Game of Trust, 2025, MASTER_Final

We’re committed to helping our partners minimise risks linked to cash handling and promote safer, more responsible gaming. Through collaboration and seamless data sharing, we’re shaping a safer, more secure future – together.

Andrea McGeachin, Neosurf Global CEO

EDITOR'S NOTE ^

GAME OF TRUST

It’s more than a headline; it’s the story of our industry right now. Operators’ trust in platforms, confidence in regulation, faith in technology, and trust in the companies shaping gambling’s future. And yes, even trust between our readers and the pages of GamblingIQ. The good news? The people and companies featured here are shaking hands, sharing ideas, and striking deals – sometimes before they’ve even met face to face. The better news? Not once in this issue do we use the words “seamless” or “ROI”. You’re welcome.

We still believe in old-fashioned journalism – the kind where you actually sit down and talk to people. Our conversations with the fabulous Nina Jelen of BlueOcean Gaming and Charlotte Lecomte of Alea prove it. Nina takes us back to her childhood in Nova Gorica, then Yugoslavia, when her father worked in one of Europe’s biggest casinos. Charlotte offers a candid look at the grind and grit of building Alea, and her 15-year partnership with founder Alex Tomic, a man who may yet earn the title of 'industry legend'.

Further north, we spotlight Jaakko Soininen, Managing Director of Finnplay, as Helsinki prepares for the end of Finland’s long-standing gambling monopoly – a seismic shift worth watching. Poker platforms also make their mark, with EvenBet’s CEO Dmitry Starostenkov revealing why the world’s most strategic card game may be entering a digital golden age. And from the Super Bowl to the World Cup, we have the inside story from Kambi and CTO Kris Saw on how they handle peak sports events.

Finally, because we love a good leaderboard, we’ve launched two of our own: 'Tech's Future Five 2026', spotlighting the leaders of tomorrow, and our 'Trusted 10' Tech Power List global rankings which will spark more than a few boardroom conversations from London to Las Vegas.

Here it is: a magazine built on trust, substance, and a refusal to parrot buzzwords.

Enjoy the future trends.

— The Editor

+44 (0) 7827494752

Welcome to the ultra competitive world of iGaming Platforms & Tech. We talk to the most trusted, and set the trends for 2026

Your passport to Finland: As Helsinki prepares to dismantle its decades-old gambling monopoly, we speak to some of the most trusted tech execs in newly regulated markets; Finnplay's Jaakko Soininen and Brian Forth

GamblingIQ speaks to the new Chief Commercial Officer at BlueOcean Gaming about growing up with her dad in Nova Gorica, then Yugoslavia, which was home to one of Europe’s largest land-based casinos - and still home to BlueOcean

A hot topic in the iGaming platform business, we break down the Sweepstakes business. It’s casino gaming, but without the casino licence

Exclusive interview with Alea's 36-year-old co-founder Charlotte Lecomte on meeting industry veteran Alex Tomic and building a global iGaming platform iGaming Software has

Cryptocurrency trading meets wild

GLOBAL PLATFORM TRENDS

^ Why iGaming Software has become the Battleground for Global Compliance & Growth

* Data compiled from interviews with senior platform engineers at companies across the UK and the European Union in July 2025.

Systems of Trust: The critical differentiator is no longer what players see—but what sits beneath

Game content may still dominate marketing headlines, but in 2025, attention has shifted to the infrastructure behind it. With the iGaming sector now exceeding $90 billion globally, differentiation is no longer about visual appeal, but about what powers the experience. As regulation tightens and user behaviour fragments, the contest for dominance is unfolding at the platform level. This year marks a clear departure from the platform-as-utility mindset. The most competitive platforms today are more than technical infrastructure. They are strategic ecosystems; built to interpret law, mitigate risk, localise content, and personalise safely at scale.

“Operators want more than just uptime and scalability,” says Jaakko Soininen, Managing Director of Finnplay. “They want platforms that can intelligently interpret regional law, respond to dynamic risk signals, and still enable fast market entry.” The compliance-first platform is replacing the feature-first platform. In Europe, where enforcement of responsible gambling, AML, and GDPR is more aggressive, platform providers now offer built-in RegTech features—automated reporting, real-time KYC, and smart protection limits. In Africa, success requires mobile-first builds and USSD integration. In LATAM, trust rests on banking integrations and language-aware CRMs. Meanwhile, platforms are evolving into strategic partners. They provide regulators with real-time audit trails while giving operators scope for custom UX, gamification tools, and tiered risk systems. The new standard isn’t flashy—it’s flexible. AI integration is also entering a mature phase. Once limited to personalisation, it now trains on compliance and transactional data. Smart platforms can flag anomalies before regulators intervene— verifying identities, analysing play patterns, and applying adaptive limits.

- Smart platforms can flag anomalies before regulators intervene, verifying identities, analysing play patterns

GAMBLING IQ CHARTS THE NEXT WAVE OF iGAMING PLATFORM INNOVATIONS

^ AI Compliance Engines: iGaming platforms now embed AI into core compliance pipelines—automating ID verification, detecting suspicious patterns across sessions, adapting player limits based on behaviour, and generating real-time regulatory audit logs. These systems are trained on vast transactional datasets, enabling platforms to detect anomalies before human review is required. By turning compliance into a predictive, self-improving process, AI is redefining platform stability and resilience in tightly regulated markets.

^ Localisation with Infrastructure: Regional optimisation is no longer a front-end matter. Gambling platforms are engineered to support mobile-money and USSD protocols in Africa, comply with tiered tax codes and government APIs in Brazil, and localise CRM, onboarding, and live chat flows to match Balkan linguistic and cultural norms. Back-end flexibility allows operators to tailor data flow, payment rails, and interface logic for every jurisdiction.. Platforms adapt to mobile-money norms in Africa, tax models in Brazil, and linguistic UX nuances in the Balkans.

^ Behavioural, Smart Gamification: Gamification is evolving from cosmetic engagement to risk-aware, complianceintegrated functionality. Platforms now use behavioural analytics and real-time telemetry to assign dynamic player scores, triggering mechanics based on user risk tier. Bonus offers, session limits, and notifications are executed through logic trees coded in Python or TypeScript, tied directly to back-end player models. Regulatory-safe engagement is enforced via real-time data pipes from the CRM layer, with configurable thresholds for flagging at-risk behaviours. Adaptive workflows integrate seamlessly with responsible gambling mandates, issuing cool-off periods, limiting incentives, or pausing sessions algorithmically. Triggers can be re-coded or A/B tested without platform disruption thanks to modular SDK layers. Combined with machine learning models trained on churn and fraud data, gamification now also does real-time safer play.

^ Regulatory-by-design Architecture: Compliance isn’t an add-on—it’s now a foundational layer of platform engineering. From GDPR and AMLD to state-specific reporting regimes, today’s platforms hardwire legal requirements directly into the codebase. Features include configurable player protection modules, automated licensing logic, and jurisdiction-aware data storage protocols. This architecture ensures readiness for audits, scalability across markets, and real-time enforcement of responsible gambling mandates—all by design.

^ Modular and Headless Builds: Headless architecture decouples the frontend from the back-end, allowing operators to create custom interfaces while retaining compliance-locked core systems. Modular APIs handle payments, KYC, geolocation, and anti-fraud logic independently. This architecture also supports microservices, enabling dynamic updates without disrupting service. For multi-jurisdictional operators, this means maximum creative freedom with embedded regulatory certainty—across both user experience and mission-critical infrastructure.

^ XR & Blockchain Integration: XR and blockchain technologies are evolving from experimental features into functional modules within modern iGaming platforms. XR overlays—built with Unity or WebXR— can deliver immersive live casino experiences directly into headsets or web browsers, while blockchain layers enable provably fair games through Ethereum smart contracts and zero-knowledge proofs. Decentralised wallets and NFT-based loyalty systems are being prototyped using Solidity and IPFS. On the backend, platforms integrate chain-agnostic APIs to process wagers, while maintaining local compliance through mirrored, off-chain ledgers. These integrations offer not only enhanced immersion and transparency but also open new design and engagement frontiers—connecting metaverse-ready front ends to regulatory-grade infrastructures. As platforms test these toolkits in sandbox environments, the future is cross-chain gaming and spatial wagering.

Engineered for Trust

The FinnplayWay

Exclusive interview with Jaakko Soininen, Managing Director, Finnplay

For Jaakko Soininen, Managing Director of Finnplay, Nordic principles are more than aspirational—they’re the foundation of every strategy, process and partnership.

“In Finnplay we have defined one of our values to be, ‘We embrace our Nordic roots’ and we have defined those roots to be: Trust, openness, transparency, cooperation and low in hierarchy”. Raised in Helsinki with an MBA in Business Informatics from Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Jaakko honed his expertise in global technology delivery roles before joining Finnplay in August 2020. Less than a year later, in June 2021, he was appointed Managing Director. During that time he introduced the tag line 'Platform of Cooperation' and tells GamblingIQ: “We truly believe that working (and fostering) cooperation with operators, suppliers, regulators will improve the player experience—which is in the end why we are in here.” He identifies 2021 as a pivotal year for Finnplay. “During the year we launched our first mobile app and opened up two new jurisdictions (Lithuania and Netherlands), while going through the merger to be part of Entain and personally learning my ropes in the new role. Looking back, all those elements are cornerstones of our current success.”

- The relationship between an iGaming operator and platform provider is like a marriage. Features are important, but no flashy button can save you if the teams cannot work together -

On trust, a cornerstone of Finnplay’s ethos, he offered his definition: “One can have several different interpretations of the word trust. I would like to put aside the technical version of that— what we at Finnplay mean with trust is that our partners can trust us. Not just our word but also for us being there for them. Business is not always just champagne, strawberries and sun – there are more difficult moments and days. Our partners can trust us that we are there with them in good and in bad times. That is what trust means to us.” He argued that substance often loses out to style in the iGaming platform market. “There are plenty of examples of other industries in here. Look at cars, look at phones or TVs, each of those full of different nice and flashy features. However, each of those have few key things that set the premium products apart – and it is not the shiny buttons or flashy lights. It is doing the core with absolute perfection. That is what Finnplay is doing in iGaming.” Turning to client misperceptions, Jaakko drew an analogy: “The relationship between an iGaming operator and platform provider is like a marriage. Features are important, but no flashy button can save you if the teams cannot work together. Make sure that you know the team that you are working with. From project team, to technical teams, and to the management, do your background work on how stable the team is – is it likely that you will be working with them in the future as well? Think, are you comfortable celebrating success with them or solving a critical issue; can you trust them to say what is actually happening? If you answer yes to those questions, then do your due diligence on those features, not the other way around.”

CRO, Trustly

- Finland is probably the biggest new regulated growth area for Europe and Finnplay is best positioned to take advantage -

, Managing Director, Finnplay

^ Founded in 2008, Finnplay's experience dealing with regulatory changes in jurisdictions is unrivalled. On October 1st 2024, the Dutch iGaming market experienced swift regulatory changes. With a tight timeline, Finnplay delivered — from analysing the new rules and aligning tailored solutions for all five of its operator clients, to full implementation across varied operational setups.

