Latest News
Octoplay Expands UK Presence by Going Live with William Hill
Octoplay continues its UK expansion by going live with William Hill, the iconic sports betting and gaming brand. Following on from its recent successful launches with both Flutter and Entain in the UK market, Octoplay is quickly establishing itself as a must-have supplier in one of the world’s largest regulated markets.
The partnership will bring Octoplay’s most popular titles, including Cash Link Express: Hold & Win, Lightning Blitz Supercharged, and 777 Hot Reels, to William Hill’s players for the first time. A highlight of this release is a bespoke version of Octoplay’s premium opt-in jackpot solution, created in collaboration with William Hill, reflecting the strong partnership between the two companies.
Nick Vuchev, Commercial Director at Octoplay, stated: “Partnering with William Hill represents a significant step in our expansion strategy. The bespoke Jackpot Hunt solution we’ve developed for William Hill showcases our ability to collaborate closely with tier-one operators to create tailored, innovative content. We’re excited to bring our premium games and other innovative platform solutions to William Hill’s vast player base in the UK.”
Keiron Downs, Head of Gaming UK, Content Operations at William Hill, commented: “At William Hill, we’re always looking to enhance our gaming portfolio with high-quality, engaging content. Octoplay’s games and Jackpot Hunt align perfectly with our commitment to providing an exceptional gaming experience.”
This collaboration underscores Octoplay’s rapid growth in Europe’s regulated markets and continues to strengthen its position in the iGaming industry through strategic partnerships and market entries. With licenses in the UK, Sweden, Malta, Ontario, Slovakia, Greece, and Romania, Octoplay’s expanding reach demonstrates its commitment to operating in regulated jurisdictions and partnering with leading operators to deliver high-quality gaming content.
Conferences in Europe
Promatic Games named Best Emerging iGaming Company at the European iGaming Excellence Awards 2024
Promatic Games has achieved a major milestone in the European gaming industry by securing three prestigious awards at the European iGaming Excellence Awards 2024. The awards ceremony took place during the highly anticipated European Gaming Congress (EGC), held this year in Warsaw, Poland. This recognition highlights our growing presence and innovation in the competitive world of iGaming.
At the event, Promatic Games proudly took home the following awards:
🏆 Best iGaming Product – “Miss Joker Show”
🏆 Best iGaming Supplier
🏆 Best Emerging iGaming Company
”Being recognized at such a prestigious platform is a testament to our commitment to pushing the boundaries of innovation, creativity, and quality in iGaming. We are honored to be counted among the top performers and innovators in the industry, particularly in such a competitive landscape” states Maciej Makuszewski, Head of iGaming at Promatic.
“These awards are a testament to the hard work and dedication of our entire team, and we couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve achieved. Winning Best iGaming Supplier reflects our commitment to providing state-of-the-art solutions to operators, while the Best Emerging iGaming Company award highlights our rapid growth and potential for even greater success in the future” – added Makuszewski.
About the European Gaming Congress (EGC)
The European Gaming Congress is one of the most significant and influential events in the gaming industry calendar. It serves as a central hub for professionals, decision-makers, and innovators from across Europe to gather and discuss the future of gaming. This annual event attracts hundreds of industry experts, operators, and suppliers from around the world, offering attendees the opportunity to exchange ideas, network, and showcase their products and services.
This year’s edition in Warsaw was a standout, featuring insightful panel discussions, expert-led workshops, and keynote presentations. Promatic Games organized a workshop titled “Engagement vs. Responsibility: Mastering the Art of Balanced Slot Development”, led by Maciej Makuszewski and Luka Oblak, which captured the attention of all participants. The presentation featured not only interesting legal and regulatory cases, but the speakers also ensured an interactive element to engage the audience.
The congress provided a comprehensive look at key trends, emerging technologies, and the latest regulatory developments in the gaming sector. From esports to online casinos, and from regulatory challenges to breakthrough innovations, the EGC covers the entire spectrum of the gaming industry, making it an unmissable event for anyone involved in this dynamic field.
About Promatic Games
Promatic Games is a studio specializing in the design of games and software solutions for online casinos, with over 27 years of experience in creating slot machines for both land-based and online casinos. The company’s long history and extensive experience allow it to create games that engage players in a unique way. Throughout its history, Promatic has designed hundreds of slot game logics that have been implemented in dozens of markets across four continents. Promatic Games continues to grow based on technologies developed in-house, including the state-of-the-art Remote Game Server (GamePRO), a platform for building game logics and mathematics named Promatic ONE, and its own random number generator, meeting the highest international standards.
Compliance Updates
Swedish Gambling Authority’s supervision of the gambling market
The Swedish National Audit Office has examined the Swedish Gambling Authority’s supervision of the Swedish gambling market. The overall conclusion is that supervision is not sufficiently effective to meet the expectations expressed by the Riksdag and Government in connection with the reregulation of the gambling. market. This particularly concerns the fact that the Swedish Gambling Authority conducts few inspections, but also that its choice of which actors are selected for supervision is not based on well-founded risk analyses. The Swedish Gambling Authority also does not sufficiently follow up whether the supervised entities rectify the identified deficiencies.
On 1 January 2019, a license system was introduced for the Swedish gambling market. Under this reform, in principle all gambling for money must be operated under public control to protect players and to ensure revenues to the Government and for the purpose of public benefit. Essential preconditions for achieving the aim of the reform included substantial channelling of gambling to licensed operators and their compliance with the regulations. The Swedish Gambling Authority’s supervision of both the unlicensed and the licensed markets thus plays a central role in the reregulated system.
