The biggest sponsorship agreement in the club’s history also includes the option to be paid certain performance-based bonuses in Bitcoin at the end of each season.

Coingaming says that this will permit the club “the opportunity to take advantage of the new, high-growth currency if it feels it will bring significant future benefits”.

“The team at Sportsbet.io have built a successful business by challenging convention and disrupting the market, but in a responsible way, and their approach to our partnership with them has been no different,” David Thomas, Southampton’s CCO, explained. 

“In a short timeframe they’ve proven to be innovative, forward thinking and extremely supportive of the club, our fans and the wider community, and we’ve welcomed the opportunity to develop and promote safe gambling messages together. As such they have become valued partners and we look forward to the next chapter together”

Since taking over the front-of-shirt sponsorship in August 2020 at short notice, the Premier League outfit adds that the company has “worked tirelessly with the club to create a positive impact in the local community and highlight the importance of safe betting”.

This work included a ‘Listen To The Saint In You’ campaign that was launched during Safer Gambling Week, linking up with a number of Saints players to encourage fans to consider the risks before placing a bet.

Most recently Sportsbet.io also donated their shirt sponsorship to the Saints Foundation for the Premier League match against Burnley to help drive awareness of the Foundation’s fundraising efforts as they aim to raise vital funds lost due to the pandemic. 

This gesture alone helped the Foundation raise thousands of pounds on the day, a figure that was topped up by Sportsbet.io, who donated an additional £10k.

Maarja Pärt, CEO of the Coingaming Group, added: “Our first season as Southampton FC’s Main Club Partner has already exceeded all expectations. We’ve been inspired by the passion of the club and its fans, and it was an easy decision for us to extend our partnership with the Saints for another three years. 

“From the beginning, Southampton have been a perfect match for the fun, fast and fair way we do things at Sportsbet.io. We can’t wait to continue this journey with the Saints, and we’ll be doing everything we can to support the team and its community into the future.”

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Players on Sportsbet.io and Bitcasino.io now have access to leading Red Tiger slots, with more new releases to follow.

The Red Tiger content joins more than 1,400 slot, table and live dealer games utilising cryptocurrencies on Bitcasino.io.

Both Bitcasino.io and Sportsbet.io also have access to Red Tiger’s platform-wide Smart Spin functionality, which means operator partners can offer players free spin incentives.

Gavin Hamilton, CEO of Red Tiger Gaming, said: “The Coingaming Group offers a unique proposition in the casino world and with the popularity of cryptocurrencies continuing to grow, we are excited to offer Red Tiger Gaming’s full suite of content to this ever-expanding customer base.

“We are looking forward to seeing how our games are received on both the Bitcasino.io and Sportsbet.io brands and anticipate an exciting partnership going forward.”

Tauri Tiitsaar, head of casino at the Coingaming Group, said: “Red Tiger is a recognised market leader in producing slot games and their innovative approach to development goes hand-in-hand with ours.

“We’re delighted that we are able to offer their full portfolio to our customers, giving them an incredible choice of premium-quality games and keeping them firmly at the centre of our universe.”

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The deal, for an undisclosed seven-figure sum, will accelerate the introduction of new promotional and social capabilities to Kalamba operators.

Kalamba, which was founded in 2016, will also be better positioned to address region-specific market demands.

RB Capital has a track record of identifying up-and-coming companies within gaming while, for Vereeni, the investment in Kalamba complements the other brands in which Vereeni has holdings, including companies from across igaming, business intelligence, software development, crypto and blockchain verticals.

Tim Heath, founding partner at Vereeni Investments, said: “In less than two years, Kalamba Games has displayed the creativity and expertise required to make a major splash in slots development. By taking a significant equity share, we are confident that Vereeni Investments can help Kalamba Games reach the next level in its development.

“We are also thrilled to have struck this deal alongside RB Capital, which brings an unmatched level of experience across the igaming space.”

Steve Cutler, CEO and co-founder of Kalamba Games, added: “[Co-founder] Alex Cohen and I, as well as the whole team at Kalamba, are very excited that we have joined forces with Vereeni and RB Capital, who bring the financial resources and strategic capital, that match our vision for being a tier one supplier in the casino games industry.