GamblingIQ.co.uk

Your Passport to Finland: Ahead of the curve with Finnplay's post‑monopoly playbook

As Helsinki prepares to dismantle its decades-old gambling monopoly, operators and platform providers are racing to establish a foothold. We break down the timeline and regulatory framework — with expert insights from leading platform provider Finnplay, which outlines the likely path to regulation:

1. Gambling Act (Autumn 2025): Having been introduced in March 2025, the Gambling Act is slated for parliamentary approval, likely in October 2025—thereby ending Veikkaus’s monopoly on online casino, sports betting and bingo. At this stage, lawmakers will finalise the licence categories, set the 22 percent GGR tax (plus tiered annual fees) and enshrine key player-protection measures, including deposit limits, self-exclusion, bonus controls and affiliate restrictions.

2. B2C Licence Applications (Q1, 2026): The first major deadline is January 2026, when the Finnish Gambling Authority will open applications for Business-to-Consumer licences; the permits that allow operators to offer gambling products directly to Finnish players. Applicants must demonstrate compliance with KYC/AML, responsible-gaming tools, technical security (ISO 27001) and

robust reporting processes. In reality, operators would need to have their main platforms and providers lined up by then since they will need to adapt backend systems, translate UIs, integrate payment methods and align marketing materials with local regulations.

3. Market Launch: The base-case start date is January 1st, 2027, when licensed operators may go live under new rules. Despite rumours of a post-election delay (April 2027), the industry is working toward a New Year rollout—allowing ample time for the Finnish peak-season sports calendar and spring marketing campaigns. The Finnish Police Board recently ended consultations with stakeholders on key regulatory topics, giving a clearer view of what operators need to prepare by January 1, 2026.

4. B2B Licence Applications, (Q1, 2027): Applications open for Business-to-Business licences, which all platform providers, software vendors, payment-service partners and affiliates must secure in order to supply regulated operators. Finnplay, with its Helsinki base and ISO 27001 certification, is positioning itself as the go-to B2B platform partner for the newly regulated Finnish market.

5. B2B Licences: From January 1st 2028, any tech or service provider operating within the Finnish regulated market must hold a B2B licence. This “grandfather” period gives vendors a full year to finalise their applications, undergo audits and establish compliance pipelines.

GamblingIQ: What role does local knowledge and cultural awareness play when launching in new regulated markets?

Jaakko Soininen, Finnplay: “One needs to look at the bill or legislative text in it’s original language. We recently stumbled across an issue in Finnish legislation, where there were some serious translation errors, changing the context entirely. We have a multinational team and we work in cooperation with our partners to implement the Finnish requirements, and I do not believe there is another platform provider with Head of Compliance and Managing Director who are native Finnish speakers. And for operators; every market has those angles that you cannot know in case you are not from that culture – which present huge marketing opportunities.”

Finnplay's Titan Platform

Exclusive: Why 16 Years of Zero Breaches and Collaborative Success in Regulated Markets now fuels Titan’s New Era of Compliant iGaming

Finnplay has achieved something rare in the online gambling sector: a flawless compliance record. After 16 years of operations, the firm has notched up zero regulatory breaches—no fines, no penalties, and not a single revoked licence for any operator using its platform. As global regulatory landscapes becomes increasingly fragmented, this quiet achievement is suddenly very loud.

The flagship Titan platform, a fully customisable iGaming solution, certainly has the infrastructure experience for operators navigating newly tightened regimes. With compliance and Responsible Gambling in mind, and already deployed successfully in the Netherlands—arguably the most technically demanding jurisdiction in the world—Titan is now expanding to meet the requirements of Finland’s emerging gambling framework, bringing with it a blueprint for sustainable, regulation-first growth.

“We take ownership of what we do,” says Brian Forth, Commercial Director at Finnplay. “From the outset, Titan was engineered with regulatory readiness embedded at the core.” The innovative platform integrates with a full spectrum of compliance-critical services: Know Your Customer (KYC) tools, anti-money laundering (AML) solutions, payment service providers (PSPs), responsible gambling systems, and real-time data warehouses. Importantly, it’s also structurally built for scale across different legal environments.

According to Managing Director, Jaakko Soininen, this resilience lies in how each module is governed. “We’re working with major brands, balancing client needs and compliance on every sprint,” he says. “Each module has its own owner. Managing that comes down to process—what to build, which team handles it, whether it impacts others. Every update we ship has to respect the framework. Our

delivery pipeline accounts not only for customer requirements and technical debt, but also real-time regulatory updates, with sprint planning cycles that integrate legal interpretations and local licensing needs.”

Forth describes this as the company’s “ecosystem of accountability.” And this approach has become especially visible in the Netherlands, where operators must comply with one of the most advanced player protection schemes in the world. Tools must include personalised deposit limits, automated risk assessments based on behavioural data, and real-time intervention triggers which alert operators to potential harm within minutes and provide tools to act within the legally mandated one-hour response window.

“That one-hour rule changes everything,” says Forth. “You’re not just ticking a box anymore. You have to be able to spot signs of distress, notify the right people, and intervene—all in real time. That’s where our tech steps in. It’s proactive, not reactive.” Titan’s embedded Responsible Gambling (RG) framework—backed by integrations with partners such as Neccton and Mindway AI—monitors player behaviour at scale, offering operators visual dashboards and actionable insights while maintaining GDPR compliance. These aren’t optional add-ons; they’re foundational.

Still, Finnplay’s platform is not only about protecting players; it’s also about empowering operators—especially those with multibrand portfolios. Titan supports simultaneous brand operations under a single umbrella, allowing for real-time cross-brand player limits, and campaign tools tailored to differing local laws. As operators increasingly face advertising bans, bonus restrictions, and tightly defined player engagement limits - precision matters.

Finnplay’s 'cooperative' culture underpins this strategy. Soininen points to quarterly roundtable sessions where competing operators on the Titan platform seek consensus on regulatory issues. “Yes, they’re competitors,” he says. “But the stakes are high enough—and the law complex enough—that cooperation actually helps everyone. Around the table, the operators are talking openly about things like the interpretations of any upcoming B2C law changes and how they’ll implement those into their business via our platform. We believe it’s not a zero-sum game. Compliance isn’t something you retrofit. It has to be baked in. And once you have that foundation, you can build anything on top—campaigns, sports, casino, data science. But if you don’t have the base, everything you build is fragile.” 16 years of Zero breaches suggest that Titan’s foundation is anything but. The Finnish really are built for trust.

+ Jaakko Soininen (pictured above), on sprint cycles

Flexible. Open. Compliant.

1. Custom Development at Speed: Titan’s 'Strong Enough to Bend' ethos reflects its ability to support the largest operators while still delivering a bespoke, agile service to every client—regardless of size.

2. Open Platform, Endless Choice: An agnostic integration layer connects any game provider, payment gateway, or third-party tool. Operators are free to curate their offering—no vendor lock-in.

3. FinnSafe Reporting: Real-time data cloning for regulator access for certain markets, plus Finnstream data streaming for other jurisdictions if applic

4. Microservices & Mobile First: Responsive, REST-API-driven frontend ensures very fast load times on any device. Built on microservices, Finnplay's Titan scales elastically under peak traffic.

5. Local Expertise, Global Reach: HQ in Finland with regulated-market licences and ISO 27001 certification, Finnplay leverages Nordic compliance standards to help operators enter new jurisdictions.

Proven Platform Trusted Future

Titan’s ambition is clearly not to be the biggest platform—but the most trusted. As more European and global markets introduce B2B licensing and enforcement regimes, Finnplay believes its track record will matter more than ever.

This philosophy has fuelled the development of several new features launching late in 2025, including multi-wallet campaign engines, milestone-based rewards, and advanced real-time reporting tools, all designed to maximise player lifetime value without breaching regulatory limits.

The Netherlands’ iGaming market generated €1.39 billion in GGR in '23, with strict oversight by the Dutch Gambling Authority/Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) and some of the toughest compliance demands in Europe. Finnplay's dedicated team of experts for the Dutch market and 5/5 licence approval record make it a trusted partner in the market.

The Titan platform supports CRUKS integration, real-time RG tools and two tailor-made registration modules for seamless on-boarding. Close collaboration with soon-to-be six operator clients makes the Netherlands one of Finnplay’s most important

Romania’s iGaming market has become one of Europe’s most stable, with over 30 licensed operators and strong oversight by the ONJN.

Some of Finnplay's Regulated Markets

Sweden’s open iGaming market operates under the Gambling Act since 2019, with clear licensing for B2C and B2B, and oversight by the SGA. In 2023, total GGR reached €2.4B, with online casino and betting making up the largest share. Key trends include tighter responsible gaming rules, increased software regulation, and evolving payment challenges.

Hungary’s regulated iGaming market generated ~€600M GGR in 2024, with ~58% channelisation and 3 licence types available. Though reforms began in 2013, real regulation followed in 2015–16, and the market remains tightly controlled. Mobile-first growth continues, supported by Finnplay’s compliance-ready platform and responsible-gaming tools.

Lithuania, another strictly regulated iGaming hub, enforces one of Europe’s most rigorous compliance frameworks, making it a challenging but rewarding market for both B2C and B2B operators. total iGaming GGR reached €550 million 2024, with continued strong growth projections.

Estonia legalised online gambling in 2009 with the Gambling Act, creating a structured licensing process. It stands out as one of Europe’s most digitally advanced markets, where a fast licensing process and low tax rate foster strong competition.

+ Graphic:

The Titan platform in full-flow

Nina Jelen

Has Great Genes

The new Chief Commercial Officer at BlueOcean Gaming talks to GamblingIQ about growing up in the Gaming industry with her dad in Slovenia

Nova Gorica, a town on the western edge of present-day Slovenia, on the Italian border and formerly part of Yugoslavia, was then home to one of Europe’s largest land-based casinos, Perla. It's a fitting backdrop to Nina Jelen’s early exposure to the gambling industry. “It’s safe to say gaming runs in the family. My dad started out in the land-based casino world in the ’90s, right in our hometown of Nova Gorica.” Nina recalls working as a hostess during her student years in the casino, absorbing firsthand how such venues operated, how players behaved, and how entertainment and business intersected. “Even then, I knew I was watching something I wanted to be part of.” Her father’s later move to Malta—and into the world of online casinos—would prove catalytic. At the same time, Nina was wrapping up her studies and exploring her own passion for storytelling and brand marketing, sharpened by stints at tourism expos representing Slovenia. “That’s where my love of branding and expos started,” she says. “The energy, the creativity—I was hooked.”

