Latest News
POKERSTARS CASINO UNVEILS ELECTRIFYING ‘OLYMPUS STORM CONNECTIFY PAYS POWER COMBO™’ AS ITS LATEST SLOTLIST GAME TO STRIKE
Reading Time: 6 minutes
Behind The Slotlist: Bringing Olympus Storm Connectify Pays Power Combo to Life
It might be early morning in Reno but John Duffy, the CEO of Gold Coin Studios – the folk behind this month’s The Slotlist release, Olympus Storm Connectify Pays Power Combo – is already fizzing with energy and ready to unpack the creative journey in bringing this much-anticipated Ancient Greece-themed game to PokerStars Casino players’ screens.
Gold Coin Studios are a small enough entity in the iGaming industry, but have a big reach, thanks in part to their relationship with Games Global. And Duffy, with his 25- person team, are looking to shake things up further with the release of Olympus Storm Connectify Pays Power Combo.
Player First
Speaking with gusto and genuine fondness for the project, Duffy has clearly been involved in every aspect of the game’s production. From animation and theme choice, to sound design and promotion. But he also has a keen understanding of what players want to play now and, perhaps more importantly, what they want to play tomorrow.
“If we think there’s something we’ve got to do to the game that’ll improve the player experience, regardless of how hard it is, then we will do it,” he offers over a video call a couple of weeks out from the launch of Olympus Storm Connectify Pays Power Combo on
The Slotlist.
“Because you don’t want to release something that players don’t enjoy or understand right away.”
Gold Coin’s CEO continues: “Our tagline is ‘We make players’ favourite go-to games’.” “I’ve given many presentations over the years, and I’m always asked: ‘Who is your typical slot player?’ My answer is that players will try the shiny new toy, new games will come out, and they will try them but ultimately, they will go back to their favourite go-to game.
“We want a portfolio of players’ favourites, so they come for more than just the latest release. We aim to build a loyal player base that loves playing our games long beyond launch day”
Genesis of Olympus Storm Connectify Pays Power Combo So, what was the genesis of Olympus Storm Connectify Pays Power Combo? Ancient Greek themes are legendarily popular with slots players, but there’s a lot more going on under the hood with Olympus Storm Connectify Pays Power Combo, according to Duffy.
“Slot games are interesting in terms of how they come together,” states the studio CEO.
“We hold so-called ‘Blue Sky’ sessions, where we have the creative group come in and we brainstorm different ideas. For this one I extended it to the broader group for our Connectify PaysTM feature.
“Something we wanted to explore was creating a nice simple feature for the players where the game has just three straight lines. You must connect a specific symbol and all the different prize reels but we wanted to include lots of permutations to advance the simplicity a little.”
Gaming Trends
Gold Coin Studios are good at spotting trends and gauging what is working well – there’s years of experience within the business.
“We’re still early in the feature’s development but workshopping it with the wider team was energising – everyone got involved and we left with a long list of ideas. One clear theme was the surge in the Power Combo mechanic.
You see it everywhere, even on the floors of the brick-and-mortar casinos here in Reno. We regularly tour the land-based market to keep our finger on the pulse, and each visit we spot more Power Combo titles.”
He continues: “Our thinking was simple: pair the popular and much-loved Power Combo feature with Connectify Pays, a hit in our first titles, and bring them together.
We then developed three Connectify Pays variants that stack and combine into a single, unified feature.”
The Mechanic
This process of idea refinement continued, according to Duffy, leading to a more concrete mechanic for Olympus Storm Connectify Pays Power Combo.
“The first variation of Connectify PaysTM was the Connectify PaysTM Free Spins combination. As you’re playing, you’re landing a special symbol on the prize reel that gives you more spins throughout the feature. Then the next one was the X-LARGE Free Spins feature, which is where you have your normal grid for the Link&WinTM and you have rows that you can open up from there. Combined those two could work nicely together.”
He adds: “The third one is like a dual array, but we wanted to have a different take on it. Rather than having two separate grids we wanted to have both coming in from either side onto the one prize reel. And then again, you can put Free Spins and add extra rows on there and it would combine into one beautiful set of three features.
“You know, we go through lots of different discussions to get there, but I think we landed in a great spot here because the game combines the variations so well together.”
Characters
The Greek theme became an important part of the underlying mechanic of the game, as well as being an obvious crowd favourite.
“Obviously Zeus is big, but the key thing with the theme is, how does it tie into the game design?” explains Duffy. “With the Power ComboTM, we had to have three characters. We went with Zeus, who may trigger the X-LARGE Free Spins feature, Artemis who may trigger the X-ARRAY Free Spins feature and Hades who may trigger the X-SPINS Free
Spins feature. Behind the scenes work
Empowering his team to be creative and opening up the floor to all thoughts and ideas has borne fruit for Gold Coin Studios. There’s a strong team of important people working hard behind the scenes according to Duffy.
