Latest News
Pythia Sports partners with Betmaster to deliver comprehensive managed trading services for horse racing and greyhounds
Leading horse racing and sportsbook provider, Pythia Sports, has announced its latest client partnership with global sports betting operator Betmaster. The collaboration sees Betmaster go live with Pythia’s full managed trading services racing betting product, enhancing its offering for racing enthusiasts worldwide.
This partnership, which launched in December 2024, marks another milestone for Pythia Sports as it continues to expand its presence in the global racing industry. The agreement was facilitated in collaboration with Racing1 Markets by leveraging the racing packaged from Racing1, as well as the newly formed racing alliance from 1/ST Content, Arena Racing Company (ARC), Racecourse Media Group (RMG), and Tabcorp.
This gives Betmaster a 24/7 racing package in just one contract and one integration, further strengthening the ties between the racing ecosystem’s major stakeholders.
Betmaster’s adoption of Pythia’s managed trading services will provide its customers with a seamless horse racing experience for global meets across the UK and Ireland, as well as USA, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Japan, complete with expert pricing from Pythia.
Betmaster has further integrated select derivative markets with a full rollout expected later this year, alongside in-running betting.
Stephen Davison, Head of Commercial Operations at Pythia Sports, said: “We are delighted to partner with Betmaster to bring our state-of-the-art managed trading services to their platform. This partnership represents our commitment to delivering high-quality, innovative horse racing solutions to operators worldwide. We’re confident this launch will resonate with Betmaster’s customers and we are excited to see how horse racing and greyhounds can inspire growth at the company as they offer this proposition for the very first time as an operator.”
Jack Whitaker, Racing1 Markets spokesperson and Commercial Manager at ARC, said: “Racing1 Markets is all about making racing easy for customers that want a tier 1 product, with as little hassle as possible – our partnership with industry leading supplier Pythia Sports enables customers like Betmaster to receive exactly that. Betmaster, an existing brand across Ireland with global aspirations, are a perfect fit to align with Racing1 Markets’ goals.
Betmaster CPO Andrey Rozanov added: “Working with Pythia Sports as a part of the Racing1 Markets package is a game-changer for Betmaster. Their racing expertise and product set allows us to enhance our horse racing product, providing our customers with a comprehensive and dynamic betting experience. We’re thrilled to bring this product to market and look forward to seeing its impact play out as we approach the major racing events in the 2025 calendar.”
This agreement underscores the growing demand for robust horse racing solutions within the online sports betting industry and solidifies Pythia’s reputation as a trusted partner.
Pythia will be exhibiting its risk management service as part of the newly formed Racing1 partnership at ICE in Barcelona at Stand 5E38.
About Pythia Sports
Pythia Sports was established in 2014 with a focus on predictive sports modelling and data collection, primarily in racing. It works in partnership with data rights holders such as Arena Racing Company and Racecourse Media Group (RMG). It has recently worked with the latter to launch an in-play betting feed, for which Pythia provides the pricing to clients including William Hill, Ladbrokes, Coral and William Hill.
Pythia Sports has built a fully automated risk management service, encompassing fundamental pricing capabilities and advanced risk management algorithms. This has been designed as an end-to-end service for bookmakers, allowing them to offer a market-leading product with guaranteed returns and no operational overhead requirements. The product is fully customisable based on each client’s operational and trading requirements.
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Alessandra Rosati Country Manager (Italy) at Booming Games
Booming Games adds 100 slot titles to Casino di Venezia online platform
Deal expands Booming Games’ Italy footprint and boosts Casino di Venezia’s digital catalogue with titles including Cash Pig 2 15,000.
Booming Games has signed a partnership with Casino di Venezia to distribute its casino content on the Italian operator’s digital platform.
Under the agreement, Casino di Venezia has integrated 100 Booming Games titles. The initial rollout includes Cash Pig 2 15,000, 64 Gold Coins Hold and Win 20,000 and Buffalo Hold and Win Extreme.
Booming Games positioned the deal as part of its strategy to grow in regulated markets and increase reach in Italy. The supplier also said it plans to accelerate releases this year, including localised content tailored to specific markets.
Alessandra Rosati, Country Manager (Italy) at Booming Games, said: “We are pleased to be partnering with Casino di Venezia, a brand with unrivalled pedigree and an outstanding reputation for delivering premium gaming content. The collaboration marks the latest chapter in our pursuit to broaden the reach of our premium titles in Italy, a market that presents a number of exciting growth opportunities. We’re confident that this is the beginning of a successful, long-term relationship with Casino di Venezia and look forward to working with the team.”
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AI
Fincore integrates TRI Platform with Sportradar’s VAIX Personalization AI
Fincore and Sportradar have announced an integration connecting Fincore’s TRI Platform with Sportradar’s VAIX Personalization AI, with the companies positioning it as a way for operators to act on AI-driven insights in real time within existing stacks.
Under the deal, VAIX’s recommender models and player insight predictions are delivered into Fincore’s TRI ecosystem, which the company says can plug into existing PAM, gaming and bonus systems. The companies said the setup is intended to avoid “wholesale replacement” while meeting audit and access-control requirements in regulated markets.
Sportradar said VAIX monitors player behaviour in real time and can trigger recommendations and rewards during live play across sports. The company also said that within days of a player’s first activity, VAIX generates forecasts including lifetime value, churn risk, deposit likelihood and bonus recommendations.
Mateja Popovic, CEO at Fincore, said: “The technology landscape in gaming is evolving and operators are increasingly seeking to embed best-of-breed innovation directly into their core operations.
