Former Greater Manchester Mayor set to become Prime Minister on Monday

Northern business leaders have welcomed Andy Burnham’s election as leader of the Labour Party and as next Prime Minister – and say they now want to see stability in Government to give businesses the confidence to invest.

Mr Burnham was confirmed as labour leader on Friday, when he pledged: “I will be a pro-business leader of the Labour party as I was a pro-business mayor of Greater Manchester.”

Henri Murison, chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said: “We congratulate Andy Burnham on his election as Leader of the Labour Party and look forward to working constructively with him as he prepares to become Prime Minister next week.

“The Manchester model has demonstrated what can be achieved through long-term leadership, strong civic institutions and collaboration with universities and business. Over the Pennines, the productivity transformation of the site of the Battle of Orgreave thanks to the Advanced Manufacturing Park, termed Rotherhamism, shows the path for re-industrialisation again here drawing on private investor Harworth, the university and local councils.

“Crucially, both those successes have also been built on creating the conditions to unlock private investment. We must now go further on funding and finance for new rail stations on Northern Powerhouse Rail to energy projects like carbon capture and Small Modular Reactors.

“The North has a central role to play in the UK’s future prosperity. By giving places the control of future tax revenues and wider investment they need to succeed, there is a real opportunity to accelerate growth, raise productivity and improve living standards – not just in the North, but across the entire country.”

Ben Booth, CEO of Manchester-headquartered contact centre technology provider MaxContact, said: “I warmly welcome Andy Burnham’s appointment to the role of Prime Minister. As a business leader based in Manchester, I’ve always felt that he is someone willing to listen to local businesses and who understands the challenges facing businesses outside of London. For too long, many of the UK’s most innovative companies have had to operate under uncertain policies which have made growth harder rather than easier.

“What we need now is stability, predictability and a long-term vision that gives companies the confidence to invest, hire and grow.”

He added: “I’m particularly excited that we now have the prospect of a Prime Minister who understands the potential of the Northern economy. The North has all the right features in place to become a technology powerhouse, with exceptional universities, thriving business communities and an increasingly attractive investment landscape. We’re already seeing evidence of this, with venture capital and private equity firms increasingly opening offices in Manchester, Leeds, and Liverpool because they recognise the opportunities here. With the right support from the government, this momentum can grow and deliver benefits for the entire UK economy.

“However, businesses need confirmation on where Mr Burnham stands across a range of major policy issues. Without that, there’s a risk of the same unpredictability that we’ve experienced in recent years. Consistent decision-making and a stable operating environment will be essential if we are to unlock long-term investment and job creation.”

Gary Jenkins, MD of Warrington-based PR and search agency No Brainer, said: “I’ll be looking for policies from the new Prime Minister that give SMEs the confidence to invest, recruit and grow. The last couple of years have been challenging enough without further increases to the cost of employing people, and the rise in employer National Insurance contributions has undoubtedly made expansion more difficult for many businesses.

“I’d like to see a clear commitment to supporting entrepreneurship, investment in digital skills and AI adoption. That’s as well as creating an environment where ambitious businesses can plan for the long term. Stability is hugely important. Most SMEs don’t expect governments to solve every problem, but they do need certainty and a tax system that encourages growth rather than making it harder to create jobs.”

Richard Caten, CEO of planning and infrastructure consultancy Ardent, said: “Andy Burnham has shown that when local leaders are trusted with the right powers and resources, they can deliver projects that have a tangible impact on people’s lives. As he prepares to lead the country, there is an opportunity to bring that delivery-focused approach to national infrastructure policy.

“The UK doesn’t lack ambition when it comes to growth; the challenge has often been translating ambition into projects on the ground. Whether it’s housing, transport, energy or regeneration, successful delivery depends on clear planning, early collaboration and the confidence to invest for the long term.

“As the government sets out its priorities, creating the right conditions for infrastructure delivery will be essential. A planning system that provides greater certainty, alongside political stability and a consistent long-term vision for infrastructure, will help unlock development, give investors the confidence to back UK plc, attract private capital and accelerate the projects that underpin economic growth.

“The opportunity now is to build on the progress already being made across the UK’s regions and create an environment where nationally significant infrastructure projects can move from ambition to delivery more efficiently. That will be key to creating lasting economic value for communities across the country.”

Online casinos are one of the most rigorously tested types of businesses in the world of commerce. They often operate at a massive scale where there is instant feedback and customer value is known down to the penny.

Every single welcome offer, reload bonus, free spins, and loyalty reward has been repeatedly tested, retested, and adjusted after looking at the hard data. Anyone who’s involved in a restaurant group, retailer, mobile app, or airline can learn a lot from these types of businesses.

