Top gainers

Cambodia +27.4% — No clear country-specific trigger surfaced. Cambodia’s iGaming search base remains low, making double-digit weekly swings structurally common.

El Salvador +27.3% — This gain is a clean mean-reversion after the prior week’s –15.6% decline. 

Madagascar +26.8% — No clear country-specific trigger surfaced for Madagascar’s gain. 

Guatemala +26.2% — Liga Nacional Clausura 2026 continued with Round 4 of the second phase during the reporting week, sustaining domestic football interest. No standout policy or enforcement event surfaced.

Algeria +25.9% — Algeria’s World Cup squad announcement on March 19 and the launch of the Adidas away kit on March 20 landed during the reporting week, directly ahead of the March 27–30 friendlies against Guatemala and Uruguay. 

Top decliners

Ireland –41.7% — Direct mean-reversion from the prior week’s +78.9% Cheltenham Festival surge. The Festival ran March 10–13, with Irish-trained horses winning 15 of 28 races and total attendance reaching 226,223 across four days. With no replacement racing fixture of comparable scale, search interest reverted sharply toward baseline.

Qatar –23.2% — The Qatar Football Festival (March 26–31), headlined by the Finalissima between Argentina and Spain, was cancelled due to airspace disruption and regional circumstances. Local sporting competitions also resumed behind closed doors following a temporary suspension. The cancellation removed a major anticipated attention peak, compressing search interest during the pre-event window.

Hungary –18.5% — Mean-reversion from the prior week’s +30.3% gain. No country-specific gambling regulation, enforcement action, or sporting event surfaced during the reporting week to explain the prior spike or the current pullback. 

United Kingdom –17.2% — Pullback follows a +29% advance in Week 11 that was powered by the Six Nations final round on March 14 — including a dramatic France 48–46 England finale — and concurrent Cheltenham Festival activity. With both events concluded, no equivalent fixture filled the gap, and search interest normalised.

Sri Lanka –11.7% — No clear country-specific trigger surfaced for Sri Lanka’s decline. The decline coincides with the post-tournament window after the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which Sri Lanka co-hosted from February 7 to March 8.

Market spotlight: Ireland | –41.7%

The Cheltenham Festival is the single largest annual driver of iGaming search interest in Ireland — four days of championship National Hunt racing that concentrate betting activity the way a Grand Slam final does for tennis markets. The 2026 edition (March 10–13) delivered a dominant Irish performance: Willie Mullins trained eight winners, Paul Townend completed an unprecedented Champion Hurdle–Champion Chase–Gold Cup treble, and Ireland edged Britain 15–13 in the Prestbury Cup. That fuelled the prior week’s +78.9% surge.

This week had no replacement fixture of comparable scale. The next major catalyst is the Aintree Grand National Festival (April 3–5). Until then, a further modest decline is plausible as ante-post interest alone cannot sustain Cheltenham-level search volumes. The bulk of the mean-reversion pressure, however, has already been absorbed this week.

Regional snapshot

Europe 

The continent accounted for four of the week’s five decliners as Cheltenham and Six Nations hangovers rippled across Ireland (–41.7%) and the UK (–17.2%). Switzerland (+23.3%) and Estonia (+22.2%) provided the counterbalance, with Switzerland’s domain-blocking enforcement and Estonia’s gain occurring without a clear external trigger. 

Asia-Pacific 

Cambodia (+27.4%) led the regional upside and was the week’s overall top gainer, while New Zealand (+21.5%) rode regulatory momentum from the Online Casino Gambling Bill’s parliamentary progress. Nepal maintained a second consecutive week in the top 10 after advancing +20.2%, following its +28.7% gain in Week 11. 

Africa 

Algeria (+25.9%) and Madagascar (+26.8%) drove the region’s gains, with Algeria’s World Cup preparation cycle the clearest catalyst. On the downside, Somalia (–8.8%) and Namibia (–6.3%) both softened modestly.

Next week watchlist

Ireland 

The Aintree Grand National Festival begins April 3, but the gap between now and then leaves Ireland without a major race meeting. A further moderate decline of 5–10% is plausible as residual Cheltenham interest fades and pre-Aintree attention has not yet ramped.

Qatar 

The Qatar Football Festival cancellation removed the March 26–31 event window entirely. With no replacement fixture and ongoing regional airspace disruption, search interest is positioned to remain compressed or decline further through the end of March.

Algeria 

The national team’s friendly against Guatemala on March 27 in Genoa and against Uruguay on March 30 in Turin will test whether the squad-announcement attention converts into sustained match-week search interest. A further gain of 10–15% is plausible if both fixtures generate meaningful media coverage.

Methodology note

Blask Index tracks real-time iGaming player interest via AI-analyzed Google search data, updated hourly and filtered to remove low-intent noise (scams, complaints). WoW% measures momentum: positive indicates growing attention; negative indicates declining attention.