Interviews
Pythia Sports Stephen Davison on the crucial role of risk management for Racing1 Markets
Congratulations on becoming the exclusive pricing and risk management supplier for Racing1 Markets. How important is this partnership for Pythia Sports?
This is a major milestone for us, and cements our position as a key racing innovation partner. This agreement sets us apart from our competition in the space, because we’re directly partnered with the four major rights holders in horse racing, which reinforces our position as a trusted partner. Horse racing is still a massive revenue driver for sportsbooks, often second only to soccer, and for one of our clients, regularly their highest trading volume sport. Offering an exciting and engaging experience for our customers is key and through the use of our new plug-and-play iFrame, running alongside our API integration, this new partnership will deliver a tier-one racing product for all our clients. These different delivery routes allow clients the flexibility to choose what best suits their needs for a horse racing and greyhounds solution.
Can you tell us a bit about how the overall Racing1 and Racing1 Markets alliance works and what Pythia’s role in it is?
Racing1 was put together by the four main global rights holders; 1/ST Content, Arena Racing Company [ARC], Racecourse Media Group (RMG), and Tabcorp. Those companies formed an alliance to consolidate their rights and deliver their content together internationally. Racing1 then agrees distribution deals for their content around the world.
Racing1 Markets is a fully outsourced racing solution, and Pythia is the risk management component of the partnership. When you combine Racing1’s core content package and Pythia’s racing solution, operators have a product that gives access to all the rights from those four rights holders, along with our pricing and risk management services, uniquely and exclusively via just 1 contract and 1 integration – making it the only one-stop shop solution on the market.
Did you have an existing relationship with ARC before the launch of Racing1 Markets? If so, how has that changed?
Yes, we have a long-standing relationship with ARC. The rebrand simplifies it so that it’s clear to operators they can find everything under one roof.
All the rights are now being packaged into one integration. That means sportsbooks don’t have to go and speak to each rights holder individually. They can simply speak to Racing1 and can then have a fully-packaged racing operation ready to go.
How does this tie in with Pythia Sports’ ambitions as a company this year?
We have very big ambitions this year and this is certainly the first step towards achieving those. Ideally, we want to take the product to as many partners as possible. We now have the iFrame solution, which is new for us and makes the integration process smoother and quicker for those with no front end solution for horse racing. We’re in the middle of exploring lots of exciting partnerships right now, and we should be in a position to announce those in the not-too-distant future, so watch this space.
What makes Pythia Sports’ pricing and risk management stand out above similar solutions in the market?
We’ve always been known for our specific expertise in the fields of horse racing and greyhound racing. We’ve been delivering healthy margins to operators as a B2B supplier for more than five years now but as a business we have experience that spans decades. In my opinion, our pricing algorithms are the strongest in the market, and we also want to make sure we offer the best customer experience. We’re excited to introduce several additions to our offering in 2025 and look forward to showcasing them to our current and potential partners throughout the year.
What are some current trends that Pythia Sports should be aware of?
We’ve witnessed the growth in revenue that our award-winning in-play product has been able to bring to the industry, and we’re excited to build on that growth, not just with additional markets, but also with greater on-screen content to support the in-play experience and make it easier for customers to make judgements during the race.
Following that theme, we’re focused on a mantra to “simplify and inform” across our product offering. Racing can be a challenging problem for customers to solve, so we want to place all the information at their fingertips. Early this year, in both greyhounds and horse racing, we’ll be rolling out enhanced form guides by aggregating race history into useful stats, badges and comments, while giving customers better data on which to make informed betting decisions.
SGP and Bet Builders have grown turnover and profitability in many sports, and our new Bet Builder product will be launching this year too. This will offer new opportunities for growth, both for avid fans, who can construct a bet based on exactly how they see a race playing out; through to more recreational bettors, who want the opportunity to win big from smaller stakes. That will work hand in hand with our enhanced form, highlighting market trends and opportunities in real time, and allowing bettors to really build a bet for any narrative.
How was exhibiting at ICE 2025 for Pythia Sports?
