Gambling in the USA
Strive Gaming Announces New Investment Round to Propel Future U.S. Commercial Growth Ambitions
OpenBet leads round, positioning Strive as strategic U.S. Player Account Management partner for the global sports betting powerhouse
Strive Gaming, a leading Player Account Management (PAM) platform within the U.S. betting and gaming industry, today announced it has raised a new investment round. OpenBet, a leading content, platform and service provider to the global betting industry, led the round.
OpenBet’s agreement with Strive Gaming complements its existing product architecture and is set to provide increased commercial opportunities for both organizations across North America, including in newly operating tribal markets. OpenBet already holds a strong position within the U.S., with several leading brands entrusting its technology, content and services to power their retail and digital offerings.
The investment deepens the collaboration between both companies and brings their leading platforms to market as a fully-integrated solution. The combined offering includes player protection and regulatory compliance features from Neccton, which OpenBet acquired in 2023.
Strive Gaming was founded in 2021 by Damian Xuereb and Max Meltzer, who will continue to lead the company and operate independently. Strive Gaming’s PAM solution will retain its platform-agnostic nature while maintaining the deepest integration with OpenBet to drive future expansion opportunities.
Jordan Levin, CEO of OpenBet, said: “This investment in Strive Gaming unlocks major new opportunities for OpenBet and bolsters our position as an end-to-end global industry-leader. With the strength of Strive Gaming’s PAM as a future-proofed solution for the U.S. market, combined with OpenBet’s high standards, we can offer U.S. operators a fully integrated, turnkey proposition that will fuel responsible betting experiences. This new partnership sparks a new chapter in our history, and we are looking forward to working closely with the Strive Gaming team.”
Max Meltzer, CEO of Strive Gaming, said: “Strive Gaming is perfectly positioned to increase our PAM market share and become a leader in the U.S. online betting industry over the coming years. OpenBet is a key, trusted brand in the global sports betting arena, and we welcome the company’s investment, in a move that will take us in a bold new direction, while maintaining our independence. We are extremely excited for our partnership with OpenBet – together, OpenBet and Strive Gaming have expertise across the entire betting industry, combined with strong tech and talent.”
Within three years of its founding, Strive Gaming has emerged as one of the leading U.S. PAM providers in terms of quantity of customers, with partners including Four Winds Casino, Golden Nugget (DraftKings), Desert Diamond and Betsafe.
Strive Gaming’s PAM offering has been specifically designed to address the requirements of U.S. facing operators. It offers speed to market in the complex regulatory environment, and a competitive set of features and functionality, as well as integrations to a wide range of the world’s leading content providers.
In addition to OpenBet, participants in the investment round included Knutsson Holdings AB, the former largest shareholder of casino content giant, NetEnt before its acquisition by Evolution Gaming. Astralis Capital Management LP, a specialist gaming fund, and a founder of one of Europe’s fastest growing casino operators, also joined the consortium alongside Betsson AB, the global gaming operator that was a seed investor in Strive Gaming’s exponential growth.
AI
Scientific Games Appoints Ovie Doro as SVP of Data, Analytics & AI
Scientific Games today named Ovie Doro as Senior Vice President of Data, Analytics & AI, a strategic hire that accelerates the company’s investment in data science, machine learning and AI-driven insights for its global lottery business. Doro will lead the expansion of SG Analytics, Scientific Games’ enterprise analytics group, to deliver stronger product performance, personalized player experiences and measurable ROI for lottery customers across retail and digital channels.
Driving analytics-led growth for lotteries
Scientific Games says the appointment marks a step-change in how it uses data and AI to inform lottery game development, optimize player engagement and support lottery beneficiaries. As head of SG Analytics, Doro will focus on turning large volumes of market and player data into actionable intelligence for product, sales and operations teams.
“Advanced analytics is critical to how Scientific Games supports our lottery customers and drives innovation and performance for sustainable growth,” said Pat McHugh, CEO of Scientific Games. “Doro brings deep experience understanding consumer behavior and building scalable analytics and data science capabilities at global organizations, and we’re excited to have him lead this mission-critical work.”
What Doro will lead at SG Analytics
Doro’s remit will include expanding capabilities in:
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Market and channel intelligence to identify growth opportunities across regions and channels
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ROI and growth modeling to quantify the value of product and marketing investments
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Data engineering and standardized reporting to speed insights to decision-makers
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Data science, machine learning and experimentation for personalization and cross-channel optimization
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Visualization and business intelligence to make analytics accessible to commercial teams
These priorities are designed to better connect retail and digital play, enable experimentation-driven product improvements, and provide lotteries with measurable results that support their beneficiary missions.
Proven leader in enterprise analytics and ML
Doro brings more than a decade of experience building enterprise analytics and machine learning platforms for major consumer and e-commerce companies. Most recently he served as Senior Global Director of Data Science & Machine Learning Engineering at AB InBev, where he led the AI strategy for the company’s global B2B e-commerce platform. His prior leadership roles at Walmart and Jet.com focused on customer analytics, personalization, experimentation platforms and lifecycle modeling—translating applied research into production-grade analytics systems that drive growth and retention.
“Doro’s appointment strengthens our ability to translate data into action and value for our customers,” said Carrie Galvin, Chief Transformation & Strategy Officer at Scientific Games. “His experience building analytics capabilities that deliver real-world business outcomes will help us better serve lotteries through smarter products and performance insights.”
