The Global Gaming Awards is an event that acknowledges the efforts of the most innovative and efficient members of the gaming industry. These Awards take pride in being the most reliable within the world of gaming, with this year’s version being the ninth edition of the event. The Awards’ purpose is to analyze the performance and products throughout the year of different work teams from the Americas in terms of creativity, functionality, and practicality. The team or person who exhibits the best solutions will be granted one of the 14 different prizes.

The Global Gaming Awards has gained the reputation of being the most trustworthy and respected event in the industry. Even big companies acknowledge it as an event that must not be missed, hence why it is the act that commences the Global Gaming Expo (G2E), where winners are announced. The Awards are brought to the public thanks to the collaboration of the publications Gaming America and Gambling Insider, two of the most well-known news portals related to gaming. BetConstruct is in the main organizing team as well, being considered the event’s most important partner.

What categories are awarded?

As mentioned before, there are 14 categories that participants can be nominated in. The categories are:

Land-based Operator of the year

It is granted to the company that has exceeded the expectations of quality customer service. This award is sponsored by IGT (International Game Technology).

Land-based Product of the year

It awards the product that enhances the performance of casino operators or the quality of customer experience.

Land-based Industry Supplier of the year

Awarded to the supplier who encouraged the evolution of brick-and-mortar casinos the most.

Digital Operator of the year

It is granted to the operator who worked hardest on boosting the developing online gaming sector. This award is sponsored by BRAGG.

Digital Product of the year

It acknowledges the game or system that significantly improved the online gaming industry. This award is sponsored by RELA Gaming.

Digital Industry Supplier of the year

A recognition given to the main provider of online gaming operators.

Customer Loyalty Program of the year

It rewards the company that puts customer rewards at the heart of its operation.

Product Innovation of the year

This award is conferred to the most innovative product developed by digital or land-based companies. It is sponsored by Interblock Luxury Gaming Products.

Property of the year – North America

As it states in its name, this award is given to the property that has gone over the top with user experience in North America’s land-based gaming industry. This prize is sponsored by Aruze Gaming.

Property of the year – LATAM

In addition to the last award, this is given to the property that has gone over the top with user experience in Latin America’s land-based gaming industry.

Slot of the year

It is assigned to the slot game that is distinct from others on the casino floor. This award is sponsored by CasinoTrac.

Payment Solution of the year

A prize that is bestowed upon projects that developed the safest and most efficient payment processors in this sector.

Responsible Business of the year

This award is given to the company that has had the greatest commitment to CSR. It is sponsored by EGT (Euro Gaming Technology).

American Exclusive of the year

Finally, the last award recognizes the executive who has worked hardest on growing and improving the industry. This is sponsored by WhiteHat Studios.
It is in the hands of KPMG to deliberate and judge the execution of the nominees in the last 12 months and determine who is worthy of each prize.
However, the voting process was different last year.

Global Gaming Awards: 2021

In the 8th version of the Global Gaming Awards, KPMG was not part of the deliberation yet. Instead, important people from the gaming sector were electing projects virtually. As a result, the participant with the most achievements was Aristocrat, who was granted Land-based Industry Supplier, Slot of the Year, and Land-based Product of the year. MGM Resorts International followed, winning first place in the Digital Operator category and second place in Responsible Business of the Year and Customer Loyalty Program.
Additionally, the most innovative product was granted to IGT with its Resort Wallet, a solution for cashless purchases, and also third place in the Digital Product category thanks to their development of a new sports betting system. On another note, the Land-based Operator Award was assigned to Wynn Resorts. Finally, the excellent performance of Soo Kim at making Bally’s Corp a gaming leader granted him the American Executive prize.

Last but not least, this year the Awards will take place during the first day of the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) in Las Vegas, USA. The winners of each category will be released to the public on October 10, 2022.

Blackjack is one of the most popular casino games. It’s hardly surprising given that unlike other games such as slots, which rely solely on luck, in the game of 21, you can develop your skills to reduce the house edge to an absolute minimum, and as such increase your chances of winning. You will find blackjack at virtually all casinos, both land based and online. Yet on the internet, there are a much wider range of interesting and unique game variants that have been developed. These bring a new thrill and excitement to the classic game. What’s more, there are variants that provide a higher RTP than the classic version, meaning these innovative variants can also increase your chances of success. In this article, I will briefly introduce you to 5 special variants that you should try out at least once. And if you want to know the best casinos to play them at, you should check out what is no doubt the best real money blackjack site that you will find online.