- Blue Ocean Gaming provides time-saving, reliable all in one software solutions for operators -

Long before she joined BlueOcean, Nina had already clocked countless hours on the floors of ICE and G2E, learning the business through observation and conversation. “Sometimes I was working, other times just walking the halls,” she says. It didn’t stop there. Her partner, originally in tourism, has since joined the industry as well. “With his love for tech and games, and both me and my dad in the business, it was only a matter of time,” she joked. “Luckily, he’s on the provider side, so we’re not competing!” Jelen joined BlueOcean seven years ago as an Account Manager. It was a formative role—hands-on, multifaceted, and demanding. “We were a small company, so you wore every hat. Sales, contracts, support. But that gave me a 360 view of the platform, and I’m thankful for that.” As the company expanded, so did her responsibilities. “I’d say curiosity and persistence were key,” she says. “I’ve always been driven to understand how things work—and how to make them better.” Now, as CCO, Nina balances strategy with a relentless focus on client relationships. “You don’t just sell a product—you build something together.”

CRO, Trustly

Pictured above: Nina Jelen, the newly appointed Chief Commercial Officer at Blue Ocean Gaming

Blue Ocean Gaming Celebrates 15 Years in the Game of Trust

When BlueOcean Gaming was founded in 2010, the world was still adjusting to the launch of the iPad and the concept of Bitcoin. In a modest office in Nova Gorica, Slovenia—a border town with deep roots in land-based gaming—a small team of six, led by their founder, began building what would become one of the most trusted B2B brands in iGaming.

BlueOcean Begins to Ride

Fifteen years on, BlueOcean is no longer the quiet newcomer. With nearly 70 employees and a growing global footprint, the company has evolved into a mature, independent platform serving over 150 operators. What hasn’t changed, however, is the leadership’s continuity. “We’re proud to say our founder and three members of the original team are still with us,” says Nina Jelen, the company’s Chief Commercial Officer. “They’ve grown with the business, and all now sit on the C-suite.”

Today, the company’s headquarters remain in Nova Gorica—though now located in the tallest building in town. Most of the staff still work from Slovenia, with departments covering everything from compliance and commercial to legal and marketing. But it’s the tech side that still dominates. “Our biggest department is still IT,” Jelen notes. “That

includes backend and frontend developers, system administrators, and R&D. It’s really the engine room of our operation.” Additional support staff are based in Venezuela, reflecting the company’s steady international expansion.

BlueOcean’s journey has been marked by several turning points. In the early 2010s, the company carved out a niche in Latin America, helping land-based casinos transition online through its White Label platform. That experience prompted the launch of GameHub, a game aggregation platform that initially focused on wallet integrations and signed on early partners like Ezugi and Vivo.

But 2015 marked a major shift. That was the year the company co-founded GameArt, its sister company focused on content creation, and partnered with IGP to expand operations into regulated markets. “GameHub started picking up speed around then,” Nina says. “When we added top-tier names like Evolution, NetEnt, and Quickspin, people began to take notice.”

A new wave of Innovation

In 2019, BlueOcean parted ways with IGP and began operating independently—allowing for greater agility. That independence proved essential during

the pandemic, when online gaming surged and the company scaled up to meet demand.

To mark its 15-year milestone in 2025, BlueOcean hosted a celebration that brought together clients, partners, and employees. For Jelen, the gala wasn’t just about commemorating success—it was about recognising the relationships that built the business. “Seeing so many of our long-time clients in one room was incredibly moving,” she said. “It reminded us of the loyalty and trust we’ve built, and why we do what we do.”

In a world of rapid turnover and a growing number of faceless platform providers, BlueOcean continues to stand out for one reason: its people. “We’re not distant,” said Jelen. “We’re right there in the mix with our team and clients. That’s who we’ve always been. At its core, our mission hasn’t really changed, we’ve always been here to provide quality technology and services for online casino operators.

Pictured: BlueOcean boys! At the 15th anniversary, Dejan Jov, CEO, (left) with Borut Lozej, Founder

Case Study: Fuel Jackpot, Balkans

Fuel Jackpot has become a centrepiece of BlueOcean Gaming’s commercial pitch, according to Nina Jelen, the company's new Chief Commercial Officer. In territories such as the Balkans, the company’s Fuel Jackpot — and a unique variant, Armageddon Jackpots — have “been a standout for us”, she says, producing measurable uplifts in engagement and turnover where operators have activated them. The feature offers a clear example of how an aggregator’s promise of “1 API - 1 Contract” can be translated into repeatable, revenue-facing mechanics.

BlueOcean traces the roots of that repeatability to an early investment in platform engineering. “We started building our aggregation platform way back in 2012,” Jelen says, noting that the company’s longevity allowed it to prioritise the fundamentals: stability, speed and a client-first mindset. Those attributes are essential when an aggregator must normalise data across thousands of titles while also delivering promotional tools that operate consistently across the entire catalogue.

Armageddon Jackpots: Instant Hit

What distinguishes Fuel Jackpots is operational simplicity and cross-content reach. Jelen cites a specific operator deployment where Armageddon Jackpots “was an instant hit. It boosted player engagement and increased turnover.” For operators, the appeal is practical: a turnkey promotional mechanic that can be switched on without bespoke engineering for each campaign. That capability, she adds, is possible because the tool can be activated across third-party content within GameHub’s portfolio, turning scale into a practical advantage rather than 'just marketing'.

BlueOcean's Next Wave

A Unified, Trusted, Game Hub delivering instant access, smarter integrations and expanded content for global operators

FUEL

Jackpot

'Now you can turn any game into a Jackpot' - by BlueOcean Gaming

Achieving that interoperability, however, rests on both engineering discipline and commercial negotiation. Delivering “1 API - 1 Contract” for more than 13,000 titles requires technical normalisation — resolving latency, harmonising disparate data schemas and abstracting numerous vendor APIs into a single feed — as well as extensive contract work with content studios. Jelen stresses continuous optimisation: maintaining speed and uptime is an ongoing effort, and the commercial side involves aligning revenue shares and service terms to ensure studios and operators will participate.

Product and commercial priorities are largely informed by client demand. “Client feedback plays a huge role in how we prioritise new integrations,” Jelen says; operators know their player bases and signal which providers or features are likely to move the needle in particular markets. BlueOcean supplements these requests with market intelligence, elevating providers that perform well in territories the company plans to enter. The result is a roadmap that balances immediate operator needs with strategic regional ambitions. In an aggregator market crowded with similar promises, Fuel Jackpots encapsulate BlueOcean’s proposition: a promotional tool that leverages a consolidated technical backbone to deliver tangible operator outcomes, with the company’s early engineering choices and client relationships providing the mechanics for scale to become commercial value.

' BlueOcean's edge is a combination of experience and flexibilitythat allows GameHub to turn engineering scale into operational outcomes '

BlueOcean's GameHub: The big Brazil team sprint

As one of the first aggregators certified in Brazil’s newly regulated gaming market, BlueOcean capitalised on speed, precision, track-record.

“Once we understood the legal issues, we mapped out a plan, assigned resources, and moved fast,” says Chief Commercial Officer Nina Jelen. Through meticulous research, tight coordination, and bold decision-making, BlueOcean secured early approval. These lessons now form a playbook for other emerging and regulated markets, ensuring compliance, trust, and performance anywhere in the world.

Within BlueOcean’s GameHub brand, which integrates over 13,000 games from 140+ providers, the Fuel Jackpot tool has delivered the strongest operator KPI gains. The Drops tool, which activates across all third-party content in BlueOcean’s portfolio—unlike competitors— also shows strong early potential. Supporting sweepstakes models, distinct from real-money gambling,

requires minimal platform adjustments, thanks to partnerships with providers equipped for such deals. However, BlueOcean is developing a dedicated sweepstakes platform, similar to its White Label solution.

“It’s a major project, but our roadmap is clear”. At recent industry expos, BlueOcean unveiled its blue-star mascot, Edo, alongside refreshed visuals for GameHub tools like automated game libraries and free spins to assist operators.

Edo unifies the toolset under a vibrant identity, while booth engagement metrics are still under review, Jelen notes strong partner feedback, with plans to expand Edo’s role through a backstory and a future virtual assistant function to streamline client tool setup. In a competitive aggregator market, BlueOcean’s GameHub toolkit tackles a critical operator pain point: complexity. “Our tools are plugand-play—integrated and ready,” Jelen said. Client feedback drives updates, with many features inspired by operator suggestions, ensuring relevance and impact. BlueOcean's

GameHub toolkit tackles a critical operator pain point: complexity. Client feedback drives updates, with many features inspired by operator suggestions, ensuring relevance and impact. BlueOcean’s single-integration model enables rapid launches, supported by dedicated developers, and a testing tool simulating gameplay scenarios.

Automation and CI/CD pipelines minimise errors and accelerate timelines, allowing operators to go live efficiently. Operating across Latin America, Europe, and Canada, under one codebase requires navigating diverse regulations, like data residency and geo-blocking.

“Every market’s unique, but we keep the core unified,” Nina Jelen says. For its next GameHub release, BlueOcean is developing a leading game recommendation engine & real-time analytics dashboard. “Our operators need actionable data and we will further boost client performance and player engagement, building on recent partnerships with providers like Popiplay and Shady Lady to enhance offerings.”

No Purchase Necessary?

^ Inside the world of Sweepstakes: It’s casino gaming, but without the casino licence

Why Sweepstakes is a hot topic with Platforms, Operators & Regulators

Sweepstakes casinos let players enjoy games that look and feel like traditional online slots, complete with jackpots, scratch cards and bonus rounds, but without direct real-money wagering. Players typically buy virtual currency, which unlocks “sweepstake” entries and a chance to win cash prizes, while operators sidestep gambling licences, tax regimes and strict KYC requirements. This fast-access model has proved popular with both players and investors, as the experience is almost indistinguishable from online casino play—spinning reels, bonus triggers and jackpot mechanics keep engagement high. Monetisation comes through virtual coin sales, ad partnerships and token bundles, while payouts mimic real-money rewards. That appeal has driven huge uptake in the U.S., but the model is now under pressure. California legislators have advanced AB 831, a bill that would outlaw dual-currency sweepstake casinos and introduce criminal penalties for operators and suppliers. A Stake.us lawsuit by the City of Los Angeles has become the lightning rod for scrutiny. Pragmatic Play has already pulled out of the U.S. sweepstakes sector entirely, and Evolution withdrew its games from Stake.us in California.

The Product Innovation Behind Sweepstake Engines

Unlike traditional casinos, sweepstakes engines manage dual balance systems—purchased currency and free entry tokens— with strict reconciliation logic. The model often relies on complex state machines to manage wins, bonuses, and conversion of virtual tokens to real prizes. Studios have built sweepstakes variants of popular game mechanics—progressive jackpots, “fuel” bonuses, leaderboards—all optimised for legal compliance. Operators benefit from plug-and-play integrations that can switch between casino and sweepstakes logic based on jurisdiction. To deliver the “magic,” interfaces must hide the legal plumbing (i.e. dual balance, free-entry mechanisms) while still giving players that familiar thrill. Common features include free rounds, time-based bonus triggers (“drops”), and social components, all orchestrated in real time. Sweepstake platforms also allow viral campaigns (e.g. refer-a-friend “no purchase” sign-up bonuses), and the integration of loyalty systems.