“The investment gives us the ability to scale up the development teams in Krakow, maintain our already aggressive velocity and build the Games Platform coupled with the engagement and retention tools, that the industry still desperately needs.

“We will also be setting up the new head office in Malta, where we will continue to strengthen the business development, marketing and finance teams.”

Julian Buhagiar, co-founder, RB Capital, said: “It is truly a pleasure for us to be working with Steve, Alex and all the team at Kalamba. We’ve been watching them closely for a while now, and in a short time they have built a very compelling games portfolio. It is very exciting to be supporting their efforts to acquire new territories with their disruptive content. We see significant opportunities for growth ahead for Kalamba.”

Based in Malta and founded in 2017 by Coingaming Group CEO Heath, Vereeni has made a series of strategic investments in the igaming industry, including OneTouch, Sherpa, Coolbet, Global Gaming, Hexagon, Skrilla and Singular.

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Vowing to put “customers at the centre of the universe” as it strives to offer the industry’s widest range of currency options, with this latest introduction coming off the back of a feedback process.

Following the launch of the newly enhanced Bitcasino online and mobile offering, a large number of Bitcasino’s player base requested the introduction of Litecoin.

The bitcoin casino operated by Coingaming falls in line with the groups core philosophy of placing its “customers at the centre of the universe,” with its development team delivering the Litecoin offering “in record time,” enabling players to select from and use a wide variety of currencies.

Bitcasino has recently relaunched its online and mobile products “with load speeds up to eight times faster than its competitors offering the industry’s most advanced, mobile-first and customer-friendly casino product”.

Players can now deposit, play, win and withdraw in Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin, while also taking advantage of BTCXE, the industry-first fiat-to-Bitcoin currency converter.

Tauri Tiitsaar, head of casino at Bitcasino.io, commented: “We pride ourselves on listening to our players and, after a great deal of feedback and interaction, we took the immediate step to deliver what our customers wanted.

“By consistently striving to put our players at the heart of everything we do, we’re creating the ultimate fun, fast and fair gaming experience. The introduction of Litecoin is yet another example of how we want to make our customers our priority, and give them complete control of their experience.”

Launched in October 2011 as a spin-off to Bitcoin, Litecoin is lauded as “the world’s third most popular altcoin behind Ethereum and Bitcoin and offers players rapid processing speeds and lower transaction fees”.

Both Ethereum and Bitcoin have already been integrated into the Bitcasino gaming experience, generating record numbers of transactions in 2018 as a result.

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The operator has added a new purple mode for players with the fresh skin a direct result of user feedback, with some players saying they missed the familiar Bitcasino.io purple following the site’s relaunch at the beginning of December.

As well as the purple skin, a new dark mode is set to follow early next year.

Pavel Navolochko, head of design at Bitcasino.io, said: “Our players have been really impressed with the new website, but when they told us they missed the classic purple look, we knew there was still work to be done.

“We pride ourselves on reacting quickly to feedback from our customers and rolling out the new purple Bitcasino.io mode just weeks after we received the first comments underlines this commitment,” he said.

“We will continue to place our customers at the heart of our development process and look forward to using future feedback to drive forward innovation.”

Bitcasino.io relaunched its website to offer players a faster and more user-friendly casino experience in early December. The new site boasts an array of innovative new features as well as load speeds up to eight-times faster than many competitors.

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The move simplifies depositing for players and welcomes those using credit and debit cards with a simple fiat-to-bitcoin exchange service.

BTCXE uses the iSignthis platform and adheres to best-practice AML and KYC procedures, while the processing fee is set at a consistent 1.95 per cent of the fiat currency amount.

Tauri Tiitsaar, head of casino at Bitcasino.io, said: “The popularity of cryptocurrencies continues to grow therefore it’s now more important than ever for us to find ways to make playing easier for customers.

“Industry-first partnerships like this one with BTCXE not only offer something unique to our loyal players while also attracting new ones but helps us to stay ahead of the curve.”

Bitcasino operator, The Coingaming Group, has also introduced the exchange to customers of betting brand Sportsbet.io.

A BTCXE spokesperson said: “The popularity of cryptocurrency gambling continues to rise in stock by the day and we are delighted to partner with industry frontrunners Bitcasino.io and Sportsbet.io.