This year was the first time we’ve had a stand as part of Racing1, which was a great experience. As part of Racing1 Markets, we are the only provider to offer the complete package of data, risk management services and media rights, in just 1 contract and 1 integration. That is our USP and ICE provided the perfect setting for us to be able to discuss that. The interest in horse racing was as high as it has ever been, and there remains a global appetite for it among companies who clearly appreciate its importance as a product.
The post Pythia Sports Stephen Davison on the crucial role of risk management for Racing1 Markets appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
As prediction markets evolve from niche forecasting tools into a multibillion-dollar mainstream asset class, the boundary between trading and high-volume iGaming infrastructure is rapidly dissolving. This Q&A feature w/ Jeevan Jeyaratnam, Chief Betting Officer at Abelson Sports examines whether prediction platforms can sustain their exponential growth independently, or if their long-term survival depends on adopting rigorous compliance, product proposition and geolocation standards of the established iGaming supply chain.
Are prediction markets a threat to the existing sports betting industry in the US and beyond, or can both coexist peacefully and profitably?
The answer to that question very much depends on where in the world you are. If I live in Birmingham, Alabama then prediction markets (PMs) are my only legal route to placing any kind of sportsbook wager. If I live in Birmingham, England then prediction markets (or as the Europeans understand them, betting exchanges) are very much playing second fiddle to the currently available, advanced sportsbook apps.
At present, prediction markets and legal sports betting firms, in the US, are operating on an uneven playing ground. Sportsbooks are state-regulated entities with tightly enforced rules, high tax rates and limited geographical scope. Prediction markets – in my opinion, because of their connection to the federal government’s coffers – have been given almost carte blanche to operate across state lines with no consideration for state legislative independence.
Governed by the federally controlled Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), prediction markets are able to offer sports contracts as well as other financial products to players in California, Georgia, New York and Texas. Sportsbooks, using this four-state example, can only offer sports betting opportunities to those in New York and that comes with a hefty 51% tax rate. The disparity here is stark and it is no wonder that investors and financiers believe that Predictions Markets have an opportunity to outperform sports betting operators. The problem of quite how PMs can fully monetise the product is beginning to be resolved with commission fees now being charged. How PMs can keep customers engaged is another concern, as there will be very few recreational winners from the pool of sharps that are seeding and trading these markets.
Given the current regulatory landscape, how can providers help platforms navigate the legal minefield of jurisdictions?
There’s a certain frontier spirit, certainly in the USA, around PMs at the moment. Platforms seem to be navigating with a “do it and apologise later” attitude, which has led to several high-profile lawsuits. Depending on where you look, the PMs or CFTC are either suing the state or vice versa.
It is a mess and as Congresswomen Dina Titus (D-NV) pointed out in an open letter recently, “Equally concerning is the allocation of agency resources to support this expanding litigation campaign.” Her point being that the CFTC is significantly understaffed and under resourced and that its efforts to support “multi-state litigation threatens to undermine the agency’s ability to fulfil its primary mandate.”
More recently, it would seem that the two biggest names, Kalshi and Polymarket, have decided that public slanging matches, where accusations around facilitating nefarious characters and criminal enterprises to trade on their platforms, fly either way.
This is hardly the type of behaviour anyone would expect from two companies operating within the auspices of the CFTC.
Until the situation settles and given the widespread support at federal level, it’s hard to imagine either of the two main players needing to take too much advice from others.
Following recent high-profile controversies around insider trading on prediction platforms, what sportsbook-grade KYC and behavioural monitoring tools are most effective at detecting the misuse of information?
One of the big concerns, currently not adequately addressed, revolves around KYC. Kalshi, for example, by way of its regulated status with the CFTC, has a strict KYC and AML code and a clear list of prohibited territories on its site.
Polymarket, on the other hand, is a crypto-native decentralised operator and as such has far fewer hurdles to jump as regards KYC. The USA site is now covered by CFTC regulation and is considered separate to the international version, which doesn’t require mandatory ID requirements to set up an account. This has led to significant and justified concerns over insider trading and AML. There are a number of tried and tested solutions that betting operators are required to use, but the same will also be true for PMs and the specific set of requirements they need to fulfil. For the sportsbooks that are also launching PMs, it would make synergistic sense for them utilise the same tools they have for the sportsbook.
What sort of retention strategies can be borrowed from the betting sector to increase engagement for prediction market operators?
