Team Vitality, the leading esports teams in Europe, today officially announces the launch of its India operations. The expansion sees Team Vitality plant roots in Mumbai, and partner with some of the biggest content creators in India, including YouTube sensation Nischay Malhan. The organisation first raised the prospect of a significant presence in India earlier this year, and launched its Indian social media last month. Today marks the reveal of Team Vitality’s first plans for the expansion, as it furthers its commitment to the growth of esports and gaming in the region.

Team Vitality’s immediate focus is on building its local presence and community in order to establish a deeper connection with its fans in India. Team Vitality has partnered with gaming content creators Nischay Malhan, Rachit Yadav, Nitin Chougale and Saloni Kandalgaonkar whose respective YouTube channels i.e. Live Insaan, Rachitroo, Classified YT, and Mili kya Mili, have a combined following of 1 crore (10 million). The content creators will host a variety of engaging events and contests across their social media channels, as well as on Team Vitality India’s Facebook and Instagram pages.

Following Team Vitality’s first move into the Indian gaming space, the organisation is committed to creating a purely competitive branch in 2021, with the ambition of becoming the best esports organization in the region. Further details on the competitive expansion will be revealed soon, following the initial launch which will see the team build a robust foundation and community in India.

Headquartered in Paris, France, Team Vitality is home to eight top performing teams across nine games, and over 50 athletes from 13 nationalities. With its presence in India, Team Vitality is poised to help the country’s gaming enthusiasts unlock their competitive potential. Team Vitality’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CG:GO) roster recently took the No.1 position in HLTV World rankings, establishing themselves as the best team in the world. The organisation is one of only ten teams in the League of Legends European Championship (LEC) franchise and reached the World Championship in 2018, and its Rocket League team won the 2019 World Championship. In addition, Team Vitality is partnered with mainstream brands across an array of industries such as Red Bull, Corsair, adidas, Renault, etc.

CEO of Team Vitality, Nicolas Maurer, speaking on the occasion said, “Team Vitality constantly strives to build winning teams on the international stage. Our entry into India is a big milestone for us and part of our endeavour to conquer the world of esports. Our mission here is to not just build professional teams but to also make ourselves the most aspirational esports brand in the country. We’re very keen to engage with our fans in India via our content creators before competing in the biggest local tournaments with our incoming professional teams.”

Amit Jain, Principal of the Rewired.gg, venture fund that has invested €34 into Team Vitality, commented, “We believe that esports is one of the world’s fastest growing industries today with India having a huge untapped base of gaming talent just waiting to be discovered. The continuous success of Team Vitality promises a huge opportunity for growth in this market. We are well on our way to building one of the world’s first billion-dollar esports teams.”

Randall Fernandez, General Manager, Team Vitality India, commented, “This is an interesting time to enter India and the arrival of Team Vitality is welcomed with great optimism and excitement. With professional esports significantly picking up in India, our approach will include finding new talent at a grassroots level and offering them the opportunity to join Team Vitality. We will then focus on bringing their performance up to the standard of our global esports athletes, not least at our world-class V.Hive HQ in Paris and our resident training facilities at the Stade de France.  Expect to see new Indian esports stars winning tournaments as part of Team Vitality very soon.”

Here are this weeks latest slots releases!

Kalamba Games has launched a festive edition of its smash-hit Griffin’s Quest, just in time for the Christmas period. Kalamba’s hugely popular title released earlier this year has been given a yuletide makeover, with the main character, the Mighty Griffin, adorning twinkling Christmas lights to give players an extra festive experience. Set in a snow-covered landscape, Griffin’s Quest – X-mas Edition comes with all the features that made Griffin’s Quest one of Kalamba’s most successful title launches this year.

Tuned with the winter season, the newest CT Gaming Interactive slot game Winstorm takes on an exciting journey filled with stormy and thrilling experiences. The journey will lead players through a strong storm that offers many winning opportunities. When the hurricane expands on the screen, it starts revealing additional wilds in form of diamonds and Scatters pictures as a tornado on the reels.  Winstorm is 5 reels and 30 pay lines cascading reels game and the winning symbols are replaced with new symbols which means players can win another turn without taking any actions.

Relax Gaming, the igaming aggregator and supplier of unique content, has released its slot game, Frequent Flyer, to its entire network of operators following a successful six-month period of exclusivity with Kindred. The 6-reel, 40-fixed win line slot begins at an airport, where players try to land five Split Flap symbols to reveal a destination and fly off to the Jetsetter Free Spins bonus round, where each location offers its own number of free spins, multipliers and wilds. A passport stamp is awarded every time a destination’s bonus round is triggered, unlocking the Frequent Flyer Free Spins when all have been collected to send win potential rocketing to new heights.

