Hultman will be streaming the spins to his 22,500-plus Twitch followers from 10pm (CEST), becoming the first to try the game’s innovative Triple Reaction mechanic.

Hultman, co-founder of CasinoGrounds.com, said: “BTG is becoming synonymous for innovation in the world of slots. This time it’s Triple Reaction together with multiplier wilds, which makes for great potential and entertainment. I can’t wait to give it a spin!”

Nik Robinson, CEO of Big Time Gaming, added: “Kim is one of the most popular online casino streamers in the world, and we are thrilled that he will be making the first spins on Opal Fruits and broadcasting the action to his army of followers.”

Opal Fruits is set in the centre of the universe where gravity rotates all of the player’s fruit around the reels with Pears, Plumbs, Melons and Purple Grapes spinning to a highly-charged digital soundtrack.

Triple Reaction enables spins and reactions in three directions with two opposite directional horizontal reels, as well as six reels that spin down the centre of the reel grid.

The game enables the unexpected and combines the feel of Big Time’s Extra Chilli and Bonanza into a less complex format with higher average symbol density.

The free games also have a twist as re-triggers are accomplished as the free games’ multiplier rises.

In April, Robinson gave CasinoBeats an exclusive on Opal Fruits – read it here 

The post Kim Hultman to stream first spins of BTG’s Opal Fruits on LeoVegas tonight appeared first on CasinoBeats.

Speaking in the most recent issue of SBC Leaders, Purser said that streaming can offer immediate product insights for the tech-savvy ‘new gen’ players, also offering a community whereby the player can immediately identify themselves with. 

He added: “The impact of casino streamers in the last two years has rapidly grown and today, an increasing number of brands and suppliers are turning to individual streamers or streamer networks to promote their games to a carefully curated and highly engaged, next generation player audience. Many of whom are under 35, and therefore the ideal target market.”

The addition of streamers to an offer, Purser continued, can also transform gaming and slot play from a solitary single-player experience into a highly engaging form of multiplayer entertainment.

He continued: “Streaming has turned slot play on its head, bringing it out of the shadows as a single-player, solitary experience into a shared one, and multiplayer games are, and will, continue to do the same by driving new levels of community and engagement. 

“For the time being, the multiplayer sector is relatively untapped, however we firmly believe it has as much, if not more, potential to grow within the casino world as streaming.”

Purser’s comments were part of a dual perspective on the impact of casino streaming, as he was joined by CasinoGrounds CEO Tobias Svensen. 

While being a key means in offering a gaming community for Gen Y and Gen Z players, Svensen also noted that streamers can help bring down the barriers to engagement, creating what he describes as a ‘borderless’ experience filled with instantaneous connections between players.

He added: “Casino streaming has become a platform where the industry, players, viewers, game developers and others all stand on equal ground, sharing experiences.

“What used to be a good story someone told their friends is now just seconds away from being published, shared and viewed thousands of times within a matter of hours. What used to be an experience you would only share with those close to you is now borderless, and connects with thousands of people instantaneously.”

To read the article in full, click here. 

The post Casino streaming: Turning the gaming experience on its head appeared first on CasinoBeats.

The event, which is set to go by the name of Yggdrasil Slot Battle 2020, will see three teams, each made up of one operator and one streamer, compete to claim the highest single coin win in Yggdrasil’s newly-released Splitz mechanic title, Temple Stacks.

Rasmus Sojmark, CEO and Founder of SBC, commented on the event: “We are thrilled to have a company of Yggdrasil’s calibre sponsor our official networking drinks and we look forward to welcoming industry stakeholders to witness this unique tournament and join us for an action-packed evening of entertainment.

“Over the last year, we have seen operators develop a closer relationship with streamers to evolve the ways they reach and engage players and this will be an excellent way to highlight this rapidly growing marketing opportunity that I’m sure we will see more of in 2020.”

Well-known CasinoGrounds streamers such as LetsGiveItASpin, Nickslots and Slotspinner are all set to compete against each other, as well as Yggdrasil’s operator partners Rizk, Dunder and Casino Calzone.

