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Playwin in JV with Sportech for sports-based gaming products
MUMBAI: Gaming and lottery company Playwin has announced its entry into a joint venture with Sportech PLC, a UK-based football gaming business ompany and owner of The New Football Pools.
The association will mark the launch of a broad-based online gaming platform for India. This association will enable Playwin to offer games which will be specifically tailored for the Indian audience. The new games are expected to be launched in Spring 2010 with new prediction and fantasy games initially centred around the most popular sports of cricket, football and Formula One motorsport.
This will be a 50 per cent JV and looks to capitalise on India‘s one billion population‘s passion for sport with the new gaming platform initially offering a set of sports prediction and fantasy games.
Playwin already offers various games that are based on international lotto game formats. Till date Playwin has given away more than Rs 80 billion in the form of prize money, making it one of the most successful forms of gaming within a short span of 7 years. Over 12,000 retail shops enjoy Playwin‘s patronage. The biggest jackpot win of Playwin has been bagged by a single winner with Rs 172 million on Playwin‘s Thursday Super Lotto.
Pan India Network CEO Amit Goenka said, “India is a sports loving nation and there is huge market for gaming. We are glad to have this association with Sportech considering a very wide base of sports fans in the country. With exciting sports games on offer, we are sure both Playwin and Sportech will see great success in the Indian market. Innovation has always been the backbone of Playwin‘s strategy since its inception in 2002 and basis of all our accomplishments. Moving ahead, we aim to attract and target a huge chunk of sport lovers through this joint venture”.
Sportech CEO Ian Penrose says, “This gives Sportech a great opportunity to launch sports-based gaming products into a growing and lucrative marketplace, and is the logical next step in Sportech‘s ambition to be an international gaming operator. We look forward to operating a successful business in India as we continue to pursue further international expansion opportunities.”
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
