Prize Giving Season in Full Swing

By Dale Shelabarger, Updated: MARCH 22, 2024

We mentioned in a previous post about the festive season being a period of reflection for many iGaming companies (unless of course, you’re NetEnt). But this time of year is also about award ceremonies, with gongs being doled out left-right, and centre to rising stars, innovators, and ‘inspirational’ figures. ‘Recognition’ is a by-word here. So too is ‘brand exposure’ because most of these happy events are sponsored by some big-time operators. The sponsored back-slapping usually begins around September before reaching its climax in time for Christmas. With this in mind, here are some recent award ceremonies that have gripped the industry.

The Gaming Intelligence ‘Hot 50‘

The ‘Hot 50’ is currently in full swing and actually relates to iGaming (what were you thinking?). Bankrolled by Aspire Global, this annual event pays homage to people who’ve done a really good job over the past year. And the administrators seem pretty keen on getting shot of their plastic statuettes given the number of award categories. You’ve got leadership, business development, legal and compliance, lottery, employee and customer care, product and tech, marketing, finance, and operations. That’s quite a list. Product and Tech is the latest category to have been revealed and includes the following honourees:

Gili Brandshtein - SVP Head of Product Technologies - 888 Holdings
Dhruti Gore - Director of Streaming - Genius Sports
Vladimir Negine - Director - Hub88.io
Angus Nisbet - Managing director, Bingo - Playtech
Andrew Porter - CEO - 4ThePlayer

SBC Awards

Supported by 30, yes 30 sponsors, the SBC Awards is a really big deal in the world of online gambling. Each year, the company behind industry events such as ICE puts on a gala evening for industry luminaries with the express intention of ‘rewarding expertise and innovation’. This year’s virtual iteration featured 44 separate award categories. Fourteen were reserved for operators, three for affiliate marketers, twenty-one awards were set aside for suppliers, two for specialist companies, and another two categories for payment providers. The ceremony started on the evening of Wednesday 9 December and is still going on. We jest of course - they managed to wrap things up the same night. Some of the winners were:

Casino Operator of the Year – LeoVegas
Innovation in Casino Entertainment - Evolution
Rising Star in Casino – Rabbit Entertainment
Best Mobile Operator App – Novibet
Multi-Channel Supplier of the Year – GIG

Malta iGaming Excellent Awards

The entire industry is still ‘reeling’ (get it, reeling?) from this seismic prize-giving event which was held back in November. Currently, in its fifth iteration, the MIGEAs took place at the Intercontinental Hotel in St. Julian’s, to honor Maltese iGaming ingenuity and ‘operational excellence’. It’s a kind of truncated version of the epic SPC marathon, featuring a far more sensible collection of award categories. Gaming1 and Maltco Lotteries were the big winners.

Malta’s Best Industry Achiever – Gaming1
Malta’s Best Gaming Mark of Excellence – Gaming1
Best Industry Contributor – Maltco Lotteries
Malta’s Best Omni-channel Provider – Gaming1
Best Workplace in Malta – Maltco Lotteries

EGR Operator Awards

The ‘Oscars of the eGaming Sector’ took place on the 11^th and 12^th of November to acknowledge B2C operators in all manner of gambling verticals. Unlike the Maltese version, EGR’s showpiece shindig was a virtual event due to the current global ‘situation’. Happily though, this didn’t stop the award givers coming up with a shortlist that read like the Magna Carta Libertatum. The award categories covered bingo, sports betting, lotteries, acquisition and retention, innovation in mobile as well as rising stars in services, software, and platforms. A few of the prize winners were:

Best Bingo Supplier – Playtech
Best Live Casino Supplier – Evolution
Innovation in Mobile – Red Tiger
Platform of the Year - Microgaming
Innovation in Casino Payment Solutions – MuchBetter

Login Casino Awards 2020

Although not as well known as the other knees-ups mentioned here, the Login Casino Awards are beginning to attract some interest within the online gambling sector. Organised and administered by the Login Casino magazine, there have been four events thus far which are primarily focused on the Russian market. However, overseas operators are also recognised. Nominees are evaluated in categories such as gambling (go figure), poker, and e-sports. The winners are decided by the magazine subscribers who have until November 23 to cast their votes. Here are some of the prizes up for grabs:

Best Betting Product 2020
Best Developer of 2020
Best Slot Design
Best Provider of Live Gaming
Best Lawyer in the Field of Gaming (??)