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Exclusive Q&A with Phillip Runyan, Founder & CEO of Hold Gaming

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Exclusive Q&A with Phillip Runyan, Founder & CEO of Hold GamingReading Time: 4 minutes

 

Let’s begin with a few words about yourself. It’s always great to hear confident, top-class professionals say something about themselves.

I refer to myself as the Chief Executive Risk Taker – not just at the helm of Hold Gaming, but in my day-to-day life. I’m fairly certain my wife has another name for it. If it’s unorthodox, off the beaten path, or considered ‘mad’ then I’m likely to be drawn to it. I think that internal need to try things in a different way is what has helped me find success in work and my personal life.

You talk about Hold Gaming’s “deep roots in the Midwest, an area long overlooked for talent and great ideas” and the resultant “underdog mentality”. Could you elaborate on that?

I grew up in Toledo, OH and recently returned, as many do, to be closer to family. I would not say that we have an abundance of tech in my hometown but what we lack in volume we make up in chutzpah. Like many others, I left when I was younger to pursue a life I didn’t think the region could support. That has all changed. I live in a state where you can pay for your taxes in bitcoin and that’s leading the way in autonomous driving. When I’m asked where Hold Gaming is located and I reply with “Ohio,” I typically get, “oh… ok that’s great” and I can hear the inflection in their voice battle with the words they are saying. Ohio has this stigma of being rural and certainly not where a gaming company would setup shop.

You started your corporate career as the Marketing head at DoubleDown Interactive where you were in charge of bringing in customers through social media, online branding and CRM initiatives and had spectacular success. What would be your main advice to online marketers, especially in the gaming and gambling industry, regarding customer acquisition and retention?

I’d say I started my career in gaming at DoubleDown Interactive. My core skillset of the last (gasp!) 18 years has been in Online Marketing and many of the tools and processes I incorporated at DoubleDown stemmed from selling a lot of product via the internet.

I would say my best advice is to stay flexible and never hesitate to pull the plug on things that don’t work. All too often we want a product, platform, channel, creative, or a cohort to work so badly that we will throw good money after bad. Cut your losses, learn from your mistakes, and get back to the drawing board. Dare I say, fail fast but fail forward.

You founded Hold Gaming about a year back. How was the going so far? Any significant milestones?

The first year is always terrifying and exciting, simultaneously. We’ve accomplished a lot with a skeleton crew and minimal resources considering we are a startup trying to disrupt a multi-billion dollar industry here in the US. As for milestones, I’d say being the first competitive casino game for cash prizes on Apple’s App Store is massive.

Could you tell us more about Blackjack Fire, the game that you launched recently? Our readers would be curious to understand how the game is skill based rather than chance based, especially it is the first skill-based Blackjack game.

Blackjack Fire is our first release and is live in the App Store in both the US and Australia. The game allows two or more competitors to sit at their own table, with the same starting balance, the same amount of time to play their decks of cards, and the same min/max wager amount. As players win hands wagered, the won amounts convert to points on a leaderboard. Once both players have completed their timed challenge, the points are tallied and the winner of the challenge receives the prize. This can be either of virtual currency (which we call Fire Chips) or actual cash, which ranges in prize amounts from $1.00 to $100.00 USD. On top of that we have leagues where competitors can earn more cash or Fire Chip prizes at the end of the month.

Gaming industry is fast becoming a crowded sector, with a lot of new initiatives and innovations coming up a rapid pace. How do you plan to stand out in the crowd?

It feels like the industry is hyper focused on sportsbook or casino floor gaming. While I love the innovation coming out of our competitors, I still believe that the best way to stand out and grab some serious market share is to reach people on their time: at work, at home, waiting to pick up their child from school… at their convenience. We want to consume those time slots and with our burst gaming model, we’re finding that’s exactly what is happening.

Everybody talks about social gaming and incorporating blockchain technology. What are the possibilities of developing a sustainable, feasible and profitable business model that blends social media and blockchain technology into the gaming sector? Is it going to happen in the near future? Or has it already happened?

Honestly, I don’t know how blockchain fits in with social. The idea of doling out transaction fees for free-to-play games sounds expensive, especially when 95% of those (social casino) gamers aren’t payers. We look at blockchain as an opportunity to ease concerns over fairness and to allow each player to see what the other did during their challenge. It’s not at the top of our to-do list, but it’s definitely on there.

The gaming industry has undergone a change in the USA over the last one year or so since the US Supreme Court lifted the blanket ban on sports betting. Do you see the country now emerging as the global hub of sports betting and gaming?

I’ve been so heads-down on the US market, I could only fancy a guess. I don’t know if we’ll dethrone APAC, but we should be comfortable at the #2 spot.


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 Q&A with Phillip Runyan, Founder & CEO of Hold Gaming

George Miller (Gyorgy Molnar) started his career in content marketing and has started working as an Editor/Content Manager for our company in 2016. George has acquired many experiences when it comes to interviews and newsworthy content becoming Head of Content in 2017. He is responsible for the news being shared on multiple websites that are part of the European Gaming Media Network.

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Spinmatic unveils groundbreaking hybrid Slot-Plinko game

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Spinmatic, a leading developer of cutting-edge casino games, today announced the launch of Elemental Fusion, a revolutionary title that fuses the mechanics of Video Slots with the engaging features of Plinko games. This innovative product release highlights Spinmatic’s commitment to developing unique and compelling gaming experiences for the igaming market.

Elemental Fusion introduces a novel hybrid model, offering players a distinctive blend of traditional reel-spinning action and a collector-driven bonus system culminating in a dynamic Plinko round. The game consists of harnessing the power of five sacred elements -Fire, Earth, Water, Air and Galaxy- guided by an in-game Alchemist character.

