About this app
What is Mustang Trail?
However, some media industry observers have questioned whether trading activity can reliably stand in for broader public opinion. There are also concerns among critics over the growing links between news organizations and prediction platforms.
At the same time, prediction market operators are facing regulatory tussles in the US. State regulators are moving to shut down the firms under gambling laws. The companies say their contracts should be regulated at the federal level as derivatives.
However, the sector has grown substantially despite such disputes. Bernstein predicted in April that annual prediction market volume could reach $1 trillion by 2030. The research estimated volume was around $51 billion in 2025 and could grow to around $240 billion in 2026.
How to play Mustang Trail
Jackpots and free-to-play may be very different propositions, but Wilson judges both against the same unromantic measure: whether they produce value for the operator.
For free-to-play, that process can begin before the customer has committed money. “It’s about building muscle memory, providing achievable incentives to players and gamification,” Wilson explains. By lowering the barrier to participation, a free-to-play game can provide an accessible first interaction with an operator, while repeated play builds familiarity and creates a reason to return.
The format, however, cannot simply be copied and pasted from one market to the next. “We’ve found that the more localised the offering, the better,” Wilson says. “We’re talking about building anything from sumo wrestling to Love Island, as well as the headline sports. Ice cage fighting has been a popular one in a certain market for us.”
About Mustang Trail
Hurst is also a board member at Global Gaming Women, giving her firsthand experience of how networks, mentorship and role models can help women advance. She was previously recognised in iGB’s Most Influential Women list in 2024.
Another MIW 2024 alum, Lois Bright, who also founded of Women in Gaming Africa and co-founded Gaming Advisory Partners, says the group’s key achievement has been making women visible and helping them to progress into leadership roles.
“I think it’s given a boost to women in the sense that they have a platform for tangible change, not just them as individuals, but collectively as a movement,” Bright says.
