Latest News
SBC Summit: SBC First Pitch Competition Shortlist Revealed
SBC has revealed the five startups that have been selected as finalists for the SBC First Pitch competition, which will be part of the upcoming SBC Summit this September.
The competition, sponsored by Soft2bet (headline sponsor) and White Swan Data (premium sponsor), is scheduled for Tuesday, 24 September, and will be part of the ‘Global Leadership’ track, hosted at the Feira Internacional de Lisboa.The finalists will present their products and offerings in a 3-minute presentation, followed by a Q&A session, in front of a live audience that includes a judging panel of industry leaders and investment experts.
The five finalists are:
Match Hype: Match Hype scales sports video content creation by transforming raw data into engaging and informative videos. Covering all games and betting tips, the content is available in over 30 languages.
Random State: Innovating immersive iLottery and bingo games, Random State combines the excitement of hypercasual gaming with the rewarding unpredictability of lottery-style experiences.
SavageTech: SavageTech, a B2B SaaS company, has created the world’s first true gamified retention engine for the gambling industry, where users receive avatars and battle monsters with every bet or casino activity.
StatX Sports: StatX Sports provides essential odds and data products to sports leagues, teams, betting operators, and media companies, supporting critical decision-making across the sports industry.
XGENIA: The company is developing modular and versatile AI solutions that encompass all components of an online casino, including risk management, delivered efficiently through a fast and convenient API.
To select the winner, SBC has assembled a distinguished panel of judges, each bringing extensive expertise in sports betting, gambling, and venture capital investments. The expert panel features Adam Krejcik (Principal, Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, LLC), Javier Altamirano (Head of Startups, Sportradar), Mark Blandford (Partner, Burlywood Capital), Martin Collins (Chief Business Development Officer, Soft2Bet) and Paris Smith (Founder, Life Winning). Jesse Learmonth, the host of the Betting Startups podcast, will once again moderate the event.
Sue Schneider, SBC’s VP of Growth & Strategy for the Americas, commented: “Since launching our First Pitch competition, the industry’s response has been overwhelmingly positive, as evidenced by the growing number of applications. This year we had applicants from 18 countries! With the addition of a dedicated StartUpSphere, SBC Summit is truly showcasing the immense potential of startup companies.
“This year’s edition is undoubtedly our most competitive yet, with each of the five shortlisted companies offering innovative solutions that come to fill some gaps in the industry. I’d like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all the sponsors contributing to the prize fund and to the panel of judges who will help us select this year’s winner.”
The winning startup will receive a prize package valued at over €118,000 to support its development and expansion, including:
Are You Watching This? and MetaBet: One year of API access to sports data from Are You Watching This? and gambling data from MetaBet, valued at €44,000.
AWS: €10,000 in promotional credits, usable for a wide range of AWS services, from infrastructure technologies like compute, storage, and databases to emerging technologies such as generative AI, machine learning, data analytics, and the Internet of Things.
GameOn: The drafting and distribution of two press releases, an interview with a US-facing trade publication, a short video interview shared on social media, and inclusion in the GameOn newsletters, valued at €2,300.
Eilers & Krejcik Gaming: A six-month subscription to the Sports & Emerging Verticals service, valued at €23,000.
Royer Cooper Cohen Braunfeld LLC: €4,700 in credit toward gaming-related legal services.
SBC Media: A promotional package that includes six months of advertising on relevant industry news platforms, newsletter placements, and two featured editorials promoting the business, valued at €11,000.
SBC Summit 2025: A 3x3m booth, including turnkey stand build, sponsorship mention, and four complimentary tickets, valued at €15,000.
Square in the Air: A corporate video filmed on-site at the event, two press releases, a social media audit and competitor analysis, and a strategy guide for profile building, all supported on Square in the Air’s social channels. The package is valued at €5,900.
Vegas Kings: An exclusive brand or web design package worth €2,900 from the leading iGaming design and development agency.
