GR8 Tech’s drive-time podcast Bet It Drives closes out its debut season in the fast lane with Stephen Crystal, Founder of SCCG Management and a 30+ year veteran of the gaming world. From reshaping tribal and riverboat gaming to owning iconic Las Vegas casinos and driving more than $3 billion in finance, M&A, and technology projects, Stephen has spent his career at the center of the industry’s biggest moves.

In the passenger seat with host Yevhen Krazhan, GR8 Tech’s CSO, Stephen takes listeners from the glitter of Vegas to the global stage—where he has advised 120+ client-partners across 100 countries, built US operations for the UK’s largest bookmaker, and cut high-profile sports betting deals with teams like the Cincinnati Bengals and Vegas Golden Knights.

On this ride, Stephen opens up about:

• Whether industry events really bring the business
• Why he believes in connecting people to people above everything else
• How he’d reshape iGaming conferences (hint: more case studies, less fluff)
• The single-sentence keynote he’d deliver if given the mic
• The people and principles that shaped his journey
• The art of closing deals and the mindset behind his business approach
• Which song he cues up when it’s deal-done time
• His take on when it’s “network” and when it’s definitely “not work”

“Stephen brought the kind of wisdom you only get from decades at the very top of gaming and a career spent building, betting, and believing in people,” said Krazhan. “It was a very inspirational, motivational talk—and Stephen officially earned a Bet It Drives seatbelt of honor.”

As always, Bet It Drives trades the studio for the streets of London, filming each episode entirely on the move with a multi-camera crew capturing both the ride and the real talk. The result is a podcast that has blended insider insights with unscripted, human moments all season long—from Alex Pratt and Helen Walton to Rohini Sardana, and now Stephen Crystal in the finale.

Watch Episode 4 with Stephen Crystal now on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

That’s a wrap for Season 1. But don’t unbuckle just yet—Bet It Drives will be back soon. Follow GR8 Tech and stay tuned: Season 2 is already on the horizon, promising more bold voices, more candid conversations, and more reasons to hit play.

SOFTSWISS, a global tech provider with over 15 years of iGaming expertise, announces that its Head of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) team, Eleni Panagiotopoulou, has been invited to deliver a lecture for AML Fundamentals, the newly launched training programme by Sumsub Academy. The course, which goes live on 15 September 2025, offers free online access to compliance professionals worldwide.

AML has become one of the most pressing topics for a wide range of highly regulated sectors. Regulators are intensifying oversight, and companies face increasing responsibilities to safeguard their operations and the wider financial system. Against this backdrop, Eleni’s participation underscores both SOFTSWISS’s expertise in compliance and its commitment to supporting the iGaming industry.

Drawing on her experience across operators, regulators, and compliance leadership roles, Eleni participates in the iGaming-focused module of the six-part course. Her sessions explore how money laundering risks manifest in casinos, betting platforms, lotteries, and online gaming environments, and how operators can strengthen their frameworks to meet evolving regulatory expectations.

Speaking ahead of the course launch, Eleni Panagiotopoulou said: “iGaming is one of the fastest-paced and high-risk sectors when it comes to financial crime. In countries where gaming is a cornerstone of the economy, AML compliance isn’t just a regulatory requirement; it’s a business imperative. Through this course, I look forward to sharing practical, industry-specific insights that compliance teams can put into action straight away.”

Natalie Buraimoh, Head of AML Product at Sumsub, added: “We’re pleased to be working with leading partners like SOFTSWISS to bring additional iGaming expertise into this course, helping professionals address some of the sector’s most complex AML challenges. After ten years of helping businesses navigate compliance, we know how quickly AML requirements evolve, and our aim is to deliver accessible training that professionals at every level can apply in their daily work.”

The Sumsub Academy AML Fundamentals course brings together leading experts from across the financial crime prevention space, including specialists in fintech, payments, and crypto. Participants who complete the programme will receive a shareable AML certificate.

For SOFTSWISS, this appointment highlights the company’s growing influence in global compliance conversations, while reinforcing its deep roots in Malta’s iGaming ecosystem.

About SOFTSWISS

SOFTSWISS is an international technology company with over 15 years of experience in developing innovative solutions for the iGaming industry. SOFTSWISS provides comprehensive software for managing iGaming projects. The company’s product portfolio includes the Casino Platform, the Game Aggregator with over 35,000 casino games, Affilka Affiliate Platform, the Sportsbook Platform, and the Jackpot Aggregator. The expert team, based in Malta, Poland, and Georgia, counts over 2,000 employees.

World’s largest online casino operator is first to introduce Animo’s live-action, animated hosts designed specifically for iGaming sector

Animo Studios, founded by top livestreamer and Fortnite champion Harley Fresh, has launched a suite of live, animated characters for live online games, exclusively on Stake for a limited time.

Through a combination of advanced motion capture, live broadcasting, machine learning, and proprietary software and hardware, Animo allows human hosts to transform into live-action characters with unique names, storylines, and personalities. These characters have been created to provide an incredibly immersive experience for online gamers and bettors.

Animo’s proprietary technology is also designed to scale, with ambitions to extend beyond table games and into live game shows, with other products in development. This partnership unlocks vast potential for IP and branding in the live sector, where Animo’s team have joined forces with IP veterans, who have executed campaigns with Netflix, Warner Bros and Universal Studios, among others.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLe-iZdD0Sw

“Animo is set to reshape table games, game shows, and beyond, reimagining how we play, connect, and engage online,” said Animo CEO Fresh, who boasts almost 8 million subscribers on YouTube. “The live entertainment space has stagnated for too long, and we see enormous potential to bridge the gap between gaming and iGaming.”

Real-time interaction

Animo’s animated hosts interact with physical objects in immersive environments. Players can communicate directly with their hosts, creating a new level of engagement and trust.

Animo will also offer celebrities and influencers the opportunity to insert IP-based characters into platforms, game shows, and other formats – bringing their profile to a wider audience.

“Animo’s innovative use of software and hardware pushes the entertainment experience to the next level,” said Brais Pena, Chief Strategy Officer of Easygo, the Melbourne-based tech powerhouse behind Stake. “It’s exactly the type of project we want to support.”

Animo is positioned to attract entirely new audiences and bring online players back to live table games. It has partnered with some of the world’s largest iGaming operators and aggregators, starting exclusively with Stake after going live for the first time on Monday 8 September.