Blackjack Switch – This unique variant adds an unusual twist to the traditional game. You play with two hands rather than one, plus, you have the option to swap your top two cards to ensure you have the optimal chance of winning. The game also offers the optional Super Match side bet, which pays out if you get any pair dealt in your first four cards.

Crazy Blackjack – There are three interesting side bets in this exciting variant. There is the 777 Jackpot Bet, which gives you a shot at pocketing the game’s big progressive jackpot. The Highest Hand bet provides the opportunity to predict the highest hand for an additional payout. Plus, the Safe Bet option provides the possibility of a payout for the worst of hands.

21 Duel – In this innovative game, two community cards are dealt and placed in the centre of the table. Both you and the dealer can select one of the cards to create the best possible hand. The 2 Up Bet is an optional side bet on the first three cards to be dealt. Payouts of 3:1 are made if you get a pair and you win 20:1 on your bet if you have 3 of a kind.

Double Attack Blackjack – This variant is played with 48-card Spanish decks, where all 10’s have been removed. Only one dealer card is dealt after the initial bet. If you think the dealer has a weak hand, then you have the option to place an additional Double Attack bet before any more cards are drawn. You can also place a Bust It! side bet at the start of the game. This pays out if the dealer goes bust with their third card.

Blackjack Party – This fun and entertaining blackjack variant is provided by the multi-award winning live game provider Evolution Gaming. Whilst this variant is played with classic rules, it provides an immersive and engaging playing experience. There are 2 dealers who are upbeat, bubbly and keep the party atmosphere in full swing. Plus, the bet behind option allows an unlimited number of players to take part in every game, again boosting the fun factor.

June marks a major event in Europe. And I’m not talking about the UEFA European Championship. On June 1, EGR Magazine held their annual awards – The EGR B2B Awards – at The Pavilion at the Tower of London. The glamorous event was the long-awaited pinnacle of gaming for the year 2016 as the EGR Awards were handed to the lucky winners. Over 400 professionals from the leading companies in iGaming were present.

As the time for the Awards was drawing nearer, I was at the edge of my seat. Will Playtech manage to keep their title as the “Multi-Channel Supplier”? Will someone topple over Evolution Gaming as the ruler of live casino? After all, they have been recognised as “Live Casino Supplier” every year since 2009. Who will win the highly competitive award for “Platform of the Year”? As a huge casino games fan, I couldn’t wait to find out.

When the 2016 winners were announced, I was ecstatic. My favourite software provider, Playtech, managed to stay on top. They, once again, received the award recognising their most coveted feature – the omni-channel quality they take great pride in. If you aren’t familiar with their Marvel-studded portfolio, here’s some useful information on the games and where you can play them.

Evolution Gaming also managed to keep their leading position as the “Live Casino Supplier” and that’s no surprise. They don’t rest on their laurels. Instead, they constantly work hard on improving their offerings. Another company that works hard on their portfolio, NetEnt, was one of the big winners at the ceremony, scooping 3 awards – “Innovation in Mobile”, “RNG Casino Supplier” and “Innovation in Slot Provision”.

The “Platform of the Year” award went to the NYX Gaming Group, while the “Innovation in RNG casino software” was awarded to the Swedish games studio Quickspin, which was recently in the news as Playtech’s latest acquisition. Playtech said that with this acquisition they wanted to strengthen their “position as the leading platform and content provider in the industry”.

All the winners at the glamorous ceremony were honoured and thankful, as they should be – the EGR B2B Awards are commonly known as the Oscars of iGaming. Losing, or rather handing over an award, at the EGR Awards is just as important as winning. Why, you might ask. Because the awards commend the innovators and encourage them to do better. As for those who have not managed to keep a title, it’s their wake-up call to work even harder. And you know who benefits from it all? Us, the players.

So, suppliers and service providers got recognised for their work, talent and creativity and the awards were history. I was soon able to go back to my favourite pastime – playing games. But if you think, it’s just a silly, time-wasting hobby, you couldn’t be further from the truth. Casino games can actually be a very lucrative enterprise. I’ll even let you in on where to play real money online slots. Just because I’m happy about this year’s EGR B2B Awards winners. In this informative article, you can also read about Playtech’s new acquisition Quickspin.

We’ve known for a while now that online gambling has been on a steady increase in both profitability and popularity. If you look at a chart for profits and market share worldwide as far as online gambling is concerned (in any and all of its forms – betting, casino, bingo, you name it), you’re going to see a very steady and often drastic increases in the number of people who are willing to bet money on online casino games and betting sites. I mean, just look at the increase from ten years ago until today! In 2005, the market share of online casino games was a meager 13 billion dollars, which isn’t bad by any means, but it’s nothing that’s going to blow a market analyst’s mind. It’s not something that you show to an investor to convince them that this is where the next big thing is at. 13 billion dollars worldwide is average, very, very average. It’d be decent for a single business, sure, but for an entire industry?

