iGaming Real Talk

Operators often start the licensing conversation with one simple question: “Which is the best licence?” Khristina Karanskaia from My Gaming License believes that is the wrong place to start. In this episode, Surya and Khristina discuss why the right licence depends on the operator's target markets, business model, taxation expectations, compliance requirements and long-term plans. An offshore...

Game development and distribution are often treated as two separate parts of the business. Tequity is connecting them with their full suite products: Originals, RGS, Publishing, and Exclusives. Alex Scott had joined Tequity as CPO only four days before this conversation with Surya. One of the things that attracted him to the company was its reputation for being fast, responsive, decisive and innov...

Paul Dolman-Darrall does not describe G.Games as a company that followed an existing iGaming playbook. His view is that there was never really a playbook to follow. In this long-form conversation with Surya, the CEO of G.Games talks about coming into gambling as an outsider, why relationships still have enormous influence over who gets deals in iGaming, and why trying to build something genuinely...

The Philippines has become one of the most important regulated online gaming markets in Asia, and Paul Fox believes other countries in the region can learn from how the market has developed. Paul, Founder of Claymore Solutions, speaks with Surya about why the Philippines has become a natural base for gaming operations and back-office teams, particularly for larger and publicly listed companies tha...

Asia's iGaming market has changed significantly over the years, but entering the region is not as simple as treating Asia as one market. In Episode 83 of iGaming Real Talk, recorded at SiGMA Asia in Manila, our host Surya Palli sits down with Pierre Wuu, Board Advisor at SiGMA Group, to discuss the development of the Philippine market, regulatory stability and what international companies need...

The Philippines has one of Asia's most developed gaming markets, but Joe from Jade Entertainment believes licensed operators are still competing for only a fraction of the total opportunity. Speaking with Surya at SiGMA Asia, Joe looks back at a career in gaming that started in 1988 and covers the market's move from land-based casinos into sports betting, remote gaming and today's grow...

Trust between affiliates and operators is becoming harder to maintain, and John Wright believes better access to data could force both sides to become more accountable. John, Co-founder of Nousviz, returns to iGaming Real Talk to speak with Surya about affiliate shaving, aggressive commercial deals, traffic quality and why the problem is not always one-sided. He argues that operators can lack tran...

Affiliates can spend time and money bringing in players, but what happens after that traffic reaches the operator? Surya speaks with iGaming Marketing Executive Paul Puolakka about the changing affiliate and operator relationship, especially as traffic becomes more expensive and player retention becomes harder. Paul explains that affiliates currently have limited control once they deliver the clic...

Sports betting in the Philippines is growing, but Eric Su believes the next phase cannot simply be about chasing faster revenue. In Episode 79, Joining Surya on iGaming Real Talk, the former Head of ArenaPlus at DigiPlus explains why the market needs to move towards more sustainable growth, stronger compliance and responsible gambling without making the regulated product so restrictive that player...

In Episode 78 of iGaming Real Talk, Surya speaks with Prash Patel, Founder of DMR Strategic, about how the relationship between operators and affiliates needs to change as acquiring players becomes harder and more expensive. Prash has experience on both sides of the relationship. He previously built and sold an affiliate business and has also worked on the operator side. One of the biggest mistake...

In Episode 77 of iGaming Real Talk, Surya speaks with David Khutsishvili, CMO at FortuneJack, about why chasing bigger acquisition numbers does not always create a stronger casino business. FortuneJack has been operating since 2014 in a crypto casino market where new brands continue to appear. David says trust has been one of the main reasons the company has been able to keep players over time. Th...

In Episode 76 of iGaming Real Talk, Surya speaks with Nadiya Attard, CCO at ImagineLive, about whether newer live casino suppliers can challenge the companies that have dominated the vertical for years. Nadiya sees a clear difference between live casino and the RNG space. Slots have become crowded with thousands of suppliers, while live casino is still led by a relatively small number of major com...

In episode 75 of iGaming Real Talk, our host Surya Palli was with Simone Bacchin, Head of Sales at Kerma Games. We discuss what makes a game stand out in an increasingly competitive iGaming market, why player experience matters more than releasing large volumes of titles, and whether celebrity IP games could be the next big thing. Simone explains why Kerma Games approaches game development more li...

