Latest News
Exclusive interview with Steve Rogers – Founder and CEO at Playbook Fusion
We recently sat down with Steve Rogers – Founder and CEO at Playbook Fusion and talk about several important aspects that shape the game studios industry.
What made you want to launch a game studio given the incredibly competitive nature of the market?
Because we have identified a gap in the market in which we can offer something truly unique. There is a large audience of players who enjoy sports-themed video and mobile games, and the ownership and skill required to master titles such as FC Ultimate Team, and who also like to place a bet on their favourite sports, teams and players. Right now, there isn’t a game format that brings these two worlds together, but Playbook Fusion is allowing them to collide to provide an entirely new experience that these consumers will absolutely want to engage with.
The addressable audience for our games will be broad but it is currently one that operators are struggling to engage. This goes beyond those who bet on sports to include those who are simply sports fans, gamers who enjoy management format titles and who are light-touch gamblers, virtual sports players looking for ownership over their teams and fantasy sports players seeking round the clock action.
In all instances, our strongest appeal will likely be among the next generation of players – those who are unlikely to walk into a retail betting shop or have a bet on the Grand National, but who are engaging with mobile and video games, social media and streaming.
How will you leverage your industry experience to lead Playbook Fusion to success?
I have more than 20 years of experience in the industry, and this has enabled me to amass a deep understanding of key factors required in bringing successful betting products to market, such as regulation, compliance, content deployment and ultimately what goes into making a hit game. I have been delivering RNG sports games to operators for various companies for a long time now and have good relationships with the right people within most of the major tier one and tier two brands, opening up a clear path to deploying our games with the biggest operators in the business. My experience has also taught me what a good game looks like and has allowed me to identify the gap in the market that Playbook Fusion has an ambition to fill.
Where I lack experience or in-depth understanding, I have brought in experts including video and mobile games veteran, Santiago Jaramillo. Santiago has more than 13 years of AAA gaming experience and has previously worked as Creative Director for EA Sport’s FIFA Franchise and was Executive Producer of MonopolyGo! He was also Head of Sports at Dapper Labs where he conceived and created NBA Top Shot, an award-winning, first-of-its-kind product anchored in blockchain technology.
Our complementary skillsets will absolutely be key to ensuring the future success of Playbook Fusion.
How will you stand out from your rival studios? How will your content offer something new to operators and players?
The level of ownership, the persistent progression within the games and the ability for skill development that each of our titles will offer will set Playbook Fusion apart from its competitors. We are working on a range of innovative mechanics that will allow players to boost the capabilities of their teams, which in turn will increase the chance of them winning. Gameplay will include acquiring or earning packs that players can open to strengthen their lineup before they decide what kind of contest they want to engage with. There’s really nothing like this in the sports betting space at this point and this strong, clear point of difference is what is already allowing Playbook Fusion to stand out and catch the attention of sportsbook operators.
Bringing together the worlds of gambling and video/mobile gaming is a tough task. How have you approached this?
It comes down to building a team of the brightest minds and creative talents from both industries. From the gambling sector, we have sought to hire dynamic individuals with a passion for sports and who understand what the next generation of sports bettors are looking for. Then, from the gaming sector, we have Santiago and a growing team of designers and developers who have an in-depth understanding of the mechanics behind successful video games. We are bringing the edges of these industries together and creating an environment in which everyone can learn from each other. I truly believe that we have a game-changing concept and with the team we have in place, we can bring it to life and disrupt the industry.
Can you share some insights into your first game? What will it look like? How will it play? Who has it been developed for?
Our first game will be a football title. Football is the biggest sport globally and will allow us to hit the ground running with a game that has mass market appeal. It will take the football manager format, with players able to build a team by acquiring and trading players. They can also do things like buy packs and reveal cards that all help in strengthening their team. They then compete with others across several game types including seasons, player vs player and in contests with friends. Players earn points based on the performance of their team, which are posted to a real-time leaderboard. The more points players accumulate, the more league levels they clear and the more rewards they earn. Betting is a core part of the game loop but, unlike more traditional virtual sports games, the bettor will have a much greater sense of ownership over the team they are betting on, just like in real sports betting. We plan to replicate this format for other sports including basketball and cricket.
Why should sportsbook operators partner with Playbook Fusion?
Our games will enable operators to generate incremental revenues from existing player groups, particularly Virtual Sports and Fantasy players, by offering a more engaging betting experience on a 24/7/365 basis. Also, our games will allow them to tap into a new, lucrative but hard-to-reach audience. These are not traditional sports bettors, but rather the next generation of customers looking for social, fast-paced gameplay where they can improve and display their skills and strategy with the chance of winning money – the YouTube, Fortnite, tech-savvy generation that will become a sportsbook’s core player base in the coming years.