Promotions are Mathematics Problems

Ask a marketing team about why they decided to run a 20% discount and you will often hear about sales targets, brand positioning, and competitive pressure.

Ask a casino marketer the same question and you’ll be met with a single answer, which will be the reinvestment rate. That’s the percentage of a customer’s expected value that the business is willing to give back in order to secure their continued engagement.

This approach turns promotions from a creative decision into a budgeting decision. Different customer segments will justify different rates. High-value customers can get richer offers, as the absolute return will be bigger.

Most businesses in other sectors never do the maths and will usually discount in response to a poor quarter or a competitor’s campaign, before wondering why their margins drop without seeing an uptick in retention. The casino’s commitment to enforcing the rate and not letting anything else set the pricing is an approach available to any business willing to do the calculations.

Measure Incrementally

Another thing that online casinos do well is that they always ensure they have a control group. This is seen typically in a reactivation campaign, with a portion of the target segment getting nothing at all.

The performance of the campaign is the difference in revenue between the treated group and the untreated one. This gives you a proper insight into whether a promotion actually caused any type of difference.

Businesses in other sectors will often celebrate campaigns that reach customers who intended to purchase regardless. Without having a holdout group, you won’t get a true measurement of success. This approach also costs nothing to implement.

Segment by Behaviour

Casinos don’t divide up their customer base by postcode or age bracket. They segment their actions, such as how recently they engaged, how frequently, at what value and what pattern.

A customer whose weekly rhythm suddenly stops is a different issue from one who has always been a sporadic player. The type of intervention on both fronts will need to be different.

Sports, retail and subscription businesses have this data and use it badly, sorting customers into broad personas rather than the differences. The recency frequency value model is an old one that’s still effective.

Structure Changes Behaviour More Than Size

Casinos learned long ago that the type of incentive matters as much as its value. An offer that’s in the form of bonus money versus cash will be different. The same goes for a retention link with a specific game. A benefit that arrives only after crossing a threshold will naturally bring customers towards that threshold.

The transferable insight is that you have the ability to impact behaviour. A software business offering a feature unlock and not a price reduction is buying product adoption and defending its price point at the same time. Every offer trades value for something, so you need to know what you’re getting before writing the terms.

Onboarding Decides Lifetime Value

Online operators are surprisingly precise at deducing from the first decisions of a new account to then predict their value for years to come. A significant share of initial spend and important retention goes into that time period, such as guiding users towards experienced users and ensuring that their first encounter is actually enjoyable.

Many businesses underinvest here relative to acquisition. It’s easier to buy another click than to fix the fourth screen of a sign-up flow. The casino sector’s willingness to spend money to make the first 72 hours excellent is a lesson that transfers cleanly across other sectors.

Status is Cheaper Than Cash

Rewarding loyal customers works. Recognition, priority and access are all inexpensive things to grant and they will be disproportionately valued by the people who receive them.

A named contact, fast service, and earlier booking window, a small ceremonial acknowledgement, all cost a fraction of an equivalent discount and generate stronger attachment. That’s because a decision can be matched by a competitor tomorrow, but a relationship can’t.

Recent Innovations in Online Casino Promotions

Operators are now making real-time decisions that can act on behaviour within seconds and not have to wait until next week’s meeting. Hyper-personalisation is also being included, which can adjust lobbies and bonuses dynamically, which allows an operator to deliver precise value to one player profile without giving a more wide-ranging discount to the entire player base.

One of the most interesting innovations is modern devices online that block automated incentives for risky behavioural patterns as a native function. This also means detecting escalating stake or expansion in sessions. This is something that regulators expect and modern technology helps operators with the task.

An Interesting Future

The gambling industry is constantly looking at ways to adapt. The rise of prediction markets in recent years has added another layer of complexity that needs consideration. Sportsbooks that have operated in a similar fashion for years now need to re-examine their marketing practices to try to engage with the audience that is in danger of being lost to prediction markets.

Then there’s the regulatory pressure, as bodies introduce new measures like stake limits, affordability checks, and enhanced customer interaction requirements. The casinos that will survive in the coming decade of regulatory tightening are the ones that are already making moves to address player engagement and to have proper systems to spot anyone who’s being erratic.

For businesses in other sectors, the lesson is more about how they should measure the success or failure of their marketing campaigns. By taking a cold, hard look at the data, you can learn a lot about the true effectiveness of what you’re doing. This will have the long-term benefit of making your marketing spend more efficient and not wasting your resources.

Lionel Messi has moved into the lead for the 2026 World Cup Golden Boot, edging ahead of France’s Kylian Mbappé on the strength of a tiebreaker after Wednesday’s dramatic semifinal, setting up a tight finish to one of the tournament’s most closely watched individual races heading into the final weekend.