Operators must ensure free-entry mechanisms are prominent, avoid high-pressure marketing, maintain audit trails, and in some jurisdictions register as promotional rather than gambling businesses. Alea and BlueOcean’s early entry into Brazil leveraged the sweepstakes model, positioning them ahead of the licensing curve.

3

United States: Sweepstakes casinos remain broadly legal if they offer a “no purchase necessary” entry, though disclosure and consumer protection rules vary by state. The model has thrived in unregulated markets where casino licences are costly or unavailable. But California’s proposed ban on dual-currency sweepstake casinos marks a turning point, signalling that regulators may move to close the loopholes these platforms rely on, (although California has always been a little bit special).

Canada and Australia: Sweepstakes are legal in Canada if there’s a no-purchase alternate entry, a skill-testing question, and Québec-specific compliance is handled. As such, many operators incorporate no-purchase entries. Australia generally prohibits real-money sweepstakes unless run by charitable organisations, making consumer sweepstakes rare, but this law could change in the near future.

EU: In most EU countries, sweepstakes are seen as promotions rather than gambling, provided there’s a free-entry route. But 'games of chance' style casino games promotions will usually be prohibited. Germany and France enforce strict rules against “gaming‐like” promotions if they appear too close to gambling. Generally, there must be clear terms, and GDPR privacy rules are followed, (no forced consent allowed).

Latin America (notably Brazil): Regulatory frameworks are evolving rapidly. Brazil’s recent openings have allowed for “promotional gambling” models such as sweepstakes, provided certain technical and financial safeguards are in place.

4 Regulatory Landscape — A Patchwork by Market

Operators & Aggregators — Who’s Winning and Why

Operator Motivation: Sweepstakes lower entry barriers dramatically. Operators can test new markets without securing local gaming licenses or adapting full casino operations. The model is especially effective for affiliates, content aggregators, or legacy operators moving into North American markets.

Aggregator Role: Companies like Alea, with experience in regulated markets, offer turnkey sweepstakes integration. They educate providers, certify titles for sweepstakes logic, and provide technical stability and compliance guardrails.

Revenue Dynamics: Monetisation shifts from percentage reloads and player retention in casinos to token purchases and engagement volumes in sweepstakes. Profitability depends on balancing token economics and prize liability.

Player Profiles: Many players migrate from mobile free-play social casino styles to sweepstakes — they seek real value but have low tolerance for friction. Keeping them engaged requires reliable features (e.g. jackpots, free spins, quick withdrawals).

Risks and Scaling: As operators scale, managing fraud, bonus abuse, and token inflation becomes critical. Competitive platforms invest in real-time monitoring, anti-cheat rules, and alert systems — an area where strong product engineering meets compliance.

5

What’s Next for Sweepstakes — Trends to Watch

Investors and studios had once viewed sweepstakes as a golden bridge into closed states, but with California moving to close that door, the grey zone might be shrinking. Operators will need to maintain agility to switch modes based on jurisdiction and regulation. Beyond iGaming, sweepstakes models appeal to SME retailers, esports platforms, and mobile-first brands — anyone wanting to run incentivised promotions with less licensing risk. Machine learning and AI models may optimise token allocation, prize distribution, and campaign targeting — delivering secret rewards or VIP jackpots.

Charlotte

Lecomte

+ Charlotte Lecomte, (pictured), is one of the key minds behind Alea’s rise. As Co-founder and Chief Product Officer, she has not only led the company’s shift from B2C to B2B , but also shaped one of the most operator-focused aggregation platforms in the market today.

The Quiet Force

Responsible Fennica

Powering Alea’s Global Growth

Charlotte Lecomte met Alex Tomic the way many enduring partnerships begin, by chance, amid the hum and chatter of a bustling co-working space. She was an intern, more given to conversation than to code - “I was a very lazy intern,” she laughs, and Alex was a colleague who liked to talk about games and building things. When her internship ended, he mentioned he needed developers for his new affiliate gambling business; they stayed in touch, and “a few months later they hired me” full time. That offhand hire became the start of an almost 15-year collaboration, one that would eventually lead them to co-found Alea, the leading aggregator business they run today. You could call their partnership a corporate yin and yang: Alex the storyteller, Charlotte the engineer who turns that story into something real. Born in the south of France — “not exactly Marseille, but quite close” — she studied computer science in Paris, then fell into the gambling industry almost by accident. But in truth, she had been a gamer long before she was a coder. Her mother, a computer scientist and COBOL database administrator, always had machines in the house, which meant Charlotte was always playing on them. That early start turned into something like a lifelong creative obsession: role-playing vast, intricate worlds in her teens, management titles as she grew older. Games weren’t just entertainment; they became her primary lens on how systems, people, and choices interact.

Engineer of Trust: How Charlotte Lecomte Re-imagined Platform Aggregation

The early years with Alex’s affiliate business exposed her to the commercial mechanics behind player acquisition and retention. When Alea later launched as a B2C casino operation, Charlotte spent nearly a decade on the frontlines, managing products in both regulated and international markets. That experience shaped her conviction that operators don’t need another platform. What they need is control without complexity, delivered with quality, stability, and security. So when Alea made the pivotal decision to evolve into a dedicated B2B platform aggregator, Charlotte defined the product philosophy that underpins today’s offering: “In many ways, the blueprint already existed, not as code, but as insight,” she says. “Years of observing, iterating, and solving practical problems had defined what a new kind of aggregator should look like. Scalable and rooted in operational reality.” Under her leadership as Chief Product Officer, Alea has scaled its Games Aggregator from a niche offering into a platform with global reach. Her fingerprints are everywhere: in the way the APIs are documented, in the governance model that powers tens of thousands of transactions per second, and in how the team ships new features without disrupting operator workflows. Today her game of choice is RimWorld, the survival management title where she’s building colonies, managing resources, and keeping her people alive. “What I love is that your pawns, these in-game characters, all have their own personalities. Sometimes they don’t obey. They don’t do what you want,” she smiles. “That makes it very much like reality.” For Charlotte, both games and business share the same truth: no matter how well you plan, the outcome depends on people. And that, as much as any line of code, is what defines Alea’s growth story.

Pioneer Timeline

Reuter

2012, Alea is Founded

2014, SlotsMillion, B2C 2015, First VR Casino Alea lays the groundwork for both the B2C casino brands and the later B2B pivot.

SlotsMillion becomes the base for rapid content expansion and operating know-how they later channel into B2B.

Cements Alea’s reputation for product innovation and gives the team deep technical + UX they’d reuse in platform work.

2017, Alea Play Launch

Alea launches its game aggregation platform, shifting from purely B2C to a B2B-led strategy that Lecomte goes on to helm as product chief.

2021, New API Governance

The launch of robust API governance cements the company’s full shift from B2C to B2B, with innovation and security at its core.

2024/25 Best Globally

The company wins several global awards and is named the leading secure games aggregator.

Alex Tomic Founder Alea

The Low-Latency Advantage ' Milliseconds Matter '

Charlotte Lecomte has spent over a decade making transaction speed the core principle of iGaming aggregation. Every millisecond matters; a philosophy driving Alea’s platform, where one integration unlocks a catalogue of over 16,000 games from 160 providers, supported by agile portfolio management and engagement tools. “Speed is a currency in our business,” Charlotte says. “Players notice when a game stutters; operators notice when session states slip. Our job is to make both vanish.”

An aggregator bridges game studios and casino platforms; every bet, payout and wallet update flows through this middle layer. Each jump introduces latency, and each flawed integration risks disruption. Under Lecomte’s leadership, Alea has refined its infrastructure and eventprocessing pipeline to stabilise and minimise the effect of these hops.

The engineering is exact. Alea operates on a tuned Amazon Web Services environment, running a transaction engine that validates, reconciles and transmits events with minimal overhead. Latency cannot be erased entirely, she notes, but strong design can make it negligible. “Speed without precision is dangerous,” she adds, stressing that low latency and ledger integrity must advance together.

For this reason, Alea constantly reconciles its ledger against provider data, enforces retries and rollbacks, applying strict integration standards to every studio. The system sustains gameplay fluidity while shielding operators from the complexity of multiple connections. “We transform relentless integration work into a process that never burdens player experience.”

Best in Class Tech Specs

✓ Transaction Capacity: 21,000+ transactions /s

✓ Global Response Time: 15ms worldwide

✓ Uptime Guarantee: 99.99%

✓ Security Standard: Banking-grade protocols, VAPT-certified by Continent 8

✓ Architecture: Reverse integration framework (providers integrate to Alea's API)

✓ Proprietary Client Area: With real-time RTP control, specific performance analytics & metrics

✓ Strategic Focus: Game aggregation only, no platforms or white-label distractions

- Charlotte Lecomte, Co-Founder & CPO, Alea, is pictured in the company HQ in Barcelona, Spain

Governance, Growth, Brazil

When Alea first went to market, it launched with around 30 game providers, quickly adding the industry’s major names. That early growth built credibility, but the next challenge was integrating dozens of smaller studios. Operators wanted those niche titles, where any obscure game could become a breakout hit, but Charlotte Lecomte, noticed a troubling trend.

“With some providers,” she recalls, “if a player wasn’t credited a win due to a technical issue, the transaction just vanished. Established providers had safeguards, but many new entrants didn’t.”

Selling the integrations would have been easier, but Lecomte refused to take on the risk. The answer was a new philosophy: Reverse Integration.

Instead of adapting Alea’s system to each studio, the company created a governance framework requiring providers to meet strict standards on tokens, retries, rollbacks and reconciliation before connecting. “We wrote a 100-page manual explaining not just what to implement, but how and why,” says CEO Jordi Sendra. Integration managers now guide studios through bonus handling, free spins, and state switching—skills many newcomers lack.

This framework gave Alea a level of security rare among aggregators and underpinned its expansion into Brazil and Latin America. By the time regulation landed, Alea was deeply embedded with local operators. “We were very hot before the license kicked in,” Jordi says. “When the announcement came, we went all in.” By late '24, Brazil dominated focus as partnerships with cybersecurity leaders like Continent 8 further strengthening Alea’s reputation.

Games Content Scale & Regs

✓ Total Games:: 16,000+ casino games

✓ Games Providers: 160+ integrated providers

✓ Sweepstakes: 5,000+ sweepstakes-ready titles

✓ Sweepstakes Providers: 60+ providers via 1 API

✓ Markets Served: 70+ global markets

✓ Compliance & Certs: Brazil: Certified by SPA

Spain: Certified by DGOJ

Peru: Certified by MINCETUR

Romania: Licensed by ONJN

Curaçao: Gaming Control Board (GCB)

Malta: Licensed by Malta Gaming Authority

Jordi Sendra

CEO, Alea

The Extreme Bitcoin Crash Game Featuring 1000X Payout Leverage

Cryptocurrency trading meets high-risk casino stakes in Rollbit’s 1000x crash game

Even the hardened thrill seekers at GamblingIQ are afraid to try it out. Picture a crash game, but instead of watching a jet climb, you’re watching the price of Bitcoin tick upward or downward by fractions of a percent, every four seconds. And those tiny moves decide your fate. That’s the essence of Rollbit's Bitcoin gaming, the crypto gambling platform that has turned high-leverage trading into an adrenaline-charged 'crash' experience. With leverage maxed out at 1000x, a 0.01% price movement in Bitcoin can either wipe your balance clean or multiply your winnings spectacularly.

