EGR B2B Award Winners Announced
The winners of this year’s EGR B2B Awards have been announced, following a series of online and in-person award ceremonies. The event took place over two days, from July 6th to July 7th. Virtual ceremonies were held, leading up to an evening of celebrations in Regents Park, London.
The exclusive live event in Regents Park, London offered one of the first opportunities in a year and a half for industry professionals to socialize. ©Cottonbro/Pexels
Celebrations in London
The EGR B2B Awards were founded to recognize and celebrate the very best in gaming talent. The industry’s top service providers and suppliers are rewarded across a broad spectrum of categories. From mobile gaming to betting and gaming, from payments to recruitment, all disciplines are acknowledged and applauded for their contributions.
The shortlist for 2021’s EGR B2B Awards was published in June, and now the overall winners have been announced. This year’s ceremony consisted of 39 categories, split into Headline, Software & Network and Service categories. The Headline awards are the most hotly contested, showcasing the very highest tier of talent in the industry. To ensure complete transparency in the judging process, the awards are officiated by Deloitte.
The organizers of the awards were determined not to let the pandemic put a dampener on this year’s event. The ceremony took place as a hybrid of virtual events, leading up to a spectacular live event in England’s capital. Over the course of two days, participants took part in special virtual events, including award presentations and winners’ speeches.
Sponsors also took the opportunity to share their insights and winners were interviewed. To add an extra dose of fun to proceedings, there were virtual tables, a virtual photobooth and content snapshots. All of this took place online until the live event on the evening of day two.
The exclusive in-person event was held at York Lawns in Regents Park, London. Guests were able to enjoy the experience of meeting industry leaders face to face and take in the atmosphere of the night. Trophies were handed out and premium food and drinks were served. The event was COVID-safe, taking place outside with marquees and social distancing.
It marked the first time almost eighteen months that the industry has been able to come together in this way. Although safety measures were in place, it was a welcome opportunity for guests to socialize in person after a long hiatus and have fun after what has been a trying period for everybody.
Headline Winners
The winners of the eleven Headline categories represent the very best that the industry has to offer. This year, two new Headline categories were debuted. The winner of the “Data Center and Cloud Systems Provider” category was Continent 8 Technologies. The judges described the worthy winner as an extremely solid business that understands the infrastructure needs of operators.
Another new category was “Full-Service Platform of the Year”, won by Gaming Innovation Group. The judges said that GiG has experienced great growth and success during the year, and is one of the best platforms in the industry. Receiving the award for the tech company, CEO Richard Brown said:
“It’s thanks to the continuous hard work, passion and united effort from everyone at GiG that we can proudly say that we have gained industry recognition as the leading iGaming platform provider for operators around the world.”
Relax Gaming were lucky enough to win two Headline categories, taking the trophies for “Poker Supplier” and “Casino Software Supplier”. Relax Gaming also won in other categories too, including “Innovation in Mobile” and “Bingo Supplier”. The judges had particular praise for the operator’s bingo products and innovative approach.
IDnow was awarded “Compliance & KYC Supplier” for its understanding of technology and human instinct, while NetEnt was named “Casino Software Supplier” for its superb performance in the US market. Red Tiger, one of the top performers at previous EGR B2B Awards, was named “Mobile Supplier”, a title it won with four others last year.
The award for “Payments Company” went to Worldpay from FIS, a payments provider praised for its compliance standards and forward-thinking. Kambi won “Sportsbook Platform Supplier, while GAN was awarded the prize for “White Label Partner”. 1X2 Network topped off a great year by winning the title for “Slot Supplier.
Expert Judging Panel
With so many leading companies participating, it was often difficult for the judges to choose an outright winner. For that reason, a small number of highly commended businesses were named, which narrowly lost out on winning trophies. HooYo was commended for “Compliance & KYC Supplier”, while Pronet Gaming came close to being named “Sportsbook Platform Supplier”.
Aspire Global narrowly lost out to GAN, and was highly commended for the “White Label Partner” trophy. This year, due to the pandemic, a live judging day wasn’t held. Judging took place between April 2020 and April 2021. External judging panels with specialist industry knowledge were specially selected for the different categories, avoiding conflict of interest.
The judging panel is kept anonymous until after the awards have taken place, to ensure that they cannot be influenced by participants. This year’s judging panel has just been announced, and consisted of 37 experts from across the industry.
The event was hosted by British comedian Marcus Brigstocke, who added his own unique brand of humor to proceedings. Entertainment was also provided by The Juke Joints, a band specializing in 50’s and 60’s style rock and roll. The Headline sponsor was BetB2B, while SoftGamings was the Diamond sponsor.
