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Euro 2020 from a betting perspective

Published

5 years ago

September 16, 2021

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Just before Finland’s debut in the European football championship, Spiffbet, together with Metric Gaming launched a sportsbook on the Finnish flagship casino SuperNopea and Swedish TurboVegas. The timing couldn’t have been better. Metric Gaming CEO Jim Supple and Spiffbet’s Maria Boelius discuss the summer of 2021 from a sports betting perspective.

This summer was unique in the sense that two major events postponed from 2020 due to the global pandemic finally took place. It was the opportunity that Maria Boelius, Head of Casino Operations at Spiffbet, had been waiting for and she and her team reached out to Metric Gaming to launch a sportsbook on Spiffbet’s casinos SuperNopea and TurboVegas. “ We were excited to be able to launch a sportsbook so quickly with Metric Gaming’s multi-tenant platform. Technically it was easy for us to set it up and the performance has been flawless.

SuperNopea, launched just days ahead of the European Championships, and joined fellow Spiffbet casino, TurboVegas, on the Metric Gaming Sportsbook platform. The more established brand, TurboVegas accounted for 69% of the group’s tournament turnover. Both brands operated with similar trading strategies primarily aimed at acquisition. Metric’s efficient pricing allowed margin to be kept aggressively low on the three key pre-match football markets: Match Winner, Total Goals, and Both Teams to Score. This ensured that SuperNopea and Turbo Vegas were offering top price in a very competitive marketplace. The result of this aggressive pricing strategy was that two-thirds of new players had their first bets on these promoted markets, and subsequently half of those then migrated to higher-margin products for future bets.

Jim Supple, CEO of Metric Gaming, is very satisfied with the launch and the initial results: “Metric Gaming is delighted to have Spiffbet as a client. The summer of 2021 was remarkable from a sports perspective with both the Euro and the Olympics. All of our clients have seen a surge in betting revenues, and Spiffbet is no exception.”

Despite the relatively early exit of both Finland & Sweden, acquisition numbers remained strong throughout, with both brands recording significantly higher daily actives as the tournament progressed.

One of Metric Gaming’s key strengths is market availability. They target 97%+ uptime for live football. On average SuperNopea and TurboVegas were live, with a full set of markets, within 9 seconds of a goal being scored. This compares to up to 50 seconds by key rival Sportsbooks. With 149 goals scored across the tournament, it is vital markets are made available quickly and capture the high margin post-goal wagers.

Metric’s drive for market uptime paired with their in-play personalization engine remove blockers for all players and are key reasons Spiffbet enjoys high retention rates across their customer base. Customers are simply not given a reason to bet elsewhere.

Then there is the matter of launching a sportsbook just days before a tournament. Maria Boelius shares her view on the timing of the launch “In hindsight, we should have launched the sportsbook much earlier so that we would have had sufficient time to ramp up marketing properly. All the other more traditional sports betting sites had a lead over us. Despite the lack of time, our sportsbook got a lot of attention, and I am convinced that we made the right decision to launch before the Euro“.

Jim shares Maria’s view on the timing and adds “Metric provides the tools for betting, but we also need to work closely with the operators to ensure that the player gets the best experience possible. Importantly this is not just about the Euros, we see this as a long-term partnership.”

Traditional offline casinos as well as the local betting offices are opening up again after the pandemic. Jim Supple gives his thoughts on how the post-covid normalization will affect business and projections for the future: “We were doing great business before the pandemic, and we will continue to do so. We at Metric are seeing that the traditional casino operators, in order to compete in an increasingly competitive market, are adding a sportsbook to their casino games and slots. In addition, our market is growing year after year and new territories are opening up. We have a very positive outlook”.

Maria Boelius adds with a smile “I guess we are following the trend that Jim describes as we move from 100% casino to also providing a sportsbook. Currently, we are offering sports betting on three of our brands and we are looking into the possibilities of adding a sportsbook to some of our other casino brands. In general, we share Metrics positive outlook. We have just recruited a senior sportsbook manager to spearhead our expansion in the betting space.”

Alona Shevtsova

Sends CEO Alona Shevtsova moderates Global Gaming Expansion panel in Riyadh

Published

2 hours ago

June 25, 2026

Wladimir P.

sends-ceo-alona-shevtsova-moderates-global-gaming-expansion-panel-in-riyadh

Alona Shevtsova, CEO of Sends, will moderate a panel at The Blockchain show on 29^th June, bringing together experts from entertainment, location-based gaming, and content localisation to examine what it takes to build sustainable gaming ecosystems across emerging markets.

The panel, titled “Global Gaming Expansion: Lessons from Untapped Markets,” will structure its discussion across four themes: the growth dynamics reshaping emerging gaming markets; the role of localisation in creating experiences that genuinely connect with new audiences; the infrastructure and communities needed to build gaming ecosystems beyond the game itself; and the lessons and opportunities that will define successful expansion in the years ahead.

Alona Shevtsova plans to frame the discussion around the central challenge for companies looking to expand globally: entering a new market requires far more than bringing an existing product to a new audience. Understanding local cultures, building communities, adapting experiences, and creating ecosystems that allow gaming to grow sustainably are all as important as the product itself.

Alona Shevtsova, CEO of Sends, said:

“The future growth of gaming will come not only from new technologies, but from understanding people — their cultures, communities, and the experiences they want to be part of. Successful expansion will belong to those who can combine global ambition with local understanding.”

The first segment will examine why regions including the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia are becoming increasingly significant for developers, operators, and investors — driven by young audiences, accelerating digital adoption, and new entertainment models creating substantial growth potential. Panellists will explore how consumer preferences differ across markets and what trends among younger audiences are shaping the future of gaming and entertainment.

The third segment will broaden the lens beyond the game itself, exploring the role of location-based entertainment, gaming centres, esports, and experiential destinations in attracting new audiences and building long-term communities. Panellists plan to address how entertainment ecosystems — spanning physical venues, events, and community infrastructure — accelerate gaming adoption in markets where the category is still establishing itself.

Earlier this month, Alona Shevtsova was shortlisted for the 2026 Great British Entrepreneur Awards in the Established Business of the Year category. Her team is also preparing for the Fintech Connect conference in London later this year. Sends will be a leading sponsor of this event.

*Sends is a trade name of SMARTFLOW PAYMENTS LIMITED, registered in England and Wales (Company No.11070048). For more information, visit sends.co .

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