A sponsored campaign with a value of €10,000 is up for grabs and will be awarded by Yggdrasil to the operator that achieves the highest single coin win. Moreover, aside from the grand tournament prize, players will also enjoy a €9,000 cash drop during the hour-long competition.

Fredrik Elmqvist, Yggdrasil CEO, will moderate the live event with 300 key industry stakeholders expected to attend.

Elmqvist, added: “At Yggdrasil we are always at the forefront of innovation and finding new ways for our content to reach new audiences is at the top of our agenda.

“We are increasingly using streamers and work closely with the streaming community as they significantly help raise awareness of our games as well as drive traffic to our operator partners’ sites.

“We are excited to showcase this collaboration by hosting this fun competition together with CasinoBeats and couldn’t think of a better place to do so than at ICE, the biggest industry event of the year.”

Tobias Svensen, CEO of CasinoGrounds, commented: “From its inception in 2016, CasinoGrounds has grown from a small forum of online casino streamers to become the number-one casino community in the world.

“Online casino streaming will only continue to grow as it offers a fun and fresh way for game studios and operators to promote their games. We are excited to show industry representatives how it can add something extra to the online gambling experience with this tournament.”

The tournament is scheduled to take place during CasinoBeats’ networking drinks event on February 5 at the Fox@ExCel during ICE London 2020, between 6pm and 7pm.

Register your interest in attending the networking drinks and Slot Battle event here

The post CasinoBeats teams up with Yggdrasil and CasinoGrounds for ICE streaming event appeared first on CasinoBeats.

Niche games can unlock new avenues of engagement

Fuelled by a desire for fast money and the significant marketing shift towards influencers, niche games can raise the ceiling in terms of player engagement when it comes to the igaming sector. 

During a panel at the event, Michael Cini, Owner of ELA Games, underlined that from their infancy he held alternative game formats in high regard as he revealed that the original office for ELA Games was an old abandoned arcade. 

Cini explained: “One game was one of those claw machines, and one of us had the brilliant idea of, ‘why don’t we turn that into an online game?’ – which is when we came up with Cash Crab. From the very start, we found niche games to be an important part of us for creativity reasons.” 

Daniel Giuffra, Brand Manager from CasinoGrounds also detailed that the growth of niche games can be elevated by the shortening of attention spans from casino players. 

It can also be a route to engagement in the Brazilian market which is garnering inevitable attention from igaming operators across the globe. 

Mariana Tostes, Head of Operations at FBMDS, estimated that the group’s Brazilian online casino offering is made up of around 40 per cent niche games, naming online bingo and crash as examples, with the rest made up by slots. 

Trust remains integral in igaming payments 

As crypto adoption continues to grow and digital finance options are increasing efficiency in the user experience for igaming players, it is clear that trust is still a vital factor. 

While the shift for alternative payment methods in the mainstream was explored, moving humans away from ingrained habits will be a challenge especially when it comes to finances. 

According to Sean Spiteri, Head of Payment Solutions at PressEnter, humans “tend to stick to what they know”. Nonetheless, he highlighted that at the heart of any potential changes will be “simplicity and speed”.

Veiko Krünberg, CEO at XGateway, emphasised that we’re still in the early days of crypto, going on to laud the impact he believes that blockchain technology will have on igaming.

Krünberg urged operators to take note of oncoming developments and payment journeys that are steadily growing into the mainstream and being adopted by a larger number of players.

“Teething problems within the sector are improving at dramatic speed” according to Krünberg, who was keen to state his belief that the benefits of Decentralised Finance (DeFi) are going to fuel the way it is embraced by igaming players and operators. 

Learning from video games for the next level of engagement 

A pioneer in the world of first person shooters, John Romero spoke of the parallels between video games and igaming when it comes to maximising engagement. 

He drew attention to the importance of the immersive experience, urging operators and suppliers not to neglect elements like audio, which ensure that a player is enriched by the game even when it isn’t paying out big wins. 

