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.