The Swedish National Audit Office considers that supervision in the form of inspection, in which individual license holders are examined and non-compliance has consequences is particularly important when there is a high risk of regulatory violation. From this perspective, the number of inspections of commercial online gambling and betting has not been sufficient in recent years. In the submarkets. where central government and public good have exclusive rights, supervision has been very limited in recent years. The Swedish National Audit Office considers that the perception and credibility of the system is directly linked to the regular supervision of all types of licenses and forms of gambling.
The Swedish Gambling Authority’s supervision of unlicensed gambling is important, as illegal gambling can undermine the legitimacy of the licensing system. At the same time, it can be recognised that, in practice, the Swedish Gambling Authority’s possibilities to take measures against illegal gambling are limited. The lack of clarity in the Gambling Act also hampers these efforts. This lack of clarity has been pointed out in the past without the Government taking initiatives to address the problem.
The Swedish Gambling Authority has given supervision lower priority in relation to competing tasks. These include license and permit applications, as well as government assignments and other tasks that have been added gradually without the addition of corresponding resources to the Authority. All in all, this has contributed to the limited scope of supervision. The Government has been aware of these circumstances but has not take of of informed the Riksdag.
The reregulation of the gambling market has involved a radical reform, implemented at a high pace. For the Swedish Gambling Authority, the initial years have entailed an intensive period of development. At times, adequate solutions have been arrived at quickly, while in other cases, the process has been more protracted. On the whole, the Swedish Gambling Authority has established appropriate processes and support for supervision and for managing conflicts of interest. However, the Swedish Gambling Authority has so far not followed up on the results of its supervisory decisions. The Authority therefore does not know whether the identified deficiencies have been rectified and thus lacks knowledge of whether the use of inspections has been cost- effective. The Swedish Gambling Authority also needs to develop its planning process for supervision; for example, its risk analysis needs to be more systematic.
The Gambling Act, which forms the basis of today’s licensing system, was designed as a framework law to allow regulation to be adapted to the rapid development in the gambling market. The Government has initiated several amendments to the Act and decided on several amendments to the ordinances to adapt the regulations and give the Swedish Gambling Authority increased powers and new tools. This is a positive development, according to the Swedish National Audit Office. The Government must continue to actively monitor developments in the gambling market and, if necessary. take measures to further develop the regulatory framework and ensure that the Swedish Gambling Authority has sufficient powers and effective tools for its supervision.
Recommendations
The Swedish National Audit Office makes the following recommendations.
To the Government
- Ensure that the Swedish Gambling Authority has the conditions to carry out effective supervision to a sufficient extent.
- Ensure that reliable and accurate information on the scope and results of the supervision are produced and inform the Riksdag accordingly.
- Investigate the question of the scope of the Gambling Act in order to clarify in what cases online gambling is covered by the Gambling Act. In this context, consider the possibility of expanding the scope.
To the Swedish Gambling Authority
- Develop the arrangements for planning, managing and following up supervisory activities. This should include systematic risk analysis. There should also be longer-term planning, in addition to the annual supervisory planning.
- Work actively to increase the scope and effectiveness of the Authority’s inspections of both the licensed and unlicensed gambling markets. This should include an examination of the conditions for reallocating resources within theu Authority.
- Continue to develop the Authority’s methods and support for supervisory activities. This should include procedures to verify that the supervised entities rectify the identified deficiencies.
Africa
SIS partners with leading operator 888AFRICA to provide live numbers draws
Regional reach increases through bespoke iframe with Bitville Gaming
SIS (Sports Information Services), the leading multi-content supplier of 24/7 live betting services, has partnered with 888AFRICA to provide its comprehensive numbers offering to the operator.
The integration with 888AFRICA, facilitated by a region-specific iframe developed alongside Bitville Gaming, will see the operator gain access to the full suite of over 200,000 live draws. These include the original 49’s live draw, 39’s and Fast 15’s.
The content is presented through a clean, attractive, and engaging front end to maximise the player experience. The launch will significantly enhance the reach of SIS across Africa, where the live numbers draw product suite has already enjoyed great success.
Operating for over 27 years, the SIS- owned 49’s is the original live draw and brings credibility and integrity to fixed-odds numbers betting. To complement this, 39’s and Fast 15’s offer high-frequency events that run every three minutes while maintaining healthy margins for operators.
Launched in 2022, 888AFRICA licences 888 Holdings’ world-class betting and gaming brands across Africa’s regulated online markets. Currently live in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Zambia through 888bet, the operator offers a unique betting experience with relevant products and features which will now include live draw offerings which have proven to be popular with audiences.
Joe Andrews, Head of Sales Africa at SIS, said: “The appetite for live numbers draws in Africa has grown rapidly and partnering with 888AFRICA will significantly increase our product visibility. Bitville Gaming has great reach in the region, and we are thrilled that our partnership is already delivering the widest range of content to operators.”
Ian Marmion, Chief Operating Officer at 888AFRICA said: “Our ability to widen our offering to our partners is always important to us, and the portfolio of live numbers draws from SIS will provide a huge boost in maximising engagement. The content is a proven performer across Africa and I am sure our audiences will welcome this enhancement to our offering.”
Andrew von Hoesslin, Chief Executive at Bitville Gaming, said: “The aim of our agreement with SIS was to provide a bigger operator network for its content and we are seeing this happen first-hand. We are sure that 888AFRICA and its players will be delighted with the influx of additional wagering opportunities.”
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