Latest News
ONLINE GAMING VETERAN MORTEN TONNESEN JOINS SHAPE GAMES AS DANISH B2B PLATFORM AIMS TO ACCELERATE GROWTH IN THE US SPORTSBETTING & CASINO MARKET
onnesen brings a wealth of online gaming experience from PokerStars, BetWarrior
Online gaming industry veteran Morten Tonnesen has joined Shape Games as Chief Commercial Officer and also joins the Board bringing more than a decade of industry experience to the company as it aims to grow significantly in the U.S. online gambling market and across the world, Shape founder & CEO Christian Risom announced. Tonnesen was a long time marketing executive with gaming giant PokerStars and was most recently founder and CEO of sportsbetting operator BetWarrior.
Shape is a leading consumer app developer for major global brands and recently created Shape Games to address the specific needs of the online gambling industry. Risom and co-founders CPO Nicolas Linde, CIO Ole Gammelgaard and CTO Philip Bruce have created consumer apps for leading global brands including Apple, ebay, IKEA and Red Bull. Shape also has a long history with Danske Spil, Denmark’s state-run gambling operator of Oddset, the leading Danish online sportsbook.
Shape recently renewed a long-term agreement with Danske Spil and is accelerating growth in the burgeoning US sports betting market having launched with ballybet.com in Colorado and Iowa powering ‘Bally Friends’ with more US clients to come. The company is working in Latin America with BetWarrior.
Shape’s innovative and proprietary gaming software platform leverages best practices in consumer apps with first-class native customer engagement platform using predictive analytics and machine learning to inform back-end data and insights. This platform gives gaming operators the ability to improve customer experience and gain competitive advantage in the increasingly crowded marketplace.
Shape’s work with Danske Spil has been recognised with numerous industry awards for innovation, while the company has been named an industry rising star by respected industry media outlet EGR for each of the past two years.
“We are excited to bring Morten onboard and our clients will benefit from his deep management and marketing expertise in the online gaming sector,” Risom said. “We can deliver a full suite of products and services to local market land-based casino operators who are looking for a one-stop-shop consumer product partner to bring their business and their customers online. Morten’s deep experience will help us accelerate our growth and lead the way in the U.S. and European markets.”
Tonnesen said: “Shape Games has distinguished itself as a nimble, dynamic and innovative technology leader and I’m excited to help lead the company into its next stage of global growth. Shape’s consumer technology domain experience ensures that their modern, customer-focused apps stand above the traditional, clunky gaming apps from the first generation of online operators. This next generation must compete with not only other betting and casino companies, but with other entertainment choices including streaming and social games.”
Tonnesen points to Shape’s highly customisable native frontend as a unique innovation in the gambling industry and distinguishes the company as a sought-after B-to-B platform and service provider.
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B2B Marketing
Beyond Season’s Greetings: GR8 Tech Unveils Strategic ‘Holiday Calendar’ for Operators
Editor’s Take
Why this matters: Most B2B holiday campaigns are fluff—digital greeting cards that get deleted instantly. GR8 Tech is taking a smarter approach by wrapping high-value strategic advice into a seasonal format. By focusing on 2026 goal-setting (tech upgrades, market wins), they are positioning themselves not just as a platform provider, but as a strategic partner for operators currently in their planning cycles.
The Full Story
GR8 Tech, the award-winning sportsbook and iGaming platform provider, has launched a new initiative designed to turn the holiday season into a period of strategic preparation for operators.
Dubbed the Holiday Calendar, the campaign is an exclusive newsletter experience that moves beyond standard festive greetings to deliver actionable, data-driven insights aimed at helping iGaming champions define and achieve their goals for 2026.
Unwrapping Strategic Insights The initiative runs as a 4-week series, consisting of eight curated email editions. Each edition focuses on a specific “iGaming wish”—ranging from stronger growth and smarter tech to smoother operations.
Instead of leaving these as abstract concepts, GR8 Tech pairs each goal with practical insights from its own data and technology stack, offering a roadmap for how operators can realistically achieve them in the coming year.
Management Commentary Yevhen Krazhan, CSO at GR8 Tech, explained that the campaign mirrors the ambitious mindset of their clients:
“Every operator has a vision for the year ahead: targets they want to hit, markets they want to win, experiences they want to deliver. The GR8 Tech Holiday Calendar is our way of celebrating ambitions and showing how the right insights and technology can turn them into reality.”
How It Works Operators can subscribe via the GR8 Tech website to receive the series. Each message “opens a new tile” on the digital calendar, revealing a specific insight designed to be applied to future business strategies.
The campaign effectively showcases GR8 Tech’s broader value proposition—including its Hyper Turnkey solution and ULTIM8 Sportsbook—by demonstrating how these tools solve specific operator challenges. It comes on the heels of a successful year for the provider, which recently secured the title of Platform Provider of the Year at the SBC Awards 2025.
The post Beyond Season’s Greetings: GR8 Tech Unveils Strategic ‘Holiday Calendar’ for Operators appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry Newsroom.
