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Digitain: “Innovation, personalisation and gamification are definitely going to be the most exciting for us this year”.
With ICE only a day away, we caught up with some of our favourite Eastern European suppliers to get the low down on what they’ll be bringing to the show this year.
First up is Simon Westbury, Head of International Development at Digitain.
Another year, another ICE! What’s Digitain excited about this year?
As a tech company at heart, innovation, personalisation and gamification are definitely going to be the most exciting for us this year.
Innovation for Digitain is all about keeping our partners ahead of their rivals, as well as attracting and engaging the end-user. I’m thrilled to be showcasing our latest predictive AI modelling tools; able to personalise offerings and ensure that when players log on, they are able to immediately interact with the content they are looking for.
AI and predictive modelling can also go the other way too – our latest automatic match allocation program uses algorithms to automatically identify which traders are most optimal for each betting market – ensuring the most efficient pricing model is delivered to each of our partners.
Elsewhere, gamification, when integrated into a segmentation and customer retention strategy, is going to work wonders in the year ahead, and I’m excited to be taking our friends and partners through our latest strategies. A gamified experience – when merged with the right segmented customer, can drive players towards desired content at key times like never before. Combined with bonus rewards, competition against other players and other social elements, and you have an incredibly powerful tool on your hands for the year ahead.
Anything in particular we can look forward to at the Digitain stand?
Front and centre will be our comprehensive gaming and sportsbook platform. Providing operators with a one-stop-shop for success, it offers our proprietary, action-packed bonusing systems that will keep any player coming back for more.
At last count, we service over 100 partners around the globe with a user-friendly multi-lingual, multi-currency, customisable interface that can be easily integrated on any platform for both online and land-based operators, and I’m sure we’ll have plenty more to add to that list by the time ICE has passed by.
As the industry’s most flexible, scalable and modular sports betting platform, our sportsbook is serviced by more than 700 of Armenia’s brightest trading minds, covering more than 35,000 monthly live events, 7000 leagues and 3000 betting markets. Stretching across every touchpoint imaginable, we cater for website, mobile, apps, terminals and the betting shops. Our gaming offering is also one of the industry’s best, providing operators with a comprehensive package that totals more than 3000 slots, bingo and table games complete with live dealers.
As a global platform supplier, what would you advise operators to focus on at ICE this year?
If you want to stay ahead in 2020, focus on AI and deep data analytics. Having a toolkit that elevates the customer experience should be at the top of every operators’ ICE shopping list, and those who don’t take advantage of the latest tech are going to miss out on a lot of market share come ICE 2021.
In an increasingly crowded brand landscape, personalised Customer Relationship Marketing (CRM) powered by AI and data analytics is key to this. As competition increases, and customer bases and markets grow larger, it is becoming increasingly important for gaming operators to get more information about their customers in order to maintain, not to mention grow, their market share and build customer lifetime value.
While the gaming industry has championed the practice of customer relationship management already – CRM coupled with Digitain’s data insights will ensure 2020 will see a whole new level of delivery thanks to our market leading tech – and that’s before we even get into the cross-sell potential between sportsbook and casino.
And finally – are there any changes you’d like to see at ICE this year?
I’d like to do more to throw a light on markets outside of Western Europe and the US. I feel that sometimes as an industry we risk being too insular, and would argue that if you’re not awake to fast-developing markets such as LatAm (and, by all means, throw in the likes of India, Japan and Africa), then any you’re going to fall behind. The volumes in these jurisdictions are too consequential to be ignored.
Eastern Europe is a great example of this; with markets coming online at an exponential pace. In line with that, we’re seeing some fantastic gaming conferences and summits being set up to cater to this fast-developing region; with the Prague Gaming Summit and Central Eastern European Gaming Conference being real standouts. Operators would do well to keep an eye an eye on this dynamic part of the world.
Moving further abroad, Latin America is another excellent market to consider; as well as its steady growth, not to mention its largely untapped status, operators can easily make big returns if they target the region with localised solutions. Furthermore, it is vital to acknowledge that this new wave rides on the crest of mobile – just witness the 19% year-on-year growth for mobile platforms in the region. These predictions project that there will be some 235m-plus smartphone users by 2021, and anybody looking to capitalise on the region’s exponential growth would do well to get in on the ground floor.
