For the 16^th edition of BEGE, one of the most important events in the gaming industry in the Balkans, the expo proudly brings back the “Gaming Start-UP Challenge 7.0” as a highlight of this year’s event. This exciting entrepreneurial competition returns to the BEGE and EEGS stage, offering start-ups a unique platform to showcase their innovations to industry leaders and investors.

The challenge is open to start-ups developing groundbreaking solutions relevant to the gaming industry. Whether your focus is on advanced payment methods, online gaming platforms, cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies, security solutions, or cutting-edge game development tools, your innovation has a place here. The competition also welcomes pioneering work in augmented and virtual reality, esports and live streaming, and responsible gaming technologies. In essence, any technology that enhances or revolutionizes the gaming or gambling experience fits the spirit of this challenge.

Participants will have the exclusive chance to pitch their start-up live on the EEGS stage, gaining invaluable exposure during the two-day BEGE exhibition. Beyond the stage, this event provides a vibrant networking environment to connect with potential partners, investors, and key stakeholders across the gaming ecosystem.

To apply, startups are required to pay a nominal participation fee of 100 euros to secure their spot. Selected applicants will receive a short questionnaire and be invited to prepare a concise presentation for the competition.

Don’t miss this opportunity to propel your gaming start-up into the spotlight and join the forefront of gaming innovation.

Apply now and take your place in shaping the future of the industry!

Incentive Games Launches Real-Money Gaming Division, Incentive Studios

Incentive Games, a leading name in free-to-play game development, is proud to announce the launch of Incentive Studios, its new real-money gaming (RMG) division.

Built on years of success delivering high-performing free-to-play titles to global operators, and leveraging extensive user psychology and behaviour research, Incentive Studios marks a strategic expansion into the real-money gaming market.

Incentive Studios will focus on creating immersive real-money gaming content, kicking things off by putting a fresh spin on popular game variants like Crash, Tower, and Arcade. These aren’t simple upgrades; they’re complete rebuilds from the ground up, blending captivating gameplay with smart design principles to ensure lasting engagement.

John Gordon, Chief Executive Officer at Incentive Games said, “We’ve spent years refining the art of engagement in the free-to-play world. Now we’re bringing that same level of craft, creativity, and player psychology to our real-money games. Incentive Studios is where innovation meets performance.”

Clients can expect familiar game formats, reimagined with a sharp focus on maximizing re-engagement and long-term play. Every title is built with user-centric design at its core, crafted to engage the next generation of real-money gaming players. With an player-first approach, the games are designed to drive acquisition, retention, and revenue.

With a growing library of original RMG titles in the pipeline, Incentive Studios is set to make its mark on the global gaming landscape. The first wave of games will be available to partners in Q3 2025.

TESTA, the crowd testing platform for the iGaming industry, has launched its innovative TESTA Score with CasinoCompare.ph, a Philippine-focused online casino affiliate—and the only platform exclusively listing PAGCOR-licensed online casinos.

TESTA Score is a new UX quality benchmark developed by TESTA that shines a light on online casino brands in markets with new regulatory compliance standards.

Using real testers with local devices, IDs and bank accounts, TESTA evaluates each operator’s performance across four key processes – registration, deposit, withdrawal and KYC.

Each process is scored against strict usability parameters such as the number of required input fields, page clicks, lead times for verification and fund arrival, as well as the number of KYC attempts required.

The total possible score is 100, divided across:

The TESTA Score provides objective, player-centric transparency in any market.

With local connectivity, device preferences and regulatory friction in mind, the scoring system reflects the real-world user journey and highlights where improvements are most needed.

This then provides a chance for operators to improve their key flows, especially KYC, and then apply for a re-test to update their published score.

CasinoCompare.ph becomes the first online casino affiliate to deploy TESTA Score, with six Philippine-licensed online casinos now ranked. The site is operated by AFFILI.ph whose aim is to set a new industry standards for transparency, trust, and player confidence.

The six sites include Casino Plus, Desk Game, FBM E.Motion, Bet88, PlayTime and Crazy Win.

While most operators performed well on the core user flows, the KYC process emerged as the main differentiator.

Operators that lacked a working KYC step at withdrawal automatically received a zero in that category, pulling down their overall TESTA Score significantly.

This is how they fared:

Casino Plus led the pack with a total score of 97/100, earning perfect marks in registration, withdrawal, and KYC, and only dropping points on deposit due to a single extra page click.

As well as accessing TESTA Score through their affiliate partners, operators can work directly with TESTA to determine their TESTA Score.

Chris Johnson, TESTA CMO, said: “Born out of frequent client requests for key processes testing, and competitor benchmarking, the TESTA Score measures the parts of the customer journey, outside of game play, that make or break player acquisition and retention.

“Operators can use their TESTA Score to understand where they stand out over their rivals and where there is a gap they need to close.

“It’s great to see that six Philippine-licensed casinos have already used TESTA Score to benchmark their UX and acquisition flows, and we look forward to working with more moving forward, both in the Philippines and other markets around the world.”