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Exclusive interview with Lars Kollind, Business Development Manager at Playson
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European Gaming caught up with Lars Kollind who is spearheading the brands strategic plans to continue expanding its operational portfolio worldwide, both vertically and horizontally.
You joined Playson in January this year. How is your experience so far?
Kollind: Hello and thank you for the opportunity to share my experience at Playson.
When I joined the company, I expected a young provider, still figuring things out, however in the few months I’ve been here I have been pleasantly surprised to understand the company is well-established, with clear goals and direction, and with a great culture focused on quality of workplace experience. Playson games are popular among operators and players alike due to their high-quality graphics and animation, supported by a robust and reliable technical set-up that ensures seamless a experience.
On a more personal level, I am greatly enjoying the atmosphere in the company. Values such as collaboration, teamwork, peer support and responsible autonomy are at the core of company culture, which is why we work as a closely-knit pack. At the same time, this allows me the freedom to be myself and motivates me to give my best in my role.
Playson has signed some major clients recently, such as Leo Vegas, ComeOn, and Hero Gaming. Tell us more about the new deals and strategic aspects behind each deal.
Kollind: It’s no secret that we are proud of these recent partnerships and they have given us added impetus to re-evaluate our operations. The company has operated for a long time as a small-to-medium-scale, dynamic studio, with laser focus on quality of product and support. Recent deals with tier one operators and other suppliers have provided us with the context to understand that our position in the market is changing. We are moving with confidence towards the core of European iGaming, increasing our regulated market footprint and our ambitions.
What was your specific role role in these deals?
Kollind: It is common practice in the company to appreciate the team-effort even across every acjhievement, no matter how large or small. It’s true, actually, that even top performers reach out to a large number of professionals from other departments in order to secure a deal. These particular deals were coordinated by our Sales Manager and my involvement only started after the deals were signed.
How do the new deals auger for Playson’s future? What are the new deals in the pipeline?
Kollind: The most important message sent by these deals is that Playson is a mature, stable and reliable provider that is here to stay – and grow. Our engines are revved up and we don’t expect to slow down our expansion process any time soon. We have some significant announcements to make in the coming months so watch this space!
Are there any plans to expand Playson’s footprints to the USA and Asia? Big things are happening or about to happen in the USA and Japan in the gaming sector.
Kollind: For the time being Playson is focusing on its core markets and only contemplating non-European territories from afar. We expect markets such as the US and Asia to take decisive steps towards regulation and developing the necessary framework for harbouring safe, compliant and responsible gaming, bit this will take time. This year we are committed to expanding our presence exclusively on regulated European markets, but next year it’s not out of the question that we may consider other regulating and/or regulated jurisdictions as well.
Playson has already published more than 70 omnichannel games? Are you going to launch any new games soon, like the Blackjack suite in HTML5? Would love to hear more details.
Kollind: Our HTML 5 Blackjack game is already live and performing well. We are committed to releasing two to three new games every month with new and exciting themes and highly engaging features and functionality that players love and keep coming back to time and again.
Playson has published some much sought-after games in its history. How does the planning go before developing and publishing the games? Could you also tell us more about some of the most successful games in Playson’s portfolio?
Kollind: Our game development process is extensive and we take a meticulous approach to themes and details within each product ensuring our products meet the right compliance standards, are customized to the market we are looking to target and the player segment we are catering for.
We always look at the history of what is popular with certain player demographics, however we also innovate as much and as often as possible with new features such as “daily” jackpot implementations.
Our classic titles such as Legend of Cleopatra are still a major success for us. Players love this 100-bet line game that can pay out huge wins across the pyramid-type reels.
Playson’s offices are spread across four countries: Malta, Ukraine, UK and Greece. How do you manage to maintain a coherent work culture? Any special human resources policies?
Kollind: We may be spread across several global locations, but we embrace a connected working culture and we’re constantly in touch with each office. This has proven to be a huge success for us internally with increased productivity, plus it’s also great to have our employees spread out so we can meet our clients as often as possible based on the geography of staff. Each location is designed to appeal to local talent, and we have carefully planned this within the hiring process.
You are participating in CEEGC 2019 at Budapest on 24-25 September. What do you think is special about CEEGC? Why this event is important to your company?
Kollind: This is the fourth Central and Eastern European Gaming Conference and Awards (CEEGC & CEEG). With several countries within the region opening and regulating this market is becoming increasingly important and we’re very much looking forward to meeting new and existing clients in September.
Our General Counsel, Andrei Andronic, is taking part in a compliance panel at the event in Budapest and it will be great learn and network with our peers on issues such as compliance and investment opportunities in the regulated Central and Eastern European jurisdictions including Bulgaria, Romania, Czech Republic, Croatia and Slovenia, and the Emerging CEE jurisdictions, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland.
We really value having a presence at events such as this, particularly in exciting, emerging territories.
You have had about 15 years of experience in the gaming industry. How do you look back at your career?