He detailed that “in order to keep a player in the game, they need to be comfortable with the experience”, he then praised the immersive tech utilised for big titles seen across casino floors including Wizard of Oz, Rocky and Game of Thrones. 

Poker needs to play its hand of innovation 

As player attention spans wilt at a dramatic rate, one element of the gaming sector that desperately needs innovation is poker. 

Off the back of a recent “renaissance” due to the COVID-19 pandemic keeping everyone indoors and on screens, a return to normality has dealt online poker a challenging hand – with player acquisition in decline. 

Speaking at the event, Telly Bartolo, Marketing and Event Manager at Casino Malta, explained the vital nature of live tournaments, which offer much more than just a gameplay experience. 

He said: “Poker players moving from online to live tournaments are looking to travel, they’re looking to meet people form different nationalities and mingle around. It’s not all about the actual game, but it becomes about all the other things in the full experience.”

The post Four igaming takeaways from CasinoBeats Summit Malta  appeared first on CasinoBeats.

Taking place in the hustle and bustle of the Summit’s first day, the ‘Navigating niche – mainstream opinion on alternative games’ panel questioned whether game formats like crash, plinko and mine are beginning to break into the mainstream. 

Moderated by Rhino Entertainment CEO, Ross Parkhill, the panel kicked off by looking into the dawn of these formats, with cryptocurrency casinos providing the birthplace for several niche game styles. 

As the COO for crypto operator 500 Casino, panellist Christoffer Andersson explained that fast-paced demands from cryptocurrency gamblers had a big part to play in establishing many niche game formats.  

“There’s a big difference when it comes to regulated, fiat money gambling to unregulated crypto gambling, we have a much younger audience that want fast money straight away, and they want to understand the game straight away,” he said. “That’s why I think niche games are performing so well for us.” 

With alternative formats thriving in the crypto space, it didn’t take long for regulated operators to take note, creating a rapidly growing demand for new and innovative genres. 

Michael Cini, Owner of ELA Games, noted that he took alternative game formats seriously “from the very beginning”, telling the audience that ELA’s first office was an old abandoned arcade from which the firm drew inspiration from. 

Cini explained: “One game was one of those claw machines, and one of us had the brilliant idea of, ‘why don’t we turn that into an online game?’ – which is when we came up with Cash Crab. 

“From the very start, we found niche games to be an important part of us for creativity reasons,” he continued. 

“They’re predictable, provably fair and trustable. That resonates with the player.”

Daniel Giuffra, Brand Manager at CasinoGrounds

While the panel went on to analyse the rise in popularity for alternative titles, Cini did underline that “there’s no questioning the dominance of slots in our industry”. 

However, this led him to suggest that although slots are still a key focus for the supplier, niche games can open developers up to “endless possibilities”. 

Daniel Giuffra, Brand Manager from CasinoGrounds, was also present to provide a casino streaming perspective and explain why niche games can not only provide an alternative to slots, but enhance them as well. 

Giuffra also suggested niche games can create a more exciting experience for a streamer and their viewers when compared to slots, due to typically being much more fast-paced games. But, he did note that the games streamers decide to push usually depend on whatever “can go viral”. 

He said: “It doesn’t really matter if it’s the new hot slot, or the new hot, provably fair, RNG software, it really depends on what provider can create a game that is easily shared on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, all of those.” 

Arriving equipped with knowledge on Brazil’s existing gambling market, ahead of the nation’s well-awaited regulation, was Mariana Tostes, Head of Operations at FBMDS. 

Tostes highlighted online bingo as a standout performer in Brazil, perhaps due to the land-based alternatives’ historic presence in South America’s largest country. 

She estimated that FBMDS’ Brazilian online casino offering is made up of around 40 per cent niche games, naming online bingo and crash as examples, with the rest made up by slots. 

“players have the shortest attention span ever and it’s only getting shorter”

Daniel Giuffra, Brand Manager at CasinoGrounds

The conversation then moved to what the younger generation of players that view slot streams desire, with Andersson in no doubt that the need for players to feel “a part of something” is pushing suppliers towards multiplayer titles. 

