The recent surge in gold and silver prices to record highs will make the medals awarded at the 2026 Winter Olympics the most expensive in history.

The Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics officially begin on Friday and the value of the gold and silver medals that will be awarded to the winners and runners-up, respectively, have risen with the price of the precious metals.

The spot price of gold has risen over 70% in the last year, trading around $4,950 per ounce on Friday. In that timeframe, silver prices have surged 143% and the metal is trading around $76 per ounce as of Friday.

While Olympic medals have a clear sentimental value to the athletes who have typically spent years training to win them, that price surge increases the underlying value of the medals.

Samples of the silver, gold, and bronze medals of the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics are displayed at the Italian Mint in Rome, Italy, on Dec. 5, 2025. (Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters)

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Medals that will be awarded during the Milan Cortina Olympic Winter Games are made by the Italian State Mint and Polygraphic Institute based on set specifications using metal that was recycled from its own production waste, event organizers said in announcing the design last summer.

All medals are 80 mm in diameter with a thickness of 10 mm – although the gold, silver and bronze medals have different compositions.

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Tenor Andrea Bocelli performs during the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy. (Mike Segar/Reuters)

Gold medals awarded at the 2026 Winter Games will have just 6 grams of gold in their total weight of 506 grams, with the remainder composed of silver. Silver medals are made solely of silver and weigh 500 grams. 

At a price of $4,950 per Troy ounce, six grams of gold amounts to about $955, while the 500 grams of silver are worth about $1,221 given a price of $76 an ounce.

Bronze medals are made of copper and weigh 420 grams (about 0.93 lbs). At a current market rate of $5.89 per pound, a bronze medal is valued at roughly $5.45.

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Flagbearer Erin Jackson of United States in the athletes parade during the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy. (Yara Nardi/Reuters)

Olympians occasionally choose to sell their medals, which can go for significantly higher prices at auction than the intrinsic value of the metals they’re composed of due to the novelty and scarcity of an Olympic medal.

Four-time Olympic gold medalist Greg Louganis, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest American divers of all-time, said in a social media post last year that he auctioned three of his medals – two gold medals from the 1984 and 1988 Games and a silver from the 1976 Montreal Olympics – to help finance a move to Panama. According to SwimSwam, the auction earned Louganis more than $430,000.

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Swimmer Ryan Lochte in action during the Men’s 200M Individual Medley Final at Kazan Arena in Kazan, Russia in 2015. (Thomas Lovelock /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)

Swimmer Ryan Lochte – who won six gold medals, three silver and three bronze across four appearances at the Summer Olympics – sold three of his golds at auction last month for $385,520.

Fox News Digital’s Paulina Dedaj contributed to this report.

A career plateau at senior level rarely reflects declining capability. More often, it signals a mismatch between role complexity and how contribution is perceived.

The work associated with life coaches in London increasingly intersects with structured career progression for experienced professionals facing this challenge.

In London’s competitive environments, sustained performance alone is insufficient for advancement. Senior professionals must translate output into organisational leverage. Career coaching addresses this conversion problem directly.

Why Senior Professionals Hit a Career Plateau

At senior levels, career plateaus are rarely caused by a lack of capability. More often, progress stalls because perception, leverage, and visibility no longer scale with responsibility. What appears to be a personal limitation is usually a structural misalignment between contribution and recognition.

Capability problem vs perception and leverage problem

This framing shifts the plateau from a personal failing to a solvable leadership design problem. It also makes clear why executive presence and leverage, not additional effort, are usually the limiting factors.

More responsibility with less clarity

As roles expand, responsibility often increases faster than decision authority. Senior professionals inherit ambiguity without clear prioritisation logic. This erodes effectiveness despite continued effort.

The result is operational overload rather than strategic contribution. A career plateau emerges even while performance remains high.

Performance without visibility or sponsorship

Many senior professionals deliver results without controlling the narrative around those results. Without sponsorship, impact remains localised and advancement stalls. Visibility gaps are structural, not personal.

This is especially common in matrixed organisations. Influence without authority becomes a limiting factor.

What Career Progression Requires at Senior Level

Strategic scope and stakeholder influence

Career progression at senior level depends on visible ownership of strategic scope, not just functional execution. Influence must extend across boundaries, where stakeholder management becomes a core leadership capability. This shift separates reliable operators from promotable leaders; execution alone no longer differentiates.

