Glitnor Group

Cathryn McGinty has joined the Glitnor Group as chief human resources officer, bringing over 25 years experience in senior human resources and organisational strategy to the role.

This past expertise spans multiple sectors including FTSE 250 and blue chip organisations
such as such as William Hill, BUPA, Avis, BwinParty and TalkTalk.

“Glitnor Group has a strong brand and values driven culture, which was a key consideration for me when considering my next role,” McGinty said.

“I believe in developing a strong employer brand through providing a great employee experience. I am passionate about both customer and employee experience and putting people at the heart of our business.

“Within Glitnor Group, I see a tremendous opportunity as we grow; to develop our brand alongside our employees to offer a true best in class employee experience.”

Betsoft Gaming

Betsoft Gaming has named Anna Mackney as head of account management, where responsibilities will focus on demand generation; planning, executing and measuring throughout every stage of the sales team.

In addition to driving new business forward, Mackney will also be charged with ensuring that the group’s service and customer support will both retain and expand existing customers’ exposure to the Betsoft product portfolio, in a bid to deliver and track profitable growth for clients.

Matt Avison, managing director, Betsoft Gaming, noted: “Anna is hugely professional at onboarding clients. Now, as she takes over the leadership of the team, we anticipate positive change and sustained growth as we move into new markets.”

Rank Group

The Rank Group has announced the appointment of Katie McAlister to its board as a non-executive director, with immediate effect  She will also serve on its nominations, safer gambling and remuneration committees.

McAlister is currently the chief marketing officer for TUI Northern Region (UK, Ireland and Nordic), and sits on the TUI Northern Region board. She has thirteen years of digital and marketing experience, during which time she has been responsible for digital transformation and business change programmes.

Alex Thursby, Rank‘s chair, noted: “We are delighted to welcome Katie to the Rank board. Her extensive background in digital marketing, together with her customer-focussed strategic experience, will be a real asset. The board and I are very much looking forward to working with her over the coming years.”

BoscaSports

BoscaSports has rolled-out the recruitment of Racecourse Media Group’s Ben Dowding to its board of directors; lauding the move as “another important step” in scaling up the group on an international basis.

Downding is a senior executive with over 12 years’ experience within the Horseracing and
wider sports industries, and is currently director of betting for Racecourse Media
Group having previously held roles with The Jockey Club.

Dowding explained: “I am delighted to join the BoscaSports board and look forward to supporting the team in scaling the business and technology. They have developed a cutting-edge data and rights agnostic platform allowing betting operators complete flexibility and management of their customer experience.

“The BoscaSports technology has also been a great success for stadia and venue distribution as showcased by the transformation of UK racecourse Tote screens.

“I can already see some clear technology synergies from digital into retail across multiple sports not just racing, and how this will support international growth, with the product already due to launch in Italy with media system technologies broad network of shops.

“I will also look to bring my low latency streaming experience with Stats Perform and Phenix Real Time Solutions to bear in helping develop BoscaSports IPTV solution for retail and venues.”

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Following the SPA, OneCasino will become the latest online casino brand to operate under the Glitnor Group banner, adding to its existing platforms LuckyCasino and HappyCasino. 

Leveraging OneCasino’s “strong proprietary technology stack” and roster of exclusive slot releases offered via an in-house studio, Glitnor expects revenue for the consolidated entities on a proforma basis to surpass €150m in 2024. The deal is expected to be closed in the first half of 2025. 

Richard Brown, CEO of Glitnor, commented: “We are tremendously excited to welcome OneCasino and its team into the Glitnor Group. The transaction accelerates our long-term vision to become a leader across high value, regulated markets in the igaming industry. 

“The hugely complementary geographical profile and high-quality product OneCasino have rapidly expanded both companies’ short- and long-term addressable market. Mark and the team at OneCasino have built a fantastic company over the last years, creating a great product and working in a range of competitive regulated markets and have a proven track record of success. 

“We are very excited to combine the two companies’ offerings and accelerate our growth potential.”

Reaching the agreement to form the combined business will allow Glitnor to strengthen its position in the European gaming market, extending its operations to over eight regulated jurisdictions. 

This includes the Netherlands, Spain and Denmark, where OneCasino holds the appropriate licences to operate an online casino platform. Additionally, the operator has undertaken plans to enter the regulated German market, with its licence pending final approval. 

Mark Schram, CEO of OneCasino, added: “We’re incredibly proud of what the OneCasino team has accomplished over the years. Joining forces with the Glitnor Group marks an exciting new chapter for us as we continue to grow and expand into new markets. 

“The shared vision and synergies between both companies make this merger a perfect fit, allowing us to further enhance our proprietary technology and product offerings while continuing to focus on providing exceptional gaming experiences to our customers.

“At the core of our business we always ensure that players can enjoy our platform in a safe and responsible manner. Together, OneCasino and Glitnor are sure to become a leading force in the regulated igaming space, and I look forward to the exciting opportunities ahead.”

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Under the terms of the deal, ThrillTech’s proprietary jackpot solution will be implemented into online casino platforms within Glitnor’s portfolio, including HappyCasino, LuckyCasino and FlaxCasino. 

David Schwieler, Head of Brand at Glitnor Group, explained: “We look forward to introducing this innovative jackpot feature to our platform. By enhancing our bespoke offerings, we aim to elevate player enjoyment and ensure our commitment to delivering exceptional gaming experiences.”

ThrillTech’s advanced jackpot solution will allow each Glitnor brand to offer enhanced prizes through the provider’s in-house jackpot technology. The Swedish operator will have the ability to tailor its jackpot offerings across each platform. 

Peter Mares, Chief Technology Officer at ThrillTech, added: “We are excited to collaborate with Glitnor Group. Our market-leading jackpot technology is perfectly suited to fulfil Glitnor’s vision of delivering bespoke solutions that resonate with their players’ needs.”

Earlier this year, Glitnor Group enhanced the content offering of its several online casino platforms by reaching an agreement with Push Gaming. This deal saw the operator integrate slots such as Razor Reels and Rat King into its aforementioned online casino brands. 

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Maximising acquisitive impacts, ensuring title releases are vastly different from the tidal wave of slots on the market, and future market entries, including the UK, Ontario and Greece, were just a selection of the touchpoints as Swintt voiced much optimism at the road that lies ahead.