AML Compliance
ComeOn Group Fortifies C-Suite: Michela Tabone Valetta Named New CPO
Editor’s Take
Why this matters: In the current iGaming climate, “sustainable growth” isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a survival strategy. By bringing in a seasoned CPO like Michela Tabone Valetta (ex-Bally’s, Gamesys), ComeOn is signaling a focus on organizational maturity. Furthermore, the specific addition of a Country Manager for Ontario (Mark Cheeswright) suggests a deeper entrenchment in North America’s most competitive regulated market, moving beyond general expansion to targeted regional dominance.
The Full Story
ComeOn Group, the leading international iGaming operator, has announced a significant strengthening of its leadership structure, headlined by the appointment of Michela Tabone Valetta to its Executive Team as Chief People Officer (CPO).
The move is part of a broader recruitment drive that has seen the company fill critical senior roles across Compliance, IT Security, Commercial, and Market Management, positioning itself for a new phase of regulated market expansion.
New Chief People Officer Michela Tabone Valetta brings two decades of HR leadership experience, with nearly half of that time spent in the iGaming sector. Her resume includes senior tenures at major industry players such as Vera & John, Gamesys, and Bally’s Corporation. Most recently, she served at BoyleSports, where she supported a workforce of nearly 3,000 employees.
At ComeOn, Valetta will lead the People & Culture function, tasked with refining talent strategy and organizational development as the operator scales its global footprint.
Strategic Senior Appointments alongside the C-level addition, ComeOn Group confirmed four other key strategic hires made earlier this year to bolster its operational foundations:
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Mark Cheeswright (Country Manager, Ontario): A veteran with over 20 years in iGaming (LeoVegas, William Hill, BetVictor), Cheeswright is tasked with steering the company’s growth in the highly competitive Canadian province.
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Thomas Mifsud Tommasi (Head of AML): Joining from LeoVegas and BetClic Everest Group, Tommasi brings over a decade of financial crime compliance expertise to the group.
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Radek Ostojski (Head of Information Security): With a background in cloud architecture and DevOps at Swintt and KingMakers, Ostojski will lead the operator’s cybersecurity initiatives.
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Rebekka Rogers (Head of Commercial, Casino): Formerly of Evolution, Rogers will drive commercial performance and strategic growth within the company’s core Casino vertical.
CEO Commentary Juergen Reutter, Chief Executive Officer at ComeOn Group, emphasized that these appointments are about building depth for the long term:
“We are delighted to welcome Michela to our Executive Team. Her extensive expertise in people and culture, organizational development, and leadership strategy will be instrumental as we continue to grow and strengthen our operations globally.
“Earlier this year, we also welcomed Radek, Thomas, Mark, and Rebekka into key leadership roles… Their contributions are already reinforcing our strategic foundations, and together with Michela’s arrival, they significantly enhance the depth and capability of our leadership team.”
The post ComeOn Group Fortifies C-Suite: Michela Tabone Valetta Named New CPO appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry Newsroom.
243 Crystal Fruits
Tom Horn Gaming Unlocks New Markets with Major Alea Aggregation Deal
Editor’s Take
Why this matters: In the race for distribution, direct integrations are becoming less common for mid-sized studios. Partnering with a “super-aggregator” like Alea—known for its focus on API performance and data security—gives Tom Horn Gaming instant access to hundreds of operator brands without the technical bottleneck of individual integrations. This move signals a push to maximize the yield from their back catalog of 100+ games in both mature and emerging markets simultaneously.
The Full Story
Tom Horn Gaming, the omnichannel software supplier, has significantly widened its distribution capabilities by signing a new partnership with Alea, the award-winning iGaming aggregator.
The agreement sees Tom Horn’s entire portfolio of over 100 titles integrated into Alea’s aggregation ecosystem. This includes the supplier’s best-performing classic slots such as 243 Crystal Fruits and The Secret of Ba, as well as recent releases like Tao Tree Coins.
Technical & Strategic Fit For Tom Horn Gaming, the deal is a strategic lever to penetrate new jurisdictions more efficiently. By plugging into Alea’s centralized API, the studio gains immediate access to Alea’s extensive roster of operator partners. The collaboration focuses heavily on delivering “localized” content—games specifically tailored to regional preferences and regulatory requirements—without the friction of individual technical setups.
Management Commentary Both companies emphasized the role of compliance and technical reliability in the deal.
Ondrej Lapides, CEO of Tom Horn Gaming, commented on the strategic alignment:
“Partnering with Alea allows us to bring our games to even more operators and players in markets where we’ve long been committed to delivering tailored, reliable, and engaging content. Alea’s focus on compliance and seamless delivery perfectly complements our own ambitions for growth in both mature and emerging regions.”
Eduard Verdaguer, Partnerships Manager at Alea, highlighted the supplier’s reputation:
“Tom Horn Gaming has built a strong reputation for creating accessible, market-tailored content that players know and trust.”
This partnership marks the latest in a series of commercial expansions for Tom Horn Gaming in late 2025, reinforcing its status as a staple content provider for regulated markets.
The post Tom Horn Gaming Unlocks New Markets with Major Alea Aggregation Deal appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry Newsroom.
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