Gaming Awards
SCIENTIFIC GAMES INSTANT PRODUCTS EXEC JEFF FAIN WINS 2024 POWERS AWARD
Scientific Games’ Instant Products Account Director Jeff Fain received a 2024 Powers Award from the North American State and Provincial Lotteries Association, honoring those in the lottery industry with the highest achievement, drive and integrity. Fain was nominated by the New Mexico Lottery.
Recognizing professionals who have made outstanding contributions to lotteries and the North American lottery industry, Powers Awards are named in honor of the late Edward J. Powers, the ‘Father of U.S. Lotteries’, and are regarded as one of the highest honors in the industry.
Fain joined Scientific Games in 2012, bringing his finance background and printed product experience to the world’s largest lottery games company. He has worked closely with several U.S. lotteries including the New Mexico Lottery to help responsibly grow their instant game portfolios.
“We’re extremely proud of Jeff’s work with our U.S. customers and appreciate the New Mexico Lottery for recognizing his contributions to the success of its instant game portfolio. He has approached his work with the Lottery as 100% collaborative and cultivated a fantastic customer relationship with its team,” said John Schulz, President, Americas and Global Instant Products for Scientific Games
The company’s business intelligence and insights have driven industry-leading lottery performance, including 18 of the Top 20 performing instant game lotteries in the world (La Fleur’s 2024 World Almanac, based on per capita sales).
Scientific Games provides retail and digital games, technology, analytics and services to 150 lotteries in 50 countries around the globe.
Best Software Supplier of the Year
Champions Club Dominates the Event in GR8 Tech’s Largest ICE to Date
“ICE is where operators come with a plan,” said Sergey Ghazaryan, CRO at GR8 Tech. “And this year, the demand was strong, as our meeting calendar was full and conversations were the kind that led to next steps. Champions Club worked because it was built for important decisions: practical learning and direct discussions about how to launch faster, localise properly, and keep performance strong when it matters most. That’s what we’re bringing into 2026.”
Platform for Champions, Proven at ICE
GR8 Tech showcased Platform for Champions, giving operators a clear view of how the stack supports various launch and scaling scenarios. The biggest conversation starter was Crypto Turnkey—a new launch built for operators who want more control over payments, faster routes to market, and access to crypto-forward player demand. Across meetings, the team spoke with existing partners and new prospects about how crypto can remove PSP bottlenecks, strengthen payment uptime, and unlock higher-value segments. Turnkey conversations drew the strongest pull, accounting for around 60% of all discussions.
Champions Club, Delivering the Energy
GR8 Tech left ICE Barcelona 2026 with a full calendar of follow-ups—and a format proven to work. Champions Club kept the space in constant motion: athletes and performers on treadmills (even in heels), pad-work sessions with Lee McFarland from Behind the Gloves, and meetings completely booked.
Acceler8 Lab ran at full capacity throughout, with sessions delivered in partnership with Gaming Operations Academy. GR8 Tech experts joined industry specialists, including Scott Rowan (Bet Data Consultants) and Verónica Guerrero (ElenPAY), to cover crypto payments, sportsbook optimization, AI implementation, and more.
The post Champions Club Dominates the Event in GR8 Tech’s Largest ICE to Date appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
bet365
Blask Awards 2025: Betano, Bet365, Betway and others lead global iGaming
The global results of the Blask Awards 2025 mark a decisive shift in how leadership is defined in the iGaming industry. Instead of juries, submissions or sponsorship packages, the awards rely entirely on data, measuring real demand, competitive strength and scalable performance across regulated markets worldwide.
At the center of this year’s global rankings stands Betano, which emerged as the most consistently dominant licensed operator across multiple continents. But the broader picture is more complex: a market where leadership fragments by region, speed of growth matters as much as scale, and games increasingly outperform brands in cross-border reach.
“Data is the jury,” said Max Tesla, co-founder and CEO of Blask. “In Blask Awards, brands don’t compete with those who submitted a form, they compete with the entire market”
Global operator rankings
Across worldwide categories, Betano claimed a commanding share of top honors:
- Leader of the Blask Year, awarded to the operator with the highest total number of Blask Awards in 2025
- Top CEB Performer, recognizing the strongest aggregate revenue baseline across regulated markets
- Blask Index Leader, reflecting the highest cumulative demand across licensed geographies
- Demand Surge of the Year, for the single largest 30-day demand increase recorded globally
Other global distinctions highlight how varied leadership has become:
- Fastest-Growing Brand: MrQ, posting the strongest year-over-year growth in demand
- Baseline Breakout: LakiWin, delivering the fastest increase in revenue baseline
- Top #1 Footprint: betPawa, holding the largest number of #1 market positions globally
- The Monopolist: Singapore Pools, achieving the single highest market power concentration in a regulated market
Together, the results show that global leadership is no longer defined by size alone. Momentum, efficiency and consistency increasingly matter as much as footprint.