In episode 74 of iGaming Real Talk, Surya sits down with Ivonne Montealegre from SiGMA Poker Tour to discuss poker, business, failure, women in poker and the growth of live poker across emerging markets. Ivonne shares how she went from psychology and radio in Los Angeles to iGaming and eventually building a career around poker. She explains what poker has taught her about failure, risk-taking and...

In episode 73 of iGaming Real Talk, recorded at iGB Live London, our host Surya Palli was with Irina Veselkova, Head of Marketing at Endorphina, to discuss creative B2B marketing, event campaigns, LinkedIn engagement and what actually makes people remember a brand. Irina explains the thinking behind Endorphina Kingdom, why interactive experiences can make a campaign more memorable, and how Endorph...

In Episode 72 of iGaming Real Talk, recorded at iGB Live in London, our host Surya Palli was with Alec Gehlot, Founder & CEO of PlaySignal, to discuss the problems around self-exclusion, responsible gaming and what operators can do before players reach the point of self-exclusion. Alec explains why self-exclusion may not be the safety net the industry thinks it is, why players can fall through...

In Episode 71 of The Real Roadshow and In Part 2 of our conversation with Levon Nikoghosyan, CEO of AffPapa, we get into the problems behind affiliate marketing, fake streamer numbers, creative campaigns, team building and what it actually takes to scale an iGaming business. Levon explains why relying on one marketing channel is risky, why operators need to verify streamer traffic before spending...

Are there too many iGaming events and how should companies decide which ones are worth attending? Flexing an initial milestone of Episode 70 of iGaming Real Talk, we are here with Alex Pratt, Managing Director at Clarion Gaming, about the changing landscape of iGaming events. Alex shares his perspective on iGB Live, ICE, event ROI and return on objectives, measuring value through data, the role of...

AI can build an app. But can it understand an iGaming business? In Part 2 of iGaming Real Talk, David Harris and Vlad Bondarenko from ReferOn go beyond affiliate tracking to talk about AI, product development, legacy systems, migrations, and what it really takes to build B2B software for iGaming. The industry is moving fast, but some problems are still very familiar: Legacy affiliate platforms tha...

Every game aggregator says they have great content. So what actually makes operators choose one over another? David Fall, Business Development Manager at St8 addressed our curiosity here.  The game aggregation market is crowded. Almost every company says they have the best platform, the best technology and the best content. But operators today are dealing with much bigger challenges than choosing...

Affiliate Marketing Has a Bigger Problem Than Traffic. The more people I speak to in this industry, the more I realise that the biggest risk isn't finding affiliates. Because let’s assume you find 10 good affiliates, are you sure that all their past results are their own and not some fake screenshots, AI-generated reports or maybe edited screenshots? Presenting you Episode 67 with Levon Nikogh...

What will the next generation of sports betting actually look like? Everyone talks about AI, prediction markets, and new products. But what are operators actually preparing for? And where is player behaviour really heading? We are at episode 66 of iGaming Real Talk. Our host Surya Palli caught up with Chris Nikolopoulos, Chief Commercial Officer at BETBY, to discuss the trends shaping the future o...

Affiliate management platforms are becoming a critical part of iGaming infrastructure, but what actually makes a modern platform stand out? In episode 65 of iGaming Real Talk, Surya Palli is with David Harris and Vlad Bondarenko from ReferOn to discuss the philosophy behind building an affiliate management platform that's designed for today's operators and affiliates. Instead of simply rep...

Building iGames might not be the easiest thing but there’s something much harder. That is building games for BRAZIL. We are here to learn about this from someone who used to write codes, products and now has built one of the leading gaming studios in Brazil. In Episode 64 of iGaming Real Talk, our host Surya Palli had a talk with Fabíola Jaeger, Co-founder & CEO of  @caletagaming  , to discuss...

How does SiGMA run 8 events in a year? We got curious about their marketing machine and the leader running the show so we caught with Lauranne Urban, the CMO at ‪@sigmaworld.official‬ to figure out the SiGMA marketing machine. As they get closer to their second Americas summit of the year, this time in Mexico, here’s a throwback to the ‪@sigma.world.brasil‬ podcast. In the episode 63, Lauranne Urb...