B2B iGaming
Gamblers Connect Strengthens Trust with Launch of Verified Sources Panel
Gamblers Connect, the independent B2B iGaming media platform, has introduced a Verified Sources panel that appears at the bottom of every article, linking each factual claim directly to named primary documents hosted on the original source’s own domain.
The panel lists the specific sources consulted, identifies the issuing authority, and includes editorial notes explaining what has been verified and where the limits of the available evidence exist. Positioned immediately beneath the article body, each source is presented in the order it was consulted and includes the responsible individual or office where applicable.
Each entry also includes relevant disclosure tags drawn from the newsroom’s editorial taxonomy, and a direct hyperlink to the original document on the source’s own domain, allowing readers to verify the reporting in a single click.
The initiative responds to widespread practices in online publishing where sources are hidden, paraphrased or omitted altogether, leaving readers to rely on trust rather than independently verifiable evidence.
Luka Dimitrijevic, Partnerships & Operations Lead at Gamblers Connect, said: “Trust is not something a media outlet can declare. It is something the reader gives, and only once they can see the documents the story was built from. The Verified Sources panel exists so that verification is never more than one click away. If a claim in a story is worth making, the source behind it is worth linking to.”
The post Gamblers Connect Strengthens Trust with Launch of Verified Sources Panel appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
Boaster Fnatic
Esports World Cup: Level Up Returns to Prime Video June 26 with Season Two
Esports World Cup: Level Upreturns for its second season on June 26, with all five episodes dropping that day exclusively on Prime Video. Directed by Emmy-winning filmmaker R.J. Cutler (Martha (Netflix), Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry (Apple TV)), the five-part docuseries goes inside the human stories behind the world’s largest esports competition, following players, Clubs and families through the pressure and ambition of the 2025 Esports World Cup.
Set in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during the seven-week event, the new season follows the chase for the $70 million prize pool and the EWC Club Championship, while showing the personal journeys at the heart of the competition. The series captures what it takes to compete on a global stage where one match can change a career, a season can define a Club, and a single moment can turn a player into a star.
Produced by This Machine (a part of Sony Pictures Television), with director R.J. Cutler, showrunner John Dorsey and executive producers Jane Cha Cutler, Trevor Smith, Elise Pearlstein and Mark Blatty all returning for the second season, Esports World Cup: Level Up takes a vérité-style approach to esports, capturing the sacrifice, stakes, and rising fame of the world’s top competitive gamers.
Featured players include Jake “Boaster” Howlett (Fnatic; VALORANT), Vivi “Vivian” Indrawaty (Team Vitality; MLBB), Kasimili “Soka” Tongamoa (Team Falcons; Call of Duty: Warzone), Xiao Hai (KuaiShou Gaming; Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves) and Garidmagnai “bLitz” Byambasuren (Mongolz; Counter-Strike). To bring the players’ personal stories to the forefront, the film’s crew was on set in Riyadh for seven weeks and also traveled to locations across the U.K., U.S. and Indonesia for rare at-home visits.
Standout storylines woven throughout the series include:
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Magnus Carlsen (Team Liquid, Chess) – Widely considered the greatest chess player ever, Carlsen faces the isolation of dominance, with no traditional peaks left to conquer. His story follows his shift into esports, where a new generation of challengers awaits.
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Boaster (Fnatic, Valorant) – As Valorant debuts at the event, the British competitor’s journey from aspiring actor to title contender shows there’s no single path to success, shaped by resilience through personal and professional setbacks.
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Xiao Hai (KSG, Street Fighter) – A reigning champion shaped by strict discipline, Xiao Hai was competing against adults by age six. Now a father, he balances global competition with family life.
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Vivian (Team Vitality, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang) – Competing for a life-changing prize, Vivian’s story centers on overcoming recent setbacks and confronting childhood trauma.
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The Mongolz & bLitz (Counter-Strike 2) – Led by their star player bLitz, this grassroots Mongolian team has risen from obscurity to national prominence, becoming symbols of pride and perseverance.
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Soka (Team Falcons, Call of Duty: Warzone) – The reigning champion faces pressure on multiple fronts, dealing with rivalries from former teammates while navigating a turbulent home life.