While agreeing that multiplayer igaming is an important aspect to consider when making new games, Cini warned studios not to “go too heavy too fast on it [multiplayer] right now” due to risks of burning themselves out. 

“We know crash games and skill games are getting more popular, and I think that’s an important thing to register,” said Cini. “But you’ve also got to prepare for the future.

“You’ve got a new generation of players that aren’t used to slots, they’re used to multiplayer games with social features and I think you have to prepare yourself for that future. 

“Don’t go too fast and too heavy on it right now, don’t burn yourself out as a company, but you should start planning ahead and weighing that in.”

Later on, Andersson warned that suppliers should refrain from overcomplicating titles. He explained: “That is the reason that people are playing these games, they want to understand it straight away and they want to know how to win.” 

Responding to that notion of avoiding overcomplication, Giuffra agreed “100 per cent”, claiming that “players have the shortest attention span ever and it’s only getting shorter”. 

He continued: “We used to have the 100 spin rule,” referring to the need for bonuses to be provided within 100 spins, “now it’s the 50 spin rule. “You have to strike this very delicate balance between trying to innovate in a slot, and giving players something they already know. 

“That’s where I think these niche products stand, as they’re the same across different casinos. They’re predictable, they’re provably fair and they’re trustable. That resonates with the player.”

The post CasinoBeats Summit Malta: new audiences and ‘endless possibilities’ with niche games appeared first on CasinoBeats.

Speaking earlier this year at CasinoBeats Summit 2022 in Malta, Mitton was part of a panel session entitled ‘Let’s talk Mechanics’ – a discussion which is set to continue at SBC Summit Barcelona in September. 

Joining Mitton on this session, which was sponsored by Lady Luck Games, was AvatarUX’s CEO, Nicola Longmuir and Kasper Bach, Head of Sales at CasinoGrounds. 

Continuing with Mitton, he expressed that Megaways “hit the market by storm” and stated that a lot of start-up providers believe that this route is the “market edge” rather than trying to build their own mechanic. 

He continued: “You can obviously jump on the so-called gravy train, which is the revenue stream from the Megaways brand, but at the same time I think you need to work on your own innovation in-house and try and find something that’s unique to you. 

“That’s what PopWins did, or xWays from Nolimt City, they’ve kinda created their own Megaways but jumping on to new providers and saying I can actually get a piece of this pie by creating a new IP and driving innovation. 

“There might be spin offs to innovation, it might just be a slight adaptation, but that is where the extra revenue is being taken from providers in regards to the Megaways mechanic and it’s not necessarily you take the IP from Megaways and you have an instant hit. 

“There’s a lot of games that come to market that expect an instant revenue driver, just because of the IP and have fallen by the wayside but there’s these new providers coming in that are driving something unique to the players and taking off that revenue share. 

“Additionally, if we just look at the growth of Pragmatic away from IPs, they’re not driving IPs away from their games but what they’re doing is choosing known mechanics that work for their players, slightly adapting them, pushing them out and they’ve got successful releases – maybe three every month.”

Adding to the thoughts of Mitton, Longmuir insisted that she is “very much a believer in non-commodity gaming” emphasising that it is “all about quality” instead of “just pumping out volume”, may that be in quality of the games or the mechanics.

“It is a modal and it does work in some cases but I  think you have to have large scale production to do that,” explained AvatarUX’s CEO. 

“I’m from a start-up, we’re in a rapid growth phase now and coming out of start-up but the ethos has always been around quality and continuing to innovate on the really successful mechanics. 

“We work with the streaming community to look at the feedback that we get there and that really helps to drive that innovation as well. I think that really has a big influence with the operators as well, receiving the reviews from the streamers and partners out in the market, really informs the operators where they’re positioned in the real estate. 

“From a commercial standpoint, having the brand attached to that which is recognisable, I worked with the people at Slingo and at Gaming Realms, and I can see the value in that brand.”

