Latest News
Man City are the Hottest UCL favourites for Years
The 2023 UEFA Champions League campaign comes to a head on June 10th and you would struggle to find someone willing to stake their house on a Manchester City loss this weekend. With Inter Milan currently 7.03 to win, Manchester City [1.46] are the most dominant favourite in the betting market since way before Cloudbet launched in 2013. The only time in the last decade there was anything approaching this kind of imbalance in the odds in a Champions League final was back in 2015, when Barcelona were 1.66 to beat Juventus at 5.00 and their dominant performance resulted in a convincing 3-1 win.
This year, City are way hotter favourites. 12 successive wins saw them clinch the Premier League for a third year in a row, they just won an FA cup against bitter rivals Man United, and in the Champions League they’ve made light work of their competition. The Citizens annihilated European giants – and reigning champions – Real Madrid in the semi-final, winning 5-1 on aggregate.
However, while their form might tempt some punters to back a Mancunian romp in Istanbul, recent statistics suggest it might be a slightly more cautious and conservative game than most are expecting.
Crypto betting specialists Cloudbet have been taking European soccer bets since 2013, and for this UCL Final have been poring over the stats and crunching the numbers to predict what might happen.
Historically, the pre-match favourite has lifted the trophy eight out of the last 10 years – however – the exceptions to this were both in the last two years, both EPL teams, and, in 2021, Man City itself.
It’s true that these ties were much more closely paired, with Chelsea winning at odds of 3.75 and Real Madrid at 3.50, but It’s got to be remembered that this season opponents Inter are very much cup specialists, running out recent winners of the Coppa Italia against a Fiorentina side whose style of play is not unlike Man City.
Inter Milan will be looking to ensure City cannot play their expansive football on Saturday. As a team, Inter have committed the second highest amount of fouls in the competition so far with 150, and breaking up the play with a few tactical fouls may be one way for Inzaghi’s men to stop City’s free-flowing attack. In three of the last five years no side has managed to break the deadlock in the first half, and City themselves have failed to score in the first half in six of their 12 games this Champions League campaign, so the game could start out an altogether cagier affair than Man City aficionados might expect. Albeit they are playing straight off the back of last weekend’s FA Cup Final in which they scored an opening goal in a tournament record 14 seconds.
In four of the last five Champions League finals, the game has ended with fewer than 2.75 goals being scored and those goals coming from one team only. On only two occasions in the past decade has extra time been needed too – with one of these (Bayern Munich vs Chelsea) heading to a penalty shootout.
Only what happens in the match Saturday will, of course, count but statistics seem to point to a Manchester City win in 90 minutes by one or two goals.
Betting with crypto at Cloudbet allows for speedy, secure wagering, with lower fees and enhanced privacy thanks to blockchain’s decentralized system, and Cloudbet’s sophisticated platform. The UEFA Champions League Final averages around 400m viewers worldwide, fans are spread far and wide across the globe so Cloudbet’s localized offering – in 17 languages, including German, French, Spanish and Japanese – really comes into its own on betting events like this.
Caleta Gaming
Caleta Gaming launches Cluster Cup high-volatility football-themed slot
New 7×7 cluster grid title ships with tumbling wins, progressive multipliers, Super Tricks and a Free Spins feature.
Caleta Gaming has launched Cluster Cup, a new high-volatility slot inspired by football and pitched around major June sporting events. The title is now available to operators worldwide, the supplier said.
Cluster Cup uses a 7×7 cluster grid and a Tumbler Feature, where winning symbols disappear and cascade with new ones until no further wins are formed. Caleta said this is designed to support extended win sequences.
According to the studio, the game runs at an RTP of 93.42% and includes a Progressive Multiplier that increases during gameplay through a “Tumble Timer” mechanic, paying out at the end of each tumbling sequence.
The game also includes “Super Tricks”, triggered when three or more tumbles occur in a single spin, randomly activating one of four features: Wild Shots, Symbols Exchange, Red Cards, or Big Gloves. A Free Spins bonus is available through gameplay or direct purchase.