Set against the backdrop of a bustling CasinoBeats Summit on a sun drenched Malta, Tereza Melicharkova, Head of Marketing at the studio and its Glitnor Group parent company, elaborated on just why the future looks so bright for the firm.

In addition to heaping praise on Elysium Studios, purchased earlier in the year and elaborated on below, new market entries also became a key topic of discussion, with the aforementioned trifecta each name dropped.

Regarding the former, Melicharkova elaborated on just why the UK has formed such a crucial target for Swintt. 

“It’s the biggest regulated market, and we just felt that we might be missing out by not being there,” she said. “We can’t wait to launch with the first customers. The certificates for the games are coming in, so it’s a very exciting time for us.”

Adding: “Regarding Ontario, it gets you closer to the whole Northern American market, where everybody is targeting these days. There is a huge potential. 

“Once you’re in Ontario, when the other Canadian provinces open up, it will be an easier position to start offering your portfolio in the whole of Canada. So that’s definitely an important switch.”

“…we are maybe hoping for regulators to take a bit more of a friendly approach towards the players, studios and operators”

However, alongside such optimism is the much wider issue of keeping on top of ever changing requirements surrounding regulation, which can pose studios with the dilemma of having to adapt slots to fit demands, with the UK being one recent much discussed example. 

Touching on the studio’s own journey in this regard, she commented: “Absolutely. It’s very hard to stay on top of the game. You need to have a really skillful team of knowledgeable people, which we are very fortunate to have around at Swintt who are keeping up with the latest changes. 

“Of course, I think the whole industry can say that we are maybe hoping for regulators to take a bit more of a friendly approach towards the players, studios and operators, because we have seen in the past that they are not helping very much in making sure that we are creating a safe space for the players.

“It would just be great if we could communicate between each other more and come up with the best solutions on how to protect the players, but still let them be entertained.”

Inevitably, glances were once again cast towards Elysium Studios to build on comments made earlier in the year by Swintt CEO David Mann after the slot developer was acquired to bolster the company’s standing across a range of key jurisdictions. 

“At Swintt we have a vertical that contains more classic slots, which is catering for customers in Germany and Netherlands,” she said of the decision being taken by Swintt to enhance its portfolio.

“We felt that we would like to deliver content for Northern Europe and other similar regulated markets. We all know that that’s important and these slots are more appealing and more design focused. 

“We are making sure that the whole industry knows about upcoming titles from Elysium”

“We saw potential in collaboration with Elysium Studios. We met the guys and we thought that this is the perfect content for Swintt so we decided to acquire them.”

The discussion continued by looking at how the group will set about strategically maximising the impact of Elysium to ensure that the maximum impact of the purchase will be felt.

This, Melicharkova said, came down to what the company didn’t have, subsequently pointing to “great” commercial, marketing and technical teams and a “very strong” platform. 

In addition to noting that two titles have already been released in collaboration, she stated: “We just migrated most of the customers into the upgraded platform of Swintt. 

“Those are the ingredients that Elysium Studios was missing. So we put forces together. We are making sure that the whole industry knows about upcoming titles from Elysium.

“From the team perspective, we have an amazing account management team that is speaking to customers to put the games in the right positions that they deserve. That’s how we are making sure that together we are delivering the very best content Swintt has ever seen.” 

The overwhelming wave of slot releases week on week poses one of the most difficult challenges to studios across the world, with that being truly standing out and appealing to players amid this overload of content.

As the CasinoBeats Summit heard of operators being increasingly selective due to these ever increasing numbers, Melicharkova spoke of the group’s SwinttPremium line-up, which aims to utilise the appeal of land-based slots play within the online environment.

“This year we can’t wait to introduce what we have prepared”

To illustrate her point, she cited a well-timed alliance that was inked five years ago, a short time before much of the world entered lockdown.

“In 2019, we were very lucky that we started collaboration with a land based supplier in Germany. So, when COVID hit, we had the best opportunity to deliver their very well known content via our platform online. 

“That was step number one, because everybody loves those slots with fruits and bells. We managed to release very popular titles, and if you have popular content the customers will want it. We are very lucky in the sense that customers are asking for those titles because they work.”  

To conclude, the SBC Summit, that is set to grace the shores of Lisbon in September, was also put under the spotlight. 

Despite being coy on exactly which slot Swintt will be showcasing at the event, Melicharkova stressed an ambition of attracting more boutique studios in a bid to bolster its platform with an additional wave of unique content.

Ahead of the event, which also represents Swintt’s only stand participation of the year,  Melicharkova rounded-up by touching on the company’s altered approach, as well as what major activities attendees can expect to witness.

“We have changed the strategy of exhibiting at the events a bit,” she said. “We are very excited about having a stand at Lisbon because we always loved SBC Barcelona. Last year we had our first stand.

“We had a very popular activity around the game with Vinnie Jones where people were coming to shoot a penalty.  

“This year we can’t wait to introduce what we have prepared as well. We are looking for some entertaining activity at the stand again. So hopefully we will get as much attention as we deserve.” 

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Through the agreement, Push Gaming’s range of slot content will be made available on Glitnor’s Sweden-facing online casino brands Happy Casino and Lucky Casino. 

Sven de Ward, Head of Games at Glitnor Group, stated: “We are thrilled to partner with Push Gaming and feature its high-quality games on our platforms. Push Gaming has a strong reputation for delivering engaging and innovative titles that resonate with players. 

“We believe that this collaboration will bring added value to our players and help us enhance our gaming offering. We look forward to a successful partnership with Push Gaming and are excited about the future possibilities.”

Swedish Happy Casino and Lucky Casino players will gain access to established Push Gaming slots such as Razor Returns, Jammin Jars and the Fat series, as well as recent and upcoming releases like Wild Swarm 2, Samurai’s Katana and Shamrock Saints. 

Fiona Hickey, Chief Business Development Officer at Push Gaming, added: “Glitnor Group’s brands provide Push Gaming with a fantastic platform to reach players in Sweden – they are the fastest growing online casinos in the country, which is the perfect place for our games to be.

“We have an exciting roadmap of titles coming up that are supported by numerous established player favourites which work as a rock-solid base, meaning we’re taking a formidable range of slots to Glitnor Group, as we are globally.

“This is another important development with a key partner that maintains our current level of growth.” 

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National Indian Gaming Commission

The National Indian Gaming Commission has announced the resignation of its Chair E Sequoyah Simermeyer, bringing an end to his nine years with the commission.