Rollbit dresses its trading arm in casino clothes: bold, high-contrast graphics, oversized multipliers and a UI built to guide impulse rather than analysis. Big buttons, a sliding “Safe → Wild” multiplier and one-click stake presets replace order books and complex charting, while loyalty tiers, VIP perks and gamified rewards keep players returning. That casino-first design has driven scale; the site pushes north of $500 million in daily volume and fuelled a token narrative (RLB surged ~5,000% in 2023) alongside eye-catching monthly revenue spikes, (a reported $38m in one month). The appeal is simple: pick a coin, pick a stake, press go. Instant, high-stakes crypto play.

This crossover between gambling and trading has drawn sharp comparisons to crash games, where a rising line can cash you out big, or bust you instantly. The psychology is identical: anticipation builds with each price tick, and every extra second feels like a gamble. That visceral thrill has made Rollbit a global sensation, but also a target for regulators who argue 1000x leverage is predatory. For its users, though, Rollbit is entertainment first and trading second. Its model blends the accessibility of casino play with the volatility of crypto markets, turning digital assets into the most high-stakes crash game in the world. For advocates of responsible gambling however, the game is, in reality, financial risk on fast-forward.

Responsible gambling advocates caution that when the line between gaming and investing blurs, players can lose sight of the fact that every click is effectively a bet. They argue that without clear boundaries and effective safeguards, ultra-high-speed risk can be especially harmful to vulnerable players. The wider industry debate now centres on whether innovation in crypto-gaming can evolve in parallel with stronger standards of player protection and long-term sustainability.

Southampton shirt deal change

reflects Premier League retreat from gambling sponsors by '27

In July 2024, Southampton Football Club made headlines by signing Rollbit as their new front-of-shirt sponsor, replacing Sportsbet.io as the club’s biggest commercial partner. But as the 2025–26 season began, the Rollbit logo was removed, reflecting not a legal falling-out, or the fact that Southampton finished last in the Premier League, but probably due to a broader shift in attitudes to responsible gambling in the UK. With politicians and regulators tightening rules around gambling sponsorship and an imminent ban on betting adverts on shirts by the 2026-2027 football season, the club’s decision seems to be both prescient and pragmatic.

Rollbit’s arrival had been controversial from the outset. One of the casino’s flagship products, the 1000× leverage offering, (while never available to UK punters), was a lightning rod for criticism in a market already under scrutiny for gambling-related harm. As GamblingIQ reported at the time, Rollbit operated a UK-facing site (Rollbit. co.uk) through Gibraltar-based Grace Media, staying within regulatory boundaries. Yet the optics of a Premier League team fronting a brand tied to high-risk gambling and crypto speculation were always fraught with public relations danger.

The partnership’s end marks another chapter in the Premier League’s evolving stance on gambling sponsorship. For years, betting brands dominated footbal kits; by 2023, eight of the 20 clubs had gambling shirt sponsors. Mounting public pressure, advocacy group campaigns, and government support for reform pushed the league into voluntary action. In 2023, clubs agreed to phase out front-of-shirt betting sponsorships by the 2026–27 season.

Southampton’s pivot has been smooth. P&O Cruises now adorns the club’s shirts, signalling a return to family-oriented branding for the “family club.” Garmin has also signed on as sleeve sponsor. The move not only anticipates regulatory change but also positions Southampton as a forward-thinking brand in a league where gambling’s visibility is set to shrink dramatically. Rollbit, meanwhile, has focused on growth in international markets, where fewer restrictions on crypto casinos allow it to push its mix of casino play, crypto trading, and crash-game mechanics more aggressively.

While Rollbit’s headline-grabbing 1000× leverage product was not available in the UK, its presence on a Premier League shirt captured a pivotal moment before sweeping football sponsorship reforms in the UK.

How it Works: The Profitability of 1000x Leverage

If BTC is trading at $60,000, (which it was when Rollbit sponsored Southampton FC in October 2024), a $600 bet with 1000x leverage is effectively a $600,000 position, equivalent to holding 10 BTC. If Bitcoin rises by $100, the trader pockets $1,000, less any fees. The catch? A slight dip in Bitcoin’s price could wipe out the entire bet almost instantly. A 5x leverage bet requires a 20% drop for liquidation, but with 1000x, a mere 0.1% move triggers players/traders getting liquidated, or 'rekt'. Essentially, it’s akin to playing an extremely high-stakes casino slot. Rollbit's 1000x Crypto Futures product can generate billions in volume on a monthly basis. Fees are split between two models: 'PnL Cut'$70.7 billion in revenue at an average 0.009% fee, with no upfront fees and payment solely as a percentage of profits, and a 'Flat Fee' - $1.5 billion in revenue at 0.04% per trade, plus slippage fees. Simple conclusion: This is an extremely profitable business.

^ The Way They Were: Not just the price of BTC, but Southampton FC’s 2024–25 kit, (see graphic above), marking one of football’s boldest tie-ups with a crypto casino brand.

A Kind of Magic

The GamblingIQ 'Future Five' star for 2026 is James King, CEO and Co-Founder of Flows

JAMES KING was not even born when Queen drummer Roger Taylor wrote 'A Kind of Magic' in 1986. Nearly four decades later, the song title feels apt for King’s own trajectory — and for the tech company he co-founded, Flows. Taylor’s net worth has since climbed to roughly half a billion dollars; and it is not inconceivable that King wealth could one day follow suit when his business extends beyond iGaming. Flows, founded in August 2021, works its magic by leveraging no-code automation to make integrations faster, development simpler and operations more efficient. The software gives organisations control over their product roadmaps, allowing them to connect with any application or data source, coordinate multiple systems and automate workflows in real time. It is already being used by suppliers, operators and affiliates of every scale, from startups to major North American casinos. King’s route into tech was indirect. He began in marketing and sales, sending press releases to disk jockeys in the BBC, before moving into business development roles at iGaming Business and Clarion Gaming. He later became director of sales at Gaming Innovation Group, which brought him into contact with international industry titan Robin Reed, (the former GiG Chief Executive), who would become King's fellow co-founder at Flows.

' Flows powers Wonder Drops, where operators can attach progressive or fixed-value cash prizes to any title in the vast Light & Wonder network'. L&W is a strategic investor in Flows'

In February 2024, Flows drew a strategic investment from gaming heavyweight Light & Wonder — a move that marked a decisive step toward expanding the platform’s reach beyond the confines of iGaming. Light & Wonder now taps Flows’ nocode automation tools to drive a range of products, most visibly its player-engagement offerings. That collaboration has already borne fruit. In the United States, it has underpinned the launch of Wonder Drops, a marketing jackpot platform, alongside a suite of engagement features — free rounds, multiplayer games, tournaments and daily free-play game promotions. Wonder Drops is built for flexibility: operators can attach progressive or fixed-value cash prizes to any title in Light & Wonder’s network. The widget-based system can be customised and managed entirely in-house, enabling tailored offers for players. For James King though, the Flows premise remains disarmingly simple: the right tools, in the right hands, can alter how businesses operate. “And that,” he says, “is where the real magic happens.”

^ No-Code Partnerships with Flows, (2025):

Integrate. Orchestrate. Accelerate. Why Flows delivers: Features that matter

Connectors & SDKs: Pre-built adapters (REST / WebSocket) to link studios, wallets, CRMs, kiosks and front ends.

Event Bus: Asynchronous messaging layer that routes events (purchase → play → payout) in near-real time, with configurable delivery and ordering semantics.

Normalisation Layer: Incoming provider payloads mapped to a canonical schema for consistent downstream processing.

No-code Orchestration Engine: Visual flow builder that compiles triggers, conditions and actions into executable workflows.

Front-end widgets & APIs: Embeddable UI components for scratchcards, jackpots, bonuses and promos; via APIs.

No-Code Jackpots & Promos: Widget-based solutions (Wonder Drops, Fuel Jackpots) deployable across any game without engineering.

Rules & Fraud Engine: Declarative rules for promotions, fraud detection and responsible-gaming interventions.

State & Transaction Manager: Ensures atomic state, idempotency and reconciliation across distributed systems.

Sandbox, CI/CD & Feature Flags: Pipelines for safe rollouts.

Use Cases: From Scratchcards, Bonuses, Jackpots, Risk control - Automating Playflows

Scratchcard Data Orchestration: Flows acts as the live connector between the scratchcard provider, backend systems, and the frontend, intelligently moving data based on player actions. Every step from purchase to play to payout is orchestrated.

Omnichannel Bonus Requests: Alerts casino player is not online, but also, the operator can integrate with chat tools, self-service kiosks, loyalty systems, and CRMs, to issue bonuses instantly across both land and online casinos.

Responsible Gambling: Funnz, (Casino Friday, Shotz.com), implemented Flows for real-time alerts on player behaviour and responsible gaming scoring to evaluate risks based on transaction patterns, playtime, and tool usage - allowing for proactive account reviews and targeted player outreach.

Major Sporting Event Bonus Abuse: Enables fraud detection teams to swiftly build and deploy automated workflows, Flows minimises the need for manual intervention and enhances the ability to respond to evolving abuse tactics.

No-Code Jackpots: FlowsPlay offers a new jackpot experience, (Blixx gaming L&W), and sets a new benchmark for how fast teams can deploy, customise, and manage front-end gamified features, without needing technical support.

^ Strategic Investment in Flows by:

^ Upping the Ante: Rollbit.com (above) still acknowledges that 1000x crypto trading is not covered by its gambling license

Predatory Margin Trading

The debate over whether consumer crypto trading should be treated as gambling is effectively over. At this point, it’s barely a debate at all since trading at these extremes is gambling in everything but name. What regulators still call “crypto investing” now behaves like a high-speed betting machine: tiny price moves, huge multipliers, instant liquidations. In the UK, for instance, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) stamps crypto platforms with a blunt warning: “If you invest in cryptoassets, you should be prepared to lose all your money.” Correct in spirit, but this messaging is no substitute for rules that block the on-ramps turning curiosity into ruin.

Here’s the reality. Global venues hawk extreme leverage on their derivatives rails, (75x, 125x and beyond), in markets with light-touch or no regulation. Meanwhile, platforms that once capped retail risk now quietly expose customers to bigger bets: some exchanges have rolled out higher-margin products for selected accounts or “pro” tiers. The result is a patchwork where a product regulated as a derivative in one country looks, elsewhere, like an unguarded high-stakes game. Getting into those positions is simple. Margin is gated behind brief in-app flows like a quick quiz, toggle or tick-box; not real checks of affordability or competence. Some platforms require one click to “confirm you understand the risks” before unlocking full leverage. These low-friction access points convert casual users into highly-levered addicted 'traders' in minutes.

