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Smarkets raises Series B funding round to supercharge international and domestic growth

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Smarkets, one of the world’s largest betting exchange and prediction market platforms, has announced the closing of a significant minority investment from Susquehanna Growth Equity (SGE).

Having raised just £3.8m ($5.4m) since its inception in 2008, with its Series A round coming back in 2013, Smarkets has built a leading exchange platform that processes billions of pounds in traded volume each year. The company has offices in London, Los Angeles, and Malta, licensed customer-focused operations in five countries, and in 2019 released innovative sportsbook app SBK.

Smarkets is delighted to welcome SGE, which joins existing investors Passion Capital and Deutsche Telekom in supporting the company’s mission to fix betting with the fairest odds in the industry.

This new investment will allow Smarkets to accelerate its rollout in the US, where it is already live in Colorado with sportsbook app SBK and set to go live in Indiana soon. The funding will also bolster SBK’s position in the UK mainstream betting market after its successful launch in August 2019.

The new investment will contribute to:

Furthering the company’s US presence, including market-access deals in new, regulated states
Capturing an even greater share of the UK betting exchange market and accelerating SBK’s growth in the UK’s mainstream sportsbook market
Expanding Smarkets’ development of new products for customers and focus on industry-leading prices on sports, politics, and current affairs
Continuing to capture the best and brightest worldwide engineering talent with a view to doubling headcount by the end of 2022
Further expansion into new and recently entered markets such as Denmark and Sweden

Jason Trost, founder and CEO of Smarkets, said:

“This is an incredibly exciting day. I’ve always been amazed what the passion and energy of a comparatively small group of committed people can accomplish against much bigger rivals; Smarkets and SBK are the product of exactly that. At Smarkets we have always been guided by our vision of fixing betting with the best prices and products, and SGE is just as excited as us to challenge the status quo. This is a huge endorsement of our technology and will allow us to further upend the industry by offering bets as close to fair value as possible.

“We are super proud of what we have achieved so far in the UK betting space, and this new investment will help take us to the next level and beyond in the UK, US, and other international markets. I’d like to thank the women and men that work and have worked at Smarkets for getting us to where we are.

“I truly believe the best is yet to come. This investment will allow us to fight with greater resources, move faster, and be bolder in our mission. We’re so excited about the opportunities this investment unlocks.”

Scott Feldman, Managing Director with Susquehanna Growth Equity, said:

“We are delighted to be able to join Smarkets on their upward journey. We immediately identified with their vision of using technology to take on the betting industry’s big operators by providing the fairest odds in the world and maintaining a clear focus on product excellence.

“Smarkets have achieved a huge amount with little investment to date and we can’t wait to see them go from strength to strength as they expand further into both the US and UK mainstream market.”

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Stake releases ‘It’s All At Stake’ football tournament hero video

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Stake on Monday, 8 June 2026 released its 2026 global football tournament hero video, starring brand ambassadors Sergio Aguero, Patrice Evra, Iker Casillas and Eden Hazard. The ‘It’s All At Stake’ creative is running across YouTube, Instagram and X, with the major tournament a week away.

The video places the four ex-players in short scenes built around football culture. Casillas is shown grabbing the attention of a fellow nightclub guest, Aguero helps a player off the deck in a five-a-side game, Hazard plays a coach, and Evra appears in a tattoo parlour where he inks a customer with the slogan “I love this game”.

Stake said the campaign is part of its wider tournament activity, with ambassadors positioned at the centre of its marketing around the event. The company said the creative is designed to capture the “highs and lows experienced by fans throughout the competition” and includes “humour, nostalgia and the personalities” of the four players.

Stake Director, Jarrod Febbraio said: “The 2026 global football tournament is one of the few sporting events that genuinely captures the attention of fans across every corner of the globe. We wanted to create a campaign that reflects the excitement, anticipation and passion that supporters feel throughout the competition while also bringing together some of football’s most iconic personalities.

“Having Sergio Aguero, Iker Casillas, Eden Hazard and Patrice Evra involved gave us the opportunity to create something entertaining, relatable and unmistakably football. The result is a campaign that celebrates the moments, emotions and conversations that make moments like this such a unique cultural occasion.

“At Stake, we aim to put our millions of customers at the heart of sport’s biggest moments. Whether fans are watching from the stands, at home or with friends, this campaign reinforces what it’s like when it’s all at Stake.”

The company also reiterated its position on responsible gambling, stating it is “committed to ensuring that our customers are educated on our various responsible gambling tools available for use”.

The post Stake releases ‘It’s All At Stake’ football tournament hero video appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.

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Spinomenal releases Story of Alice 2 slot with four-stage Free Spins Journey

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The 5×4 title adds respins, shifting reels and extra Wilds across successive bonus stages hosted by Wonderland characters.

Spinomenal has released Story of Alice 2, its latest slot title set in a Wonderland-themed garden. The game runs on a 5×4 layout and features characters including the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, the Caterpillar, the Queen of Hearts and Alice.

In the base game, Wilds substitute for all symbols except the Free Spins symbol, and five on a line pay x300 the bet. The game also includes win multipliers that can appear while the reels are spinning, multiplying wins by x2 or x3.

The main bonus is a four-stage “Free Spins Journey” triggered by three or more full-sized scattered Free Spins symbols. Each retrigger moves players to the next stage, with each stage tied to a different character.

The sequence starts with the White Rabbit’s Winning Symbols Respin, where new winning combinations trigger respins and only the last respin pays. It then moves to the Mad Hatter’s Extra Wilds, adding three to five Wild symbols per spin, followed by the Caterpillar’s Shifting Reels Respin where wins trigger a respin and reels shift down by one row. The final stage is the Queen of Hearts’ Stacked Wilds Respin, where a fully landed stacked Wild on reels one to four triggers a respin; the company says five Wild symbols on a winning line pay x300.

Spinomenal CO-CEO, Omer Henya commented: “We are excited to welcome players back to Wonderland with Story of Alice 2. The Free Spins Journey gives the game a real sense of adventure and progression, and combined with its fantastic visuals, we expect players will be eager to chase the next feature.”

The post Spinomenal releases Story of Alice 2 slot with four-stage Free Spins Journey appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.

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PopOK Gaming partners with Ronaldinho for new slot title Ronaldinho da Sorte

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PopOK Gaming has partnered with footballer Ronaldinho Gaúcho to launch a new online slot, Ronaldinho da Sorte. The supplier said the title is now available for integration and is aimed at the .com market.

PopOK Gaming said the game runs on a 3×3 grid with five paylines and is built around low volatility. The company listed an RTP of 96.19%, a hit frequency of 23.94% and a maximum multiplier of 5,000x.

Speaking about the launch, Ronaldinho said: “It makes me so happy, you know? To see that my football style becomes a game, it makes me really happy. I hope the fans will like it and will have fun and good moments.”

On gameplay, PopOK Gaming said Wild symbols substitute for other symbols, while a randomly triggered bonus feature selects a symbol (excluding Wild) and respins with only the chosen symbol, Wilds or blanks. The supplier added that landed Wilds and chosen symbols lock in place and that a second-chance re-spin is awarded if no symbols land on the first re-spin. PopOK Gaming also flagged Money symbols, multipliers, a dedicated bonus game and a bonus wheel as additional features.

The post PopOK Gaming partners with Ronaldinho for new slot title Ronaldinho da Sorte appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.

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