As Chair, Simermeyer helped set regulatory conditions for the post-pandemic recovery. From joining the NIGC in 2015, he served as Associate Commissioner and Director of the Office of Self-Regulation, before being confirmed as Chair in 2019.

NIGC confirmed that additional details on the transition will be forthcoming.

Commenting on his time with the NIGC, Simermeyer said “I’ve witnessed firsthand how tribes across the Indian gaming industry have pursued economic sustainability through gaming by relying on – and cultivating – the robust regulatory reputation for which Indian gaming is well known and made better when supported by effective and efficient measures by Indian gaming’s regulators. I’m proud of the integral part this agency has played in meeting the challenges of an evolving industry.”

He added: “My time with NIGC has been some of the most memorable and impactful years of my career. As a Native person, I’m truly blessed to have been surrounded by experts dedicated to protecting and preserving the valuable resource Indian gaming represents for our communities.

“I’m thankful for the advice and counsel of my fellow commissioners and NIGC staff, and the support and hard work of the nearly 5,000 tribal regulators who work alongside NIGC day-in and day-out to keep Indian gaming strong now, and for the next 35 years.”

Great Canadian Entertainment

Great Canadian Entertainment has appointed Pauline Alimchandani as Chief Financial Officer, effective March 31, 2024, subject to customary regulatory approvals. 

Alimchandani will be responsible for overseeing the company’s finances and will be replacing current CFO Darren Gwozd, who is stepping down from the role.

Matthew Anfinson, CEO of Great Canadian, noted: “I am delighted to welcome Pauline to our exceptional senior management team. 

“Her extensive public company experience and deep record of successful leadership roles in finance, capital markets and financial reporting will be immensely valuable as we continue to remain focused on delivering long-term growth and creating value for our stakeholders in a socially responsible way. I look forward to her contributions.”

Alimchandani has over 18 years of experience, most recently serving as CFO for Northland Power, where she oversaw a global team across several key functions and chaired the organisation’s Investment Committee.

“I am very excited to join Great Canadian and see a significant opportunity to build upon the company’s strong financial and operational foundation, while developing capabilities that further establish the Company’s competitive advantage,” added Alimchandani.

Continent 8 Technologies

Continent 8 Technologies has grown its global commercial team with the additions of Sebastian Fernandez and Luana Monje as Sales Executives.

Fernandez and Monje will help Continent 8 with its relationships in Latin America and maximise its solutions and services potential, in addition to supporting new customers in the region, particularly in Brazil once the market launches.

Brian Koh, CCO at Continent 8 Technologies, said: “I would like to extend a very warm welcome to Sebastian and Luana who join Continent 8 at a pivotal time for the LATAM gambling market.

“Latin America is a thriving market with a lot of latent potential, something that the opening of Brazil will help to unlock. We are well positioned to help customers looking to launch into this market, and Luana will undoubtedly play a significant role in ensuring they go live with the best infrastructure and security in place.”

Based out of Buenos Aires, Fernandez joins Continent 8 from Dell Technologies, where he worked in several roles including a Senior Systems Engineer and most recently Account Executive.

Based in Sao Paulo, Monje joins from AWS (Amazon Web Services) where she held the role of Demand Generation Representative.

Fernandez noted: “I’m excited to be joining the Continent 8 team and to bring over a decade of IT experience to this role. This is an incredibly exciting region with huge potential on the table, but organisations must have the right infrastructure in place if they are to maximise the opportunity.

“This is something that Continent 8 is renowned for, and we look forward to working with businesses across the region.”

Monje added: “I couldn’t ask for a better start to the year. I look forward to sharing my AWS expertise and knowledge of the LatAm market with the team and of course our customers.”  

Glitnor Group

Glitnor Group has strengthened its C-Level team with the appointment of Mel Camilleri-Bland.

With over 15 years’ worth of igaming experience, Camilleri-Bland will join as Chief Operations Officer for LCKY Group, replacing the outgoing COO, Cameron Brown.

Before joining Glitnor Group, Camilleri-Bland was Group Director of Compliance for BVGroup, working as Head of B2B brands, COO of Mayfly Entertainment Limited, Managing Director of Monarch Sensation and A2D Entertainment, as well as Director of Operational Excellence for BetVictor.

Camilleri-Bland commented: “Having spent over a decade-and-a-half in the igaming industry working in various management, consultancy and customer service roles across multiple continents, I’m delighted to now be able to utilise my expertise on the B2C side of Glitnor Group.

“As a business, Glitnor has made giant strides forward over the past few years and I’m really looking forward to coming in at such an exciting time for the group. The team we have here is already amazing and I sincerely hope that the skills and industry know-how that I’ve accumulated over the past 15 years can add another dimension to that as we look to take things to a whole new level in 2024 and beyond.”

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CasinoBeats: Could you talk us through some of the key challenges Glitnor Group faces in terms of recruitment and what strategies you’ve put in place to overcome them?

Gillian Taylor: From a talent-perspective, Malta is a much harder sell than it used to be. While it was once the place where everybody wanted to come and join the igaming industry, these days there are some attractive emerging market hubs like Spain.

This is obviously a big factor for the younger generations – particularly millennials – we’re finding that it’s becoming harder to bring people in at entry-level positions without offering a really attractive relocation package and career path.

Another key challenge is the acquisition and retention of top tech talent. As the igaming industry is constantly changing, there’s a high demand for skilled professionals and subject matter experts, so the landscape has become a lot more competitive.

Unless you have a strong employee brand coupled with effective career development and retention initiatives in place, securing highly talented hires can be a challenge. 

CB: What do you believe are the primary factors that appeal to employees when it comes to choosing a prospective new workplace and what are their biggest turn-offs?

GT: Flexibility! These days people are more focused on work-life balance than they have been in the past, so I think companies have to be really competitive in this respect and make sure they have the right framework in place to give employees the freedom to work from different offices and locations.

Of course, having a good company culture can also make a big difference – and one of the most important parts of that is recognising we have a greater mix of generations in our industry than ever before, so you need values and initiatives that resonate with a broad range of employees.

In terms of turn-offs, organisations that don’t hold strong values, lack internal communications and a positive culture can be very off-putting for candidates. 

CB: What attributes does Glitnor Group look for in a potential new employee?

GT: One of the most important things Glitnor Group looks for when bringing in a new potential employee is how well their values mesh with those of the company – and to evaluate that, you first have to understand a little bit more about how we see ourselves. As a business and as a group we are very entrepreneurially-minded with a passion for innovation and collaboration.