A practical sequence:

• Identify decision-makers and blockers: Map who formally decides and who can delay or dilute outcomes. Do not assume authority follows the org chart.
• Define what each stakeholder values: Clarify incentives, risks, and success metrics from their perspective. Influence begins with relevance.
• Align deliverables to stakeholder outcomes: Translate your work into what advances their priorities. Strategic scope is recognised when others see their interests reflected.
• Create visibility moments: Choose forums, updates, or decision points where contribution is observed, not inferred. Visibility must be intentional.
• Confirm sponsorship signals: Secure explicit backing before escalation or exposure. Sponsorship converts influence into institutional support.

This sequence provides a compact operating model for expanding scope and influence without increasing effort or complexity.

Executive communication and decision ownership

Senior progression depends on how decisions are framed, defended, and carried under scrutiny. Executive communication must signal judgement rather than compliance, especially in moments of escalation. Authority is communicated behaviourally through boundary setting, pacing, and ownership of risk.

Executive framing that signals judgement:

This contrast illustrates how framing converts expertise into perceived authority. Strong framing compresses complexity into judgement and makes decision ownership explicit.

A Career Progression Framework That Creates Momentum

Audit of role, strengths, and gaps

Progression begins with a structured audit of role expectations and actual contribution. Strengths are mapped against future requirements, not past success. Gaps are defined operationally.

This prevents unfocused development activity. Precision matters at senior level.

Priorities for the next 90 days

Momentum requires short execution horizons. A ninety-day window forces prioritisation of actions that shift perception and leverage. Only high-impact initiatives are selected.

This cadence supports decision velocity. Progress becomes observable.

Weekly execution and accountability

Weekly accountability ensures that strategic intent converts into action. Each review examines decisions taken, influence exercised, and trade-offs made. Behaviour is the unit of progress.

This structure supports work life balance for leaders. Effort becomes directional.

How Career Coaching London Supports Breakthroughs

Repositioning without job-hopping focus

Career coaching London engagements often redirect focus from external moves to internal repositioning. Advancement is achieved by altering contribution patterns, not titles. Job-hopping is treated as a last resort.

This approach preserves institutional capital. It aligns with senior-level reality.

Building a measurable leadership narrative

Senior professionals require a coherent leadership narrative grounded in evidence. Coaching helps articulate this narrative through outcomes, not adjectives. Promotion readiness depends on this clarity.

Narratives are tested against stakeholder feedback. Adjustments are data-led.

How Kasia Siwosz Works With Senior London Professionals

One to one approach and confidentiality

All engagements are conducted through a confidential one to one model. This allows sensitive dynamics involving boards, founders, and senior peers to be addressed directly. Relevance is preserved.

Selective engagement protects outcome quality. Trust is foundational.

Progress tracking and review points

Progress is reviewed against predefined indicators tied to career progression. These include executive presence, delegation framework adoption, and improved time management for executives. Review points are scheduled and objective.

This evidence-led approach distinguishes structured coaching from advisory conversations. Measurement governs direction.

• Proven Performance Background
• Cross-Sector Expertise
• Results-Oriented 1:1 Format
• Tailored for High Performers
• Central London Focus
• Evidence-Led Approach
• Confidential and Selective Engagements
• Trusted by Executives and Founders
• Clarity, Cadence, and Confidence Framework
• No-Fluff, Practical Coaching Philosophy

These criteria define effective career coaching for senior professionals. They are particularly relevant when evaluating a life coach London, executive coach London, founder coach London, career coach London, performance coach London, confidence coach London, or burnout coach London offering.

Summary and Next Step

A career plateau at senior level reflects structural misalignment, not personal failure. When addressed through a clear career progression framework, momentum can be restored without disruption.

Senior professionals seeking career progression, improved executive presence, or readiness for increased scope should engage with Kasia Siwosz to discuss career coaching London aligned with their role demands and long-term objectives.

Unlicensed gambling in Sweden has continued to grow. Tighter regulations may not be having the impact the government desires, instead driving people offshore.

January 2027 will see the introduction of a new law in Sweden, which targets the location of a player using online gambling services. This will counteract a loophole, which it is believed is facilitating rapidly falling channelisation rates in the country. It will be supported by the Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling, though warnings have been made about how it will have little impact if overregulation burdens current operators.

Growth in Unlicensed Gambling Among Swedish Players

A report from April of last year by the Swedish Gambling Authority looked at 1,100 unlicensed gambling sites. It is estimated that 65% of this traffic was covered by active oversight. It placed unlicensed operators under three categories. These were totally unregulated entities, those regulated in other EU countries, such as Malta, and those regulated elsewhere in the world, such as Curaçao.

