Why You Should Be Paying Attention to the International Gaming Awards
Gaming has always been an industry founded on innovation and talent, and this is never more prevalent than at the annual International Gaming Awards (IGA). If you weren’t aware, the IGA is the gambling and sports betting world’s very own gala night—just like how movies have the Oscars and music has the Grammy’s. It’s an event where gaming providers and operators are acknowledged for their excellence and contributions to the industry.
So let’s take a look at some of the big names that changed the stakes throughout the years.
Yggdrasil and the Pursuit of Innovation
Yggdrasil has held the Innovator of the Year Award (Supplier) since 2018. The provider has introduced a lot of groundbreaking gaming tech throughout the years, including the iSENSE 2.0+ in 2017. This HTML client framework has features such as retina support, minimalistic user interface, and in-game deposit mechanics that have been adapted by many other providers since it was introduced. This year, Yggdrasil retained their title with the launch of its new Publishing division, where they offer their clients “all the tools they need” to build, create and offer a complete B2B gaming business.
Mr Green and Responsible Gaming
A big part of online gaming is being aware of the risks. Usually, this is reliant on players knowing when to stop, which can be difficult on their own. So in 2017, Mr Green launched a project that won them the 2018 Socially Responsible Online Award, inspiring gaming operators to start implementing their own initiatives to ensure their users are playing responsibly. The project, called the Green Gaming Predictive Tool, was implemented for the operator’s casino players in September 2017. The tool analyzes players’ preferences and behavior, such as spending power and how frequent they play. From there, it can detect and inform the user if they are entering “risky” behavior.
LeoVegas and the Mobile Market
LeoVegas was crowned the 2019 Mobile Operator of the Year, which actually supports their claim of being “The King of Mobile” among online casinos. Out of its 700 games on offer, 400 are slot games, while 89 of which can only be played via LeoVegas’ mobile platform, according to a detailed review. This is a feat that no other online and/or mobile casino has achieved. After all, most (if not all) online gaming providers write their games in HTML—a language that’s difficult to support on smartphones. The unique thing about LeoVegas is how it started as a mobile platform before expanding to browser, which is the opposite of what most online casinos do. This business move was made in response to the robust mobile gaming market, which VentureBeat reports generated over $86 billion in revenue last year. As such, LeoVegas’ gaming apps are written in JavaScript—the recommended programming language for mobile games—making them much more user-friendly.
Play’n GO and Fair Play
A machine’s random number generator (RNG) capability is an important aspect of fair play. It’s what allows gaming providers to control the return-to-player (RTP) rate of their machines, ensuring that its users are getting back at least a decent amount of what they’ve deposited (usually around 98% or 99% RTP rate). The RNG Casino Supplier Award was a new addition to the IGA this year, celebrating the supplier who has championed the accuracy of their RTP rates—and upheld the notions of fair play—throughout the years.
The IGA celebrated its 12th culminating night within the glamorous walls of the London Savoy Hotel last February. Some of its winners include Casumo for Online Casino Operator of 2020, IGT as Slot Provider of the Year, and Pragmatic Play as iGaming Software Supplier of the Year.
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