The biggest hurdle for PMs is how they handle the inevitable churn as recreational players realise that they are consistently losing money to the big trading houses and sharp market makers. Only a fraction of customers can win and a small concentration of sharp clients will mop up pools, especially in sports contracts.
In other political or business markets there will be individuals or syndicates operating with the benefit of insider knowledge. Currently, the PMs product isn’t comparable in entertainment value to that of the sportsbooks. No concessions, no bonuses or many of the entertainment value add-ons that sportsbooks have adopted.
PMs have provided means for many who otherwise would have to use offshore books to experience wagering and they have done this at a very low transactional cost to the end user. That model will need to change if these firms are to meet their lofty valuations, but how they do that, while convincing customers that they can beat the sharps remains to be seen.
The post The evolution of prediction markets appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
Baltics
From Ronaldinho Roulette to Next-Generation Game Shows: How CreedRoomz is Expanding Live Casino Entertainment
As part of our HIPTHER Baltics & Nordics: Tallinn 2026 Sponsor Spotlight series, we caught up with Matija Jesih, Business Development Manager at CreedRoomz, to discuss the company’s latest innovations, its headline-making collaboration with football icon Ronaldinho, and what operators can expect from the next generation of live casino entertainment.
With a strong background in regulated markets, platform solutions, and commercial growth, Matija shares insights into how CreedRoomz is combining recognizable personalities, innovative game mechanics, and an ambitious game show roadmap to create new engagement opportunities for operators and players alike.
CreedRoomz recently announced a collaboration with football legend Ronaldinho, introducing titles such as Kickoff Roulette and Marble Cup. What inspired this partnership, and what made Ronaldinho the right fit for the brand?
The inspiration behind this partnership stems from our desire to truly bridge the gap between traditional sports entertainment and the fast-evolving live casino space. When you look at live casinos right now, audiences are looking for something more than just standard tables, they want an experience, an emotional connection.
Ronaldinho Gaúcho is the absolute embodiment of that concept. He isn’t just a football legend, his name is universally synonymous with joy, creativity, cross-generational appeal, and unmatched flair. That radiant energy is exactly what makes him the perfect fit for the CreedRoomz brand.
By integrating his persona into titles like Kickoff Roulette and Marble Cup, we aren’t just slapping a famous face on a game thumbnail. We are capturing his signature style and infusing it directly into innovative mechanics. Football and iGaming share a deeply passionate user base, and having a global icon like Ronaldinho headlines these games allows us to help operators attract both sports fans and traditional players, creating an instantly recognizable, high-engagement environment that stands out in a crowded market.
Previously we did a game featuring Maradona, “Maradona Run” and it captures the same philosophy, it bridges the gap between legendary sports entertainment and real-time casino gameplay, ensuring that players don’t just watch the legacy, but actively interact with it.
Celebrity partnerships have become increasingly visible across gaming and entertainment. What role do you believe they can play within the live casino sector, and what should operators consider when evaluating such collaborations?
For the live casino sector, the primary role of a celebrity partnership is instant trust and differentiation. A recognizable face cuts through the noise of a crowded lobby and drives immediate cross-sell opportunities, especially from sportsbooks to live casinos.
However, operators and providers need to look beyond raw social media follower counts when evaluating these collaborations. There are two critical elements to consider: authenticity and cultural alignment and deep Integration over surface branding.
The celebrity’s persona must naturally fit the game’s theme. With Ronaldinho or Maradona, his association with playfulness and unmatched skill fits the dynamics of our sports-themed titles perfectly.
At CreedRoomz, we focus on building a unique brand, creating bespoke environments and gameplay that actually reflect the icon’s legacy, ensuring the partnership delivers long-term player retention rather than just a short-lived spike in traffic.
Let’s talk about the games themselves. What can players and operators expect from Kickoff Roulette and Marble Cup, and how do these titles reflect the broader direction CreedRoomz is taking with its live casino portfolio?
For Kickoff Roulette, we are completely fusing the worlds of sports and live roulette. It is set within an electrifying, sports-themed virtual studio utilizing a green-screen solution. Mechanically, the excitement is amplified by ‘Aurum Numbers’ which award players massive multipliers ranging from x50 up to x700, adding major payout volatility to every single spin.
