2020 has been a year of changes and the EGR B2B awards have adapted to a time of lockdowns and social distancing by taking their awards online. The 2020 awards, which stretched over 3 days, once again gave recognition to leading service providers that power the online gaming industry. Many hopefuls were present to see if they would walk away with accolades but only a few emerged as winners in their respective categories.

Day One

Day one was dedicated to software and affiliate software suppliers.  And Playtech gave proceedings an impressive kick-off, walking away with the Bingo Supplier of the year and Multi-Channel Supplier of the year awards. Evolution gaming came out at the top of the Live Casino Supplier of the year category.

Betgenius also had an impressive day scooping the In-play Betting Software of the year and Sports Data Supplier of the year awards while the Affiliate Software Supplier of the year award was snapped up by Income Access. IWG was thrilled to take the Lottery Supplier of the year award home.

Day Two

The categories for the second day were Services & Innovation and Innovation in mobile. Red Tiger Gaming beat the competition, sweeping both the Innovation In Mobile and Innovation in Slot Provision categories

Magellan Robotech won the prestigious Best Customer service category and the Recruiter of the year award went to Pentasia. The Sports Betting Solutions category prize was won by Sporting Solutions.

Day Three

The final day saw some of the most sought-after titles being handed over. Red Tiger clawed their way to a hat trick of titles, winning the Slot Supplier of the year, Mobile Supplier of the year, and Mobile Gaming Software Supplier of the year awards.

Playtech was recognized with the Poker Supplier of the year award while industry giant, Microgaming was crowned with the Platform of the year award. Relax Gaming won Casino Software Supplier of the year while Together gaming emerged as the White Label Supplier of the year winner.

While the awards were different this year, this did not diminish the prestige of or excitement for this event which has surely boosted all the competitors’ desire to keep rising to the top of their game.

Leading Live casino solutions provider, Evolution Gaming has remarkably received the honour of the Supplier of the Year award at the EGR B2B awards 2020 for the 11^th year running. They have held this record since the awards first launched in 2010.

Evolution faced down 12 other shortlisted suppliers to take the award on the first day of the virtual ceremony which was broadcast on 21 July.

Martin Carlesund, Evolution Group CEO was on hand to comment after the awards, saying “The past 12 months have seen Evolution once again push the boundaries of what is possible in Live Casino. In terms of the way Evolution has continued to develop and introduce ground-breaking new products, it has been a most encouraging year and all despite a very challenging global situation brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Carlesund went on to add, “We introduced a record number of 12 new games in that period. Our exclusive and unique game show games portfolio continued to grow with new titles such as Mega Ball and Crazy Time becoming immediate player favourites and major commercial successes. We also continued to reinvent and reinvigorate classic casino games for the next generation of players, with Lightning Baccarat, Speed Blackjack, and Power Blackjack all joining an already hugely varied and entertaining portfolio of both Live and First Person games.”

“I know I can speak for everyone at Evolution when I say we are extremely proud to have retained this award. Once again, our people have worked tirelessly to extend our position as the number one Live Casino supplier and to deliver an exceptional Live Casino experience for players. Our licensees, meanwhile, have been extremely loyal and always receptive to innovative new ideas that enrich our whole sector. My sincere thanks to everyone.”

The EGR Awards in retrospect
The EGR B2B Awards recognize the online gambling industry’s best service providers, rewarding the achievements of a diverse set of suppliers from across all major eGaming sectors including betting and gaming software, networks, payments, mobile IT & infrastructure, and recruitment. The awards are officiated by Deloitte.

Aussie punters looking to take a break from online gambling, were delighted to see the reopening of Star Sydney on 1 July, despite the expected changes due to COVID-19 regulations imposed by Liquor & Gaming NSW. Transgression of these regulations will naturally result in some form of punishment.

Less than a week after opening, Star Sydney has been hit with one such fine after allowing patrons to stand and mingle while consuming alcohol when the regulations clearly state that they must be seated. This infraction earned the venue a $5000 fine.

Third time unlucky

Liquor Gaming NSW had paid two previous visits to Star Sydney to check on the state of their compliance and members of staff were reminded of the measures they were expected to enforce. Compliance director Dimitri Argeres stated that The Star was “aware of its obligations.”

The fact that staff had to be re-informed during the first two visits suggests that infractions were observed at those times with the third violation ultimately resulting in the regulator taking decisive action and issuing a penalty.

Expensive errors

Fining a casino $5000 is unlikely to cause a huge impact on the business; however, this is only one of many potential penalties rule-breakers could face. Liquor & Gaming NSW have been empowered to conduct surprise and undercover investigations at their discretion with the authority to issue spot fines where deemed necessary.

Individuals can face fines of up to $11 000 and/or six months in jail for defying regulations while businesses can be hit with fines of up to $55 000 per violation and an additional $27 500 fine per day until the issue is resolved.

Infectious patron

Any financial penalties pale in comparison to the prospect of Star Sydney being forced to close its doors again, which became a frightening possibility when a guest recently tested positive for COVID-19. The individual in question, a male patron, visited the casino on 4 July from 19:30 to 22:30 and did not display any detectable symptoms at the time. While he mostly stuck to his group of friends, even casual contact with another individual could have spread the virus to them.

This scare comes in the wake of the venue recently increasing their capacity to 5000 patrons after having only being able to serve VIP clientele as per the rules of their initial, partial reopening.

Sydney’s COVID surge

Australia seems to be on the brink of finally nullifying the coronavirus, however, there are still pockets of infections that flare-up. Sydney’s Picton Hotel had to close to perform a deep-cleaning after discovering that an infected individual had been at the game room on its premises on the 4^th, 9^th, and 10^th of July.

The Canterbury League Club was obliged to reach out to staff and patrons to inform them they may have been infected after a customer who visited the venue on 4 July between 11 pm and 2 am tested positive.

A concerning tale has also emerged from the Crossroads Hotel in southwest Sydney, where a cluster of about 20 cases was traced back to the venue’s pub.  Officials revealed that 10 were infected at the pub itself while a further 11 occurred from people making contact with these individuals. Anyone who may have visited the pub between 3 July and 10 July has been urged to self-isolate.