Providing a view from the streaming angle, CasinoGround’s Bach noted that, when deciding on which studio to work with, his company tends to look at firms that are “exciting to the community” and want to work on “big mechanics”. 

Bach added: “If you push out eight games a week, or eight games a month, it’s going to be hard to pinpoint which one is the good release because they might always be decent releases but they don’t have that edge which drives engagement to the customers. 

“We would rather work on big releases and the mechanics need to be there because it creates that big marketing push.”

However, looking into Big Time Gaming’s success and route with Megaways, which has seen it link-up with countless studios to provide its IP for an array of titles, Longmuir voiced her concern that there is “a danger” in having the “right level of control” when it comes to other suppliers utilising another company’s mechanic. 

She continued: “Obviously, the Big Time Gaming model of pushing our Megaways and giving it to different studios and I think there’s been a tendency now to have a lack of control and maybe Megaways, what it was in its inception is not what it is now.

“PopWins at the moment, from a commercial perspective, in order to drive distribution for us eventually we want to collaborate with other studios so they could push out the PopWins brand and trademark in other jurisdictions. 

“However, the key thing about that as a B2B supplier is the control around that and making sure it’s true to form and adds something, rather than causing issues for your brand.” 

iGaming Innovation is to form one key aspect of this year’s SBC Summit Barcelona 2022, which takes place at Fira Barcelona Montjuïc on 20-22 September.

This will see 6,000 delegates enjoy a 12-track conference covering all aspects of the international sports betting and online casino industries, an exhibition with 200 companies showcasing their latest innovations, and a programme of spectacular evening networking events. 

Visit the SBC Summit Barcelona website to book your all access or discounted group pass.

The post Daniel Mitton: suppliers need to innovate in-house instead of Megaways gravy-train appeared first on CasinoBeats.

The second edition of the Awards took place at the Hilton, Malta in front of an audience of industry executives, who saw 20 honours handed out to winners ranging from the biggest names in games development to the best emerging studios. 

Pragmatic Play’s team walked away with a pair of trophies in the Game Performance section of the Awards, winning the Slot Legacy Title category for Sweet Bonanza, before Gates of Olympus saw off competition from NetEnt’s Starburst XXXtreme and Relax Gaming’s Top Dawg$ to be named Slot of the Year. 

Book of Destiny by Print Studios claimed the Slot Studio Debut 2022 title, while Playtech’s Buffalo Blitz MegaWays was named Slot to Watch 2022 and the Game Performance section was completed by Relax Gaming and CasinoGrounds winning Slot Collaboration of the Year for Beast Mode.  

Habanero’s Orbs Of Atlantis won the Game Innovation award, ahead of Evoplay’s Star Guardians and AvatarUX’s Lollipop, with the category decided by a vote of delegates at the CasinoBeats Summit conference earlier in the day. 

The Game Creation section also saw wins for Blueprint Gaming’s The Goonies Return (Game Licensed Content), Stakelogic’s Up6Timer (Game Retro-Style), Peter & Sons’ Xibalba (Game Narrative),  Evoplay’s Star Guardians (Game Design & Art Direction), and Relax Gaming’s Top Dawg$ (Game Design & Art Direction).

In the SlotCatalog section of the awards, which were decided based on performance data from the leading analytics platform for the slots industry, Pragmatic Play recorded its third triumph of the evening in the Game Studio of the Year – Large category. The Medium and Small studio awards went to Nolimit City and Triple Edge Studios respectively.

The Outperforming Game Studio of the Year awards, which honour the developers that have seen their SlotCatalog Slot Rank rise most over the past 12 months, went to Hacksaw Gaming (Large Studio), G.Games (Medium Studio) and 4ThePlayer (Small Studio), while Reel Kingdom was named SlotCatalog Rookie of the Year. 

Completing the evening’s winners were CasinoGrounds’ LetsGiveItASpin, who was named Streamer of the Year, and Bojoko, which landed the Innovation in Marketing prize for its ‘Are You Sure the Game’s Fair? (National Anthem)’ video ad campaign. 

