Greentube, the NOVOMATIC Interactive division, has introduced its new Asian-themed slot Diamond Link ™: Mighty Emperor™, packed with explosive winning opportunities.

The sumptuous 5×3 title is set in ancient China, with the reels placed in between two traditional pagodas surrounded by misty mountains. The main character is the Mighty Emperor and other symbols to tie in with the theme include a koi fish, a Chinese ship and a lucky coin.

The fourth slot to be released as part of Greentube’s Diamond Link series, Diamond Link ™: Mighty Emperor™ presents players with an evolved Hold N Spin mechanic that offers even more chances to win big.

As with previous Diamond Link titles, the Hold N Spin feature is triggered when landing six diamonds in the base game, in the same spin. This time however, lanterns in the base game can also act as mystery symbols to increase the chances of triggering the feature, while within the Diamond Link Hold N Spin feature, fireworks are set off at the beginning to boost symbol values with a x2 multiplier.

In addition, three new special diamond symbols are introduced for the first time: Wild Spins, Sticky Spins and Colossal Spins, each of which has its own exciting expansion which comes into play during the conclusion of the Hold N Spin feature, when each of the individual values on the collected diamond symbols are summed up to create the player’s total feature win.

The new entry to Greentube’s Diamond Link™ portfolio follows in the footsteps of Diamond Link™: Mighty Sevens, Diamond Link™: Oasis Riches ™ and Diamond Link™: Mighty Elephant ™.

Boro Brumen, Head of Games Product at Greentube, said: “This beautifully designed game transports players to a mystical, ancient realm and offers the chance to win major prizes.

“Within the attractive packaging is a game of real depth. Diamond Link ™: Mighty Emperor™ takes the hugely popular Hold N Spin feature to the next level and we are excited to see how players react to the evolved mechanic and the opportunities it presents.”

• Built on top of open banking, the new API delivers a significantly better onboarding experience, with 90%+ of good actors successfully verified in 3 clicks.

TrueLayer, Europe’s leading open banking platform, announced the launch of a new approach to account ownership checks with its Verification API.

Combining open banking with machine learning, the Verification API makes onboarding effortless with success rates that are over 20% higher than credit bureaus and returning a result in seconds, rather than days, compared to manual bank statement checks. By pre-verifying customer’s details, it also simplifies payments setup meaning no more failed transactions.

Multiple TrueLayer clients are using the Verification API, including Authologic, a Y Combinator-backed provider of identity verification solutions.

“Whether you are a fintech, a marketplace, or an ecommerce platform you want to deliver the best possible onboarding experience. We are aggregating different identity verification methods and we are big supporters of using open banking thanks to its ability to make the entire process more intuitive. Working with a market leader like TrueLayer to integrate its Verification API will help us to further strengthen the identity verification process for our customers,” commented Jarek Sygitowicz, co-founder of Authologic.

Traditional verification methods such as bank statement uploads are slow, error prone and create a poor user experience. While open banking offers another approach, existing providers provide access to raw data that requires businesses to then build and maintain their own logic to check that the customer’s name matches their name on file at the bank.

TrueLayer’s Verification API removes these issues. Rather than the time consuming and resource intensive task of building a matching engine, TrueLayer has developed a verification logic that sits on top of open banking rails. It matches the name supplied during the onboarding process with the name on file at the bank, providing a single feed that ensures an immediate and highly accurate response on whether their user’s account has been verified or not.

As a result, the Verification API delivers significant benefits, including:

• An accelerated onboarding process from 3 days to just 3 clicks.

• Coverage spanning all major banks, resulting in a 22.5% higher success rate compared to credit bureau checks.

• Lower fraud risk through embedded Strong Customer Authentication within the bank verification flow.

• An improved user experience, with a simple redirect to their banking app to confirm account ownership with a fingerprint or Face ID.

• Reduced payment failures by using pre-verified account details.

• Reduced burden on compliance teams by automating checks through a single API call.

• Reduced burden on engineers who can focus on solving core business problems, rather than building and maintaining name-check logic.

“Verification is the first step to onboarding a new user and yet it can often take days to verify an account owner using traditional methods. Their security is questionable, they’re prone to errors and they take forever,” commented Ossama Soliman, Chief Product Officer at TrueLayer. “It doesn’t need to be that way. With the Verification API we’ve built on top of open banking to create a faster, more secure and more accurate approach to verifying a user’s account. It serves businesses across multiple industries, including financial services, PSPs, wealth management and trading, marketplaces, property and iGaming.”

Online gaming operator Kindred Group has partnered with the Malta-based gaming supplier Relax Gaming and created the industry-first LGBTQ+ avatars, available exclusively for Kindred customers.

The idea of designing unique LGBTQ+ avatars was developed in Kindred’s LGBTQ+ Network meetings. Following a discussion between Kindred and Relax Gaming, an avatar design like the exclusive HexaBingo/HexaPro avatars was developed. The LGBTQ+ avatars blend in with current avatar options but provide an alternative option for customers to present themselves online.

“The accumulative impact over time of these adjustments and inclusion is important for minority-identifying individuals and I am glad that we, as a company, can be a part of that. Internally it means Kindred employees can be proud to work for a diverse and inclusive company, whatever their gender or sexual identity. This is not a tick-box exercise for Kindred, this is aligned with our corporate values and our broader Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategy. It might be seen as a small thing for many but we know it brings reassurance that most LGBTQ+ people don’t often see,” Gavin Hayward, Chief Human Resources Officer at Kindred Group, said.

“It’s amazing to work for a company that is open to suggestions like this. It’s a big world, and there are a lot of different people out there. I have been part of the LGBTQ+ community for many years, and I’m thrilled to see these acknowledgements of inclusion from the mainstream. The difference is vast from when I started in this industry 20 years ago, and it’s thanks to individuals and companies like Kindred driving change,” Katharine Arnsby, Poker and Bingo Team Lead and a member of Kindred’s LGBTQ+ Network, said.