Compare the numbers to 10 years later, though, and all of a sudden you see an entirely different picture forming. In 2015, the online gambling industry had an estimated 41.4 billion dollars’ worth of market shares. That’s a 200% increase, and is a whole damn lot. While still nowhere near rivaling the share that physical casinos (and only casinos) have, the industry’s growing at an increasing rate in the entire world. A 200% increase in market share in 10 years is great – at this rate, we’re looking at a 400% or even 500% increase by 2025. The bigger the market share is for a company, the easier it is for it to keep growing even more. Let’s compare casino gaming to a flu, shall we? Let’s imagine that only one person has the flu, and one out of ten people they speak to gets infected, and everyone speaks with about 10 people a day. That means that today we’re going to have 1 person who is sick, tomorrow we’ll have 2, the day after that – four. In ten years we’ll have a slow, but very steady increase of sick people, but the more people there are who have the flu, the more it’ll spread. So the amount of people who get infected between years 1-10 will be significantly smaller than those who catch the flu in years 11-20, as year 11 will see a whole lot more carriers spreading it.

Online casino will work in precisely the same way. This isn’t an activity that’s aimed at a niche – it’s something that has to be as mainstream as, saying paying for apps and mobile games if it wants to truly break out. Ads thus far have mostly been aimed towards niches and existing gamblers, which is a very bad way to promote something like this. As such, I’m expecting that in the coming years, as the amount of gamblers increases, word of mouth is going to start spreading and leading to a bigger increase. And we’re not just talking about the big casino markets, such as the UK, the US and Germany. As online gambling starts being legalized in more and more countries, various markets begin seeing an explosion in its popularity, for very obvious reasons. Spain, for example, has seen a 26% increase in its annual revenue, which is insane! Remember – we’re talking pure profits here, not market share like before. Sweden and other European countries are also seeing a gigantic jump in people who play online casino games, and that interest is only going to keep growing in the next few years.

Asia, which has always been fairly conservative as far as online gambling is concerned (or, well, any kind of gambling), is gradually warming up to legalizing it. With each passing year, we’re seeing online casino

While at land-based casinos you can only play the three classic roulette variations, i.e. European, French and American, when you play at online casinos you can choose from dozens of different variations. Well, it’s true that most of the variations differ only where table limits, layout and gaming options are concerned, but there are in fact some really innovative games that you can try online that can really stretch your notion of what a roulette could be.

An example for such an innovative roulette variations would be IGT’s Three Wheel Roulette. While it is based on the classic European Roulette which we all know and love, its wheel has three rings of numbers instead of only one. Those three rings spin separately to give three winning numbers for each spin. This is definitely something that you won’t see at a land-based casino.

Another interesting variation is Marvel’s roulette which features a progressive jackpot. In order to play for the jackpot, you have to bet on the additional Marvel slot on the wheel and the ball has to stop in that slot. Then, you’ll be redirected to an additional game to play for the jackpot. There’s also the Pinball roulette variation which instead of wheel features a pinball machine at the lower part of which you see the numbered slot, as well as the Multi-Wheel roulette which allows you to bet on up to 8 roulette wheels at a time.

All of the above mentioned games are great, but they are more suitable for those of you are in an adventurous mood. On the other hand, for those of you who want to win more, there are better options. The roulette game that offers you the best return-to-player percentage and therefore the best chance for a win, as you may already know, is French roulette. This is due to the fact that it features the La Partage rule, which gives you back half of your even-money bet if the ball happens to land on a zero. European is, on the other hand, the most popular variation and the one that you will encounter at every single online casino. The house edge there is a little bit higher than the one in French Roulette but it’s simpler and the layout of the table is more familiar.

Anyway, no matter if you choose a classic game variation or a more unconventional one, I’m sure that you’ll have lots of fun. The only game that you should, in fact, stay clear of is American Roulette. The fact that this game variation includes two zero slots and not just one pretty much doubles the house edge so in any case it’s better to choose any other game.

If you’re still struggling to pick a game, there are some sites like casinoroulette.co.uk that can help you find the best online roulette game for your taste. There you will find reviews of the different roulette variations, their developers and the casinos that offer them and thorough explanations on why some roulette games are better than the others.