GAMING1 has released a thrilling new game, Dice of Mystery. The enthralling journey through the ages features WILD dice, which replace all other dice including the Bonus, with the most fortunate gamblers rewarded with a column of three WILD Dice to place wherever they please. The game’s immersive Treasure Wheel bonus offers multiple rewards, including the chance to uncover the secrets of the Book of Mystery by winning one to five Mystery games, or locate the holy pages providing 10 or 30 Mystery games. Players can also decline the bonus up to four times in order to spawn exciting new opportunities to enter the Mystery round, where the potential for huge wins increases significantly for time-travellers in pursuit of ancient gold.

Wazdan is inviting players to feast their eyes on the jewel-filled world of its latest title, Gem Splitter™. The 5×3 title features the game provider’s innovative Multiways mechanic, which offers a fantastic 59049 ways to win, alongside a Symbol Splitter Feature that can increase the number of elements in the winning combination from 5 up to 15! Above the reels on the left a random symbol is displayed whilst on the right the game shows how the symbol will be split, be it vertically or horizontally, and into how many new symbols, with five different varieties possible.

FBM gets a massive new achievement in its slots´ offer by launching the first Multi-Game product. Catch the Gold™, RacinGo – Wild™, Underwater Riches™ and Kingdom Gems™ are the four spin reel adventures now available to play in the same cabinet, providing a different gaming experience to the players. The global gaming brand is now installing Multi-Game in the first casinos in Mexico as a meaningful step of an international expansion strategy that will take place during the next few months.

Green Jade Games, the progressive Game developer, has launched its first branded game after partnering with REDNEX, the multi-platinum artist from Sweden behind the iconic Cotton Eye Joe song. Rednex K.O has been designed to get player’s tapping their feet as they spin the reels and land potentially big wins. The slot comes hooked up to Green Jade’s innovative Knock Out engine which allows players to knock symbols making the gambling experience much more engaging.

Play’n GO has added a new addition to their popular Joker series of slot games, the 3-reel slot Ice Joker. The Joker series of games is one of many games ‘families’ that Play’n GO has produced in order to create a more captivating experience for players. Described as ‘creating the next level of slot entertainment’, these series’ have given players, not just great gaming but, as well as creating first-class entertainment, they also invest in the intellectual properties of their stories. That means developing rich characters, stories and worlds that people connect with and immerse themselves in.

Inspired Entertainment, Inc is pleased to announce the launch of Bonus Island™, a pirate-themed online and mobile slots game. Delivering a visually striking and entertaining slot experience, Bonus Island takes players on a journey to discover the latest in thrilling game mechanics. With an enhanced portrait-play version, Bonus Island is a cascading video slot with six reels, five rows, and 15,625 ways to win. Bonus Island incorporates the latest in graphic design and back-end game development to deliver an adventure-filled exploration of riches and treasures through mega bonuses and up to 15,625 ways to plunder big cash prizes, all set to a swashbuckling soundtrack.

Pragmatic Play, a leading content provider to the gaming industry, has issued a call to arms in its latest hit, Spartan King. The 5-reel, 40-payline slot transports players to Ancient Greece as players look to defend the King and return home with their well-earned battle loot. The King is a regular-sized Wild on the reels, while the Shield symbol will take a 2×2 position on the grid, substituting for any symbol and also acting as a Wild. To trigger the Free Spins mode, three or more Bonus symbols must appear on the reels, where players are granted up to 12 free spins. During the Bonus Round, any Shield symbols that land will also have a random multiplier attached of up to 25x.

NetEnt has given a festive makeover to one of its greatest hits, Aloha! Cluster Pays™, to mark the start of the holiday season. Aloha! Christmas™ is a 6-reel, 6-row video slot featuring the famous Cluster Pays™ and Sticky Re-spins mechanics, along with new Mystery and Multiplier Wild symbols that bring extra excitement to the main game. Increased winning potential is also offered by the bonus rounds – Tiki Bar Free Spins and Tiki Bar Max Free Spins – which complement the original gameplay with added action and prizes. With an RTP of 96%, Aloha! Christmas™ offers players the chance to escape the cold this winter for a feature-packed slot adventure set against the sandy shores of Hawaii.

