Press Releases
Parimatch: Consumers want stories, not spreadsheets
Parimatch’s Chief Product Officer Sergey Berezhnoy spoke at ICE London 2020 about how the operator plans to evolve the traditional sports betting experience with a focus not just on technology, but on storytelling. With a history in the video gaming industry, Sergey can see many narrative-building concepts that would translate nicely to the betting sector, although he believes the main overlap – esports – still has a few mountains to climb.
Following a strong 12 months in its home markets, Parimatch attended ICE London 2020 with a clear vision in mind for the future of its sports betting offer.
The international operator has grown its market share with bold marketing campaigns and a strong product backed by great tech, but the main focus for Parimatch’s Chief Product Officer Sergey Berezhnoy over the next year is to research, develop and evolve sports betting’s current customer journey. Many of the innovations at ICE provide the backbone of that journey, providing several payment methods, hundreds of ways to bet, and thousands of events and markets to bet on, with other exciting developments such as VR and AI further bolstering to the industry’s toolbox in recent years. For players, the customer journey is smoother than ever before, but for Sergey, that’s not enough. His background is in the video gaming industry, and he believes that to tap into the widest possible market, the sports betting sector has to develop a story around the act of betting that is as engaging and rewarding as current popular mobile games.
“I use one word, and it’s narrative,” said Sergey. “I joined this sector from the video gaming industry, and there the focus is not on waiting for the end result, but providing as much entertainment as possible on the way to it.
Unfortunately, sports betting is currently the opposite; you come, you bet, you leave. There is no story, no great focus on the clubs involved, and often there are very few relevant events to bet on. Players who are engaged with the betting culture might bet on anything, but new and casual players need a story to bring them in. Look at Snapchat, Instagram and Tik Tok, they only show short stories, but it’s enough to get consumers engaged.”
In fact, the immediacy of sports betting is something else Sergey wants to move forward. While the rise of in-play betting has helped, many results can take between a few hours or a few days to come through depending when bets are placed, so Berezhnoy intends to make sports betting on Parimatch something players can jump into and be rewarded whenever they choose.
“In betting, the distance between betting and reward can be very high, whereas in video games the award is more achievable. We are trying to shorten that distance, but not as short as casino games,” he said. “In our research, we have taken a lot from casual gaming. If you are riding the subway or tube, everybody plays casual games or goes on social media. The big question is, why don’t they bet? It’s about a customer journey, but many sports betting sites still look like excel spreadsheets. Instagram has changed the way we consume photos, it’s our ambition to change the way people bet on sports.”
Berezhnoy added that this will involve asking players human-centric questions on pre-selected content, providing a personal touch to short, targeted stories for players to bet through. Like in video games, they won’t be faced with a thousand choices, but with a few highly engaging ones based around content they already enjoy, whether that be through live, fantasy or virtual sports – or even esports. This is another aspect of gaming that Berezhnoy has a lot of experience in, however he still believes there’s a few challenges ahead before the rapidly rising pastime becomes a key vertical for the sports betting sectors.
“Games publishers are in control of esports and they are not interested in the regulations that are needed to elevate the level of trust required for bookmakers,” he explained. “Publishers want more players, and tighter regulations can put up barriers to that. With a few exceptions, they also don’t give access to their data feed, which makes it very difficult to trade. Sports betting operators are interested in the most popular games with the biggest events, but those publishers don’t need to include sports betting into their model to be successful, and these are major roadblocks for its expansion in the industry.”
Sergey hopes that this will change over the next decade, but in the meantime, he is looking forward to weaving the storytelling ability of video games into all of Parimatch’s sports betting offers.
“At the end of the day, most of us prefer to be told stories than to scour over spreadsheets, and that’s what I want to offer to our players,” he concluded.
Genius Sports Limited has delivered another season of strong results across its football trading services ahead of the World Cup, with Edge driving a 16.6% increase in football margins for sportsbook operators during the 2025/26 domestic season.
Edge, Genius Sports’ automated margin optimisation software, continued to deliver meaningful margin uplift for sportsbooks throughout the campaign. By adjusting each operator’s odds based on liabilities across all market-types on a fixture-level, Edge margins across major competitions saw substantial growth, including the Champions League (+34%), Premier League (+22%), La Liga (+21%), Italy’s Serie A (+17%) and Ligue 1 (+16%).