Crucially, to maximize global appeal and ensure a localized experience, Kickoff Roulette is available in two languages: English and Portuguese.
Given Ronaldinho’s legendary status in Brazil, having a dedicated Portuguese-speaking option is a massive asset for operators targeting the booming Latin American and European Portuguese markets, allowing them to connect with players in their native language.
Marble Cup, on the other hand, leans heavily into unique, fast-paced tournament mechanics that capture the suspense of sporting competitions but in a highly dynamic, game-show format that keeps players glued to the screen. Marble Cup is a first-of-its-kind live betting game that sits at the intersection of live casino and sports entertainment, a space no competitor has meaningfully entered. Unlike traditional live casino games driven by RNG or standard table mechanics, Marble Cup uses a custom-engineered physical device where results are determined by genuine randomness: marbles rolling down a gravity-fed track into goals defended by moving goalies. No algorithm, no simulation, the outcome is real.
Maradona Run:
Maradona Run a fast-paced lottery ball draw with a cinematic, arcade-style endless runner game show. During the main game, players manage up to eight interactive cards as football-styled lottery numbers bounce in a high-tech studio chamber. When the bonus round triggers, players leave the studio behind and hit a digital, festive boulevard alongside Maradona himself.
Instead of traditional coins, the animated legend sprints down the obstacle-filled street course collecting glowing soccer balls. These collectibles correspond to crucial gameplay advantages, including total payout multipliers, energy speed-boosts, and prize doublers, culminating in a massive maximum payout potential of up to 10,000x the bet.
Beyond the Ronaldinho collaboration, CreedRoomz has been expanding its focus on game-show-style experiences. What trends are you currently seeing in player preferences, and how are they influencing your product development strategy?
Modern players view live casinos as a source of full-scale entertainment rather than just digital table games. They want active participation, unpredictable narratives, and community elements.
Currently, we see three dominant trends shaping player preferences:
Cinematic Storytelling: Players want an immersive narrative. This heavily inspired our flagship 2026 game show, The Road to Eldorado, which transports players into an Aztec world utilizing advanced 3D visuals and four interactive bonus rounds.
Rapid-Fire Intuition: The younger demographic thrives on quick-decision, high-suspense gameplay. This led us to develop non-traditional formats like Avi Crash (bringing live-dealer energy to the crash game genre).
Cross-Vertical Fusion: Players love familiar concepts with a twist. We’ve tapped into this with Crypto Market, simulating a rapid live trading environment, BacDice, combining baccarat with dice mechanics, and Lucky Colors a vibrant, high-energy casino experience
Our strategy is to “bring the show back to game shows”. By combining these multi-layered mechanics with advanced virtual studios and native-speaking hosts, we help operators deliver highly engaging, custom-branded experiences.
Can you give us a preview of the CreedRoomz game show roadmap? What types of new experiences, mechanics, or innovations can operators look forward to over the coming months?
Our roadmap is completely focused on transitioning from a fast-growing challenger to the definitive global leader in live entertainment. Operators can look forward to a massive push across both next-generation game shows and highly customizable infrastructure.
However, great games are only half the battle. The other half is how we empower operators, which is why we are heavily expanding our dedicated and customizable solutions.
We recognize that one size no longer fits all. We are offering bespoke Dedicated Studios, allowing partners to design custom-tailored environments with native-speaking tables and preferences to achieve deep, market-specific localization. Furthermore, by advanced multi-stream compositing technology, we are launching Dedicated Card Games. This allows us to run a single, physical studio while simultaneously delivering completely different, uniquely branded virtual skins to multiple operators.
With your experience across regulated markets and content distribution, how do you balance innovation with the realities operators face, such as compliance requirements, integration efficiency, and player retention objectives?
We balance innovation by embedding compliance and infrastructure directly into our creative process from day one. Our games are built with compliance-first architecture to instantly meet strict regulatory standards globally, from Europe to Latin America, while advanced tech like ultra-low latency streaming and virtual green-screen solutions allows operators to launch highly customized content seamlessly without complex integrations. Ultimately, while a celebrity or flashy visual triggers the initial acquisition, it is our deep game math, like volatility shifts, interactive 3D bonus rounds, and native-language localization, that ensures sustainable player retention and commercial success for our partners.