Playson has launched its latest engaging slot game, Legend of Cleopatra: Megaways™, the first title from the company to feature the player-favourite gaming mechanic. The original hit, which invites players to uncover riches buried in the sands of ancient Egypt, has now been enhanced to provide time-travelling gamers with even more ways to discover prizes fit for a Pharaoh. Including Megaways™ within this Egyptian adventure now offers up to 200,704 ways of winning from each spin. Playson has also upped the ante with a collapsing symbols mechanic, meaning that winning combinations are replaced by new symbols.

Yggdrasil, the leading worldwide publisher of online gambling content, has released its swashbuckling slot game, Pirates 2: Mutiny. Sail the seven seas to plunder the treasure buried in the reels of this fun-filled and captivating slot with the chance to win big. Pirates 2: Mutiny comes packed with features to help you bag the booty of the menacing brigands and bandits drifting around the briny depths of this innovative game. There are no win lines in Pirates 2: Mutiny. Instead, players win when a cluster of six or more symbols appear together and they remain on the game screen until no new winning symbols are revealed after each spin. The Tsunami feature washes away all the losing symbols to create a new Dropdown which increases the chance of more wins. The Mutiny feature guarantees a win while the Canon Blast one destroys more losing symbols to display another Dropdown.

Gamzix’s Burning Power is a perfect mix of the fruity slots, elegant design and the classic feel of gambling. The juicy fruits are mixed with red hot chilly pepper! This is a perfect 5*4 game with 100 pay lines, where we have REEL wild symbol that substitutes for all symbols, but the scatter. The slot will warm you up and the winning symbols will give fire of excitement! Of course there is a gamble game which gives you a chance to double your win. The animation of the flames is something you definitely want to see, giving a true feel and burn for bigger wins.

Blueprint Gaming has made an electrifying addition to its industry-leading diverse slots portfolio with the launch of Lion Thunder, the second title to feature the company’s new Spin Boost mechanic. The innovative slot developer’s feature invites adventurers to spin the wheel and collect up to 50 extra spins for the Bonus game, with each attempt to boost their free spins coming at the cost of x2 the bet. The roaring new concept, which first appeared in Blueprint’s Big Cat King Megaways™, has been built to further enhance the gaming experience for those who enjoy free spins. Lion Thunder is a 6×4 slot with 4096 ways to win where two or more consecutive symbols from left right awards a win.

Evoplay Entertainment has released its latest immersive slot game for all players looking for an adventure this winter, Tree of Light. Set in the magical forest of Winland, and crammed with adorable characters, the title takes players on a voyage with the brave adventurer Lupine and his loyal companion, Mino. On a quest to discover the legendary Tree of Light, which grows the tastiest fruits and largest prizes of all, players are in for a tumble of fun as they look to trigger winning combinations by activating an ancient scroll displaying supernatural patterns. The right sequences give strength to the game’s charming characters, powering the quest for eye-catching rewards if players are brave enough to take on the challenge.

The Swedish gambling authority Spelinspektionen has sought to clarify the scope of new restrictions on the markets that licensed operators can offer for betting.

New rules on sports betting that enter force on January 1 prohibit betting on football leagues below Sweden’s top four tiers. They also prohibit betting on violations of rules, such as bookings and red cards in football, and on the individual performance of players aged under 18.

Spelinspektionen said that the new rules against betting on under 18s’ “individual performance” cover bets on scoring or shots on goal in team games like football, performance in individual sports such as athletics, skiing, or shooting, and performance in singles matches in sports such as tennis, badminton or table tennis.

However, the rules do not prohibit betting on doubles matches in sports such as tennis if the other participant in the doubles team is over 18, provided that the bet is on the pair’s overall performance or on the adult’s performance but not specifically on the under 18’s performance. But, if the majority of players (three out of four) in a doubles match are under 18, then all betting will be forbidden.

The new regulations apply to events in Sweden only. For competitions that have more than one leg, with one leg held in Sweden and one or more held abroad, both the event held in Sweden and the overall result of the competition will be subject to the regulations, but not the individual event or events held outside of Sweden.

As for betting on violations, operators had queried whether the restrictions prohibited taking bets on penalties or free kicks. Spelinspektionen has clarified that betting on a penalty or free kick being awarded will be prohibited, but betting on the result of the penalty of free kick once it has already been awarded will not.

The regulator also clarified that all of the regulations also apply to esports, but again only to competitions that take place in Sweden.