We definitely look for employees with characteristics that you’d associate with that. Such as a positive and fluid mindset. Agile, forward thinking, collaborative.

While skills, experience are undoubtedly important, we do put a big focus on character, personality when hiring to align with our team values and culture. 

Whether they’re applying for an entry-level position or a senior role within the group, we believe that the candidates who display these traits are usually the ones that add the most value to our business and uphold the values we’ve worked hard to create.  

CB: In what ways would you say that the current generation differs from those in the past when it comes to recruitment?

GT: I’d say that millennials and Gen Z have both brought us a really fresh, digital view and that there’s a lot of fluidity in their mindset. They’ve lived through a really unpredictable job market and have taken all the changes they’ve faced in their stride, so they’re more willing to move from one company to the next when they feel their needs are no longer being met.

The older generation, meanwhile, place a bigger value on job security and tend to be more loyal, so it’s two very different dynamics and you need to be able to cater to both of them. I think it’s really important that we understand that and create an environment where everybody can thrive and be successful.

CB: What are some of the best strategies that can be utilised to ensure that a company has a higher retention rate of its employees?

GT: Retaining valuable talent is obviously vital to the success of any business – and while some of the more traditional things like benefits and compensation packages are obviously still very important, these days it’s about more than just money.

As I highlighted earlier, flexibility and a good work-life balance have become an even bigger priority for employees. We have, for example, a four week work from anywhere scheme, enabling employees to do their job from anywhere in the world for up to four weeks per year on approval of their line manager.

On top of that, we have recognition, rewards and employee engagement programmes that encourage staff to celebrate their achievements in and outside of the office and we also place a big focus on our eNPS outcomes. We want our employees to be seen and heard.

CB: Given how much the working world has changed in recent years, are you finding retention to be particularly difficult in the post-COVID market? Is it arguably harder now than it ever has been?

GT: Yes and no. In some areas I haven’t seen too much change, but certain departments like tech have been massively impacted. In my opinion, it’s one of the hardest areas to retain your talent because skilled developers are currently in such high demand.

If they’re working for an innovative company, they’ll likely be upskilling themselves every six months or so because technology is so fluid. I think it then becomes important stay ahead of these observations and have structures/strategies in place to retain good talent.

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Over the course of a three-part CasinoBeats special edition roundtable, a range of topics spanning work life balances, six-hour work days, the quality of life and career progression conundrum and the ‘anti-work’ movement.

Giorgi Tsutskirdze, Chief Commercial Officer at Spribe, Alina Dandörfer, Co-Founder and Director at Apparat Gaming, Cathryn McGinty, Chief People Officer at Glitnor Group, and Nana Shneider, Human Resources Development at Betbazar, offer their insights in part one.

CasinoBeats: Particularly in the last ten years or so, one of the main things that has separated successful legacy businesses and new start-ups from more old-fashioned employers is a strong focus on ‘company culture’. What exactly does this term represent to each of you individually and why is it so important in attracting the right kind of talent?

Giorgi Tsutskirdze: At Spribe it’s all about our team, which continues to successfully deliver on the most exciting yet challenging projects we take on. We have fostered a highly creative environment where everyone’s ideas are heard and valued.

This is hugely important to us as any idea has the potential to change the game for Spribe and the wider igaming industry, as we have seen with Aviator. Our culture has been constructed in a way that appeals to ambitious, free-thinking people that thrive on creativity and always want to move forwards.

For us, this means taking games in our existing portfolio to the next level or coming up with new concepts, themes, mechanics and bonuses and bringing them to market. To do this, we allow each team member to perform at their best and we combine this with cutting-edge technologies to ensure the speed and agility of our products. Ultimately, we want players to have fun when engaging with our games and for that to happen, our team needs to have fun making them.

“Corporate culture is the mirror of a company”

Alina Dandörfer, Co-Founder and Director at Apparat Gaming

Alina Dandörfer: Corporate culture is the mirror of a company. It reflects the established rules, decision making processes, manners and the official/unofficial communication channels. For me, corporate culture is therefore the consequence of decisions made in the past. Changing or even revoking these can be exhausting or even impossible. Just think of the beaten paths in a park – they acquire a raison d’être beyond the official channels, but once there, they’ll be used by all and are hard to remove.

The way I see it, company culture is a set of rules – both official and unofficial – that are expected to be followed the moment you join a company. However, sometimes you don’t really recognise the differences from the outside and what looks like the same set of rules works quite differently in one company than in another.

This makes it all the more important in the application process and beyond to have understood one’s own culture and to have communicated it properly to ensure the company and candidate really fit together. For the talents, it’s crucial to discover the hidden paths and unwritten rules of a corporate culture in order to neither be dazzled by the surface nor to get lost when searching for a future job.

Cathryn McGinty: Company culture is that central strand of DNA that should run through every aspect of your business. It’s in the tangible things like the communications you put out and the tone of voice you use in your messaging, but also in the intangible ones you can’t quite define. It’s an overall feeling and one that we’ve worked very hard to cultivate at Glitnor.

We’ve recently had a fantastic ENPS score – well into the 50s – and some of the comments we had in our employee satisfaction survey were really heartening too. If you charted it out in a word map, the term that came up most frequently would be “people” and that’s something we’re definitely focused on.

“..the ability to share a common culture is what unifies us as a team and enables us to collaborate together”

Nana Shneider, Human Resources Development at Betbazar

We put a lot of effort into engaging with our team members and making sure there’s open communication throughout the entire organisation. We genuinely don’t have much of a hierarchy and that’s something I really like about Glitnor – a lot of companies say it, but for us it really is true. Of course, we have enabling structures in place to support our growth aspirations, but at the end of the day we’re all here to work together and do a job and it doesn’t really matter what your job title is. 

We also have a really strong business heritage from our founders and I think that’s been a major part of helping us acquire top tier talent such as our new CEO.

Nana Shneider: Company culture is absolutely vital to any business. Not only does it shape the acquisition process in terms of the type of team that you’re looking to put together, but it also polishes that team as they develop and grow within your organisation.

In a nutshell, you might find the perfect candidate from a professional skills point of view, but if they don’t also reflect the values that are important to your business, it’s not going to be a good fit. It’s for precisely this reason that Betbazar places as much emphasis on an employee’s personality as we do their professionalism.

