEO, Katrina Ponce Enrile, said the authority was complying with the ban (AGBrief, 3 January 2025). CEZA is precisely the authority that licensed Dafabet in 2018. This timeline says nothing about the brand's own situation. It does show what the word “Asia-Pacific” is worth in 2026 when it serves as the address on a deal.
Australia: a cricket tournament and a regulator in the hot seat
In Australia, the 2001 law bans offering residents online casinos, online slots or in-play sports betting over the internet. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) gets offending sites blocked: 975 illegal gambling and affiliate websites between November 2019 and May 2024, by its own count (ACMA, May 2024). Yet in 2023, Dafabet, with no Australian licence, sponsored Northern Territory Cricket's Top End T20 Series.
Emails released under freedom of information laws showed that an ACMA media adviser had suggested to Northern Territory Cricket that the two coordinate their answers to a journalist's questions. The regulator said it had only reminded the body of the law's advertising bans, with no formal investigation under way (Focus Gaming News, 9 January 2026). The episode dates from the same year as the GameArt deal. Dafabet's Asia-Pacific also ran through territories where the brand held no licence at all.
Which GameArt games speak to Asian players?
The press release names no game, yet GameArt's library holds a long run of Asian-inspired titles. As of 28 October 2026, the series stretches from Dragon Lady (24 November 2015) to Baccarat Dragon Blaze, announced for 24 November 2026. Other releases have their own stories in the blog's articles tagged Games on this provider. In the table below, the five slots cover the full volatility range, from gentlest to steepest, before the last two titles move to the tables.
Seven Asian-inspired titles from 2015 to 2026
Title
Release (official page)
Format
Volatility
What sets it apart
Dragon Lady
24 Nov 2015
5 reels, 10 lines, 96% RTP
High
Respin when stacked Wilds cover reel 2, 3 or 4; 15 Free Spins
Chinese Zodiac
6 Jun 2018
5 reels, 25 lines, 96.1% RTP
Low
The twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac, the dragon as Wild, 9 to 15 Free Spins
Lunar Rabbit
31 Jan 2023
7x7 cluster grid
Very high
Rabbit Wild that fills the screen during Free Spins, with a x10 multiplier
Golden Furong
30 Jan 2024
5x3, 25 lines
Medium
Lucky Coins Respins and three jackpots, Buy Bonus
Dragon King Megaways
6 Feb 2024
6 reels, up to 117,649 Megaways
Medium to high
Up to 25 Free Spins with a random multiplier of up to x25, Buy Bonus
San Loong Fortune
24 Feb 2026
Table game
Not applicable
Card duel between your dragons and a hidden tiger, three betting fields
Baccarat Dragon Blaze
24 Nov 2026 (announced)
Eight-deck baccarat
Not applicable
Dragon Boost, Pair and Super 6 side bets, five scoreboards
Three of these titles came out between late January and early February, during Lunar New Year season. Lunar Rabbit openly celebrates the 2023 festival, while Golden Furong and Dragon King Megaways arrived shortly before the 2024 one. The release calendar reveals the intent better than any press release could.
The game pages also map out a geography. Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Thai always feature among the languages on the pages for Lunar Rabbit, Dragon King Megaways, San Loong Fortune and Baccarat Dragon Blaze. Indonesian appears only for Lunar Rabbit, and Vietnamese and Hindi nowhere. These games therefore speak to East Asia and Thailand more fluently than to Vietnam or South Asia, two areas where dafabet.com has translated its interface.
Baccarat and a dragon duel: Asia takes a seat at the table
In the third quarter of 2026, baccarat generated 83.9% of the gross gaming revenue of Macau's casinos, against 6.8% for slot machines. The mass segment contributed 55.8% and VIP play 28.1%, according to figures from the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) reported by AGBrief on 22 October 2026. Any slot studio courting Asian players ends up at that table sooner or later.
GameArt has offered a Baccarat game since 6 January 2022 (GameArt's official Baccarat page), in a collection where reels dominate by a wide margin. In 2026, the provider returns to the felt with two Asian-themed tables. San Loong Fortune, released on 24 February 2026, pits your dragon cards against a tiger's card that stays face down until the showdown. Bets go on three fields (red, green and blue), and after the initial bet you can raise or fold. The initial bet also pays more when the tiger loses while holding a Queen or King. This duel's mechanics recall the table games to try without wagering that I list on Kynox. Nothing about it resembles a slot: no reels, no paylines, just cards.