The report broke users down into categories. These were people who did so without knowing they were at unlicensed operators, underage gamblers, those registered with the Swedish gambling exclusion system and lastly those looking for sites with fewer restrictions. It showed that traffic to unlicensed operators, or those licensed in Sweden, was still extremely high.

ATG runs horse racing betting in the country. Its CEO, Hasse Lord Skarplöth, noted that “It is unreasonable that such a large proportion of gambling still takes place outside the licensing system. Unlicensed gambling is a breeding ground for money laundering, but above all, Swedish players are without protection from rogue operators. The annual turnover of unlicensed gambling is almost as much as the entire Swedish primary school costs.”

As Sweden moves toward 2026, the gambling market faces a clear imbalance where stricter regulation improves consumer protection but also pushes some players toward offshore alternatives, making it increasingly important for users to understand their legal and safer options when choosing among the best casino sites in Sweden operating under the national licensing framework.

Improved but Insufficient Channelisation Rates

In Q4 of 2024, the channelisation rate was around 69% and 82%. This was way below the 90% target the country had set out in 2019, when Sweden introduced its regulated market. This was only a marginal increase from the 70% and 82% suggested the year before. In 2023, it had stood at 86%, meaning 14% of gambling took place outside the regulated system.

The industry itself believes that strict oversight will continue to contribute to this volatility in the channelisation rates. Their logic is that blocks, bans, and higher costs will do little if offshore regulators are able to offer better services. This requires a change in attitude, making Swedish licensed operators more competitive and providing the regulatory framework that allows them to do so.

Taxation is a huge balancing act here. In 2024, the gambling tax rose from 18% to 22%. The Swedish Trade Association for Gambling has noted that higher taxes will lead to differences in quality between licensed and unlicensed operators as costs cut into companies’ profits.

For operators to be illegal in Sweden, they must fall within the “targeting criterion”. This gets complicated because sites which are accessible from Sweden are not automatically deemed illegal. Instead, they must target their services directly at the Swedish market. For example, a website in the Philippines written in English and serving European customers is not illegal. Yet if they add Swedish customer service and begin advertising in Sweden, they are.

This makes for an interesting loophole. There are licensed operators, unlicensed operators that are still technically legal, and then ones which are both illegal and unlicensed. This data then becomes even harder to quantify when you consider that many Swedish players speak and read English, and have bank accounts that operate in Euros.

The Continuing Challenges for Licensed Operators

One challenge is that many illegal gambling sites use the same platform providers as licensed ones. Research from Aktiebolaget Trav och Galopp (ATG) has suggested this could be as high as 17 out of 20 platforms. This makes it extremely hard to push the narrative that, in terms of UX, design and games, legalised operators are providing a much better service.

A further debate on taxation is also ongoing regarding the splitting of taxes. ATG wants to split this by product. This would provide a different rate for sports betting than for online casino gaming. This is being opposed by others, who believe that it would push players further offshore.

Advertising is another issue that must be addressed. Svenska Spel is the state-owned operator, and has been accused of giving itself an advantage, especially when it comes to an 18-point plan it has suggested regarding the advertising of gambling products. Further restrictions on advertising are being given as another regulation that could burden domestic operators.

Big ideas often get credit for changing careers and industries. But ideas alone do nothing without follow-through. Frank Elsner’s career shows how steady action, applied over time, can turn practical ideas into real results.

His path is not built on sudden wins. It is built on discipline, learning, and showing up prepared.

Today, Elsner serves as Chief of Safety and Security for the Natural Factors Group of Companies. His work reflects decades of experience across high-pressure roles, leadership positions, and continuous education. Along the way, he has focused on one core belief: simple ideas work best when they are practiced every day.

Early Experiences That Shaped His Thinking

Frank Elsner

was born in Germany and moved to Canada in 1965. He grew up in Vancouver and later in Oliver, British Columbia. Sports played a major role in his early life. He wrestled competitively and ranked second in the province in his weight class. He also played rugby and soccer.

“Wrestling taught me patience,” he says. “You don’t rush your way to success. You earn it one move at a time.”

By age 17, he became a certified expert diver. This early skill later shaped parts of his professional work. He also served as student council president, gaining early exposure to leadership and responsibility.

“At the time, I didn’t think of it as leadership,” he says. “I just wanted things to run better.”

These experiences formed the base of how he approaches ideas today. Start small. Stay focused. Learn from pressure.

Learning to Turn Ideas Into Action

Frank’s career unfolded across a wide range of demanding roles. He worked in undercover assignments, investigations, intelligence operations, dive teams, tactical environments, and senior leadership positions. Each role forced him to think clearly under stress.

