Asia
How iQOO’s Hunt For India’s Next Big Gaming Streamer became the biggest platform to spotlight upcoming streamers across 2.5k+ participating YouTube channels and 2M+ live audiences

Gamers and streamers are burgeoning in the country and the numbers are increasing exponentially. This new behavioural change is a trend watched closely by platforms and brands since the audience for these streamers are the most coveted – youth. Engagement rates are unique to just this medium.
There are stories of gamers and streamers from modest backgrounds who have made it big by being good at two things – esports and entertainment. So what is a “raid?” A raid is when a YouTuber/ Streamer with a significant following, asks his/ her viewers to go and watch another creator’s live stream. Case in point – GamerFleet. A young man from Haldwani, Uttarakhand who was streaming to double digit audiences when he was ‘raided’ by Samay Raina. After the raid, he continued to grow organically not just because of his personality and collaboration with Samay Raina and Tanmay Bhat. Cut to a few months later and GamerFleet has over a million subscribers. This is the beauty of a ‘raid’.
So Raid Nights was born. This is the brainchild of Tanmay Bhat in partnership with iQOO – a phone company that puts the gamer before the game. The idea was executed by OML Entertainment with technical partners – Sky eSports. This property was only possible by the power of the platform that is YouTube. Tanmay Bhat, Samay Raina and GamerFleet have been online every Friday evening for the last one month with their new live-streaming property, iQOO Raid Nights. The three content creators (Also known as raid bosses) presented a once in a lifetime opportunity to aspiring gaming streamers where they would raid the YouTube channels of upcoming streamers asking their subscribers to tune in and watch the live-stream of the channel they would raid, resulting in the aspiring creators seeing increase in live-streaming numbers like never before.
Here’s how iQOO Raid Nights happened.
Every Friday from 25th June to 23rd July there were 4 rounds of qualifiers and a grand finale. Participants would stream live on their YouTube channel using the hashtag #iQOORaidNights and the raid bosses would randomly pick and choose which channel they wanted to raid. 2.4k YouTube channels garnered over 8.9k user-generated videos in this time, hoping they would get “raided.” The winners were chosen via a YouTube poll where the audience voted for their favourite performers. Two winners from each qualifier episode won a cash prize of Rs. 20,000 and an iQOO 7 Legend phone. There were super interesting performances and channels that the viewers came across. Some channels that captured people’s imagination were Gamer Mummy – A mother of two young adults who streams Minecraft everyday, kukZy Gaming – a gamer who also raps and beatboxes while playing the piano at the same time, Matata QHouse – who did hybrid dance performances with a mix of pre-recorded footage, visual effects and live webcam.
The winner of the first edition of iQOO Raid Nights was Mechanical Pandey – an entertainer who did a rap and dance performance. He also performed a short sketch of him doing random things and being beaten up by his mother which got huge laughs from the audience. The winner got a gaming setup worth Rs. 2,50,000 as the grand prize. The runner-ups were Shiny Kash – A gamer + rapper and The He Man Show – A streamer who lives in his shop and streams every night. He had created special art pieces for iQOO Raid Nights featuring the faces of the raid bosses.
iQOO Raid Nights was hosted by Tanmay Bhat, Samay Raina and GamerFleet on their respective YouTube Channels and was coordinated and executed by OML Entertainment.
Quotes:
Tanmay Bhat – Raid Nights is something that I’ve always wanted to do at scale. It was great to see that brands like iQOO and YouTube supported this property. The creativity that some streamers bring to the table is something that the audience must discover. One of my favourite channels from this edition was Matata QHouse. Their creativity and performance in the qualifiers just blew my mind
Samay Raina – Live Streaming suddenly grew during Covid quarenatines and many creators tried to showcase their characters and personas on stream although they couldn’t reach out to more people. I’m glad iQOO Raid Nights helped these creators gain a massive amount of reach and an opportunity to showcase their talent. It was a great feeling watching people showcase their unique, unrecognised talent everytime we would raid them. Much love to iQOO for supporting us with this property
GamerFleet – One day I was just randomly streaming with about 500 views and suddenly it shot up to 5,000. That was when Tanmay Bhat raided me as a part of the initial stages of Raid Nights a few months ago. That particular raid helped me garner a lot more reach than usual and then a lot of people started following my content and started tuning in live while I stream. This is exactly what iQOO Raid Nights did with all the streamers who were a part of it. When you have a small channel and your watching increases, the YouTube algorithm sees that the channel is performing better and it recommends the channel more often. I really loved all the channels we raided, but Matata QHouse was my favourite one
Mechanical Pandey (Winner) – iQOO Raid Nights helped me quite a lot in terms of expanding my reach and discovering my creative abilities. I’m glad to have been a part of this wonderful event and I also believe Tanmay-bhai and Samay-bhai would want to stream with me in the future which I’m really looking forward to. My YouTube numbers increased tremendously and I’m glad a lot of people have now discovered me and my craziness. I’d really like to thank all the people who voted for me, and primarily Tanmay-bhai, Samay-bhai and Fleet-bhai for tuning in to my channel in the middle of all the 1500 channels that were streaming in the week I had participated, and giving me an opportunity to entertain and bring smiles on about 1 lakh people’s faces across 2 streams. I’m super excited to get my hands on the new gaming setup that I’ve won.
Gunjan Arya (CEO, OML Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.) – We are always on the lookout for upcoming talent that we can support, and have been bullish on online gaming for some time now. We’re super thrilled to have partnered with iQOO and YouTube in a way that is not only rewarding for the brand and the platform but for the online gaming space as a whole. The power of Creators + Brand + Platform really came together for a proper OP moment. Tanmay’s guidance and the super Samay and GamerFleet to boot have been invaluable collaborators. We came across a lot of new streamers including the incredible Gamer Mummy through the campaign and we will continue to do a lot more of this.
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Asia
Macau Government Extends Lottery Concession of Macau Slot Until 5 June 2026