“With Cluster Cup, we aimed to translate the thrill of football into a slot experience, adding our own touch with an awesome art style and dynamic animations”, said Pedro Vahl, Game Designer at Caleta Gaming. “The combination of tumbling mechanics, evolving multipliers, and the Super Tricks system creates moments of real tension and excitement, just like a match where everything can change in a single play.”
The post Caleta Gaming launches Cluster Cup high-volatility football-themed slot appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
Acquisitions/Merger
Waterhouse VC takes 3-year option to buy stake in Spinlab Studio
Waterhouse VC has secured a 3-year option to acquire an interest in Spinlab Studio, a no-code iGaming platform aimed at helping operators launch and scale online betting and casino businesses without building full infrastructure.
Spinlab Studio positions its product as a full-stack platform that streamlines integrations across payments, games, compliance and backend systems. The company says the platform is built to support operators targeting regulated markets, with compliance, payments and responsible gambling tools included in the core product.
Tom Waterhouse, Chief Investment Officer of Waterhouse VC said “Spinlab Studio is one of the fastest-moving platforms we’ve seen in this space, with strong early demand from operators. They are addressing a key operational challenge – helping operators bring products to market more efficiently and quickly without the usual complexity”.
Leon Lanen, Co-Founder of Spinlab Studio said “Launching an igaming operation is still too complex and expensive. Spinlab Studio removes that friction so operators can get to market quickly and focus on building their business. We aim to do for the igaming industry what Shopify did to e-commerce”.
Spinlab Studio said it launched in January 2026 and has onboarded around 30 operators. It offers a free trial and pricing that starts from approximately US$1299 per month, with tiered plans that scale with operator activity. The company also said it recently closed an oversubscribed seed round backed by founders and early investors of “one of Europe’s leading listed igaming technology companies”, with proceeds allocated to sales expansion and platform development.
The post Waterhouse VC takes 3-year option to buy stake in Spinlab Studio appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
Conferences
Gaming in Holland Conference publishes initial agenda for June 4 in Amsterdam
Gaming in Holland has published the initial agenda for the Gaming in Holland Conference, set for Thursday, June 4 at the KIT Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam.
The preliminary programme includes a keynote on “Market developments & regulatory responses” from Ella Seijsener, Director Licensing & Supervision at the Netherlands Gambling Authority (KSA). Two boardroom sessions are confirmed with Arjan Blok, CEO of Nederlandse Loterij, and Petra de Ruiter, CEO of Holland Casino.
Other listed sessions include “The challenge of the black market: Towards a European response” with Pascal Chaffard, Chief Online Betting and Gaming Officer at FDJ United; “The Dutch gambling market in numbers” with Josh Hodgson, COO at H2 Gambling Capital; and “Player protection in the Dutch market” with Floor van Bakkum, Team Manager Player Protection at the KSA.
A panel titled “#ReclaimTheMarket: Will players go along?” will feature Dr. Andreas Ditsche (iGaming.com) and Richard Dennys (Mr. Gamble), moderated by Martin van Geest (Meneer Casino). Additional agenda items include a session on comparing onshore and offshore game popularity (Jeffrey Haas, Blask Business Intelligence) and one on KSA reliability assessments covering licensing and M&A approval (Frank Tolboom, Franssen Tolboom Advocaten).
Gaming in Holland founder Willem van Oort said: “While the annual Gaming in Holland Conference has always been THE place to get the latest news and updates on the Dutch gambling market, this year we are tackling one of the major issues facing licensed operators in regulated markets: How do we reclaim lost market share from increasingly aggressive illegal competitors? Obviously, there are no simple solutions, but that doesn’t mean that stakeholders in the regulated market are powerless. As all key decision makers and stakeholders in the regulated Dutch gambling market will be present in Amsterdam, I am certain that we can get a fruitful discussion started.”
The post Gaming in Holland Conference publishes initial agenda for June 4 in Amsterdam appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
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