Rasmus Sojmark, Founder and CEO of the event’s organiser SBC, said: “Huge congratulations to all the winners at the second annual CasinoBeats Game Developer Awards.

“The high quality of the shortlists that our independent judging panels and voters selected the winners from really showcased the industry’s commitment to innovation and creativity. From established major players continuing to come up with stunning original ideas to new studios making a splash with their imaginative releases, the games development sector is in great shape.”

CasinoBeats Game Developer Awards Winners 

Slot of the Year 2022

Winner: Pragmatic Play – Gates of Olympus

Silver: NetEnt – Starburst XXXtreme

Bronze: Relax Gaming – Top Dawg$

Slot to Watch 2022

Winner: Playtech – Buffalo Blitz MegaWays   

Silver: Relax Gaming- Money Cart 2

Bronze: AvatarUX Studios – Lollipop

Slot Studio Debut 2022

Winner: Print Studios – Book of Destiny  

Silver: Wizard Games – Gods of Kemet 

Bronze: Atomic Slot Lab powered by Bragg – Egyptian Magic

Slot Legacy Title

Winner: Pragmatic Play – Sweet Bonanza

Silver: NetEnt – Starburst

Bronze: Games Global – Mega Moolah

Slot Collaboration of the Year

Winner: Relax Gaming and Casino Grounds – Beast Mode  

Silver: Peter & Sons and Yggdrasil – Valkyries

Bronze: 4ThePlayer – 90k Yeti Gigablox

Game Innovation

Winner : Habanero – Orbs Of Atlantis

Silver: Evoplay – Star Guardians 

Bronze: AvatarUX’s Lollipop.

Game Licensed Content

Winner: Blueprint Gaming – The Goonies Return 

Silver: Slingshot Studios – Game of Thrones Power Stacks

Bronze: Playtech – The Walking Dead

Game Retro-Style

Winner : Stakelogic – Up6Timer 

Silver: Inspired Entertainment – Space Invaders

Bronze: EGT Interactive – Hot Deco

Game Narrative

Winner: Peter & Sons – Xibalba 

Silver: Quickspin – Big Bad Wolf Megaways

Bronze: Betsoft – Return To Paris

Game Design & Art Direction

Winner : Evoplay – Star Guardians 

Silver: BF Games – Cave of Fortune

Bronze: Peter & Sons – Xibalba

Game Music / Soundtrack

Winner: Relax Gaming – Top Dawg$

Silver: Stormcraft Studios – Thunderstruck® Wild Lightning

Bronze: Hacksaw Gaming – Chaos Crew

Innovation in Marketing

Winner : Bojoko – Are You Sure the Game’s Fair? (National Anthem) 

Silver: Call to Action – Taste for Classics

Bronze: Blexr – Popeye

Streamer of the Year

Winner: CasinoGrounds, LetsGiveItASpin

Silver: Hideous Slots

Bronze: Classybeef, League of Entertainment

SlotCatalog Rookie of the Year

Winner: Reel Kingdom 

SlotCatalog Outperforming Game Studio of the Year

Winner – Small Studio: 4ThePlayer

Winner – Medium Studio: G.Games

Winner – Large Studio: Hacksaw Gaming

SlotCatalog Game Studio of the Year 

Winner – Small Studio: Triple Edge Studios 

Winner – Medium Studio: Nolimit City

Winner – Large Studio: Pragmatic Play

The post Pragmatic Play’s Gates of Olympus crowned Slot of the Year at CasinoBeats Games Developer Awards appeared first on CasinoBeats.

The inaugural Game Developer Awards ceremony, hosted by Trudy Kerr at the InterContinental Hotel in St Julian’s, Malta, recognised the achievements of both the industry’s biggest names and emerging studios across 14 categories.  

The Relax Gaming team enjoyed a pair of wins in the Game Performance section, as   Money Train 2’s Slot of the Year 2021 success was followed by Book of 99 being named Slot to Watch 2021. 

