Real time business intel provided by Regal Gaming Technologies has revealed there was an 18.7 percent year-on-year uplift in machine gameplay during England’s World Cup opener against Croatia. The data maps player activity before, during, and after the match, providing licensees with all of the granular data they require in order to make informed decisions.
The latest data researched and analysed by leading operator Regal Gaming Technologies has debunked the perception that major televised sporting events have a detrimental effect on machine play.
The Regal machine data has shown that England’s opening Group L game against Croatia on 17 June coincided with a double-digit spike in gameplay with clear trends in player activity before, during, and post-match. Gameplay increased by close to a fifth (18.67 percent) compared to the same period last year and represented a 7.5 percent increase on the previous four-week average.
Regal has confirmed that England’s 4-2 victory over Croatia was the best-performing day for gaming machine play since the tournament opened on 11 June.
Expanding on the data, Regal Managing Director Matt Bicknell said: “Our on-going investment in the very latest technologies means that we are uniquely placed to support Britain’s pubs with an unparalleled level of insight and business intelligence. We are able to identify dips and increases in income for any of our sited machines at any time of the day: the level of detail that’s available means that we are able to provide licensees with all of the data they require in order to make informed decisions.
“Using the FIFA World Cup as the current high-profile example we know that gameplay increased as Portugal’s match began at 6pm, there was a dip when England started playing, after 10pm during the second half of England’s match, gameplay rose again and stayed strong until closing time. Drilling down into the data Fishin’ Frenzy remained the most popular game with Maradona, which was released earlier in June reaching fifth place in the rankings.”
He added: “Our technology-driven intelligence and real-time insight enables us to fulfil the fundamentals of machine operating which is to maximise income on behalf of our customers.”
World beating gameplay
Matt Bicknell said… “We are able to identify dips and increases in income for any of our sited machines at any time of the day: the level of detail that’s available means that we are able to provide licensees with all of the data they require in order to make informed decisions…
Originally published on Coinslot on June 29, 2026. Republished with permission.