The commercial plumbing compounds risk. White-label feeds, offshore liquidity rails and affiliate pipelines allow operators to present compliant storefronts while routing exposure through international entities. VPNs, cross-border marketing and influencer funnels amplify reach: global advertising normalises extreme leverage and funnels users to looser jurisdictions. Even the UK Gambling Commission has warned of “insufficient checks” in white-label setups, a clear sign that crypto’s regulatory gaps are being exploited. A sharper problem is product convergence and how market makers rig the game/trade.

Crash games, multiplier casino rounds and margin trading deliver identical payoffs and the same psychology of rapid stakes, instant cash-out or wipeout. Packaged as “games,” they fall under gambling law; framed as trading, they often sidestep equivalent safeguards. Users don’t care about labels when life savings vanish after a fraction-of-a-percent price move.

Two dynamics explain the scale of today’s problem: global marketing that normalises leverage even where it’s banned, and frictionless onboarding that turns curiosity into loss. Add offshore routing and affiliate incentives, and you have a global product that outpaces national rulebooks. Solutions have to be international as well as local: harmonised definitions, tougher on-ramps, stricter white-label oversight and coordinated enforcement across borders. Without that, the fast lanes to extreme losses stay wide open — and calling it “investing” won’t make it any less dangerous.

The percentage of day traders who lose money over the course of a year, with only 1% being consistently profitable over time to be pro traders

* Credit: University of California

About 90% of commodity futures traders lose money The percentage of retail traders who lose money overall

* European Securities and Markets Authority

* U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

^ Addiction:

NHS addiction clinics in the UK are treating a rising number of compulsive crypto traders as young men fall victim to get-rich-quick schemes and over leveraged 'trading'.

Crypto Gambling

Global Scale, Tokens & Betting Tsunami

+ Stake leads in Multi Billion Dollar Industry Crypto wagering is now a multi-billion-dollar vertical in its own right. In January 2025, the top 10 crypto casinos saw $2.7 billion in deposits from 1.8 million unique depositors, showing just how mainstream crypto betting has become. Stake dominates the field, capturing over 43% of market share and generating around $4.7 billion in gross gaming revenue (GGR) in 2024—putting it on par with traditional gambling giants like Entain and Flutter. Analysts estimate there are now 2+ million monthly active crypto gamblers worldwide and roughly 500,000–800,000 weekly players.

+ Crypto Gambling Tokens

Crypto casinos are not only gambling hubs. Punters also gamble on actual tokens' value going up or down. As of August 2025: Rollbit’s RLB leads the pack with a market cap of approximately $125 million and a 24-hour trading volume near $257,000. Other gambling-specific tokens include Shuffle’s SHFL ($104 million) and FUNToken (FUN) ($32 million). Collectively, the top six gambling tokens now command a market cap well above $700 million. Meanwhile, the TG Casino token (TGC), powering the Telegram-native gambling experience, has generated $3 billion in wagered volume and delivered $2 million in profitsharing through a burn-and-stake model. These tokens are traded actively, often against major cryptocurrencies, and are central to player engagement, rewards, and branding, illustrating how gambling and decentralised finance are merging into one explosively profitable ecosystem.

+ Betting Growth Still Accelerating

Growth has been relentless. In 2023, crypto bets surged 2.3x between Q1 and Q2, and the curve hasn’t flattened. By early 2025, global crypto gambling turnover hit roughly $26 billion in Q1 alone, almost double year-on-year. Betting activity is expanding far faster than traditional regulation, cementing crypto's position as one of the fastest scalers.

+ Who’s Gambling with Crypto?

About 70% of crypto gamblers are aged 25–44, with the 25–34 bracket alone accounting for 40% of activity, and the 35–44 group another 30%. The majority skew male (70%), educated (60% hold a bachelor’s degree or higher), and tech-savvy. Mobile platforms dominate play—with 65% of bets placed via smartphones as of 2024. Meanwhile, institutional interest is rising, bolstered by the approval of the Bitcoin (BTC) ETF and EthereumETF in the US.

Tech's Future Five

2026

THE Tech Execs to make a Global Impact in 2026

James King

Co-Founder and CEO of Flows, James King is behind the no-code automation platform that’s redefining speed and simplicity in iGaming operations. With a background in commercial strategy and business development, King founded Flows to solve one of the industry’s biggest bottlenecks: the slow pace of integration and innovation. His vision has driven Flows’ rapid rise, empowering operators to automate processes and launch new features without engineering delays, propelling his platform into the spotlight as one of 2025’s most exciting tech scale-ups.

Giorgi has driven commercial strategy at SPRIBE for Aviator and other crash games while bridging product engineering and operators during the new Broadway platform rollout. He champions technical adoption—translating platform capabilities into operator-ready solutions, go-to-market packages and partner integrations. A founder of igaming CRM HawX, and a Harvard Business grad, Giorgi combines operator experience with commercial rigour to accelerate SPRIBE’s tech adoption and revenue growth, making him a key figure and one to watch in 2026.

James King CEO, Flows

Giorgi Tsutskiridze

Giorgi Tsutskiridze CCO, SPRIBE

SHAPING THE FUTURE

The visionary iGaming Product & Tech leaders Pioneering Tomorrow's Innovations

Mary Ann Calleja

Mary Ann Calleja, Digitain’s Chief Product Officer, has over two decades of IT experience, including more than 10 years in the iGaming industry. Holding a Bachelor’s from the University of London and an MBA from Henley Business School, she combines academic insight with practical experience. Mary Ann leads Digitain’s global product strategy with a focus on innovation, scalability, and player-centric solutions, playing a key role in advancing growth and driving the development of the AI-driven next-generation iGaming technologies.

Digitain.com/centrivo-universal

Ruzanna Elchyan

The Head of Gaming at Betconstruct, Ruzanna has advanced the company's position as a pioneer in merging blockchain technology with traditional gaming, reflecting her vision for a future where innovation and player engagement define the industry. She is recognised for her focus on innovation, player-centric design, and the integration of cutting-edge tech into BetConstruct’s platforms.

Betconstruct.com/products

Sergey Kastukevich

The Softswiss CTO leverages emerging technologies to cut operational costs, enhance stability, and deliver transformative products that benefit both the company and the wider industry. With deep expertise in large-scale infrastructure, AI, and systems optimisation, he ensures the development of platforms built to handle the industry’s most demanding traffic and regulatory standards. Named CTO of the Year in EMEA at the 2025 Oracle Excellence Awards.

Softswiss.com

Pocket Aces

EvenBet:

It all started with a four thousand dollar investment, a handful of programmers, and a German client who wanted a poker table rendered in code. The sum is modest; the story is not a fairy tale of sudden triumph, but a study in accumulation. From that first project in 2004, EvenBet quietly expanded into a platform business that now powers more than two hundred projects across nearly forty countries and, by the company’s own count, some seventy-two million users.

Dmitry Starostenkov grew up amid the dissolved geometries of late Soviet life, “not exactly the Soviet Union,” he says, “but the times of its crisis”. He insists that those years taught him to recognise the moment when an opening appears and to move into it before it closes. “As a teenager, I didn’t even consider building a tech company. I was interested in chemistry and was attending a school with a specialised chemistry focus. Yet, in the early 90s, the internet and technology penetration started to grow in my home region, and it seemed like it would be a more perspective field to build a career. I started working for the IT department of a big holding company, and just in a couple of years, the future EvenBet Gaming was born.”

EvenBet did not chase venture capital. In its earliest phase the company improvised: setting up a U.S. entity to work with Samsung and Microsoft, solving the banal but crucial problems of invoicing and cross-border payments, hiring the first programmers. Those small challenges, Dmitry argues, produced a muscle memory for delivering under constraint. “Everything seemed a challenge at first,” he says. “But going through those challenges made us what we are now.”

The company’s growth has been methodical. The first mobile apps shipped in 2012; by 2013 the platform had reached a million users. A rebrand in 2015 and a sharper focus on iGaming accelerated expansion: sixty launched projects and 3.5 million players within a year, and then, in 2020, a pandemic-driven surge in online play doubled projects and revenue. Behind those numbers lie less sensational but decisive innovations: the integration of 150 payment processors, the pragmatic embrace of crypto payments where banking is unreliable, and a product design ethic that privileges adaptability — “flexibility on all levels,” as he puts it. This means an operator in Lagos and one in Manila can draw from the EvenBet engine, yet deliver experiences that feel native.

Dmitry Starostenkov CEO & Founder,

What sets EvenBet apart today is a deliberate focus on making poker a practical tool for operators who don’t want it to define their brand. “We are not trying to build the next PokerStars,” Dmitry says. EvenBet’s mission is architectural: to provide poker as a convenient, customisable instrument within a broader portfolio, so a sports-betting operator or an online casino can slip poker into its offering without turning its company upside down. Their toolkit is practical rather than theatrical: a game constructor allowing operators to modify formats, lighter mobile clients for low-bandwidth markets, and localisation of card games like 'Rummy', 'Teen Patti', and 'Call Break', which serve as culturally familiar gateways in South and Southeast Asia.

If Dmitry Starostenkov is defined by anything, it’s a taste for experimentation matched by a scepticism of empty novelty. He appreciates flashy features in other industries — phones with countless functions — but his focus remains on the essentials: executing the fundamentals flawlessly. It’s a philosophy shaped during lean years, when four thousand dollars and a small, dedicated team often stood between ambition and failure.

A Golden Age for Online Poker? EvenBet Leads Expansion

across Asia and into the African Markets

Online poker could be on the verge of a golden age. Not through radical reinvention, but via strategic adaptation. EvenBet Gaming, led by CEO Dmitry Starostenkov, is carving out new opportunities for poker in Asia, Africa, Latin America and other high-growth markets by introducing regional card games, solving infrastructure challenges, and making poker a central retention tool for operators worldwide.

Niche Card Games Driving Expansion

EvenBet’s rise in South and Southeast Asia has been powered by strategic card game development. “We launched Rummy, Teen Patti, and Call Break to meet local demand,” Dmitry explains. “While poker is popular, many Asian audiences gravitate first to familiar games — acting as gateways to poker. This localisation strategy has made EvenBet a leading P2P card game provider in Asia, expanding their footprint beyond traditional poker.”

Cracking Fragmented, High-Growth Markets: Expansion into Africa and Southeast Asia has revealed unique challenges such as low payment processing infrastructure and limited trust in iGaming platforms. Online poker is often taxed under casino rules, hurting operators. “We’ve integrated 150+ payment systems and focused on crypto and mobile wallets to remove friction,” Dmitry says. Cash-based payments via agents are also becoming critical in markets with low banking penetration.