The post Exclusive interview with Steve Rogers – Founder and CEO at Playbook Fusion appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

Latest News
Goldex Casino by N1 Partners: a new brand tailored for top GEOs
N1 Partners continues to strengthen its position in the iGaming market by expanding its portfolio with the launch of a new brand — Goldex Casino.
Goldex Casino is strategically focused on key Tier-1 GEOs, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Ireland, Denmark, and Slovenia. The product supports eight languages with localised content, ensuring broad reach and engagement.
Goldex Casino features a portfolio of over 5,000 games, while its unique Journey Map system transforms gameplay into a personalised adventure with rewards of up to €/$5,000 and 1,000 free spins. VIP players benefit from an exclusive program offering tailored bonuses, higher limits, dedicated account management, and a final prize — a Rolex Sky-Dweller or its cash equivalent of €20,000.
Special attention has been paid to adaptive design across devices, an intuitive interface, and a suite of features that enhance the user experience and drive player retention. Fully licensed, the brand guarantees a high level of transaction security.
With Goldex Casino, partners gain a robust tool to scale traffic across top GEOs and secure long-term profitability. Join N1 Partners and achieve top-tier results together.
On a related note, N1 Partners is currently running its large-scale N1 Puzzle Promo. All registered teams earn puzzle pieces for driving traffic to N1 brands, including Goldex Casino, with the most active participants competing for luxury prizes. The ultimate reward – a private Robinson helicopter, awarded to the winning team at the end of the promo. The campaign runs until the end of the year.
The post Goldex Casino by N1 Partners: a new brand tailored for top GEOs appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Latest News
Goldex Casino by N1 Partners: a new brand tailored for top GEOs
N1 Partners continues to strengthen its position in the iGaming market by expanding its portfolio with the launch of a new brand — Goldex Casino.
Goldex Casino is strategically focused on key Tier-1 GEOs, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Ireland, Denmark, and Slovenia. The product supports eight languages with localised content, ensuring broad reach and engagement.
Goldex Casino features a portfolio of over 5,000 games, while its unique Journey Map system transforms gameplay into a personalised adventure with rewards of up to €/$5,000 and 1,000 free spins. VIP players benefit from an exclusive program offering tailored bonuses, higher limits, dedicated account management, and a final prize — a Rolex Sky-Dweller or its cash equivalent of €20,000.
Special attention has been paid to adaptive design across devices, an intuitive interface, and a suite of features that enhance the user experience and drive player retention. Fully licensed, the brand guarantees a high level of transaction security.
With Goldex Casino, partners gain a robust tool to scale traffic across top GEOs and secure long-term profitability. Join N1 Partners and achieve top-tier results together.
On a related note, N1 Partners is currently running its large-scale N1 Puzzle Promo. All registered teams earn puzzle pieces for driving traffic to N1 brands, including Goldex Casino, with the most active participants competing for luxury prizes. The ultimate reward – a private Robinson helicopter, awarded to the winning team at the end of the promo. The campaign runs until the end of the year.
Latest News
HIPTHER Community Voices: Interview with CEO of Media 24 Martins Lasmanis
From his early days in digital marketing to leading one of the most dynamic affiliate networks in iGaming, Martins Lasmanis brings nearly two decades of hands-on experience and strategic insight to the table. In this edition of Community Voices, Martins reflects on the evolution of the industry, the bold moves that shaped Media 24’s growth, and how the company is embracing AI and a product-first mindset to stay ahead. Dive into his story of resilience, speed, and smart risk-taking — and what it takes to build a future-ready affiliate powerhouse.
Can you tell us about your journey into the iGaming industry, how your role and experiences have grown over the years, and what key lessons you’ve learned along the way?
I started in digital marketing about 18 years ago, focusing on SEO. I remember spending my first two weeks just reading everything I could find online. A lot of it turned out to be useless, but it gave me the basics. From there, I worked at a few companies, launched and sold my own digital marketing agency, and later became a freelancer.
In 2016, an affiliate marketer reached out to me through a mutual connection who recommended me based on previous work. I joined his company in 2017 as an employee. That move felt like a risk, but I saw potential.
I spent about four and a half years there. Over time, I started to see big opportunities in markets the company wasn’t willing to explore. Eventually, I decided to leave, sold my shares, and took a break. In May 2022, I joined Media 24.