Last year’s competition saw SnapOdds, a company that uses mobile camera technology to identify live sports events on TV and streaming and redirect users to options like live wagering markets, odds comparisons, and picks, emerge victorious.
All SBC Summit attendees will have the opportunity to follow the SBC First Pitch competition.
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iGaming
Tugi Tark and Narnium Solutions Announce Strategic Partnership to Strengthen Player Support Across Multiple iGaming Brands
Tugi Tark has entered into a strategic partnership with Narnium Solutions, an operator managing multiple online casino brands, to deploy its customer service platform alongside AI-powered support agents across the operator’s portfolio.
Narnium Solutions brings over 15 years of experience spanning casino operations, compliance, payments, marketing, and platform management. As the company continues to expand across both emerging and established markets, delivering scalable and consistent player support has become a key operational priority.
Through this collaboration, Narnium Solutions is integrating Tugi Tark’s platform and AI agents—trained on more than 10 million real iGaming support interactions—to streamline player communication across all brands within a single, unified environment.
A company representative at Narnium Solutions said:
“Partnering with Tugi Tark marks an important step forward for us. We’re excited to introduce an AI-powered chat experience into our ecosystem, strengthening our modern iGaming stack and enhancing player communication across our brands.”
The platform is being used to centralise support operations across the NarniaSlots brand family. Tugi Tark’s AI-driven chat widget is embedded directly into each site, enabling automated handling of player queries while allowing support teams to focus on more complex cases within a shared workspace.
The solution is designed to scale alongside Narnium Solutions’ growing pipeline, which includes upcoming brands such as Lucky Mary and House of Slots, as the company continues to expand its footprint.
Harpo Lilja, CEO of Tugi Tark, said:
“Narnium Solutions operates on a global scale with the kind of multi-brand complexity our platform was built to support. We’re pleased to welcome them on board and to power player support across their entire portfolio.”
The partnership aligns with Narnium Solutions’ broader strategy of building compliant, scalable iGaming operations across international markets. With a centralised support infrastructure and AI-driven capabilities in place, the company is well positioned to deliver consistent, high-quality player experiences as it continues to grow.
The post Tugi Tark and Narnium Solutions Announce Strategic Partnership to Strengthen Player Support Across Multiple iGaming Brands appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
Industry News
QTech Games recruits banking and AI leader Jonny Youssef as CTO to drive next phase of its growth journey
QTech Games, the leading game aggregator for emerging markets, has appointed Jonny Youssef as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to lead the next phase of the company’s technology organisation, innovation and technology strategy as QTech accelerates its global expansion. Jonny will lead the continued development of QTech’s platform architecture and engineering organisation, focusing on scalability, AI-driven capabilities and next-generation tools designed to support operators and content partners across fast-growing markets. Jonny brings more than 20 years of technology leadership experience across banking, fintech, SaaS platforms and AI-driven innovation. His background combines enterprise-scale infrastructure expertise with hands-on experience building and scaling digital platforms and emerging technology systems. Previously, Jonny served as Head of Innovation for Swedbank Group Lending & Payments, where he led digital initiatives across lending, payments, APIs and digital channels within one of the Nordic region’s largest banking groups. He has also held senior technology leadership roles at Entercard Group, overseeing technology infrastructure and mission-critical production environments supporting large-scale payment operations across Nordic markets. Alongside his enterprise leadership experience, Jonny has founded and scaled several technology ventures and digital platforms. As a technology founder and CTO, he has led the design and development of international platforms operating across Europe and Asia, building distributed engineering teams and scalable digital infrastructure.