The core innovation lies in two distinct yet interconnected features:

  • Accumulative multipliers & Fusion reaction: The game features five Element Elixir symbols. Landing these symbols triggers a Fusion Reaction where an accumulative multiplier builds up. Multipliers can reach up to x50 and stack across spins. When a win is achieved, it is multiplied by the accumulated value, which then resets.
  • Collect Feature & Plinko Bonus: Players activate the Plinko bonus round by collecting 10 Element Elixir symbols for one of the four core elements (Water, Air, Earth or Fire). Landing a Special Plinko Symbol on the 3rd reel randomly contributes one symbol to the corresponding element’s collector. A key mechanism is that other element collectors do not reset when a Plinko game is triggered, allowing for the rapid chaining of bonus rounds.

The Plinko bonus round offers a sophisticated and varied experience, determined by the collected element. Before the balls drop, a wheel spins to determine the number of balls, ranging from a minimum of 10 to an impressive 100.

Each of the four unique Plinko games features 16 rows and is designed with a distinct volatility profile and prize mechanic, and each guarantees a specific Jackpot tier (Mini, Midi, Maxi and Grand Jackpot).

Spinmatic invites operators to integrate Elemental Fusion immediately to offer players this pioneering gaming experience.

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RedCore was awarded “Transformation of the Year” at SiGMA Rome

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The RedCore business group received the “Transformation of the Year” award at the SiGMA Central Europe Awards ceremony, which took place as part of SiGMA Central Europe on November 3 in Rome. The award honors the company’s successful transformation from PIN-UP Global, an iGaming-focused holding company, to a diversified technology business group operating in various areas of digital business.

RedCore is the result of a large-scale transformation of PIN-UP Global, which began in 2024. This was a logical step that allowed the holding company to expand beyond the iGaming industry. The accumulated expertise allows the brands included in the business group to create technological solutions for fintech, marketing platforms, e-commerce, regulatory technologies, customer service, and platform B2C services with high user engagement.

Today, the international business group RedCore includes seven independent brands: PIN-UP Partners, Frogo, Pay.Partners, Communications Hub, mr.Booster, Riddick’s Partners, Talk with Us.

“This award recognizes that we have made the right strategic move. Over nine years of working in iGaming, we have accumulated expertise that is applicable far beyond a single industry. RedCore is the result of a transition from internal solutions to independent products for the market. We have created a business group ready to share high-quality technologies and team expertise with various digital businesses,” comments Marina Ilina, CEO and founder of RedCore.

The “Transformation of the Year” award at the SiGMA Central Europe Awards is especially significant as it recognizes RedCore’s ability to successfully adapt to changing market conditions and create new opportunities for growth. The award organizers highly appreciated the scale of the changes, the speed of their implementation, and the results of the transformation.

The post RedCore was awarded “Transformation of the Year” at SiGMA Rome appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

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Osborne Clarke advises Shore Capital on £205 million IPO of Winvia Entertainment, marking renewed momentum in London markets

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International law firm Osborne Clarke has advised Shore Capital on Winvia Entertainment plc’s £205 million AIM IPO and associated £40 million institutional placing. Shore Capital acted as nominated adviser, sole bookrunner and sole broker.

Technology focused business Winvia Entertainment is the second largest prize draw operator in the UK by market share and owns the brands Best of the Best and Click Competitions, through which players can play for prizes including cars, luxury watches and holidays.

Outside the UK, the company is focused on the fast-growing and regulated Romanian online gaming market, where it is a top three online casino operator, operating a multi-brand strategy including own brands such as Princess Casino, Royal Slots and Luck, white label brands such as Magnumbet, Cashpot and Excelbet, and a majority owned poker business.

Winvia Entertainment intends to use the net proceeds of the placing to fund acquisitions in the large but fragmented UK prize draw sector. It has been building a pipeline of other opportunities and is in discussions with several potential acquisition targets to allow it to consolidate its position in this rapidly growing market.

Admission and trading in the company’s ordinary shares on AIM took place on the 3 November 2025 at 8:00 a.m.

The IPO represents a significant AIM admission in H2 2025 and highlights the renewed interest in UK tech and digital-entertainment flotations. It follows commentary that the London listing market may be turning a corner, with several listing announcements and a strengthening pipeline emerging in recent weeks.

Commenting on the transaction, Ed Nisbet, Associate Director at Osborne Clarke, said: “We are delighted to have assisted the Shore Capital team in relation to the IPO of Winvia Entertainment. Both the UK and Romanian markets that the group is focused on offer exciting opportunities and this IPO perfectly positions Winvia to build on its existing strength to take advantage of these. This transaction, together with general market activity and our increasing pipeline of opportunities, is also demonstrative of the increased momentum in UK capital markets.”

Jonathan King, Partner at Osborne Clarke, added: “The Winvia IPO showcases the breadth of Osborne Clarke’s capital markets expertise – from advising on complex cross-border structures to supporting clients at every stage of their growth.”

Osborne Clarke’s Corporate team, which is ranked in the top tiers by both Chambers UK and Legal 500 UK for AIM, is considered a go-to practice for many companies in the tech, media and comms sector. Its clients range from global businesses to fast-growth start-ups and market challengers. The team advises at every stage of company development across all corporate issues, from equity and debt fundraisings to strategic M&A, IPOs and JVs.

 

The post Osborne Clarke advises Shore Capital on £205 million IPO of Winvia Entertainment, marking renewed momentum in London markets appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

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