Kollind: I’m very proud of my personal achievements but my focus is very much about building on the reputation Playson has built during that time and the significant plans and announcements we have for the coming months and years. We have some seriously exciting developments to discuss soon that I can’t wait to share.
Finally, do you think artificial intelligence is going to change the industry? What are Playson’s plans to tackle the opportunities and challenges that emerging disruptive technologies pose in the gaming sector?
Kollind: AI is clearly the buzzword of the moment, but I don’t see many companies making many inroads here. We use advanced AI technology to both improve our internal processes and our 70+ omni-channel slot games. It is helping us design better performing and more targeted localized content and this will only grow in value over time.
Source: Latest News on European Gaming Media Network
This is a Syndicated News piece. Photo credits or photo sources can be found on the source article: Exclusive interview with Lars Kollind, Business Development Manager at Playson
ScatterKings has made its debut in Austria, partnering with operator win2day to bring its vibrant, hand-crafted portfolio to one of Europe’s most tightly regulated markets.
Headlining the partnership is Sweet win2day, a mouth-watering title designed exclusively for the operator. Other standout ScatterKings games, including Coins of Cleo, Vikings and Hogs Christmas and Big Bob, have also hit the screens of win2day’s customers, with further releases scheduled to follow.
Win2day is operated by Austrian Lotteries, which was founded more than 50 years ago and holds the only licence to offer online casino gaming in the country. The brand has gained a rich heritage as a trusted name in the market, priding itself on being one of the industry’s most responsible operators.
Through this deal, the new and fiercely passionate provider is redefining what modern slot content looks like for local players.
For ScatterKings, every game stands as a testament to its philosophy – proven mechanics fused with genuine artistic vision. A true labour of love from battle-tested developers, the brand-new studio, years in the making, is channelling its expertise into games crafted with soul.
With a leadership team of seasoned industry veterans spanning years of experience, ScatterKings is primed to accelerate its global growth and continue building games that deliver non-stop thrills.
Steven Cross, CCO at ScatterKings, said: “Our launch with win2day is such a proud moment for us and it’s a partnership built on trust in both our vision and craft.
“Entering such an exclusive market is a powerful endorsement of the quality and personality our content brings. We’re here to deliver premium entertainment to players under the most respected regulatory standards.”
Georg Wawer, Managing Director at win2day, said: “As Austria’s only licensed online gambling operator, it is our responsibility to offer players exclusively high-quality, secure and fully compliant gaming content. With ScatterKings, we welcome a highly innovative partner whose technological excellence and creative strength perfectly match our uncompromising standards.
“The studio’s games are optimised to meet the strictest player protection requirements, ensuring that every title on our platform delivers not only great entertainment but also the highest level of safety and responsibility. Their growing portfolio will be a valuable and exciting addition to win2day.”
The post ScatterKings adds sugar-coated spin to Austria with bespoke win2day partnership appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry Newsroom.
For Slotegrator, a leading software and business solution provider for online casino and sportsbook operators, 2025 marked a year of restructuring and modernization. The company outlines the key transformations of the past year and the strategy shaping its path through 2026.
Throughout 2025, Slotegrator focused on developing its technological and business solutions for gambling operators worldwide. And those efforts — as well as the team’s substantial growth — have paid off, driving the company to new heights of success.
One indicator of positive performance is an increase in demand. Slotegrator recorded strong growth in demand for its products in multiple regions:
- The Balkans (+168%)
- Africa (+132%)
- Australia and Oceania (+111%)
- Central and Eastern Europe (+76%)
In addition to expanding geographically, Slotegrator grew and developed in several key areas: the size of its client and partner network, the scale of its revenues and market share, and the nature of its leadership.
The company now has nearly 300 clients and over 650 projects worldwide, with 217 new projects launched in 2025 alone. That expansion has translated directly to a rise in revenues; the company’s estimated share of global online gambling GGR reached around 0.8%, driven by an 81% YoY increase in GGR and a 71% rise in Total Bets.
One of this year’s key changes was the appointment of Olga Ivanchik as chief operating officer. With an extensive industry and management background to draw on, she is leading the company’s focus on sustainable scaling, ESG integration, and further strengthening of the internal team.
The company also continued to expand the capabilities of its products. APIgrator, the game aggregator solution, surpassed the threshold of 40,000 online casino games, supported by new strategic partnerships with Octopus Global, Urgent Games, Peter&Sons, Winfinity, Enjoy Gaming, PHOENIX 7, Bellot, InOut Games, and BEON. Another major milestone of 2025 was obtaining a gambling license in Anjouan, enabling Slotegrator to extend its services to a wider range of operators worldwide.
The turnkey online casino platform from Slotegrator also underwent one of the most significant transformations in Slotegrator’s history. More than 1,000 product improvements were implemented in 2025 alone, laying a solid foundation for scalability and advanced analytics.