We look for candidates who have a flexible approach to work and a willingness to learn as they go. We’re all highly professional here, but we also seek to cultivate friendly relationships between our employees and I believe this is vital to cultivating a successful company culture.

At the end of the day, we work in a people-focused industry – and with the looming threat of many roles being replaced by programs like ChatGPT – the ability to share a common culture is what unifies us as a team and enables us to collaborate together.

“We have this agile mentality where we’re not afraid to try something and if it doesn’t work out, we hold our hands up and move on.”

Cathryn McGinty, Chief People Officer at Glitnor Group

CB: Whether it be helping your employees maintain a healthier work-life balance or ensuring they get the most benefit from their time in the office, can you tell us some of the ways in which your respective companies aim to provide an attractive culture and what values are important to you?

AD: In a competition where it’s usually about having the most beautiful office, the largest fruit basket or the best yoga offer at the workplace, I have perhaps a very German-sounding response – effectiveness and efficacy!

I sincerely believe that tangible effectiveness spreads everyone’s wings and that there’s no better driver than seeing one’s own ideas and work take off and begin to fly; especially when they result in a finished product which then successfully reaches the customer.

Our goal at Apparat is to create an environment that is determined by responsible actions, trust, shared values and appreciation. Aligning employees behind a common goal, honestly addressing problems and challenges, being transparent with one another and learning from failure – these are all essential parts of our DNA.

CM: I think at Glitnor it’s all about what we do differently. When you listen to our founders, they talk about the different approaches they’ve taken from a product and customer perspective and this entrepreneurial spirit also translates into how we treat our team members. Communication is something that’s on our radar at all times.

Whatever it is we’re doing, we’re always looking at ways to improve it and ensuring that we maintain this connectivity in a global workforce is a central arc of our comms strategy. We have this agile mentality where we’re not afraid to try something and if it doesn’t work out, we hold our hands up and move on.

By creating an environment where people are empowered to give things a go and there’s no fear of getting it wrong, if we do get something wrong, we fail fast, regroup, and immediately bounce back to continue developing a successful business.

“…we believe it’s important that every team member feels valued and respected, and that they are properly supported by senior management and team leaders”

Giorgi Tsutskirdze, Chief Commercial Officer at Spribe

That goes hand-in-hand with the entrepreneurial spirit I mentioned earlier with the leadership team having a strong pedigree in this respect. There’s a fantastic backstory that sits behind us and that forms a major part of our culture.

NS: At Betbazar we recognise that employees have a life outside of work and that the developments they make in a personal sphere are often equally as important as those they make in a professional one.

For this reason, we’re incredibly open to flexible working hours. If an employee finds a class or activity that can help them learn a new skill or maintain a healthier lifestyle, we fully support that and are more than happy to provide them with an extra hour or two outside of the office so that they can pursue these interests.

Of course, we also run our own activities and team building events outside of the office as well. I think in any social structure – be it a family or a group of individuals working together – we’re all led by example, so I think it’s very important that these events unite everyone in the company from the CEO down and allow us to get out and enjoy activities together.

Last year, we had a great training day on a yacht that was fantastic for shaping the team and letting people try different roles. Personally, that was a big inspiration for me to take on more responsibility. 

GT: It’s mission-critical that the Spribe team has a happy work-life balance. To ensure this, we hold regular team-building events, have Happy Friday each week and even run internal poker tournaments to boost team spirit and keep people motivated.

As well as having fun, we believe it’s important that every team member feels valued and respected, and that they are properly supported by senior management and team leaders. It’s also important for people to grow and develop, and that’s why we offer plenty of opportunities for learning and professional development.

This helps to make employees feel like they have a future with Spribe and that their position within the company is safe and secure.

The post Company culture: A central strand of DNA that should run through every aspect of business appeared first on CasinoBeats.

Over the course of a three-part CasinoBeats special edition roundtable, a range of topics spanning work life balances, six-hour work days, the quality of life and career progression conundrum and the ‘anti-work’ movement.

Giorgi Tsutskirdze, Chief Commercial Officer at Spribe, Alina Dandörfer, Co-Founder and Director at Apparat Gaming, Cathryn McGinty, Chief People Officer at Glitnor Group, and Nana Shneider, Human Resources Development at Betbazar, close out our three day special.

CasinoBeats: There are a lot of memes about the gen Z work ethic, but joking aside to do you think we’re starting to see a shift away from the ‘grind’ or ‘hustle’ culture that characterised a lot of millennials and pre-millennials to an attitude where quality of life is as important as career incentives? If so, how do you cater to this while offering a clear progression path to employees?

Nana Shneider: As an HRD, your goal is always to help a person have a successful career while also maintaining their health and wellbeing. When a new employee joins Betbazar, we always have very clear goals for them in terms of the development of their career.

We’re very interested in this development and want to keep this person working with us for the long-term by investing in both their training and education. I think the biggest thing to strive for is transparency over what an individual’s career path is and what steps they have to take to achieve their goals.

When you can see the path to success, it’s less stressful because you’re not simply working endlessly without a clear understanding of where you’re going and what you’re reaching for. In terms of people’s wellbeing, it’s an equally important part of our work. I always take care to ask how a person is feeling and if I see something is wrong, I’ll take the initiative and ask whether they need some extra time off.

“By questioning the customary pattern of the economic system, the new generation rebels against the old”

Alina Dandörfer, Co-Founder and Director at Apparat Gaming

We use wonderful software at Betbazar where any person is able to take any number of days they need for a vacation or just to reset. Our HR policy is very clear and everything is written down about how we act in a particular situation, so people don’t need to feel stressed about asking for time off to improve their wellbeing.

Giorgi Tsutskirdze: I’d say that the possibility of becoming their best selves is a priority for those in the generation Z demographic – and so too is flexibility and remote working.

Spribe, with its creative work environment and hybrid working philosophy, offers a company culture that appeals to this group of people. Those that work at Spribe are excited to be a part of the company behind the number one crash game in the world and an organisation that continues to push boundaries and fundamentally change the industry.

Alina Dandörfer: Honestly, I think we should say thank you to gen Z. By questioning the customary pattern of the economic system, the new generation rebels against the old. And they do us all a favour as they serve as a catalyst for innovation and modernisation.

Interestingly, however, a study performed in Germany has shown that the supposed differences in values among ‘baby boomers’ and gen Z that are often highlighted in the media are only moderate. The three most important values (family, health and freedom) and virtues (honesty, reliability, helpfulness) are the same across generations. On that basis, we as employers must treat everyone as individuals rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all approach.