One key lesson I’ve learned is that long-term consistency often matters more than one brilliant idea. And when you’re scaling fast, being agile and willing to adapt quickly is sometimes more important than being perfect.
After 8+ years in iGaming, what are the biggest changes you’ve seen in the industry, and how has Media 24 kept up with them? What key things have helped Media 24 stay strong?
Even though the industry never stops evolving, the fundamentals of affiliate marketing haven’t changed much. What has changed is the pace of Google updates. They are a constant source of stress for many SEO-focused affiliates. They now come one after another and sometimes have a big impact.
And now when AI begins to reshape how people search, affiliates will need to rethink how they attract organic traffic. In some cases, we’ve already seen that AI-driven results take away up to 30% of traffic from organic searches. Its growing impact means we should prepare for fundamental changes coming ahead.
What’s helped us most is staying extremely focused. We ran at a loss for almost two years after starting the company. It is often the reality when you are starting a SEO based business. It was incredibly stressful, we nearly ran out of money for salaries at one point. But we kept going with one plan — to make it work.
Now we have grown to 60+ websites, 300 partners and a team of over 50 people. And we didn’t aim for perfection, we aimed for progress. That speed-first mindset helped us significantly.
In a competitive industry like iGaming, looking back, can you think of an idea or plan that felt very risky at first but ended up being a big success for Media 24? What did you learn from that?
One of the riskier moves was our “plant seeds everywhere” strategy. We decided early on to enter almost every market where sports betting was popular. Around 90 GEOs in total. In some cases, the numbers said we shouldn’t bother doing that. But we trusted our instinct.
In that way we were able to quickly identify promising markets, then double down where the data started to make sense. It taught us that data is crucial, but so is intuition. Especially in an industry where emerging markets can surprise you.
It also helped us distribute risk. With presence on so many markets, external factors like Google updates or website blocking had a much smaller impact on the overall business. That made Media 24 much stronger and agile in the long run.
Does Media 24 use new technologies like AI? If so, how does using these technologies help the company get stronger or better at what it does?
Definitely. AI-powered tools have already helped us a lot. For example, we noticed a content formatting task that took our managers hours every day. It was repetitive and added up to dozens of lost hours weekly. So, we built an AI-powered algorithm to automate it. Now it takes just minutes, saving our team days and weeks of work each year.
We’re watching AI closely and see a lot of potential. A few months ago, we started developing an AI-first mindset across the team, setting up bi-monthly meetings and workshops to explore how we use these tools and what’s possible. It’s already changing how we work, and we hope to build up on that. The goal is to figure out how we can optimize our work processes and eliminate as many routine, repetitive tasks as possible. We want to free our employees as much time as possible to think, to create, to be proactive, and to create value.
If you could give one piece of advice to someone wanting to build a successful company in iGaming today, what would it be?
Focus on building something future-proof. That means strong partnerships, transparency, and a long-term mindset. In affiliate marketing, a lot of your success depends on trust. Both with users and with operators.
Also, don’t wait for everything to be perfect before launching. Start fast, learn fast, and improve as you go. The ability to move quickly is still one of the biggest advantages you can have in this space.
What are the main future plans for Media 24, and what kind of impact do you hope the company will have on the iGaming world in the years to come?
Our focus is on becoming a product-driven company. We’re seeing a shift in the industry, many affiliates are building tools and user experiences that go far beyond what was considered enough a few years ago. That’s the direction we’re heading as well.
The new generation of players wants better experiences. We hope Media 24 can play a leading role in creating what the future of affiliate marketing looks like. Agile, technological, and always focused on the user.
The post HIPTHER Community Voices: Interview with CEO of Media 24 Martins Lasmanis appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
-
Latest News3 months ago
Week 17/2025 slot games releases
-
Latest News3 months ago
Fortuna Partners with 2025 UEFA Under-21 EURO
-
Latest News3 months ago
Esports World Cup Foundation Confirms Full Game Lineup, Schedule, and Club Championship Rules for EWC 2025
-
Latest News2 months ago
ELA Games Receives Key Nomination at EGR Marketing & Innovation Awards
-
Latest News3 months ago
ACR POKER’S NEXT HIGH STAKES ADVENTURE TAKES PLAYERS TO MONTENEGRO FOR PRESTIGIOUS SUPER HIGH ROLLER SERIES
-
Latest News3 months ago
Bojoko.com Surpasses €100 Million in All-Time Deposits Milestone
-
Latest News3 months ago
LeoVegas Group to Open a New Office in Leeds
-
Latest News2 months ago
LEGENDS by Fire & Ice: July 1st at The BOX Soho
You must be logged in to post a comment Login