The platform upgrades covered business intelligence and reporting, limitless scalability, security and authentication, bonus module performance, affiliate integrations, resilient infrastructure, an improved Casino Builder solution, and a significantly reduced time-to-market.
“2025 was a year of major milestones for us. While the global iGaming market continues to evolve at high speed, we not only maintained our strong position but expanded it on multiple levels. This year clearly showed that our strategic direction is right and our foundation is strong,” says Olga Ivanchik, COO at Slotegrator.
Slotegrator enters 2026 with a well-calculated strategy and ambitious plans. The company will continue the large-scale expansion of its team, demonstrate its ESG strategy with a focus on responsible gaming practices and ethical marketing, participate actively in industry events around the globe, conduct new research and media projects, and pursue multiple high-impact product updates. And on top of that, there will be some major announcements at the beginning of the year.
Among the most anticipated developments are a new localization service, a revolutionary tool within the Moneygrator solution, extended AI-powered features, and further transformation of the turnkey platform into a fully integrated ecosystem of high-efficiency services.
For Slotegrator, 2025 was a year of modernization, scale, and trust — and 2026 is set to be the next leap forward.
ABOUT THE COMPANY
Since 2012, Slotegrator has been one of the iGaming industry’s leading software and business solution providers for online casino and sportsbook operators.
The company’s main focus is software development and support for online casino platforms, as well as the integration of game content and payment systems.
The company works with licensed game developers and offers a vast portfolio of casino content: slots, live casino games, poker, virtual sports, table games, lotteries, casual games, and data feeds for betting.
Slotegrator also provides consulting services in gambling license acquisition and business incorporation.
The post Slotegrator’s 2025: the year in numbers appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry Newsroom.
Whale.io has officially launched the $WHALE NFT collection on Solana, introducing the next phase of the platform’s native token rollout and bringing the community one step closer to the upcoming Token Generation Event (TGE).
The $WHALE NFTs – presented as fully tradable digital cards – represent a new value layer within the Whale ecosystem. Each card holds a fixed amount of $WHALE tokens locked on-chain and backed 1:1, making them redeemable at any time for the underlying tokens. Minting is now live exclusively at mintwhale.io, where users can acquire these asset-backed cards and begin trading immediately on secondary marketplaces such as Magic Eden.
This format transforms $WHALE into a hybrid asset: a collectible card that behaves like a traditional NFT while carrying real, instantly verifiable token value. Cards can be freely transferred, sold, or held, with the assurance that the locked $WHALE can always be unlocked and returned to the Whale.io platform when needed.
Key Benefits of the $WHALE NFT Model
- Liquidation and stronger community – $WHALE NFTs enable holders to convert tokens into tradable crypto assets, supporting liquidity and ongoing ecosystem activity.
- Easier entry for new participants – Anyone can now join the Whale ecosystem by purchasing cards on Magic Eden, bypassing the traditional play-to-earn grind.
- Seamless top-ups – Players with low $WHALE balance can buy additional cards on secondary markets and redeem them instantly for playable tokens to continue enjoying games, battle passes, and rewards.
Because every card is transparently backed by real $WHALE, value remains anchored and fully verifiable on-chain at all times.
Utility Already Live
$WHALE continues to serve as the native currency across Whale Originals titles, including Crock Dentist and Blackjack. Holders use it for gameplay, Battlepass purchases, staking rewards, and exclusive in-platform features – a utility that is available today and will expand significantly after TGE.
Next Steps on the Roadmap
Upcoming features include a Staking mechanism (locking liquid $WHALE into cards) and a dedicated Token Swapping interface for one-click redemption. Whale.io has also reaffirmed its commitment to regular market buybacks followed by permanent token burns to support long-term token health.
Participation Now Open
The $WHALE NFT collection is available for minting exclusively at mintwhale.io. Detailed card tiers, pricing, and redemption instructions are displayed on the site. All on-chain activity remains fully transparent through Whale.io’s established Treasury wallets.
Community members are invited to follow @Whalegames_en on X for real-time mint updates, secondary market insights, and announcements on future roadmap milestones.
About Whale.io
Whale.io is an online casino and sportsbook platform, recognized for its proprietary Whale Originals games and innovative reward systems. With $WHALE at its core, the platform combines provably fair gaming with community-owned economics and transparent tokenomics.
For complete details on the $WHALE NFT collection, users can visit mintwhale.io or whale.io.
Information on the future direction of Whale.io Casino and the Whale Token is available here:
Website: https://mintwhale.io/
Socials: https://linktr.ee/whalesocials_tg
Contact
Whale Spokesperson
Whale.io
The post Whale.io Launches $WHALE NFT Collection on Solana: New Pre-Market Phase Ahead of TGE appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry Newsroom.
ScatterKings adds sugar-coated spin to Austria with bespoke win2day partnership
Slotegrator’s 2025: the year in numbers
Whale.io Launches $WHALE NFT Collection on Solana: New Pre-Market Phase Ahead of TGE
Slotegrator’s 2025: the year in numbers
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