“I’m the key producer of the games, but I’ve got a truly great guy helping me out, Matthew Parker, who’s just amazing. His knowledge is growing rapidly and he’s always got great ideas. He’s just a phenomenal support to me.”
“We’ve got two mathematicians, and I want them to feel empowered to pitch ideas, not just run the numbers. And they come up with great ideas as well. For example, the mathematician who did Olympus Storm had a lot of input into the game there.”
The studio CEO is keen to applaud the work of the team and support functions in getting Olympus Storm Connectify Pays Power Combo to market. “It’s not just me, there is great team effort here. We do a lot of that initial design work and the math behind it. When moving on to the art process, we’ve got a small team of artists who do a phenomenal job. The artists that worked on Olympus Storm Connectify
Pays Power Combo have done a tremendous job – the artwork is just beautiful. I just love it and the reaction to it from everybody has been amazing.” Duffy continues: “There’s technical art involved in creating a game as well, including the animation that comes into it once you’ve got the game in reasonable shape.
“We extend the game review to external groups for their individual reviews to get those fresh eyes on it to avoid making assumptions because we are so close to the game. This way we avoid somebody else playing the game and their eyes glaze over and go, ‘what on earth did you just do there?’ It’s a sense check to see if there’s any improvements needed before the game is ready to launch.”
“Then the last part of that puzzle through that development process is our sound engineer. I’ve worked with him for a long time because I worked with IGT for 25 years before coming over into this space. Our sound engineer is fantastic and creates great music and sounds for our games.”
Quality Assurance
Gold Coin Studios approach to quality assurance is equally robust and intense, according to Duffy.
“Once the game’s built, our internal Quality Assurance team goes beyond the rulebook. They try to break it, flip orientations, mash inputs, run wild edge cases, anything to surface issues. When everything checks out, we give it the green light.”
“Then there’s an external process with Games Global where we go through their testing department for the full approval which includes a lot of moving parts. We’ve got a couple of technical project managers that that keep us on board there.”
Getting the game noticed in an incredibly crowded and creative industry is where having a ‘cheerleader’, or someone willing to go to bat for you to get the game noticed, becomes a vital component.
Duffy nods in agreement: “The last piece of our puzzle is Elio Zirilli, Business Development Manager at Games Global, and getting him trained up on the game and understanding the game, so he can go out there and promote and sell it.
For Duffy, getting the support from Games Global was massive: “Their distribution is great. They’ve got the whole testing and approval process covered. To have the support of a big company like Games Global has been phenomenal”, he offers.
Speaking separately to Elio Zirilli, he backed up Duffy’s insistence on giving players what they want as being key to this project, saying: “The players are our main focus, so our aim is to deliver the best, most engaging experience possible for them.”
One last question for Duffy – what are his thoughts on being included in The Slotlist? “We’re honoured to be on The Slotlist”, the Gold Coin Studios CEO says. “You know, it’s fantastic, getting a game to the most visibility we possibly can so more players can enjoy it. This will generate that player exposure that you can only dream of, so hopefully this is the first of many.”
The post POKERSTARS CASINO UNVEILS ELECTRIFYING ‘OLYMPUS STORM CONNECTIFY PAYS POWER COMBO™’ AS ITS LATEST SLOTLIST GAME TO STRIKE appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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
Salford customer triumphs at Genting Casino £20k Spin Leaderboard Challenge final
3 Oaks Gaming fortifies position in Italy’s regulated gambling market with Stanleybet.it tie-up
Finland’s Gambling Reform Is Official – What Happens Next?
GAMEPOP: The Culture of Play by Red Bull Media House – the first bookazine devoted entirely to video game culture
Red Rake Gaming Expands Global Presence Through Partnership with QTech Games
White Hat Studios launches with Betly mobile sportsbook and casino in West Virginia
-
Latest News3 months ago
Announcement: 25th September 2025
-
Latest News6 days agoSCCG Announces Strategic Partnership with Yellow Elephant Studios to Expand Multi-Channel Gaming Content Worldwide
-
Latest News1 month ago
JioBLAST Launches All Stars vs India powered by Campa Energy: A New Era of Creator-Driven Esports Entertainment
-
Latest News3 months ago
The Countdown is On: Less Than 3 Months to Go Until The Games of The Future 2025 Kicks Off in Abu Dhabi
-
eSports1 month ago
CS:GO Betting Gains Momentum in the iGaming Sector
-
Latest News2 weeks ago
THE 2025 PUBG MOBILE GLOBAL CHAMPIONSHIP GROUP STAGE WRAPS UP WITH LAST CHANCE IN SIGHT
-
Latest News3 months ago
Leading The Charge! Euronics Group Joins LEC As Official Electronics Retail Partner
-
Latest News3 months ago
Evolution launches Sneaky Slots — a Bold New Slot Studio
You must be logged in to post a comment Login