Go Lightweight: Mobile-First Regions

Africa, in particular, presents low-bandwidth, low-device-performance hurdles. “Poker is a player-to-player game; if one player has a technical issue, it impacts the entire table,” Dmitry explains.

EvenBet offers lighter, low-graphic apps that run smoothly even on Android 7 devices, making poker accessible to millions of players on limited infrastructure worldwide, including emerging markets with slower internet speeds..

Customisation: A Tool for Expansion

The Game Constructor tool allows operators to tweak poker formats by adjusting player numbers, card visibility, and gameplay rules. “Our clients can now experiment with nearly unlimited variations,” Dmitry says. A new UI customisation feature will soon allow on-the-fly changes, reducing operator reliance on EvenBet’s team.

Poker’s Evolving Role in Retention

Now a player retention powerhouse, complementing slots and sports betting, “there’s no real need for poker to compete. It keeps users engaged while other verticals drive acquisition and revenue.” EvenBet will launch a new product this autumn to further strengthen poker’s strategic position within global iGaming operator ecosystems.

AI: The Next Phase of Poker Operations

From bot detection and fraud prevention to smarter player matchmaking, AI is now central to EvenBet’s operations. It is also beginning to drive onboarding and skill-building for new players. “Internally, AI automates workflows; externally, it makes poker fairer and more engaging,” Dmitry notes.

EvenBet’s focus on niche content, localisation, and technical innovation is rewriting online poker’s growth story. By bridging cultural gaps and solving infrastructural barriers, the company is positioning poker as a global entertainment staple, particularly in Asia and Africa’s high-growth markets.

Multi-operator online poker ecosystem, it connects multiple operator brands into a single shared network, allowing them to pool players and liquidity while running their own branded poker rooms. Pooled ecosystem solution combines a white-label poker software package. The benefits include quick

EvenBet Poker Network: start-up process; Lower operational costs; easier room management and liquidity without experience.

Standalone Poker Room:

EvenBet standalone room gives operators control over their platform and brand. Full freedom to customise game settings, branding, and user experience. Operators manage all rules, metrics, and platform operations directly. Potential to integrate robust CRM systems and flexible bonus promtions, targeted player marketing and specific jackpot configurations.

EvenBet By Numbers:

20 years of Experience

200+ Poker Projects

72 Million Players

41 Countries Active

+ Texas Hold’em is the most popular poker variant worldwide. The most distinctive feature is the game with two hole and five community cards used by all players when making combinations.

+ Chinese Poker has its epicentre in China & the Philippines (where it is called Pusoy) and is played in both recreational and competitive settings. Different house rules across various regions.

+ Rummy is a hot favourite in Asia, which boasts more than 20 different variations of the game. India for example is home to two popular Rummy variants: Indian Rummy & Marriage Rummy.

By Dmitry Starostenkov, CEO

Dmitry Starostenkov runs one of poker’s most exacting engines. He thinks like a scientist — hypotheses tested, results measured — and runs EvenBet like a lab: experiment fast, fail clean, learn faster. He’s calm where others panic, methodical where others improvise, and unapologetically pragmatic about what works.

Below, Dmitry shares the three core principles that have shaped his decisions and kept EvenBet competitive — straightforward rules, battle-tested in software, strategy and the market.

Rule 1 - Experiment

Relentlessly

Firstly, success is only possible if you are ready to make a lot of attempts without giving up. Treat every idea as an experiment. Don’t wait for perfection — launch, measure, and iterate. Each failed attempt is data, not defeat; it tells you what to change next. Keep the ego out of it, track the outcomes, and adjust the variables. Over time, persistence plus disciplined learning compounds into the plays that actually win.

2

Rule 2 - Pivot With

Purpose

Secondly, you should be flexible when you make these attempts. If you create a product that doesn’t work, then you start working on another one - you pivot, change your approach. When you try something, every attempt should be from a different perspective, there’s no sense to repeat the same thing that failed.

It is very important to be flexible on all levels – product, company, and leader mindset. The better the leader can adapt, the better the company’s chances of surviving and thriving. I would even say that adaptability is the most important entrepreneurial skill, especially in our industry. The market changes constantly, and you should follow the changes, ideally, anticipate them; otherwise, you’ll be drowned by the industry’s evolution.

3

Rule 3 - Lead With Vision

And my third principle is vision. A leader’s job is to see the direction others can’t yet, then translate that view into concrete bets: which products to back, which markets to enter, which partnerships to forge. Vision sets priorities, so experiments don’t scatter resources but feed a single, coherent trajectory.

But vision must be practical. It’s about picking plausible futures, allocating capital and people to test them, and accepting that some bets will fail. The best leaders communicate the why — so teams know which risks to take and which to avoid — and then give those teams the freedom to execute.

Kambi:

Game Day Demand

From Super Bowl to World Cup Handling Peak Sports Betting Events

Big sports weekends are not just busy for sportsbooks, they can also prove to be engineering finals. From Super Bowl Sunday to the World Cup Final, peak sporting events are the moments when a sportsbook’s technical infrastructure and the full extent of its live betting capabilities are stress-tested at scale.

A marquee sporting event can drive a dramatic surge in user activity — often building and spiking just before kick-off. During events like the Super Bowl or Champions League final, sportsbook traffic will be many times higher than a typical matchday.

This intense spike in real-time demand puts both the front end and backend systems under pressure and requires a stable, scalable platform to maintain performance. In turn, betting volumes soar for high-profile events, leading to an exponential rise in offering requests per minute.

Innovator

This includes both standard pre-match singles markets, but also increasingly more complex products like Bet Builder and player props, which tend to see a sharp uptick in activity for big games and events. Kambi’s Bet Builder accounted for approximately half of all pre-match bets processed by the sportsbook provider on Super Bowl LIX, while player props have grown to make up more than 40% of total NFL bets placed in 2025.

' Kambi's penalty shoot out product drove 17% of total bets during Portugal/France match '

For gambling operators, peak events mean a hugely significant short-term revenue opportunity, provided the sportsbook can maintain performance and offer a deep, engaging user experience. No sportsbook can succeed during high-traffic events without a stable and scalable platform since infrastructure must be able to handle sudden spikes in users, offering requests and bet placement without sacrificing speed or stability. Kambi’s multi-tenant sportsbook, (the most reliable betting engine on the market), is specifically engineered for this challenge:

• Its scalability ensures consistent, efficient performance across both front-end interfaces and critical back-end systems, even under the most intense peak load conditions. The power of Kambi’s vast network provides invaluable data to test the platform end-to-end;

• This allows it to identify and address any potential bottlenecks or issues before they can impact partners’ customers, ensuring platform stability and responsiveness from before kick-off to the final whistle, even during high-intensity moments like penalty shootouts;

• The stumbling blocks to excellent performance and engaging user experiences on the biggest events are often most pronounced in the live arena, where changes in game state can drive extensive spikes in activity. Taking the aforementioned example of penalty shoot outs as an illustration, Kambi’s penalty product drove 17% of total bets on Portugal-France at Euro 2024, despite the shoot-out accounting for 8% of total match time.

Cutting Live Delay: Delivering Faster In-Play Betting Experiences

Minimising live delay is a critical factor in providing a satisfying live betting experience. No sportsbook wants to find its feature set being left behind due to issues with latency that it’s underlying tech-stack and modelling are unable to reconcile. On a practical level, the process of reducing latency is a multi-faceted one.

Working closely with authoritative sporting data feed providers, and those that maintain close relationships with tournament organisers is the starting point. Several of Kambi’s partners have exclusive access to live data for certain competitions, helping to significantly minimise live delay. Kambi has honed its trading tools to ensure these feeds can be integrated as closely within the value chain to its proprietary pricing models as possible, so that systems can react as soon as the data feed is updated with fresh information.

On top of this, the company is also constantly in the process of building smarter logic into its live models – enabling Kambi to keep certain markets open in game situations where other sportsbooks would shutter them, closing them off to customer activity and thereby putting up barriers to customer engagement where none need to exist. This ongoing work is achieving consistent results: on average, Kambi has seen a year-on-year reduction of approximately 10% in its average live delay.

' Each wager processed across its global network contributes to a continuous refined risk model '

With Kambi powering the sportsbook, bettors are able to get their bets on more quickly, leading to greater likelihood of retention.

A robust risk management framework is also fundamental, especially when traffic and betting stakes skyrocket. Operators must have real-time monitoring systems, player profiling, and liability controls in place to respond quickly to emerging patterns and mitigate risk.

Kambi employs sophisticated machine learning-driven player profiling and real-time monitoring systems to proactively identify and mitigate risk, utilising predictive models powered by data from a vast global sports betting network. Each wager processed across its global network contributes to a continuously refined risk model.

The breadth and diversity of this data enables the identification of anomalies, the detection of outliers, and the anticipation of market movements with a far greater degree of accuracy than isolated operators or suppliers without comparable scale can achieve. These insights fuel more informed pricing strategies, more agile trading decisions, and ultimately, superior financial outcomes for partners.

Crucially, this intelligence is applied to tailor Kambi’s approach to each operator’s specific commercial objectives. Some partners may strategically leverage major events to attract new clientele, offering more competitive odds and elevated betting limits, while others may prioritise maximising profitability through a more conservative risk management posture.

Kris Saw CTO Kambi

Company

Timeline

2010, Kambi Founded

Kambi is launched as a B2B sportsbook provider after spinning out of Unibet (now Kindred Group), with a vision to build the industry’s most powerful sportsbook platform

2014 , Nasdaq Stockholm

Kambi is listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm, securing independence and capital for global expansion while building a reputation for integrity

2018, Global Expansion

With the repeal of PASPA in the US, Kambi enters the North American market, signing tier-one operators and processing the first legal online wager post-PASPA

2024 , Innovation Leaders

Kambi becomes the home of premium sports betting solutions with the launch of its expanded product portfolio, including Odds Feed+, Bet Builder and Esports

Global2025Rankings

GamblingIQ's Tech Power List

THE TRUSTED

GamblingIQ honours the visionaries shaping iGaming infrastructure in global regulated markets. Our 'Tech Power List 2025', Game of Trust edition, recognises the platform and tech leaders whose innovation, engineering discipline, and infrastructural precision have become the foundations operators depend upon.

Our recognition highlights the daily work of teams delivering what the industry values most: operational and infrastructural trust. From uptime reliability and regulatory compliance to rapid incident response, transparent partnerships, API security, and robust infrastructure, these companies are committed to building platforms operators can rely on in all jurisdictions around the world.

The total stakes wagered in iGaming now exceeds $1.5 trillion globally. Operators are less impressed by glitter and more demanding of certainty: uptime, compliance, rapid remediation and clear accountability. For 2025, GamblingIQ’s Tech Power List reframes the usual “Top 10” by naming the people, not only the products, that operators trust to keep services running and regulators satisfied.