Official data partnerships continued to underpin market-leading uptime across elite football competitions. The Premier League delivered 98% overall uptime with 158 matches exceeding 99% uptime, providing an average of five minutes and 19 seconds of additional availability per match compared to alternative suppliers. Italy’s Serie A achieved 97% uptime, representing a 3% improvement on the previous season. Ligue 1 also recorded uptime levels above 95%.
Throughout the 2025/26 season, Genius Sports continued to invest heavily in football trading innovation. This included migrating all 89,000 in-play football events to new Monte Carlo simulation models, enhancing Match State data with player-level information and expanding its player proposition market offering.
Genius Sports has further expanded its football offering, delivering player proposition markets including shots, shots on target, score or assist, fouls and goalkeeper saves across pre-match, in-play and betbuilder, with additional markets such as tackles and offsides set to launch before the 2026/27 season. The company also introduced a new stoppage-time predictor designed to deliver sharper pricing during the closing stages of matches, following a season that saw a record 139 injury-time goals scored.
BetVision, Genius Sports’ interactive live streaming solution, continued to demonstrate strong engagement throughout the season. Across key football competitions, BetVision delivered a 22% increase in customer retention compared to standard streaming experiences, including a 53% increase across Brazil’s Serie A, a 35% increase across the Turkish Super Lig and a 20% increase across Italy’s Serie A. Ligue 1 viewers also spent 22% longer watching content through the platform.
As operators prepare for the biggest football betting event in the world, the results highlight how Genius Sports’ football trading service continues to drive profitability, improve market availability and enhance customer engagement.
James McKiernan, Commercial Director at Genius Sports, said: “The 2025/26 season was another year of growth and investment across our football trading and engagement products. Edge delivered significant margin improvements across football, while the expansion of BetVision, official data coverage and advanced modelling helped operators maximise uptime and deepen customer engagement.”
The post Genius Sports Edge pushes football margins up 17% ahead of the World Cup appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
New instant game adds energy management and rebuy mechanics across 40 levels, letting players cash out or continue while keeping multiplier progress.
Million Games has launched Infinite X, a progression-based instant game, the studio said on 9 June 2026 in Skövde, Sweden. The release targets operators and aggregators via Million Games.
The game uses a continuous progression model rather than a single-event outcome. Players guide a character, Joe, up a staircase of 32 steps across 40 levels, with each step consuming energy and every 5th step restoring it.
Multiplier growth builds as players climb, with the option to cash out at any point. Players can also rebuy to continue from their current position while retaining both progress and multiplier, with rebuy costs scaling based on progression and potential reward.
“Infinite X represents a different way of thinking about instant games,” said Thomas Nimstad, CEO of Million Games. “Instead of focusing on a single result, we’ve built an experience around progression, strategy, and player control. By combining multiplier growth, energy management, and rebuy decisions, Infinite X creates a gameplay loop that feels engaging from the first step to the last.”
Million Games said Infinite X includes energy-based progression, randomised power-ups, and an accelerating multiplier curve designed to reward players for pushing further.
The post Million Games launches Infinite X with progression-based crash gameplay appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
BMM Testlabs, BIG Cyber and RG24seven plan meetings at Booth 31-32 on June 17-18 at the Jockey Exhibition Center.
BMM Innovation Group (BIG) says it will exhibit at the Perú Gaming Show (PGS) on June 17-18 at the Jockey Exhibition Center in Lima, Perú.
The company will be located at Booth No. 31-32, where it plans to meet with gaming suppliers, operators, and regulators to discuss testing and certification through BMM Testlabs, cybersecurity services under BIG Cyber, and compliance-focused online training via RG24seven Virtual Training.
BMM Testlabs’ Senior Vice President Rubén Baptista said, “Perú has been an important market for BMM for many years, and we are proud to continue supporting the country’s growing gaming industry. At BIG, we help our customers with more than just product compliance. We also help them strengthen cybersecurity, train employees, and prepare for long-term success in regulated gaming markets across the globe.”
BIG said it has supported the Peruvian gaming industry for nearly two decades and was among the first laboratories approved to test and certify online gaming and sports betting products under Perú’s new regulatory framework. The company is directing attendees to Booth No. 31-32 to schedule meetings during PGS 2026.
The post BMM Innovation Group confirms Perú Gaming Show presence in Lima appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
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