Industry News
True Lab joins Yggdrasil’s Flagship YG Masters programme
Innovative game studio joins Yggdrasil’s established and rapidly growing YG Masters programme to accelerate its global business growth ambitions
Rapidly emerging games studio True Lab has joined Yggdrasil’s flagship YG Masters programme, instantly gaining access to the supplier’s game-changing GATI standardisation technology as its go-to market interface to realise its global business strategy.
True Lab joins a host of the world’s most innovative independent studios, and game developers on the award-winning YG Masters programme that has seen partners design, develop and distribute best performing content using Yggdrasil’s proven technology and global network.
GATI is a preconfigured, regulation-ready development toolkit, enabling studios and game developers to use a standardised technology solution to develop and distribute games anywhere in the world. This means YG Masters partners can source, build and distribute content and crucially accelerate global reach, finding new ways to increase revenues, all using one standardised interface.
GATI is the enabler of the Yggdrasil Decentralised Aggregation Network (DAN). All Yggdrasil partners integrated to GATI will be able to cross-sell their games to any global Yggdrasil Franchisee. This is a unique model enabling them to rapidly scale distribution and boost revenue opportunities, at the same time as developing completely new ways of working and collaborating.
True Lab is an MGA-licensed iGaming provider within the True Flip group providing its growing network of leading brands with innovative HTML5 titles that contain unique math and gameplay.
Its latest multi-channel games include Victoria Wild, a multi-location game with a x20,000 max win, Startup Valley that enables players to gain experience points within the bonus game, and Mining Factory.
Stuart McCarthy, Head of Partner Strategy and Sourcing at Yggdrasil, said: “I’m thrilled to welcome our new partners True Lab to our flagship YG Masters programme, powered by the revolutionary GATI technology.
“True Lab has shown great promise with their recent games and their roadmap is packed with exciting content that will deliver all the thrills and excitement players are looking for. It’s going to be fantastic to see them being integrated with GATI, commercialise their roadmap and help them achieve their global growth ambitions.”
Vasily Polynov, Chief Business Development Officer at True Lab, said: “We are very excited with this partnership, which puts True Lab’s stunning and innovative new games together with Yggdrasil’s world-class YG Masters programme. Integration through their standardised GATI technology will give us an opportunity to scale our business operations in a very effective manner.
“True Lab aims to grow across a variety of regulated markets this year, and GATI is the ultimate tool and interface that will enable access to Yggdrasil’s regulatory markets through a single integration. With our first partner product almost ready, we’re looking forward to hitting many lobbies in the near feature.”
Industry News
Dutch Mental Health Care Calls for Total Ban on Online Gambling Advertising
The Dutch mental health service is calling for a total ban on online gambling advertisements in the Netherlands.
Although a ban on untargeted gambling advertisements and a ban on the use of role models has been in effect since 2023, a recent research by KRO-NCRV’s Pointer shows that (illegal) gambling companies and sports tipster platforms are still enticing young people via social media such as TikTok and Snapchat.
By using influencers and terms like “free money”, they try to attract a young audience and thus lower the threshold to start gambling. This concerns both legal online casinos and online casinos that do not have a license in the Netherlands. The Gaming Authority has started an investigation based on Pointer’s findings.
Pointer’s research shows that part of the gambling industry deliberately targets young people who are often susceptible to promises such as “fast money” and the influence of role models. Ruth Peetoom, chair of the Dutch mental health service, compares this approach to that of the tobacco industry, where similar marketing strategies were used to get young people to smoke.
Despite the existing advertising ban, gambling companies continue to explore the boundaries of the law, according to Peetoom. The Dutch mental health and addiction care associations in the Netherlands therefore push for a total ban on online gambling advertising and stricter rules for the duty of care of gambling providers.
With the call for a total ban, the Dutch mental health care sector hopes to prevent further normalisation of gambling behaviour among young people and to protect them from the temptation and consequences of online gambling.
Compliance Updates
UKGC: Market impact data on gambling behaviour – operator data to Oct 2024
The Gambling Commission has published further data on the gambling industry in Great Britain.
This data, sourced from operators, reflects the period between March 2020 and September 2024, inclusive, and covers online and in-person gambling covering Licensed Betting Operators (LBOs) found on Britain’s high streets.
Comparison should not be made with the industry statistics dataset, as this dataset may include free bets and bonuses and does not include data from all operators.
This release compares Quarter 2 (Q2) of financial year 2024 to 2025, with Q2 of 2023 to 2024, looking at how the market has changed in comparative periods over a year.
The latest operator data shows:
- online total Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) in Q2 (July to September) was £1.32 billion, an increase of 11 percent from Q2 the previous year. The overall number of total bets and/or spins increased 12 percent Year-on-Year (YoY), reaching a new peak for the third consecutive quarter of 25.2 billion, whilst the average monthly active accounts2 in the quarter increased 8 percent
- real event betting GGY increased by 6 percent YoY to £453 million. The number of bets decreased 10 percent, while the average monthly active accounts in Q2 increased 9 percent
- slots GGY increased 16 percent to £680 million YoY. The number of spins increased 13 percent to 23.3 billion while the average monthly active accounts in Q2 increased 16 percent to 4.4 million per month. Although this is a new peak for GGY in this dataset for the slots vertical, it should be noted that one operator has re-classified some of its products into the slot vertical this quarter, which has had an impact on the vertical data
- the number of online slots sessions lasting longer than an hour increased by 9 percent YoY to 10 million. The average session length remained at 17 minutes. Approximately 6.1 percent of all sessions lasted more than one hour compared to 6.6 percent in Q2 the previous year. The number of spins per session has fallen from 147 to 142 YOY, whilst the GGY per session has fallen from £4.20 to £4.13 in the equivalent timeframe
- LBO GGY decreased by 1 percent to £533 million in Q2 2024 to 2025, compared to the same quarter last year, while the number of total bets and spins decreased by 0.1 percent to 3.1 billion.
Industry News
Petra Maria Poola Joins Xace as Group Commercial Director
Xace has announced that Petra Maria Poola has joined the company as Group Commercial Director.
Petra brings a wealth of experience from the iGaming industry having formerly held roles at several iGaming companies such as Yolo, Relax Gaming and SiGMA. She will lead the commercial growth of Xace and its group companies, including crypto and iGaming focused xda.io, helping to drive strategic initiatives across banking, fintech and iGaming solutions.
In her new role, she will mainly oversee the growth of the group’s sales, marketing and account management functions, ensuring a cohesive strategy that supports Xace’s ambitious expansion plans.
“I am incredibly excited to start this new chapter with Xace, and work alongside such a talented team and management. Transitioning into the fintech space, while still connected to iGaming, presents an exciting opportunity for growth and learning. I’m looking forward to applying my expertise to help Xace and its group companies achieve new heights commercially, while gaining deeper insights into the fast-evolving world of fintech,” said Petra Maria Poola.
Reuben Abel, CEO of Xace, said: “Petra’s extensive background in the iGaming sector, combined with her commercial acumen, makes her a valuable addition to the Xace team. She will play a crucial role in expanding Xace’s market presence and enhancing its suite of services tailored to the specific needs of the iGaming and fintech industries.”
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