In recent years, Jonny has contributed to the development of next-generation AI and sustainability technology initiatives, including work with Circular Living and Biotonomy, where advanced AI, IoT and Edge AI systems are used to power intelligent environments, autonomous infrastructure and real-time operational insights. Beyond his commercial initiatives, he is also a board member and early contributor to The AI Community of Sweden, a national innovation network connecting professionals, enterprises and academia to collaborate on AI innovation. At QTech Games, Jonny will focus on strengthening the company’s technology foundations as it continues to scale globally, enhancing AI-driven functionality, automation and analytics capabilities that enable partners to unlock greater value from the platform. He will also oversee QTech’s engineering and technology teams to ensure continued innovation while maintaining the speed, reliability and integration flexibility that have become hallmarks of QTech’s aggregation platform.
QTech Games’ CEO, Philip Doftvik, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Jonny to QTech at an important moment in our growth journey.
“He brings a rare combination of enterprise technology leadership, platform-building expertise and forward-looking innovation in AI and automation. His experience across banking infrastructure, global digital platforms and emerging technology ecosystems makes him uniquely positioned to guide us through its next phase of technological evolution.
“As we continue to expand across emerging markets, Jonny’s leadership will help ensure we remain at the forefront of innovation — delivering scalable infrastructure, AI-driven insights and powerful technology solutions that help our partners grow.”
Jonny Youssef added: “QTech Games has built a strong reputation as one of the most innovative and reliable aggregation platforms serving emerging markets.
“What impressed me most is the company’s focus on speed, simplicity and partner success — combined with a clear ambition to continue evolving the platform through technology. I’m excited to join the team at a time when AI, automation and data-driven capabilities are creating new opportunities to deliver even greater value to operators and game providers.
“My focus will be on strengthening the platform architecture, scaling our technology capabilities with AI and supporting the next phase of QTech’s growth.”
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Games Global
Games Global and Stormcraft Studios dive into aquatic adventure with Mermaid’s Millions Cashingo™
Games Global, together with exclusive studio partner Stormcraft Studios, has unveiled Mermaid’s Millions Cashingo
, a vibrant deep-sea slot blending enchanting visuals with engaging mechanics to deliver a layered gameplay experience.
Building on more than 15 years of success enjoyed by the heritage title, Mermaid’s Millions, the upgraded sequel introduces the Cashingo
and ULTRA Link&Win
features to enhance gameplay.
Set in a shimmering underwater kingdom, the 5×5, 40-payline title unfolds among coral caverns and glittering reefs, with win potential in excess of 13,000x.
At the heart of the game is the Cashingo
feature, where Cash and Jackpot Coins populate a dedicated grid during both the base game and Bonus Spins. Some coins appear as glowing pearls, duplicating onto the grid where they stick and accumulate.
Forming horizontal, vertical, or diagonal lines awards instant prizes and jackpots, while pearls landing on occupied positions merge their values to increase potential payouts.
Further intrigue comes through the ULTRA Link&Win
feature, activated by landing six or more coin symbols. The feature begins with three respins on a 5×5 grid, with coin symbols locking in place while the remaining positions continue to respin.
Special Seahorse Coins can unlock additional rows, expanding the reels and increasing reward potential, while boosters such as Collectors, Doublers, Persistent modifiers and Extra Life Coins can appear to increase winnings and extend the feature.
The adventure continues with Bonus Spins, activated by three or more scatter symbols to award 10 spins, where wild and coin symbols can appear Power Stacked to heighten the chance of significant wins.
Combining ocean-themed visuals with proven mechanics, Mermaid’s Millions Cashingo
delivers a dynamic experience designed to keep players engaged.
Terence Igesund, Executive Producer at Stormcraft Studios, said: “Mermaid’s Millions Cashingo
was made to feel vibrant and full of momentum from the very first spin.
“The ocean setting gave us the perfect canvas to build something visually rich, while the mechanics keep the action evolving as the grid fills and the reels expand.”
David Reynolds, Director of Games Strategy and Partner Management at Games Global, said: “Stormcraft Studios has delivered yet another title that blends strong visual identity with mechanics that are both engaging and easy to understand.
“Mermaid’s Millions Cashingo
captures that balance well and is another example of how our studio network continues to deliver diverse, high-quality content that strengthens the breadth of the Games Global portfolio.”
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