“Our software offers a simple solution that allows everyone form cryptocurrency novices to experts enjoy both platforms and we are 100-per-cent confident the benefits will be clear to see for both parties.”

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A millibitcoin is worth about US$9 at time of writing while a bit – expressed as µ฿ – is worth one-thousandth of that, so $0.009, or around one cent.

Tim Heath, CEO of the Coingaming Group, said: “With bitcoin now well and truly in the mainstream, and its price continuing to surge, we wanted to ensure all games and sports events were accessible to all types of customer.

“Reducing our gaming unit to bits is the ideal way of doing so and keeps the user at the centre of our universe.

“Our customers can now play and bet more for the same money, and we expect this to encourage even more users to sign up to the leading bitcoin casino and sportsbook, while also providing existing loyal players with greater flexibility and potential play time.”

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In 2018, barely an edition of the financial pages passes without talk of bitcoin or blockchain and a highly volatile bitcoin value has helped gain traction in editorial meetings worldwide.

As the online gaming sector gathers in London for this week’s ICE Totally Gaming, CasinoBeats talked to Dominic Bourke, director of casino at Bitcasino.io, part of the Coingaming Group, about bitcoin – its recent ups and downs and its future in gaming.

Bitcoin’s value has been volatile over recent months – what do you make of that? How does this impact the running of an online casinos? Do players need reassurance?

DB: “I think we have to look at the volatility of recent months as separate to what’s generally been occurring in the industry over the past few years. We’ve seen bitcoin hit levels we’ve never seen before, and with this comes unpredictability. From within the industry, we’ve obviously enjoyed seeing the spike in bitcoin’s value, but this hasn’t changed our business strategy.

“We are here for the long-term, so we’ve established stringent procedures to ensure we can cope with volatility, while continuing to grow our product range on the back of our recent rebrand. For example, we have built in the ability to adjust our minimum and maximum bets to align with player’s gaming expectations based on the current value of bitcoin. Tools such as this mitigate against price volatility’s impact on the user experience.

“The average player at Bitcasino.io understands the risks and opportunities that bitcoin can present, but we must still ensure we do all we can to educate, and that’s an area we’ll continue to focus on, particularly as crypto continues into the mainstream.”

Have you seen any changes in traffic or player behaviour since bitcoin has, as you say, entered the mainstream?

“Without a doubt. As we’ve evolved as a business and secured our position as the leading bitcoin casino operator, our player type has also changed. We now have a far more diversified player base. Some of these have been early adopters of bitcoin, some fortunate with recent investments, and some just curious. Of course, what all these users have in common is that they want a world-class casino experience. Regardless of bitcoin’s price movements, that’s our priority.

“This diversity has changed the type of games our players play, the average stakes, the average game times and the channels they play on. As a company looking to compete with major tier-one fiat [currency] casinos, we must excel across the board, and we’re doing everything in our power to do so.”

Have there been certain regions that have adapted bitcoin gaming at a faster rate than others, and if so, why do you think this is?

“The cryptocurrency sector, led by bitcoin, has been a truly global phenomenon, and it’s no different when it comes to casino. The flexibility of bitcoin, and its ability to change hands across borders with relative ease, has meant those in less-established gaming territories can now access a viable, quality product.

“We’ve seen strong sign-up figures from various Latin American countries, across East Asia and throughout some of the traditional casino heartlands in Europe. We’ve serviced this demand with the roll out of multilingual sites, including Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Spanish, Korean and Thai versions, with many more in development.”

What are the major challenges you face in the coming months and years as a bitcoin-led casino, and how will you deal with these?

“Our focus is on the user experience. For instance, as bitcoin’s value increases, we will adopt a new staking denomination to simplify our proposition to players.

“Likewise, with so many cryptocurrencies currently available, we are opening our payment options up to include Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, Ether and other digital currencies. This widens our audience and diversifies our cryptocurrency holdings, helping us manage growing risk.

“Another breakthrough for the Coingaming Group has also been the trialling of the Lightning Network. Without going into too much technical jargon, we can now remove a lot of the heavy lifting off the blockchain, by moving transaction chains off grid when between two parties, and then back on once they’ve been finalised. This has made for a more seamless user experience and will help secure our market-leading position.”

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