Cathryn McGinty: I think for the younger generation, it’s almost a question of working smarter, not harder. When I started work, you did your 9-5 job and waited to move up the food chain. There was this sense that you needed to serve your time before you progressed, but now I don’t think we have these limitations in place and people are judged more on their ability.

As an employer, this is very important to us. We’re not looking at whether people have done a job for five years, we’re looking at who’s ready to take the next step. We mainly promote from within and when we don’t, the first things we look for are ability and character – and you can see that in our new CEO.

“…we recognise that everyone has two sides to their life and what goes on externally is just as important as what goes on internally”

Cathryn McGinty, Chief People Officer at Glitnor Group

It’s a question of recognising it’s not about age, but about whether people are talented and ambitious. Of course, we’ve got a multi-generational workforce here and the managers understand that. What works for an 18-year-old is not necessarily going to work for a 65-year-old, so you’ve got to make sure you find an individual approach that caters for each generation.

However, irrespective of age, we recognise that everyone has two sides to their life and what goes on externally is just as important as what goes on internally. We like to celebrate the successes that people have outside of their job and we use internal social media and our Better Together channel as a means for employees to share what they’re doing.

CB: I think it’s worth mentioning that one of the fastest growing subreddits in recent years has been the ‘antiwork’ movement – essentially a large community of disillusioned employees who have grown tired of not having much of a life outside of work due to rigid hours and the rising cost of living. In what ways can having a good company culture help to re-engage this type of individual?

GT: This growing ‘antiwork’ sentiment is precisely the reason why we aim to offer such a good work-life balance at Spribe. We also pay our employees higher than the market average, which is just one of the many ways that we show them that we value their contribution to the business and that we want them to be financially secure.

Spribers – as we like to call them – are top performers and are motivated by the opportunity to work for an organisation that sets the standard for all others to follow – we believe anything is possible, and this is highly effective at keeping all our team members engaged.

AD: I think this movement seems to have similar perspectives on work to gen Z. That is to say, seeking to question and critique the role of work in our lives, advocating a shift toward meaningful, voluntary work rather than working tirelessly for the benefit of their employers.

“This growing ‘antiwork’ sentiment is precisely the reason why we aim to offer such a good work-life balance”

Giorgi Tsutskirdze, Chief Commercial Officer at Spribe

While I support voluntary social commitment, it’s the unromantic but equally undeniable truth that the purpose of a business is to make a profit – or at least not a loss. While everything must be subordinated to this, I think having a good company culture can help to re-engage those who are disillusioned.

Seeing company culture as a product of official and unofficial processes, communication patterns and social manners to convince this type of individual that companies must open their doors and let them experience what it would mean to join and let them see the real working environment rather than slogans on the wall.

Therefore, companies must cater to this goal by allowing profound insights and involving a diverse mix of employees during the application process, as well as being themselves. That’s what we do at Apparat!

CM: While I believe that many of the people expressing this kind of sentiment online have had bad experiences and the employers who’ve exploited them should be named and shamed, unfortunately movements like these tend to see a lot of people jumping on the bandwagon and that leads to an oversimplification of the problem.

Maybe 50 years ago people were quite restricted in terms of what they could do and felt they were chained to their jobs, but these days there are plenty of opportunities out there for people, no matter where in life they’re starting from.

There are now enough good employers around that people always have a choice, so as long as they have a clear idea of what they want to do, they can find a place where their efforts will be appreciated.

Of course, an attractive culture can be a big part of helping a previously disillusioned employee feel welcomed and valued again, but I think you have to look at each case individually rather than simply saying ‘all work sucks’!

“…not everything has to be about work”

Nana Shneider, Human Resources Development at Betbazar

NS: I think a good company culture is helpful for this type of person as it can show them that even when they’re in the office, not everything has to be about work. We have a very diverse workforce at Betbazar with a wide range of life experiences.

There are people in the team who are into cinematography or have tried their hands in other fields like yachting or bartending. People go to the theatre or to the cinema and then discuss these experiences with their peers – this is what we talk about when we’re on break, not just work.

By sharing our experiences, we can aid each other’s personal development in a way that has nothing to do with our professional lives, and I think it’s important that people who are disengaged with office life see this as it can influence them in a positive way.

For us this is another important aspect of the company culture, because the people who are interested in various spheres of life are often the ones who are the most successful professionally too.

These are the type of people who can have a conversation with anyone about any topic – regardless of their culture and background – and I think this mentality is particularly present in our sales team, who are able to draw on their life experiences to support any kind of conversation. 

CB: In terms of consistently developing and refining the culture of your respective companies, how much of this is decided at a higher level and how much input do regular employees have in shaping the environment they work in? Do you have a specific liaison for all things company culture-related and if so, how do they go about canvassing opinions and incorporating necessary changes?

AD: Though I don’t have that specific label, it’s down to me to make sure that all Apparat Gaming employees are able to shape the company’s culture. Each and every one of them – regardless of their position – determines the working environment for themselves and others through their actions.

“I think in order for it to be a real company culture, it’s got to be in the DNA that runs through the entire business”

Cathryn McGinty, Chief People Officer at Glitnor Group

Even if a person in a leadership position has the power to impose a certain corset on the processes in the company, the results are not predictable, because the reaction of the people involved is not necessarily correlated in its causality. Companies are complex, social systems – not something where you just press a button or set a certain incentive and everyone is happy.

In my view, the best way to canvas opinions is to introduce regular rounds where employees feel safe to address the pain points on a product’s road to market and then have the freedom to make changes in accordance with that market’s needs.

As an example, retrospective – a basic component to Scrum framework – is a great tool that can be used in different contexts: the team scrutinises the team processes, the mode of operation and the common interfaces and then tries to identify opportunities for improvement for the future.

CM: I think in order for it to be a real company culture, it’s got to be in the DNA that runs through the entire business. That means it needs to be demonstrated in the actions of the board, the interactions in the office, the physical and social environment – literally every touchpoint of the employee lifecycle.

It’s absolutely pointless for any board to write out a list saying “this is our culture and these are our values” if they don’t live it themselves, so we expect this influence to start from the top and filter down through every level of our business.

Of course, culture evolves as people join or leave the company, but I think as long as we remain clear on our identity, our employer brand, our value proposition and what’s important to us, people will continue to buy into it and really believe in the strength of this inside-to-out approach.