The Macau government has extended the lottery concession of Macau Slot Co Ltd for one year until 5 June 2026.
The concession renewal was published in the official gazette on Wednesday. Further extensions may be granted, subject to mutual agreement between the Macau government and Macau Slot.
As part of the renewal terms, Macau Slot is required to gradually reduce its number of non-resident employees and actively collaborate with the government to recruit and retain local talent.
Earlier this month, the government held a meeting with Macau Slot representatives to discuss the extension. According to the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ), the city’s industry regulator, Macau Slot committed to cutting 35% of its non-local, non-skilled workforce—equivalent to 26 positions—by the first quarter of 2026. The company also pledged to make further reductions to its foreign labour quota in the future. Currently, non-local staff account for 15% of the total workforce at Macau Slot.
“Over the past year, despite fluctuations in the macroeconomic environment and slower economic recovery in neighbouring regions, the local economy has remained relatively stable under the guidance of the Macau SAR government’s policies,” Macau Slot said in a statement.
“Looking ahead, we are committed to further diversifying our sports betting products to meet customer demand, while upgrading our information technology infrastructure to stay current and deliver more comprehensive sports betting services.”
The post Macau Government Extends Lottery Concession of Macau Slot Until 5 June 2026 appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Asia
QTech Games strengthens its elite suite with Bigpot Gaming

Emerging-markets leader expands its all-encompassing library with exciting new slots portfolio
The post QTech Games strengthens its elite suite with Bigpot Gaming appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Asia
Polemos Announces Partnership with Guinevere Capital

Polemos, a Web3 gaming infrastructure platform, has announced a strategic partnership with Guinevere Capital, a prominent esports and gaming investment firm known for its investments and advisory roles in projects such as GiantX, iTero, Perion, Skybox and various other projects across the industry. Guinevere Capital has established a strong reputation for its work across global Web2 gaming titles, including League of Legends, Valorant, Rocket League and many more. This partnership aims to leverage the combined expertise of Polemos.io and Guinevere Capital to enhance and further monetise audiences across publishers, infrastructure players, gaming companies, studios and platforms.
The collaboration will focus on integrating advanced asset management and engagement tools from Polemos.io’s Forge platform with Guinevere Capital’s extensive network and experience in both Web2 and esports ecosystems. This will create new monetisation opportunities and improve player experiences by bridging traditional gaming with blockchain-enabled innovations.
Carl Wilgenbus, CEO of Polemos.io, said: “Partnering with Guinevere Capital marks a significant milestone in our mission to expand access to gaming rewards and unlock new revenue streams for the entire gaming industry. Together, we will empower publishers and studios to better engage their audiences and capitalize on the evolving landscape of gaming and esports.”
“Polemos has built an impressive piece of infrastructure that has plugged a huge gap in the gaming sector. We look forward to working with them to commercialise this,” said Dave Harris, a partner at Guinevere Capital.
Dave’s previous experience includes investing in and operating top teams and leagues in the Riot Games and Activision Blizzard ecosystems.
Guinevere Capital’s strategic involvement will accelerate the adoption of blockchain gaming infrastructure while supporting the growth of esports and gaming communities worldwide. This alliance underscores a shared vision to drive innovation, education and monetisation in the gaming sector by combining Web2’s reach with Web3’s potential.
The post Polemos Announces Partnership with Guinevere Capital appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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