Background and reporting
Doro holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Master’s degree in Applied Mathematics from KTH Royal Institute of Technology. At Scientific Games, he will report to Carrie Galvin and collaborate closely with leaders across product, technology, sales and operations.
With this hire, Scientific Games positions SG Analytics to accelerate AI-driven product development, deepen personalization, and deliver clearer ROI for lotteries worldwide—strengthening the company’s role as a data-first partner to the lottery industry.
© 2026 Scientific Games, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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Gambling in the USA
Scientific Games Announces Ovie Doro as Senior Vice President of Data, Analytics & AI
Scientific Games has named Ovie Doro (“Doro”) as Senior Vice President of Data, Analytics & AI, strengthening the company’s investment in advanced analytics, data science and AI-driven insights to support growth and innovation across its global lottery business.

Doro will lead the expansion of the SG Analytics group, Scientific Games’ enterprise analytics practice that combines deep expertise with business intelligence tools, data and insights to support decision-making and increased performance of the company’s lottery products and services. His appointment advances the company’s industry-leading use of data and AI to help guide development of lottery games and technologies, enhance player experiences and deliver measurable, ROI-driven value for lottery customers—helping optimize performance in support of their beneficiary missions—across retail and digital channels.
“Advanced analytics is critical to how Scientific Games supports our lottery customers and drives innovation and performance for sustainable growth,” said Pat McHugh, Chief Executive Officer of Scientific Games. “Doro brings deep experience understanding consumer behavior and building scalable analytics and data science capabilities at global organizations, and we’re excited to have him lead this mission-critical work.”
Doro has more than a decade of experience in architecting and scaling enterprise analytics and machine learning platforms across global consumer and e-commerce organizations. Most recently, he served as Senior Global Director of Data Science & Machine Learning Engineering at AB InBev, where he pioneered the AI strategy for the company’s global B2B e-commerce platform, transforming it into an AI-enabled ecosystem that drove revenue growth and partner value across multiple international markets.
Doro has held senior data science leadership roles at Walmart and Jet.com, where he led teams responsible for customer analytics, experimentation platforms, personalization and lifecycle modeling. His work focused on translating applied research into production-grade analytics and machine learning systems that supported growth, retention and omnichannel engagement.
At Scientific Games, Doro will advance SG Analytics by translating data into action across market and channel intelligence, competitive and industry insights, ROI and growth modeling, data engineering, data science and machine learning, supported by standardized reporting and visualization. He will also play a central role in enabling analytics-driven product growth, personalization, experimentation and cross-channel optimization that connects retail and digital play.
Doro will report to Carrie Galvin, Chief Transformation & Strategy Officer of Scientific Games, and will work closely with leaders across product, technology, sales and operations organizations.
“Doro’s appointment strengthens our ability to translate data into action and value for our customers,” said Galvin. “His experience building analytics capabilities that deliver real-world business outcomes will help us better serve lotteries through smarter products and performance insights.”
Doro holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Master’s degree in Applied Mathematics from KTH Royal Institute of Technology.
© 2026 Scientific Games, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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Gambling in the USA
IGT Celebrates 30th Anniversary of Wheel of Fortune Slots
IGT, a global gaming leader, announced the 30th anniversary of the wildly popular Wheel of Fortune Slots game. Famous for awarding players $1 million-plus life-changing jackpots and the familiar “WHEEL-OF-FORTUNE!” chant that can be heard across a casino floor, Wheel of Fortune Slots is credited for changing the casino experience as the gaming industry’s first licensed slots game.
To recognize this monumental milestone, IGT kicked off a multi-month celebration that includes new product launches, coast-to-coast in-casino celebrations, contests run via Instagram and Facebook, slots influencer collaborations, a new creative campaign, a week of integrations to be featured on “Wheel of Fortune,” and more.
“For three decades, IGT’s Wheel of Fortune Slots have captivated slots players around the world and earned a reputation for delivering world-class entertainment combined with huge jackpots in casinos and online. Through our relationship with Sony Pictures Television and Carnival Cruise Line, IGT created a robust campaign for 2026 that honors the legacy of Wheel of Fortune Slots, while rewarding players and delivering value to our customers worldwide,” said Hector Fernandez, Incoming CEO of IGT.
A highly anticipated element of the campaign is IGT’s “Spin and Sail Cruise”. Presented in partnership with Carnival Cruise Line, IGT’s Spin and Sail Cruise empowers select casinos across the US to reward players with eight-day cruises aboard the Carnival Jubilee, where travelers will compete in a slot tournament with a $1 million prize pool. Players also have the chance to win a seat aboard the November Spin and Sail Cruise via contests run on the IGT Jackpots Facebook and IGT Gaming North America Instagram pages.
“Our longstanding relationship with IGT has been a remarkable success, and we’re thrilled to continue building on that momentum as we celebrate the 30th anniversary of IGT’s Wheel of Fortune Slots. Much like our Wheel of Fortune game show, IGT’s Wheel of Fortune Slots is a category leader that resonates with a wide audience, and we value IGT’s enduring commitment to the franchise,” said Suzanne Prete, President of Game Shows at Sony Pictures Television.
IGT licenses the exclusive rights to the legendary Wheel of Fortune brand across gaming, lottery, iGaming and iLottery, and non-exclusive rights to distribute Wheel of Fortune content for free-to-play social casinos, from Sony Pictures Television, which owns and produces the long-running television program.
The post IGT Celebrates 30th Anniversary of Wheel of Fortune Slots appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
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