“…I think it’s very important that top management are the ones shaping the company culture and setting the standards for all other employees”

Nana Shneider, Human Resources Development at Betbazar

I think we already see this with the people we have internally – it’s an authentic culture and it gives us a real alignment across every single aspect of our business.

NS: There’s a saying in many countries – and I think you have it in English too – that the fish starts to rot from the head down, so I think it’s very important that top management are the ones shaping the company culture and setting the standards for all other employees.

Any questions or issues that we face in relation to company culture are discussed in a circle of top management and I think that’s important, because whatever is decided higher up tends to filter down through all levels of the business.

We have to respect the people we work with and a big part of this is listening to their opinions and working  through situations to make improvements and solve problems together. This is how we become successful as a company and also how we become successful as professionals.

By having people with a broad mindset who respect each other’s borders and are interested in investing in the development of the team, we can really create a positive working environment for everyone.

GT: The company culture is usually developed at the senior management level, but it’s important for all employees to have input in shaping the environment in which they work. Improving the company culture takes time and achieving long-term, sustainable change requires commitment from the very top down – which is something we have at Spribe.

Our leaders set an example when it comes to communication, accountability and transparency. They strive to improve our culture and are ready to support and invest in initiatives that are important to the wider team. While the senior team puts the framework in place, the entire organisation contributes to the culture that sits within that framework.

The post Not everything has to be about work: roundtable concludes appeared first on CasinoBeats.

Over the course of a three-part CasinoBeats special edition roundtable, a range of topics spanning work life balances, six-hour work days, the quality of life and career progression conundrum and the ‘anti-work’ movement.

In a bumper second edition, Cathryn McGinty, Chief People Officer at Glitnor Group, Nana Shneider, Human Resources Development at Betbazar, Giorgi Tsutskirdze, Chief Commercial Officer at Spribe and Alina Dandörfer, Co-Founder and Director at Apparat Gaming, continue the conversation.

CasinoBeats: While a good company culture can be highly appealing to prospective employees, how important is it that the process also works the other way as well? When acquiring new talent, do you also look at character, personality and how the prospective employee might fit your values?

Cathryn McGinty: It’s massively important. Even if you find someone with the perfect skill set, if their personality isn’t a good fit as well, it’s not going to work for the company or the individual. Sometimes it doesn’t work with people that are used to working in a particular way and we’ve definitely seen that in the past.

We’ve hired team members who’ve come over from a big corporate company where their work is very structured and they’ve simply not known how to deal with the added flexibility that we’ve given them. I think it’s just important to always be painting an accurate picture – and at Glitnor we definitely do a good job of that.

I think there’s a clearly-defined vision for how we work. People can see that we’re currently a small business that’s still in the early phase of its life, but that there’s also a real ambition and foundation there for growth that’s driven by the entrepreneurial spirt of our founders.

“We don’t only want people who fit the current company culture, but rather those who we feel can play an active role in shaping it too”

Nana Shneider, Human Resources Development at Betbazar

With this in mind, we’re always on the lookout for individuals that grasp this ethos, understand how we operate and have the adaptability to fit that way of working. I think that’s the key to being successful long term.

Nana Shneider: Absolutely, and this a point that I keep coming back to. At Betbazar, we believe it’s incredibly important to consider the personality and outlook of an individual as well as their professional skills. We invest a lot in each employee so we’re not really interested in hiring a person for a month or two, but instead look at the long term and how we can really integrate that person into the values we represent.

Having said that, we do try to be flexible in our outlook. We don’t only want people who fit the current company culture, but rather those who we feel can play an active role in shaping it too – and I think this is how it should work when acquiring new talent. We value professionalism very much, but we also look at the humane side of the employee; and while both of these things can be developed, either one on its own is probably not enough to work at Betbazar.

Of course, we help with both aspects wherever we can. After an employee goes through their probation, they’re free to seek out any one-on-one courses that they think will aid their development and that’s something that we’re more than happy to invest in if it will ultimately be of benefit to our company’s culture.

Giorgi Tsutskirdze: Definitely. It’s important that we onboard people who are not just talented and creative, but also fit the Spribe culture, are passionate about what we do and are just as dedicated to achieving our ambitious goals as the rest of the team.

Some of the key qualities we look for are openness, great communication skills, high levels of motivation, reliability, stability, the ability to think critically and use intuition and, as a globally-based business, language fluency. By aligning these traits with our company culture, we ensure employees are the right fit for Spribe and that Spribe is also the right fit for them.

“…we prioritise putting together a team which, skill set aside, contains a great deal of matching characters”

Alina Dandörfer, Co-Founder and Director at Apparat Gaming

Alina Dandörfer: Of course – our German test is legendary. No sense of humour is a prerequisite for employment! But seriously, we prioritise putting together a team which, skill set aside, contains a great deal of matching characters. We therefore try to involve the team in the screening process to review the candidate from different angles.

Personally, my favourite part of an interview is when the candidate brings up their queries – not only because we as a company must stand up to that test, but more importantly, a candidate’s questions show their mindset, preferred way of working and character.

Whatever they bring in their backpack, it should connect to the team and enrich it; although it doesn’t hurt if they show tolerance for us Germans, because sometimes we’re admittedly quite particular!

CB: One of the most seismic shifts for all businesses in recent years has been working from home and how this model has either been replaced or incorporated into company culture post-pandemic. How has each of your companies dealt with this issue and in what ways do you feel your approach has benefited both your businesses and the quality of life of your employees?

NS: Even beyond the pandemic, the working from home model has been a major part of how Betbazar operates. As one of our main offices is based in Ukraine, the current situation there means many employees are still not able to make it into work, so we’ve obviously had to be quite flexible with our approach.

It sounds simple, but the main thing we’ve tried to do is treat employees like adults, not kids. At the end of the day, we’re all professionals with a job to do, so there’s never been a very serious tracking system in place for working hours and we don’t monitor that sort of thing through technology.

By trusting our employees and being open-minded in this way, throughout both the pandemic and the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, we’ve never stopped working. Everyone has been independently doing their job full time while managing their schedule in a way that works for them.

“…each employee can decide which environment works best for them and pick and choose”

Giorgi Tsutskirdze, Chief Commercial Officer at Spribe

Of course, we’ve supported employees’ efforts by providing them with everything they need to work from home – be that computers, office equipment or power banks – and this has enabled us to keep the ball rolling during a very difficult time and continue developing the company all over the globe. 