“Undercover work taught me awareness,” he explains. “Tactical work taught me teamwork. Intelligence work taught me patience.”

Rather than chasing titles, he chose assignments that stretched his skills. This helped him develop ideas that were tested in real conditions. One example is his continued use of short debriefs.

“After anything important, I ask three questions,” he says. “What worked. What didn’t. What needs to change. It keeps you honest.”

This simple habit followed him into leadership roles and later into the private sector. It became a way to turn experience into improvement.

Education as a Tool for Better Thinking

Frank returned to school as a mature student at Lakehead University. He completed a four-year Political Science degree in three years while working full time. The experience reshaped how he approached problem-solving.

“Going back to school at 32 was hard,” he says. “But it forced me to slow down my thinking.”

More than two decades later, he earned a Master of Public Administration from Western University. This helped him connect ideas with systems.

“Big ideas only matter if you can make them work,” he says. “Education helped me understand how policy, people, and structure fit together.”

His academic journey reinforced a pattern in his life. When he lacked a tool, he went and learned it.

Applying Big Ideas in the Private Sector

As Chief of Safety and Security for Natural Factors Group of Companies, Frank applies lessons from decades of experience. His focus is not on complex systems. It is on culture, clarity, and awareness.

“Safety isn’t just about rules,” he says. “It’s about how people think when no one is watching.”

One of his key ideas is that clarity beats speed. He believes rushed decisions often create more work later.

“Patience will take you further than adrenaline,” he says.

He also encourages leaders to create space for silence.

“Silence is underrated,” he explains. “You learn more when you listen.”

These ideas influence how teams communicate, respond to risk, and make decisions under pressure.

Habits That Keep Ideas Alive

Frank credits much of his consistency to small personal habits. One is writing things down by hand, a practice he adopted during university.

“Handwriting forces you to slow down,” he says. “It helps ideas stick.”

Another is finding ways to reset. For Frank, that reset comes from motorcycle riding.

“When you’re riding, you’re fully present,” he says. “It clears the noise.”

These habits help him stay focused and grounded, even in demanding roles.

A Career Built Through Consistency

Frank Elsner’s career shows that big ideas do not need big speeches. They need practice. His story is one of steady progress shaped by discipline, learning, and reflection.

“Most big ideas start as small habits,” he says. “If you repeat them long enough, they become part of who you are.”

Rather than chasing attention, Frank focused on execution. That focus allowed his ideas to grow quietly but effectively, shaping his career and the organizations he serves.

Modern gaming platforms no longer win purely on content libraries, bonuses, or marketing spend.

Competitive advantage is increasingly determined by the quality of the underlying technology stack, particularly payment infrastructure.

This article examines how payment systems have evolved into a decisive moat for gaming operators, driven by massive investment, API-led architecture, advanced security engineering, cloud scalability, and the measurable financial cost of legacy platforms. Each section below explores a distinct technical pillar shaping competitive outcomes across the modern gaming ecosystem.

UK Gaming Industry Technology Investment Scale

The UK gaming market operates within one of the most technologically demanding environments globally, shaped by strict regulatory oversight, consumer protection requirements, and intense competition. To meet these demands, operators must build platforms that are secure, scalable, and continuously adaptable. Technology investment is therefore not optional; it is foundational to survival and growth. Payments infrastructure, in particular, sits at the intersection of compliance, customer experience, and revenue generation, making it a primary beneficiary of sustained capital allocation across the sector.

The UK gaming industry invests £2+ billion annually in technology infrastructure, reflecting a long-term commitment rather than cyclical modernization. This £2+ billion annual investment covers payment processing platforms, real-time transaction monitoring systems, fraud prevention tools, encryption frameworks, compliance automation, and cloud infrastructure capable of supporting uninterrupted operations. Payment technology absorbs a substantial share of this spend because every transaction must be fast, secure, traceable, and auditable under regulatory scrutiny.

Payment Systems as Strategic Differentiators

Payment systems were once treated as operational necessities designed to minimize transaction fees and administrative overhead. That perception has shifted fundamentally as user expectations and market dynamics evolved. Players now judge platforms based on deposit speed, withdrawal reliability, and payment transparency as much as game quality. As a result, payments have moved from the background into the core product experience.

Payment systems evolved from cost centers to strategic differentiators as operators recognized their direct impact on conversion rates, trust, and retention. Faster deposits reduce friction at the moment of intent, while reliable withdrawals reinforce credibility and long-term loyalty. Two platforms offering identical odds and games can produce dramatically different financial outcomes depending solely on payment performance, making infrastructure quality a competitive weapon rather than a sunk cost.