We judged candidates on measurable, operator-centric criteria: historical platform uptime, incident response times, depth of compliance tooling for tiered jurisdictions, API maturity for integrations, and operator feedback on partnership transparency. Security posture and proven experience in live regulation are weighted heavily — the tech that wins is the tech that survives audits and peak traffic without excuses.

Security posture and proven experience in live regulation are weighted heavily — the tech that wins is the tech that survives audits and peak traffic without excuses. This year’s list reads like a who’s-who of platform leadership. Jaakko Soininen (Finnplay) is recognised for leading a modular platform strategy that enables operators to meet the specific requirements of each local jurisdiction.

Through offering flexible configurations and integrations, Finnplay allows operators to achieve compliance and maintain product consistency across various regulated markets without the need for extensive platform overhauls. Continent 8’s leadership meanwhile earns recognition for turning hosting and edge-network design into a core differentiator; their teams have been repeatedly relied upon to architect resilient footprints.

The Trusted 10 aren’t celebrated for slogans, but for habits like rigorous testing, open incident post-mortems, quick rollback plans, and a willingness to subordinate product rollouts to regulatory clarity. Infrastructure leaders who build fault-tolerant systems, enforce API security, and harden platforms against technical volatility also feature strongly.

If the last decade was about content differentiation, 2025 is about operational trust. For operators, the takeaway is simple: the people who can combine platform engineering with regulatory judgement are the ones to work with. The GamblingIQ Power List is a reading list; our researched opinion on the executives worth talking to when certainty matters more than novelty.

Jaakko Soininen Managing Director Finnplay.com

IQ Comment

When certainty matters more than novelty. That’s the line that counts with Jaakko Soininen and Finnplay; pragmatic Nordic leadership, rock-solid engineering and a 'Platform of Cooperation' that favours trust over flash. With Finland's monopoly ending, operators eyeing the newly opening market increasingly see Finnplay as a compliant, dependable partner.

JAAKKO 01

Soininen

FINNPLAY

Jaakko Soininen, Managing Director of Finnplay, builds the company on Nordic principles — trust, openness, transparency, cooperation and low hierarchy. Raised in Helsinki with an MBA in Business Informatics from Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, he joined Finnplay five years ago and has introduced the telling tagline, 'Platform of Cooperation' which prioritises operator, supplier and regulator collaboration to improve the player experience. In 2021 Finnplay launched its first mobile app, entered Lithuania and the Netherlands, and was subsequently acquired by Entain. Soininen champions flawless core functionality, long-term partnerships and being a dependable partner in good and bad times.

Alex Tomic Founder Alea.com

ALEX Tomic ALEA

Along with his co-founder Charlotte Lecomte, Alex Tomic fashinoned one of the most reliable and secure aggregation platforms in the global market, offering over 16,000 games via a single API, through the Reverse Integration proprietary system, (read about itpages 20/21). But Tomic's influence extends far beyond traditional business metrics. A vocal advocate for brutal honesty about gambling's societal impact, he's currently funding groundbreaking research into psychedelic-assisted therapy for gambling addiction, exploring the future of AI, and pioneering what he calls 'luck sculpting'; a mystical approach to risk and fortune. Through initiatives like the Under Pressure podcast, where he interviews leading industry figures about exactly what it takes to reach the top, he continues to push boundaries while advocating for API governance and security.

IQ Comment

Alex Tomic is one of the most compelling figures in today’s gambling landscape. His podcast consistently attracts tens of thousands of listeners and has become a must-hear for unfiltered conversations with the industry’s leading voices. Tomic has been candid about personal experiences with addiction and now channels that perspective into funding research and practical support for those affected by gambling addiction. He’s equally committed to his team — prioritising staff wellbeing, offering development and support, and fostering an open culture where people feel heard. That blend of lived insight, bold ideas and tangible care makes him a genuine and trusted asset to the industry.

03

DMITRY Starostenkov EVENBET

Dmitry Starostenkov founded EvenBet in 2001 and has steered the company from a small custom-software shop into a specialist online-poker technology provider with a global footprint. He led EvenBet’s strategic pivot into poker software in the mid-2000s and has since focused the business on scalable, localised poker platforms, turnkey poker rooms and white-label solutions for operators. Under his leadership EvenBet claims hundreds of client projects across dozens of jurisdictions and a player base measured in the tens of millions — evidence of the company’s emphasis on localisation, customisation and regional product fit. Beyond product delivery, Dmitry positions EvenBet as a partner to operators rather than a pure-play vendor, arguing for deeper integration, better retention tools and bespoke solutions for markets such as Latin America and the US. He also prioritises player safety around the world.

IQ Comment

Visionary yet pragmatic, Dmitry Starostenkov is emerging as the most influential and trusted platform leader driving online poker’s next chapter. At the helm of EvenBet Gaming, he has demonstrated that poker’s growth rests not on radical reinvention but on smart adaptation — localising games, solving infrastructure challenges, and establishing poker as one of the industry’s most effective retention tools. By introducing Rummy and Teen Patti in Asia or developing lightweight apps suited for Africa’s mobile-first markets, Dmitry blends technical innovation with cultural understanding. He is a visible presence at major industry events, sharing insights on localisation, payments, and AI’s expanding role in fairness and fraud prevention.

Dmitry Starostenkov Founder & CEO

Michael

Tobin

Michael Tobin, founder and CEO of Continent 8 Technologies, has been instrumental in building one of the iGaming industry’s most trusted infrastructure providers. Established in 1998, Continent 8 was an early pioneer in delivering secure hosting, managed services, and connectivity solutions tailored to the needs of online gaming operators. Under Tobin’s leadership, the company has grown into a truly global network, operating data centres and points of presence across Europe, North America, Asia, and Latin America. His vision has consistently centred on reliability, compliance, and security — ensuring that operators and platforms can scale in regulated markets while maintaining uptime and resilience. Widely respected as both an innovator and steady hand, Tobin’s work has underpinned the growth of regulated online gambling and continues to support its next phase worldwide.

IQ Comment

Canadian-born Michael Tobin, (although GamblingIQ insists the surname is 100% Irish), has become one of the defining figures in iGaming infrastructure. A former chartered accountant from Montreal, he founded Continent 8 close to his alma mater before later anchoring its operations on the Isle of Man. Inducted into the SBC Sports Betting Hall of Fame in 2024, Tobin has long championed trust, uptime, security and compliance as the cornerstones of digital infrastructure. His frequent presence at industry conferences and willingness to engage with the toughest challenges have reinforced his reputation as both a steady operator and forward-looking leader. In an industry often chasing the next big thing, Tobin embodies the kind of leadership that prioritises stability and sustainable growth without losing sight of innovation.

Michael Tobin Founder & CEO

05

Kris Saw, CTO at Kambi, has 14 years' tenure at the company and is a recognised global leader in architecting and scaling sportsbook platforms for regulated operators worldwide. His core expertise lies in technical architecture, designing resilient, low-latency systems and integrations that directly support commercial models. Kris translates complex operator requirements into practical platform solutions and has led multicultural engineering teams all over the globe. A persuasive communicator and hands-on leader, he champions product-driven development, operational excellence and rigorous testing. His specialties include system architecture, platform integration, project management and business development. Practical yet strategic, Kris combines deep technical craft with executive judgement to help operators launch, scale and comply in demanding jurisdictions. He advises boards, regulators and industry working groups around the world.

IQ Comment Saw Kris KAMBI

Kris Saw has put his degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from Curtin University to good use. A native of Western Australia now based in Stockholm, he joined Kambi in 2010 and has spent 14 years shaping its technology backbone. As CTO, he has played a critical role in platform scalability, low-latency trading systems, and regional price-differentiation tools that give operators real control over in-game odds. One of his most important contributions came post-PAS PA, helping to lead the rapid deployment which allowed Kambi to process the first legal online wager in New Jersey in August 2018 — less than three months after repeal — with full compliance and infrastructure in place ahead of the NFL sea son. That achievement signalled Saw’s hallmark: speed without compromise. Today, his leadership continues to anchor Kambi’s global footprint, sup porting tier-one operators across six continents and proving that technical rigour and commercial urgency can coexist.

Michael

Boylan

PRAGMATIC SOLUTIONS

Michael Boylan is the Chief Operating Officer at Pragmatic Solutions. With over two decades in online gaming and entertainment, he has held senior roles at Entain, Ladbrokes Coral, Gala Coral, and Sportingbet. Headquartered in Gibraltar, Pragmatic Solutions delivers a flexible Player Account Management (PAM) platform with an open-API approach that now powers operators in regulated markets including the UK, Brazil, and Spain. Boylan leads global operations, accountable for scalable, compliant infrastructure that enables rapid integrations and meaningful product differentiation. His career spans IT architecture, distributed development, and operational strategy, giving him a distinctive operator-first perspective. By aligning product innovation with resilience and compliance, he has helped position Pragmatic Solutions as a trusted partner for enterprise-scale operators.

Pragmatic.solutions/pam-platform

Aida

Vardanyan

DIGITAIN MALTA

Aida Vardanyan leads Digitain Malta as its highly trusted safe pair of hands driving operations at the heart of one of iGaming’s most important regulated hubs. Since joining Digitain in 2016, she rose through roles spanning financial and operational leadership to oversee large-scale, partner-centric platform strategy across global markets. As CEO, she has shaped Malta into a strategic operational and compliance centre—centralising commercial support, regulatory engagement, and European partnerships. Her leadership focuses on building scalable infrastructure and responsive support systems, ensuring Digitain delivers agile, innovative solutions tailored to operator needs.

FINAL 3:

iGaming’s platform visionaries powering infrastructure, compliance, and operator trust

Florian Diederichsen, OPENBET

Florian Diederichsen is the Chief Technology Officer at OpenBet, a leading provider of sportsbook software, content, and services. He joined OpenBet in January 2022 after senior roles at DAZN and Perform, bringing expertise in OTT video, content operations, and large-scale systems. As CTO he is responsible for evolving OpenBet’s modular sports product portfolio and driving innovation. Under his leadership, OpenBet focuses on immersive content, fan engagement, and personalisation in odds and markets, while ensuring high performance and reliability at peak sports events where millions of transactions occur in real time.

Mihnea Dobre, EVERYMATRIX

Mihnea Dobre is the Group Chief Technology Officer at EveryMatrix, a role he stepped up to in May 2024. He first joined the company in 2016 as Head of Incident Management, leading a small team, and soon after created the Technical Support and IT Governance functions. Over nearly ten years, he has been central to building the processes and infrastructure that enable operational resilience and efficiency. As Group CTO he now leads technical strategy, supports business-unit CTOs, and drives innovation across the company.

EveryMatrix.com

OpenBet.com

Warren Murphy, SPORTRADAR

Warren Murphy is a seasoned executive with extensive experience in the sports betting and gaming sectors. He currently serves as a Strategic Advisor at Sportradar, following his tenure as Group Chief Delivery and Operations Officer. In this role, he led the integration of content operations, product development, and engineering across global markets. Previously, Murphy was Chief Product Officer and Managing Director of Betting and Gaming at Sportradar.