GT: We are super flexible when it comes to whether someone works from the office or from home. By taking a hybrid approach, each employee can decide which environment works best for them and pick and choose when they work from home and when they work from the office.

Generally we see employees do both, with most people coming into the office if we are holding a team-building event or social activity such as ‘Happy Friday’.

For us, the most important thing is that each member of the team is in an environment that allows them to reach their full potential, so as long as they can do that while still contributing to their team and the wider business, it doesn’t matter whether they are home-base, office-based or a mix of the two. This has always been true for us, both pre and post-pandemic.

AD: Working from home was our culture before the company was out of diapers – and as a three-year-old we have just outgrown our diapers. Starting the business in the first pandemic year, the founding team met online in glorious Monday evening calls from home to lay the foundation for Apparat.

Beside the external circumstances, we as founders were and are located in two different places, neither of which is a mecca for igaming talent. We knew from the start that we’d have to search for talent worldwide and that inevitably meant having a set up that would address these challenges.

The answer is freedom with respect to the place and working time in balance with employee’s current life situation. If the travel bug hits some of our employees, we support them and try to facilitate a ‘workation’. At the end of the day, although we always aim to achieve the stereotype of German quality, it’s the result that counts, not the place where it was achieved, so we do what we can to accommodate people.

“It’s therefore more about the quality of the interactions that people have, rather than the frequency”

Cathryn McGinty, Chief People Officer at Glitnor Group

CM: I think the world of work was already in a state of change even before the pandemic happened – it just moved the dial faster and pushed things forward by about ten years or so. I feel as a business, we’ve definitely embraced this change and managed to strike up a good balance.

While we want to ensure that we remain connected, we recognise that we’re a global business and not everyone is going to be in the same place at the same time. It’s therefore more about the quality of the interactions that people have, rather than the frequency.

In Malta, we used to be in a beautiful Villa where we only had a limited number of desks, so I think we recognised we were starting to lose a bit of who we were. We want people to actually look forward to the time that they spend together – and that’s the feeling we’re trying to create with the new office we’ve invested in.

We want to build a space where people can meet, collaborate, build relationships and have some fun as well; and I think when you’re purely working from home, you miss out on that. As I said, I think the key is having the right balance. When there’s a hybrid system in place and you have that flexibility, you see people wanting to come in more. 

CB: In a similar vein, we’ve seen Scandinavian companies introduce a six-hour working day and other businesses offer a scheme where employees choose the number of holiday days they’d like to take. Do you think incentives like these can have a positive benefit on employees’ physical and mental health without negatively impacting productivity or does a balance need to be struck?

GT: Our employees work 40 hours a week with 30 vacation days, seven extra days off and seven sick days per year – employees can take these days as and when they want or need to.

“Studies have shown that changing to a four-day week has had positive effects on employees’ well-being”

Alina Dandörfer, Co-Founder and Director at Apparat Gaming

We understand working longer hours can lead to employees being less productive, but at the same time, it’s expensive to implement six-hour workdays with the benefits of investing in this taking a long time to return – in most cases, it can be hard to determine if there’s ultimately a financial advantage to taking this approach.

A shorter workday is attractive to employees, making it easier to attract top talent and retain existing employees, but for many positions, it’s not feasible to condense a working day in this way.

For example, for those working in business development, it’s the individual that’s in demand and they are always on the go. That’s why we’ve opted for a results-based culture and not a time-based one – so long as employees are hitting their goals, it doesn’t matter when and where those goals are achieved.

AD: The short answer is, yes, I absolutely think so – and that’s also the bridge to the long part of my answer! Studies have shown that changing to a four-day week has had positive effects on employees’ well-being as well as benefits for the company. Employees were less stressed and had reduced levels of burnout.

Likewise, levels of anxiety, fatigue and sleep issues decreased, while mental and physical health both improved. Leisure, family, and work become more compatible, thereby raising the equality as it became easier to balance work with family and social commitments. For the companies, key business metrics also showed signs of positive impact i.e. company revenue stayed broadly the same.

The number of staff leaving decreased, while occupational health increased, leading to less absenteeism and more plannable manpower. That said, shorter working hours create challenges for the organisational structures as well as the work culture. Therefore, work processes have to be creatively optimised and office costs can be reduced.

“A few companies have tried incentives like these, but I think it’s worth noting that many have failed as well”

Cathryn McGinty, Chief People Officer at Glitnor Group

And lastly, flexible working time arrangements pay on the company’s attractiveness. Over the years different models for four-day weeks have emerged, and it’s ultimately on the company to decide which one fits their purposes best.

CM: A few companies have tried incentives like these, but I think it’s worth noting that many have failed as well. It’s a really tough thing to manage, because what you find with the holiday days in particular is that it can actually have the opposite effect of what you intended.

There’s an added pressure there and people almost feel like they shouldn’t be taking the days they’re entitled to for fear of being seen negatively in comparison to their colleagues. Essentially, I think so-called ‘attractive’ working schemes like these often cause more problems than they solve, so we’re not looking to embrace them ourselves.

Instead, we take the simple view that there’s a job to be done and we trust our team members to do it. We don’t clock in or out and we don’t rigidly monitor working hours, we just encourage the right amount of flexibility so people can find a work-life balance that suits their individual needs.

I think this is massively important, because sometimes when companies try to be prescriptive about things like that, it can actually be counter-productive. For that reason, I don’t think we need to start putting any set policies in place – we just need to enable and trust people to do what they need to do.

NS: I think it mainly comes down to a question of culture. While a shortened working week might be productive in Scandinavia, it doesn’t necessarily follow that the same system will work in other countries where there’s a different work ethic in place. Generally, the best approach a company can take is to hire people that you don’t need to control in terms of working hours in the first place.

When you look at some of the bigger companies where there are a lot of junior employees, of course you have to take into account their mentoring and development – and in this case, the amount of working hours does matter and you do need to keep track. However, at Betbazar we’re mostly made up of middle management and senior positions, so people already know how to work efficiently and I don’t think the actual hours have much of an impact for us either way.

That said, when you introduce an initiative like a shorter working week or flexible holiday days, the real benefit you get is seeing how people adapt. After all, the way we react to changes and develop with them is what makes us successful, as our minds are being broadened and we’re learning new ways to work.

The post Working from home and a six-hour work day: company culture conversation continues appeared first on CasinoBeats.