Latest News
ELA Games Releases Pinatas Festival World Cup
ELA Games has released its latest slot game, Pinatas Festival World Cup. Featuring an absorbing narrative, this title shows how the studio naturally adapts popular releases for major calendar moments. The game merges the festive, colourful spirit of a carnival with the thrill of international tournament play, offering players a front-row seat to the action.
The original Pinatas Festival became incredibly popular for its bright, contrasting animation and upbeat Mexican street fiesta theme. With the World Cup being hosted across the Americas, giving the title a seasonal evolution felt like the perfect way to celebrate. The studio took the lively street party atmosphere and expanded it, blending the familiar celebration with the energy of a major tournament.
A Striking Visual Upgrade for the World Cup
The World Cup is unrivalled in its sheer size, uniting billions of fans worldwide and dominating sporting conversation. Releasing the game in the build-up to the big matches gives players the perfect way to embrace the football spirit, tapping into that worldwide anticipation. To match the prestige and scale of the world’s biggest sporting competition, Pinatas Festival World Cup introduces major artistic upgrades crafted specifically for the tournament. The studio has meticulously refined the graphics to deliver a sharp, radiant experience that pops on every spin.
The visual updates feature an extensive cast of characters, each brought to life to represent the passion of the fans. These characters have been outfitted in updated costumes with smoothly integrated, enlarged national flag logos to be perfectly on brand with the atmosphere of the tournament. This attention to detail brings the football energy straight to the screen, allowing players to feel the pride of the games as the action unfolds.
Capturing the Global Energy
Creating an authentic sports-themed title demands a complete understanding of the atmosphere that makes these tournaments so memorable. The development team focused intently on translating the roar and anticipation of a stadium crowd into an all-encompassing entertainment experience.
Marharyta Yerina, Managing Director at ELA Games, said: “Our entire design for Pinatas Festival World Cup completely revolves around capturing the global energy of the tournament. We poured the excitement of the stadium and the passion of the fans into the atmosphere, creating a space that feels like a worldwide celebration of the sport. It is an excellent opportunity to design a World Cup-themed game for our loyal players, making this project particularly enjoyable for our entire team. We really wanted to convey the immense size and feel of the tournament in slot form.”
The post ELA Games Releases Pinatas Festival World Cup appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
Contributors Program
Gamblers Connect names Gali Hartuv as seventh 2026 Contributors Program voice
The Playa strategic advisor will publish on VIP operations, segmentation and retention, starting with an anonymous VIP Operations Survey 2026.
Gamblers Connect has confirmed Gali Hartuv, Strategic Advisor at The Playa, as the seventh voice to join its 2026 Contributors Program.
The independent B2B iGaming media platform said the programme will reveal one senior industry voice per month throughout 2026, with contributors publishing under the Gamblers Connect Contributor Editorial Code.
Gamblers Connect said Hartuv has more than 15 years’ experience in VIP management, including designing and optimising VIP programmes across more than 50 operator brands, and training “hundreds of professionals” now working in VIP roles across the industry.
Hartuv will publish across four areas: building VIP programmes that drive long-term value; AI-powered VIP identification and player segmentation; hyper-personalisation and retention strategy; and scaling VIP operations across different markets and cultures. His first contribution is a VIP Operations Survey 2026, an anonymous survey intended to benchmark how VIP teams work across iGaming operators, including portfolio sizing, tools, qualification thresholds, workflow standards and where time is spent during the week.
Partnerships and Operations Lead, Luka Dimitrijevic, said: “VIP management is where a great deal of an operator’s value is won or lost, and very few people can speak to it with Gali’s depth. He has spent his career turning high value player relationships into a discipline rather than guesswork, and he is refreshingly candid about what works and what does not. Through the Contributors Program he will share practical insight on VIP strategy, retention, and the smart use of AI, with content grounded in real results rather than recycled best practices.”
The post Gamblers Connect names Gali Hartuv as seventh 2026 Contributors Program voice appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
Alberta
St8 extends TonyBet partnership to Alberta after securing supplier registration
St8 has extended its partnership with TonyBet into Alberta, expanding their Canada footprint following an earlier launch in Ontario this year.
Under the expanded agreement, TonyBet will use St8’s game aggregation platform through a single API integration. St8 said this provides access to its wider catalogue of casino content for players in Alberta.
St8 said the Alberta rollout follows its newly acquired registration to operate in the province as an iGaming Services Supplier, allowing it to provide aggregation services to licensed operators in the market. The company said its platform connects partners to more than 200 game providers via a single API.
David Fall, Business Development Manager at St8, said:
“Entering Alberta’s regulated market is a strong step for St8 that represents our continued efforts to bring our offerings to as many territories as possible, delivering top-tier results for partnerships at the local, national and international stage. We share this commitment with TonyBet, a company that we are very fortunate to be working with so collaboratively and closely as we continue to grow our presence across North America.”
Kiryl Liudvikevich, Head of Product at TonyBet, said:
“We’re proud that our work with St8 has enabled us to continue expanding across Canada. Through St8’s aggregation platform, we can seamlessly access games from the industry’s leading providers via a single integration, helping us scale efficiently while maintaining a strong focus on the player experience. St8 has cemented itself as our go-to partner for expansion into regulated markets, and we look forward to continuing our collaboration as we grow into new jurisdictions.”
The post St8 extends TonyBet partnership to Alberta after securing supplier registration appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
Alberta
St8 continues partnership with TonyBet with an expansion into Alberta
The post St8 continues partnership with TonyBet with an expansion into Alberta appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
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