Games and providers: global reach beats local borders
If operator leadership fragments by geography, games tell a different story.
In provider and game categories, Pragmatic Play dominated the global rankings, driven by the extraordinary reach of Gates of Olympus 1000, which won: Operator Footprint Champion, Lobby Legend, Slot of the Year
Pragmatic Play also secured Largest Catalog Provider and Full-Shelf Takeover, reflecting unmatched breadth and distribution.
Other game-level winners highlight emerging dynamics:
- Game Demand Leader: Chicken Road by InOut Games
- Breakout Game of the Year: Roulette European by 7777 gaming
Crash Game of the Year: Aviator by Spribe
Unlike operators, games increasingly scale globally, with player preferences converging across continents.
A different kind of award — and a long-term play
Blask Awards operate without applications, fees, sponsorships or jury voting. Winners are identified algorithmically, using Blask’s proprietary metrics — including Blask Index, BAP and CEB — across regulated markets only.
“This isn’t about trophies,” Tesla said. “It’s about creating a shared, verifiable language for the industry: one where anyone can open the data and see why a brand won. We’re not stopping here. Each year, the coverage gets wider, the benchmarks sharper, and the comparison fairer.”
The post Blask Awards 2025: Betano, Bet365, Betway and others lead global iGaming appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
BetPlay
Blask Awards 2025: Betano, Caliente, BetPlay, Betsson and others define Latin America’s iGaming landscape
Year-long data across nine regulated countries show Betano dominating Latin America by demand and revenue baseline, while strong local champions define national markets.
Drawing on a full year of data from January 1, 2025, to January 1, 2026, Blask evaluated licensed operator performance across Latin America’s regulated online betting and casino markets. The conclusion is unequivocal: Betano emerged as the dominant force across the region.
A regional leader emerges
In the LATAM-wide rankings, Betano secured both of the region’s top distinctions:
- America Operator of the Year, awarded for the highest cumulative Blask Index across the region
- America CEB Leader, recognizing the strongest aggregate Competitive Earning Baseline (CEB)
The regional analysis covered nine regulated markets (Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Paraguay, Panama, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic) and included only locally licensed operators.
Operators: leadership is local, not regional
Brazil, Latin America’s largest and most closely watched iGaming market, reinforced Betano’s regional dominance. The operator claimed both Brazil Operator of the Year and Brazil CEB Leader, reflecting its unmatched share of demand and revenue baseline in a market that increasingly sets the tone for the continent.
Mexico, the Andes, and Central America: strong national champions
Beyond Brazil, the awards reveal a region shaped by powerful local leaders.
In Mexico, Caliente captured both Mexico Operator of the Year and Mexico CEB Leader, maintaining its position as the country’s dominant licensed brand.
Peru recognized Apuesta Total as both Operator of the Year and CEB Leader, while Colombia’s tightly regulated market saw BetPlay take top honors in both categories.
Argentina presented a more divided picture: Betsson led in demand as Operator of the Year, while Bet365 topped the country’s CEB rankings.
In smaller but fast-formalizing markets, leadership was equally clear. Aposta.La dominated Paraguay, Betcha led Panama, GanaPlay topped El Salvador, and Betcris secured both awards in the Dominican Republic.
Games: one clear regional consensus
At game level, the picture is very different. Across every regulated Latin American market tracked by Blask, the same franchise led player demand:
- Brazil – Gates of Olympus 1000;
- Mexico – Gates of Olympus Super Scatter;
- Argentina – Gates of Olympus 1000
All top titles were developed by Pragmatic Play.
What this tells us about Latin America
Blask Awards data points to a clear regional insight:
- Operators win locally — success does not easily transfer across borders;
- Games win regionally — player preferences converge strongly around specific mechanics;
- LATAM is structurally different from Africa, where both operators and games show more cross-market overlap
Measuring power, not noise
Blask’s awards are built on proprietary metrics designed to capture market power rather than short-term performance.
The Blask Index tracks real-time demand and attention share, while CEB (Competitive Earning Baseline) estimates the statistically attainable revenue range for a brand based on its competitive position. Together, they offer a standardized way to compare operators across countries with very different market sizes and regulatory histories.
Crucially, the Blask Awards exclude unregulated markets and offshore-only brands — a methodological choice that, in Latin America, significantly reshapes traditional perceptions of leadership.
Latin America in the global picture
The Latin American results arrive alongside Blask’s global rankings, where Betano also led multiple worldwide categories.
The post Blask Awards 2025: Betano, Caliente, BetPlay, Betsson and others define Latin America’s iGaming landscape appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
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