Alchemy Gaming’s Wheel of Wishes claimed the Slot Studio Debut 2021 title, while SG Digital’s Rainbow Riches took the Slot Legacy Title honour, and the Slot Collaboration of the Year award went to Red Tiger and Big Time Gaming for Gonzo’s Quest MegaWays.

In the Game Creation categories, AvatarUX took the Game Innovation honour for the CherryPop, TikiPop and HippoPop titles from its series of releases using the PopWins mechanic.

Blueprint Gaming’s Rick and Morty MegaWays took the Game Licensed Content prize, while Rainbow Riches Race Day gave SG Digital its second success of the night, this time in the Game Retro-Style category.

Push Gaming’s Dinopolis secured the Game Design & Art Direction title, iSoftBet’s Moriarty Megaways came out on top in the Game Narrative category, and NetEnt’s Hotline 2 won the Game Music / Soundtrack trophy. 

The Game Marketing section of the ceremony saw Evoplay take the Innovation in Marketing honour, LetsGiveItASpin of CasinoGrounds crowned Streamer of the Year, and ELK Studios named Content Creator of the Year for its work to promote Nitropolis 2.

Rasmus Sojmark, founder and CEO of the event’s organiser SBC, said: “Huge congratulations to all the winners at the CasinoBeats Game Developer Awards.

“The judges and voters faced some very difficult choices when deciding the winners. The shortlists were full of fantastic entries that demonstrated the depth of talent in the industry, the continuing excellence of the established players, and the emergence of some really exciting new studios.”

Adding: “Events such as the Game Developer Awards are made possible by the ongoing support of our sponsors and partners. I’d like to thank BetConstruct, AvatarUX and Internet Vikings for being headline sponsors, as well as all the other companies that continue to work with SBC.” 

The Game Developer Awards were the concluding event of the two-day CasinoBeats Summit conference, which took place in an integrated live and digital format, with a select group of senior executives attending in person at the venue in Malta and an international audience joining an online broadcast of the content.  

All conference sessions from the event are available to view online by registering for a free digital pass at the CasinoBeats Summit website. 

CasinoBeats Game Developer Awards Winners 

Slot of the Year 2021

Winner: Relax Gaming – Money Train 2 

Silver: Nolimit City – East Coast vs West Coast

Bronze: Pragmatic Play – The Dog House Megaways

Slot to Watch 2021

Winner: Relax Gaming – Book of 99

Silver; Push Gaming – Jammin’ Jars 2

Bronze: Fantasma Games – Golden Castle Titanways

Slot Studio Debut 2021

Winner : Alchemy Gaming – Wheel of Wishes

Silver: Peter & Sons – Johnan Legendarian

Slot Legacy Title

Winner : SG Digital – Rainbow Riches

Silver: NetEnt – Starburst

Bronze : Blueprint Gaming – Fishin’ Frenzy

Slot Collaboration of the Year

Winner : Red Tiger + Big Time Gaming – Gonzo’s Quest MegaWays

Silver: Relax Gaming + CasinoGrounds – Iron Bank

Bronze : AvatarUX + Yggdrasil Gaming – CherryPop

Game Innovation

Winner : AvatarUX – CherryPop, TikiPop, HippoPop

Silver: Spribe – Aviator

Bronze: Nolimit City – East Coast vs West Coast

Game Licensed Content

Winner: Blueprint Gaming – Rick and Morty Megaways

Silver: SG Digital – Cluedo Cash Mystery

Bronze : Playtech – Rubik’s Cube

Game Retro-Style

Winner : SG Digital – Rainbow Riches Race Day

Silver: Triple Edge Studios – Attack on Retro

Bronze : Evoplay – Fruit Super Nova

Game Narrative

Winner: iSoftBet – Moriarty Megaways

Silver: Relax Gaming – Money Train 2

Bronze : SG Digital – Cluedo Cash Mystery

Game Design & Art Direction

Winner : Push Gaming – Dinopolis

Silver: Evoplay – Dungeon: Immortal Evil

Bronze: Stakelogic – Candyways Bonanza Megaways

Game Music / Soundtrack

Winner: NetEnt – Hotline 2

Silver: Kalamba Games – Sadie Swift: Guns ‘n Glyphs

Bronze : Hacksaw Gaming – Chaos Crew

Innovation in Marketing

Winner : Evoplay

Streamer of the Year

Winner: CasinoGrounds, LetsGiveItASpin

Silver: Brian Christopher Slots

Bronze : CasinoDaddy

Content Creator of the Year

Winner : ELK Studios – Nitropolis 2

Silver: Push Gaming – Jammin’ Jars 2

Bronze : FunFair Games – AstroBoomers: To The Moon!