“Our partnership allows Sportradar customers to act on powerful AI-driven insights instantly, closing the gap between prediction and execution. By enabling personalised and automated recommendations and rewards without disrupting existing platforms, we are helping operators unlock greater engagement and more efficient promotional strategies that help them stand out.”
Andreas Hartmann, VP Personalisation at Sportradar, said: “Our AI platform gives operators a decisive edge in player engagement and retention, delivering highly accurate predictions on player activity, lifetime value, churn risk, deposit behaviour and more per user, in real-time.
“With Fincore’s TRI platform supporting real-time and deep personalisation, integration was a natural fit, allowing us to turn our industry-leading AI models into measurable commercial impact for the operator, across the user journey.”
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Interviews
Beyond the Burn: How Systemic Responsibility Drives Long-Term ROI
In a data-driven era, short-term player extraction is a losing game. Lars Kollind, Business Development Director at VeliTech, discusses the shift from anonymous poker rooms to real-time ecosystems, revealing why the most profitable operators are those who prioritise sustainable player lifecycles over “dark patterns”
Lars, you’ve seen the industry evolve from the early poker days to the current platform-led era. What is the biggest difference in how we view ‘the player’ now compared to 20 years ago?
Twenty years ago, the player was largely anonymous and the experience was relatively contained. You logged in, played and the risk was limited to that moment. Today, the player exists in a fully connected, real-time environment where every interaction is tracked, optimised and personalised. The experience is faster, more immersive and much more data-driven.
We’ve moved from simple player activity to managing a full player lifecycle, but that shift changes our responsibility. We’re no longer just offering games, we’re shaping behaviour over time.
In the past, responsible gambling felt like a legal disclaimer at the bottom of a website. Why is that “compliance-first” mindset dangerous for the industry’s long-term growth?
A compliance-first mindset creates a false sense of security. It turns responsibility into a checklist rather than a design principle, and this means you can meet every regulatory requirement and still fail the player. Because the real risks are not in the rules, they’re in the experience itself. The speed of the game, how rewards are structured and how frictionless the journey is all play a much bigger role than a disclaimer or a limit setting screen. If those elements aren’t designed responsibly, compliance alone will not protect the player or the business in the long run.
It seems your belief is that responsibility sits in the systems operators and technology providers build. Can you give a concrete example of how a poorly designed system fails a player, even if the operator has good intentions?
A common failure is when all safeguards sit at the end of the journey. A player can deposit easily, play continuously and only encounter friction once certain thresholds are triggered.
At that point, the system is reacting rather than preventing. Even with good intentions and the right tools in place, the design has already allowed the player to move into a vulnerable position. Responsibility needs to be built earlier in the experience. It has to be part of pacing, visibility and interaction design, not just alerts and limits after the fact.
VeliTech sits at several layers: game provider, aggregator and platform. How does having control over the content (VeliPlay/Heaven of 7) allow you to bake in safety features that a standard platform provider might miss?
What makes our position unique is that we operate across several layers of the ecosystem, so we aren’t just looking at responsibility from one angle. At the content level, you can influence how games are designed and how players experience them. At the aggregation level, you gain visibility across a large volume of games and player behaviour, which allows you to identify patterns that would otherwise go unnoticed. At the platform level, you can enforce decisions consistently across the entire environment. When those layers are connected, responsibility becomes systemic rather than fragmented. It’s no longer dependent on a single tool or intervention but embedded across the full player journey.
When we talk about data in responsible gambling, people often think of spreadsheets. How can we use real-time data to intervene before a player even realises they’re at risk?
Data should not only be used for reporting or analysis after the fact. Its real value is in real-time application. You can detect changes in behaviour as they happen, whether that is increased session intensity or a shift in betting patterns. This allows you to intervene earlier and more intelligently. The goal is not to stop the player, but to guide them before they reach a point where control is lost. That is where data becomes a tool for sustainability rather than just conversion.
There is a tension between thrilling game design (like crash games) and safe gaming. How do you challenge your game designers to create excitement without relying on addictive “dark patterns”?
There is a tension between excitement and responsibility, but it’s also where good design comes in. Engagement does not have to rely on manipulation. Strong game design should be built on transparency and clear player experience, not on mechanisms that push players beyond their intent. If a game depends on speed, confusion or psychological pressure to retain players, it’s not sustainable. The real challenge is to create engaging experiences that respect the player’s control. That’s where long-term value is created.
Operators are often afraid that strict safe gaming tools will hurt their bottom line. With your 20 years of experience, what would you say to a CEO who is worried that responsibility will drive their VIPs elsewhere?
In the short term, it might look that way. But over time, the opposite is true. A player who burns quickly may generate strong revenue initially, but they’re not sustainable. A player who is managed responsibly will stay longer, engage more consistently and provide value over years rather than days. The real question is not whether responsibility reduces revenue, but what kind of revenue you want to build. Sustainable growth always outperforms short-term extraction.
If you could change one thing about how the industry currently discusses responsibility at the regulatory level, what would it be?
The industry still focuses too much on who is responsible instead of how responsibility is implemented. Regulation tends to measure outputs such as limits and disclosures, but it doesn’t always address how systems are designed. That’s where the real impact lies. If the conversation shifts toward system design, including game mechanics, platform architecture and the use of data, we can create a more consistent and meaningful standard across the industry.
The post Beyond the Burn: How Systemic Responsibility Drives Long-Term ROI appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
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