Looking ahead, what are the key priorities for CreedRoomz during the remainder of 2026, and where do you see the biggest opportunities for growth within the live casino and game show segments?
To achieve this, we are capitalizing on two massive growth opportunities. The first is deepening our geographical footprints across booming, new studios coming up in Brazil, Europe and Asia this year. This allows us to provide hyper-localized, native-speaking tables and give operators free-of-charge, customized branding setups that resonate perfectly on a local level.
The second major growth catalyst lies within our core product segments. In the game show vertical, our focus is all about scaling the massive momentum of our flagship launch, Road to Eldorado, alongside our new generation of hybrid titles like Avi Crash and Crypto Market.
The industry opportunity here is immense, players no longer want standard formats, so by delivering highly gamified, multiplier-heavy ecosystems, we are successfully bridging the gap between sports betting, slots, and live tables. By combining these unique mechanics with our advanced, data-light streaming tech, our priority for the rest of the year is ensuring our partner operators can seamlessly maximize player engagement and unlock entirely new revenue streams.
The post From Ronaldinho Roulette to Next-Generation Game Shows: How CreedRoomz is Expanding Live Casino Entertainment appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
EvenBet Gaming’s CEO, Dmitry Starostenkov, speaks to EEGaming about the company’s expansion into the casino vertical, what drove the decision, what it took to build, and what it means for operators looking to grow beyond a single product.
EvenBet has spent more than two decades building its reputation in poker. What told you the time was right to move into casino?
We kept having the same conversation with partners who trusted our poker infrastructure, asking whether we could support them on the casino side too. For a long time, our answer was to point them elsewhere but, with competition intensifying, that became harder to justify.
But there’s a wider shift happening too. Operators are under real pressure to extract more value from their existing player base. Acquisition costs are rising, regulated markets are tightening, and the days of building a sustainable business on a single vertical are gone. Operators who are growing have found more ways to extend player value across their full product offering, and that requires purpose-built infrastructure.
We have the technical foundation and understand the player behaviour. The question became when to make the move, and how to do it in a way that was genuinely an improvement on what was already out there.
Moving from the single poker vertical into a full casino platform is a significant undertaking. Where did the product challenges actually lie?
The single player account sounds simple until you’re actually building it. Shared balance, unified player profile, seamless movement between poker and casino all create complexity that compounds quickly. The other challenge was scope. A game aggregator covering 15,000 titles across 230-plus providers has the potential to create real infrastructure problems. We had to build something that could handle that scale without becoming unwieldy for operators to use. And we didn’t want to compromise the poker product to get there either – that was non-negotiable. Everything had to work as one system, not two products stapled together.
How does cross-vertical conversion work, and why does that matter so much to operators right now?
The friction in moving a player between verticals has always been the drop-off point. Separate logins, separate wallets and separate experiences are all different reasons for a player to disengage. When that’s removed, the conversion happens more naturally.
What makes the difference is having product mechanics that actively pull players across. One Click Poker removes the traditional lobby entirely, which has historically been the biggest barrier for casino players who find poker intimidating or unfamiliar. Spins Poker goes further by taking player-versus-player gameplay and wrapping it in slot-style mechanics, so the experience feels native to a casino player from the first session.
In the other direction, casino rewards sitting inside the poker environment give poker players a natural reason to explore. It becomes a two-way pipeline rather than a one-way push, and operators can see that working in the data. That’s what cross-vertical conversion looks like when the product architecture supports it properly.
What does EvenBet Gaming now offer an operator that they genuinely can’t get elsewhere?
Most casino platforms don’t come with a serious poker product attached, and most poker providers don’t have a credible casino offering. We’re in a fairly unique position in that we can genuinely deliver both, and the integration between the two is real and not just a partnership held together by an API. In terms of who this is for, it’s operators who want to grow. Whether that’s a new entrant who needs a clean, fast route to market, or an established operator who has a casino product but knows they’re missing a revenue stream without poker. We’re positioned to offer that market entry and scalability, without compromising quality.
The post Behind EvenBet Gaming’s strategic evolution into casino appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
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