The post Money Train 2 takes Slot of the Year crown at CasinoBeats Game Developer Awards appeared first on CasinoBeats.

As a result of the partnership, the games design studio will be able to display its content directly to slot players and receive feedback with an aim of helping it improve its future titles.

In addition to playing the games live to its audience via different channels, CasinoGrounds’ streamers will also hold competitions featuring AvatarUX’s games.

“AvatarUX’s PopWins games have proven very popular with players and offers exciting gameplay with a high hit rate and frequently triggered features that offer a thrilling slot experience which is a perfect fit for our channels,” noted Tobias Svensen, CEO at CasinoGrounds.

“Our streaming community continues to grow and we are certain that our experienced players and their enthusiastic viewers are going to love AvatarUX’s games.”

AvatarUX’s expanding games portfolio will be played by CasinoGrounds streamers, including those incorporating the PopWins mechanic, such as CherryPop and BountyPop as well as upcoming release TikiPop.

The mechanic sees winning combinations pop, with each creating two new symbols, leading to increased chances of multiple wins. The power of PopWins can expand the rows of a slot from four to seven, increasing the ways to win from 243 to 33,614.

Marcus Honney, managing director at AvatarUX, added: “This is an agreement we are extremely excited about as we consider streamers to be an integral part of our game development strategy as they aggregate customer insights via their forums.

“By collaborating with streamers, we really celebrate our games, and the customer campaigns will grant us a direct connection to the end-users which is otherwise impossible as a games studio. This kind of agreement provides insightful feedback that will assist us in making our games and our PopWins mechanic even better.”

The post AvatarUX: Streamers are an integral part of game development strategy appeared first on CasinoBeats.

The exclusive interview with Purser, alongside Tobias Svensen, CEO of CasinoGrounds, can be found in the final 2020 issue of SBC Leaders, formerly known as SBC Magazine, which is now available to view online HERE.

As part of the interview we delve more into live streaming for online gaming, a market projected to more than double in growth by 2021 and generate more than $70bn. Click HERE for the expert take from Purser and Svensen. 

“This has led to a further acceleration in casino streamers’ influence across both traditional online and social channels such as Instagram,” he added.

However, he’s far from the only leader to feature this time around, as we hear from Casey Clark, SVP for strategic communications at American Gaming Association, on the fight to turn sports bettors against illegal operators. Are we doing better than expected?

Meanwhile, Betsson’s Andrea Rossi (commercial director for Southern Europe and Latin America), is looking to the future, as he explains why the momentum shared by the betting industry and football (post-lockdown) has given a glimpse into the ‘successful coexistence’ for operators and teams in the region.

Moving on to affiliate marketing, we learn how GiG Media has taken the ‘unconventional’ approach (by its own reckoning) of investing in highly engaging content mediums such as video and podcasts for the US.

Managing director, Jonas Warrer, and Milorad Matejic, director of SEO and publishing, also outline where it all started and shaping the journey of WSN from a somewhat neglected but valuable three letter domain, to the rising star of the division’s publishing business.

2020 will, inevitably, go down in the history books as a year of struggle, underpinned by sweeping restrictions on our day-to-day lives. But it’s fair to say an opportunity presented itself for the online payments industry, even amongst the least ‘digitised’ of spenders.

For a long time, it seemed nothing would make Italians embrace the move from cash to digital payments. However, this analysis from MuchBetter – backed up by recent research from Mastercard, explains why the coronavirus may just have caused a rethink.

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