Baccarat Dragon Blaze, announced for 24 November 2026, is built on eight-deck baccarat and its three core bets. Player pays even money, Banker pays 0.95 to 1 (the 5% commission is taken on that side) and Tie pays 8 to 1. The dragon comes in through the side bets. Dragon Boost pays more on wins without a natural, meaning without an 8 or 9 on the first two cards. The payout climbs with the winning margin, up to 30 to 1 for a non-natural 9. Pair pays 11 to 1, and Super 6 pays 15 to 1 when Banker wins with 6 points. The page also displays five scoreboards, the classic baccarat roads from Bead Road to Cockroach Pig. These boards predict nothing. They record past hands, like a score you read after the concert is over.
To get familiar with these three bets without staking a cent, the baccarat demo page gathers tables you can play for free. My bet, and it is only a bet: if GameArt ever returns to Asia with more than a press release, it will come through the table rather than the reels.
Three years on: what the deal changed for GameArt
Three years after the announcement, GameArt's operator deals still point towards regulated Europe and Latin America. Its releases since 4 October 2023 cover Belgium (PepperMill Casino, Madison Casino, Starcasino), Latin America (KTO Group), the Netherlands (JACKS.NL), Italy (Casino di Venezia, Vincitu) and Spain (Solcasino). The blog follows these partnerships with casino operators one by one, and none has involved Asia since Dafabet.
The certified markets the studio cites point the same way. In June 2021, Chief Operations Officer Deane Hendricks listed the Philippines among eight markets where the studio's games were already certified (GameArt's announcement of 23 June 2021). The other seven were Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Croatia, Spain, Romania and Colombia. In August 2026, the EGT Digital announcement named seven markets, all of them European: Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Serbia and Montenegro. The list is open-ended and does not claim to be complete. Belgium, for one, is missing, even though GameArt announced Starcasino there on 22 October 2026. In between, the studio obtained its Malta Gaming Authority licence in February 2023, then its ISO 9001 and ISO 27001:2022 certifications in March 2025, two compliance milestones.
I don't think the Dafabet deal was a misstep. It looks more like a door left ajar that the studio never walked through. Nothing suggests the agreement was broken off, and nothing suggests it weighed on the studio's choices either. On 24 November, Baccarat Dragon Blaze will show whether that door opens again, and from which side of the table.
FAQs:
When did GameArt and Dafabet announce their partnership?
On 4 October 2023, in a press release published on GameArt's website. The text addresses Dafabet's players in Asia-Pacific without narrowing the geography any further.
Which GameArt games does Dafabet offer?
The press release does not list any: it announces the integration of the studio's HTML5 slot portfolio. Separately, GameArt's library includes Asian-inspired titles such as Chinese Zodiac, Golden Furong and Dragon King Megaways.
Who operates Dafabet?
It depends on the site. Osmila N.V., a Curaçao company, runs dafabet.com, and SCGO Limited carries dafabet.co.uk as a white label. According to the DGOJ, Eurasia Solutions PLC was running dafabet.es in 2025. Back in 2018, the brand belonged to AsianBGE, based in Makati in the Philippines.
Does Dafabet have a UK licence?
Not in its own name since 12 August 2022, when Asian BGE (Isle of Man) Limited handed its licence back. The dafabet.co.uk site now operates under SCGO Limited's licence.
What is a white label in online gambling?
A brand run under another company's licence. The licence holder is the one accountable to the regulator for what happens on the site.
Is Dafabet legal in India?
No real-money online gaming operator has been legal in India since 1 May 2026. The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act 2025 bans these games outright, even when the operator is based outside India.
Is Dafabet legal where I live?
That depends on your country. Find the company named in the footer of the site you use, then search for it in your national regulator's register. A licence from another jurisdiction is no guarantee for your own.
What is Baccarat Dragon Blaze?
An eight-deck baccarat game from GameArt, announced for 24 November 2026. On top of the Player, Banker and Tie bets, it offers side bets such as Dragon Boost and Super 6.
What is San Loong Fortune? A GameArt table game released on 24 February 2026. Your dragon cards take on the tiger's hidden card across three betting fields.
Is GameArt still active in Asia?
Its press releases have announced no Asian deal since Dafabet, and the seven certified markets in its non-exhaustive list of August 2026 are all European. The pages of its recent games, such as Dragon King Megaways and Baccarat Dragon Blaze, still list Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Thai.