Both Messi and Mbappé enter the tournament’s closing matches with eight goals apiece, the most of any player at this year’s World Cup. With the two tied on goals, the Golden Boot race currently comes down to assists, the first tiebreaker used by FIFA when players finish level on goals. Messi holds four assists so far in the tournament, one more than Mbappé’s three, giving the Argentine captain the edge for now. Should the two remain tied on both goals and assists by the tournament’s end, the final tiebreaker would be total minutes played, with the player who has spent less time on the field awarded the honor.

Messi’s edge in assists came directly from Wednesday’s semifinal against England, in which he set up both of Argentina’s late goals in a dramatic 2-1 comeback victory. He first found Enzo Fernández for an equalizer in the 85th minute, then delivered a precise cross for Lautaro Martínez to head home the winner in the second minute of stoppage time. Those two assists pushed Messi’s tournament total to four, moving him ahead of Mbappé in the standings for the first time since the French forward’s own strong run through the tournament’s knockout rounds.

Messi’s path to the Golden Boot lead has featured several signature moments throughout the tournament. He opened his account with a hat trick against Algeria in Argentina’s first group match, then added a brace against Austria that pushed his career World Cup goal total past Germany’s Miroslav Klose, previously the all-time leading scorer in men’s World Cup history with 16 goals. Messi came off the bench to score in Argentina’s final group match against Jordan, then netted his seventh goal of the tournament, and 20th of his career at the time, against Cape Verde in the round of 32. He delivered another crucial moment in the round of 16 against Egypt, scoring the equalizer as Argentina rallied from two goals down to win 3-2 in a match that also saw Messi miss an earlier penalty attempt. He picked up his second assist of the tournament during Argentina’s extra-time win over Switzerland in the quarterfinals before his two-assist performance against England on Wednesday.

Mbappé’s tournament has been similarly productive, though his path to eight goals unfolded on a slightly different timeline. The French forward scored twice against Sweden in the round of 32, then converted a penalty in a 1-0 win over Paraguay in the round of 16, before drawing level with Messi at eight goals with a goal in France’s quarterfinal win over Morocco. Mbappé’s tournament came to an end in Tuesday’s semifinal, when France fell 2-0 to Spain, meaning he was unable to add to his goal total in that match, unlike Messi, whose two assists the following night vaulted him back into the lead.

Mbappé retains one more opportunity to add to his tally. France faces England in Saturday’s third-place playoff, giving the 27-year-old a final chance to either match or surpass Messi’s assist total, or potentially add an outright goal that would push him ahead in the primary goal-count category regardless of assists. Messi, meanwhile, will not play again until Sunday’s final against Spain, meaning any further movement in the assist tiebreaker will need to come from his performance in the championship match itself, should Argentina create additional scoring opportunities for him to set up teammates.

Both players remain within striking distance of the tournament’s all-time career scoring record. Messi currently holds that record outright with 21 career World Cup goals, a mark he set with his goal against Egypt in the round of 16. Mbappé sits one goal behind at 20 career World Cup goals, meaning a strong showing in Saturday’s third-place match could pull him level with Messi’s all-time mark even if it does not ultimately change the outcome of this year’s Golden Boot race.

Other players remain mathematically alive in the broader scoring conversation, though none currently threaten the top two. Norway’s Erling Haaland finished his tournament with seven goals after his side’s elimination, positioning him for a third-place finish in the goal-scoring standings regardless of Saturday’s outcome. England’s Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham are both tied with six goals apiece, with Kane potentially able to add to his total in Saturday’s third-place match against France, though neither player found the net in Wednesday’s semifinal loss to Argentina. France winger Ousmane Dembélé and Spain forward Mikel Oyarzabal round out the group of outside contenders with five goals each.

Prediction markets have reflected the tightening race between the tournament’s two biggest individual storylines. On Kalshi, a market tracking the Golden Boot winner showed Messi trading at 59 cents on a “yes” contract, implying roughly a 59% probability among traders that he will finish the tournament as the tournament’s top scorer, compared with Mbappé trading around 41 cents, reflecting the market’s view that Messi holds a meaningful but not insurmountable edge heading into the weekend’s final matches.

A Golden Boot win would mark a first for Messi, adding to an already extensive trophy collection that includes eight Ballon d’Or awards and, pending Sunday’s outcome, a possible second consecutive World Cup title. Mbappé, by contrast, has already won the award once before, claiming the Golden Boot at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar with a hat trick in the final against Argentina, even though France ultimately lost that match on penalties. With both players now separated only by assists and one outstanding match apiece, the race is set to remain unresolved until the final whistle of Sunday’s championship match, when FIFA will confirm the tournament’s official Golden Boot winner.