- Coach ArSy (Team Liquid, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang) – Offering a rare coaching perspective, ArSy draws on a difficult upbringing to lead and inspire his team’s pursuit of redemption.
“Level Up captures the human side of what we are building with the Esports World Cup,” said Ralf Reichert, CEO, Esports Foundation. “EWC creates the stage: the best games, the best Clubs, the best players, life-changing stakes and moments that bring together a global gaming community of billions. The documentary takes you closer to the people inside those moments: their pressure, their ambition, their families and the stories that make esports meaningful to a new generation.”
“This next chapter deepens our exploration of a global phenomenon that is as much about human ambition and identity as it is about competition,” said Cutler. “Esports is one of the most dynamic cultural movements of our time. In season two, we continue to chronicle not just the competition, but the lives, dreams, and sacrifices of the players at the center of it, revealing a world that is both intensely personal and globally resonant.”
Around those player journeys, the series also captures the wider cultural energy of the Esports World Cup, where sport, music, entertainment and gaming meet. In addition to elite competition, Level Up showcases moments from a star-studded lineup of musical artists and athletes, including opening headliner Post Malone, who shows off his gaming skills backstage; grandmaster Magnus Carlsen, who triumphs in his first chess esports event; and football icon Cristiano Ronaldo, who ushers the Club Championship trophy to the stage in a dramatic closing ceremony.
The magnitude of the Esports World Cup is also seen through the reactions of some of the world’s biggest sports and entertainment figures, including reigning F1 champion Lando Norris; Brazilian football legends Ronaldo Nazario and Kaká, who go one-on-one in an EA FC showmatch; professional footballer Alisha Lehmann; skateboarder Tony Hawk; and tennis star Nick Kyrgios, who stated: “The crowd, the atmosphere, is literally better than Wimbledon or any Grand Slam.”
The Esports World Cup 2025 marked a defining moment in competitive gaming. In its second year, EWC reached 750 million viewers worldwide and generated 350 million hours watched, with peak concurrent viewership of nearly 8 million during the League of Legends at EWC ’25 tournament. Coverage was delivered across 28 platforms through 97 broadcast partners and more than 800 channels in 35 languages. Twenty-five tournaments spanning 24 games featured more than 2,000 players representing approximately 200 Clubs from over 100 countries.
The 2026 edition of the Esports World Cup will be held in Paris, France from July 6 through August 23, as the top Clubs in the world compete for $75 million and the 2026 EWC Club Championship trophy.
The post Esports World Cup: Level Up Returns to Prime Video June 26 with Season Two appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
AGLC license
Tonybet Secures Alberta iGaming License as Regulated Market Opens
Tonybet, an international iGaming operator already licensed in Ontario and Kahnawake, today announced that it has received an iGaming license from the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission (AGLC), clearing the company to operate in Alberta’s regulated online gaming market.
The license allows Tonybet to enter Alberta, Canada’s second province to introduce a competitive, multi-operator iGaming market following Ontario’s launch in 2022. It also extends Tonybet’s Canadian footprint, reinforcing the company’s position as one of the most broadly licensed operators in the country.
Alberta’s regulated market represents a significant opportunity. The province has an estimated population of nearly 5 million, a strong sports culture, and a regulatory framework designed to channel existing online gaming activity into a licensed, player-protected environment. Tonybet intends to bring the same localized approach that has driven its growth in Ontario – combining regionally relevant sports betting markets, responsible gaming tools, and dedicated customer support – to Alberta from day one.
“Alberta is taking the right approach – building a regulated market that puts player protection and operational standards at the center from the start. That’s exactly the kind of environment we want to operate in. We’ve spent years proving in Ontario that you can grow a business and maintain the highest compliance standards at the same time – registrations and gross gaming revenue in the province both grew by 52% in 2025, with responsible gaming embedded in that success rather than working against it. Securing this license means we can bring the same commitment to Alberta, and we plan to be fully operational in the market,” said Dmitry Arabuli, CEO of Tonybet.
Tonybet has already begun preparations for its Alberta launch, including platform localization, integration with the province’s centralized self-exclusion system, and commercial onboarding with the Alberta iGaming Corporation (AiGC).
The post Tonybet Secures Alberta iGaming License as Regulated Market Opens appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
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