API-Driven Payment Architecture

Modern gaming platforms must adapt rapidly to regulatory changes, emerging payment methods, and evolving consumer behaviors. Traditional monolithic payment systems struggle under these pressures because changes in one component often require system-wide updates. API-driven architecture solves this problem by enabling modular, flexible integration across the payment stack.

API-driven payment architecture enables rapid feature deployment by separating payment logic from user interfaces and core gaming systems. This architectural approach allows operators to introduce new payment methods, adjust compliance workflows, and optimize authorization routing without disrupting live environments. Feature velocity becomes a function of configuration rather than redevelopment, giving API-native platforms a significant operational edge.

Security Engineering and Data Protection

Security is non-negotiable in gaming payments, where breaches carry severe regulatory penalties and irreversible reputational damage. Modern payment systems embed security controls at the architectural level rather than treating them as external safeguards. This design philosophy minimizes exposure while simplifying compliance across jurisdictions.

Tokenization and encryption reduce data breach liability by ensuring sensitive payment information is never stored or transmitted in plain form. Instead, transactions rely on encrypted tokens that are useless outside controlled environments. This dramatically lowers the risk profile of payment operations, reduces the scope of compliance audits, and limits financial exposure even in worst-case security incidents.

Multi-Payment Integration Complexity

Gaming platforms must accommodate a fragmented payment landscape shaped by geography, demographics, and device usage. Supporting cards, digital wallets, bank transfers, and alternative methods introduces significant operational and technical complexity. Managing this complexity efficiently is critical to maintaining performance and cost control.

Multi-payment integration requires sophisticated middleware (PSP aggregators) capable of routing transactions intelligently across multiple providers. These systems evaluate transaction cost, success probability, regulatory constraints, and real-time availability before selecting the optimal processing path. By abstracting this complexity, operators maintain flexibility while presenting a consistent payment experience to users.

Cloud-Native Payment Scalability

Transaction volumes in gaming are highly event-driven, spiking unpredictably around major sporting moments. Static infrastructure models cannot handle these surges without either overprovisioning or failure. Cloud-native payment systems address this challenge by scaling dynamically in response to demand.

Cloud-native payment systems scale during high-traffic events such as the World Cup and Cheltenham, automatically allocating computing and processing resources to maintain transaction speed and uptime. This elasticity ensures that deposits and withdrawals remain reliable precisely when transaction value and user engagement peak, protecting revenue during critical commercial windows.

Modern Payment Options as Competitive Advantage

Payment choice has become a defining element of platform appeal. Players increasingly favor operators that support familiar, frictionless payment methods integrated seamlessly into the gaming experience. Convenience and trust now outweigh marginal differences in bonuses or odds.

Operators that support modern wallets and fast settlement options, including  casinos with Apple Pay, gain measurable advantages in onboarding speed, user confidence, and repeat engagement. These benefits are not superficial; they result from deeply integrated tech stacks capable of handling authentication, fraud checks, and settlement logic without interrupting gameplay.

Legacy Payment Systems and Technical Debt

Many operators continue to rely on outdated payment platforms built for earlier regulatory and consumer environments. These systems accumulate technical debt over time, limiting adaptability and increasing operational risk. The true cost of legacy infrastructure often remains hidden until growth stalls.

Technical debt from legacy payment systems costs operators millions in lost opportunities through delayed launches, higher transaction failure rates, and limited payment method support. These losses manifest in abandoned deposits, reduced lifetime value, and slower market expansion, creating a widening gap between modernized platforms and laggards.

Regulatory Pressure and Payment Compliance

Regulators increasingly scrutinize payment behavior as a mechanism for enforcing responsible gambling and financial controls. Compliance requirements now extend deep into transaction flows, requiring real-time enforcement rather than retrospective reporting.

Modern payment infrastructures embed compliance logic directly into processing workflows, enabling automated limit enforcement, identity verification, and transaction monitoring. This integration ensures regulatory adherence without degrading user experience, allowing platforms to scale while remaining audit-ready across jurisdictions.

Payment Infrastructure as Long-Term Moat

Unlike front-end features that competitors can replicate quickly, payment infrastructure compounds in value over time. Each architectural improvement reduces marginal costs, increases resilience, and accelerates future innovation. Payments therefore represent one of the most durable sources of competitive advantage in gaming.

Operators that consistently reinvest in payment technology create barriers that are difficult to dismantle. Superior authorization rates, faster withdrawals, lower fraud exposure, and regulatory agility emerge from sustained engineering discipline. Over time, payment infrastructure becomes not just an operational necessity, but a strategic moat that defines market leadership.