M&A in iGaming: How to Build Business Value. Connected with Pragmatic Solutions. Ep. #16: Tekkorp

Pay by Bank in iGaming: Instant Payouts, Open Banking & Pay N Play | Connected Ep. #21: Trustly

Open banking payments provider Trustly explains how iGaming operators can use pay by bank to deliver instant deposits and payouts, eliminate card-related friction, and onboard players without form-filling using bank-verified KYC data. Vasilije Lekovic is Vice President of Gaming at Trustly, where he has led the gaming commercial department for over 11 years. He was instrumental in launching Trustly's Pay N Play product and a range of identity and verification services for the gambling industry. In this episode, Ashley Lang and Vasilije cover the full scope of Trustly's offering for iGaming operators — from core pay by bank infrastructure to payment orchestration across markets and modular onboarding and compliance tools. Some of the topics covered are:  * How pay by bank works and why it removes the transaction limits, expiry issues, and settlement delays associated with card payments. * Why Trustly holds local bank accounts in each operating market and how this prevents IBAN discrimination on payouts. * How the Pay N Play product delivers a fully verified player account at first deposit, without form-filling or document upload. * The fraud prevention case for bank-verified KYC data and how regulators view it relative to traditional document review. * How Trustly's modular stack works: deposits and payouts, Pay N Play onboarding, affordability assessments, and name/IBAN verification as separate components. * How Trustly functions as a payment orchestrator, combining open banking with local payment methods (iDEAL, Bancontact, MB WAY, Bizum, Blik) for multi-market operators. * Current geographical coverage across the EU, UK, US, and Canada and where rollout of specific products is ongoing. * What onboarding with Trustly looks like, including for operators already on the Pragmatic Solutions PAM platform.   CHAPTERS * 00:00:00 Introduction to Trustly and Pay by Bank * 00:02:07 What is Trustly: Company Overview and History * 00:04:11 Pay by Bank Explained: How It Works * 00:06:02 Trustly's Competitive Advantages: Local Bank Accounts and Network * 00:07:16 Pay N Play: Seamless Onboarding and KYC * 00:08:17 Fraud Prevention and Regulatory Compliance * 00:09:48 Modular Services and Product Flexibility * 00:11:10 Geographic Coverage and Market Footprint * 00:12:22 Payment Orchestration: Local Payment Methods Integration * 00:13:46 Integration and Onboarding Process * 00:15:45 Building Long-Term Customer Relationships * 00:18:53 Closing Remarks and How to Connect with Trustly Trustly is the global leader in open banking payments, with a network of over 12,000 banks, 9,000+ merchants worldwide, and €93 billion in annual transaction volume. Gaming is Trustly's strongest and longest-standing vertical. The Connected with Pragmatic Solutions podcast brings you the latest insights in iGaming technology and innovation. Produced in collaboration with NEXT.io — The World's iGaming Community. More at www.pragmatic.solutions/connected [http://www.pragmatic.solutions/connected] #igaming #podcast #openbankingpayments #paynplay #igamingpayments

Real-Time iGaming Analytics: The Database Operators Are Switching To | Connected Ep. #20: ClickHouse

ClickHouse Sales Director Lee Wright explains how iGaming operators can run real-time player, affiliate, and fraud analytics at scale, all while cutting data infrastructure costs by up to 100x compared to Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks, and Redshift. In this episode of Connected with Pragmatic Solutions, our CEO Ashley Lang speaks with Lee Wright, Sales Director at ClickHouse, about how columnar database architecture is changing what operators can do with their data and what it costs to do it. ClickHouse is trusted by Cloudflare, Netflix, Tesla, Deutsche Bank, and Anthropic for high-performance analytics at scale. In iGaming, it gives operators the infrastructure to move from batch reporting to live, queryable data across player behaviour, affiliate performance, and fraud signals. Some of the topics covered are: * How ClickHouse delivers up to 100x lower storage costs versus Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks, and Redshift. * Why iGaming operators are moving away from batch reports toward real-time player and affiliate analytics. * How affiliates can track campaign performance live across player acquisition, platform activity, and game behaviour. * Using ClickHouse as the foundation for LLM-powered querying: operators asking questions about wagers, game performance, and business trends in plain language over their own data. * Fraud detection: combining rule-based logic and machine learning on a database that runs at millisecond speed. * Where ClickHouse sits in the iGaming tech stack and how it integrates with Kafka, Postgres, and standard BI tools. * The licensing model: open source, free to self-host, or fully managed on all three major cloud providers. CHAPTERS * 00:00:00 Introduction and episode preview * 00:00:38 What is ClickHouse? * 00:02:21 Why ClickHouse is having a moment: scale and speed * 00:03:12 Real-time analytics demand in iGaming * 00:04:14 What makes ClickHouse fast: engineering and compression * 00:05:26 ClickHouse in practice: Netflix, Tesla, Cloudflare, Deutsche Bank * 00:08:14 iGaming-specific opportunities: affiliates and real-time data * 00:09:51 Where ClickHouse sits in the tech stack * 00:11:31 From batch reports to real-time player queries * 00:12:14 ClickHouse as a product experience enabler * 00:13:22 Cost economics: 100x savings vs Snowflake, BigQuery and Redshift * 00:14:30 Licensing model: open source and ClickHouse Cloud * 00:15:27 AI and LLMs on top of ClickHouse * 00:16:48 How Lee joined ClickHouse * 00:18:03 The problem statement for operators * 00:19:09 Fraud analytics and machine learning use cases * 00:19:50 How the ClickHouse solutions team works with operators * 00:21:50 How to get started with ClickHouse ClickHouse is an open-source, column-oriented analytical database used by Cloudflare, Netflix, Tesla, Deutsche Bank, and Anthropic to process data at terabyte to exabyte scale. In iGaming, it enables real-time analytics for operators, affiliates, and players at a fraction of the cost of conventional cloud data warehouses. The Connected with Pragmatic Solutions podcast brings you the latest insights in iGaming technology and innovation. Produced in collaboration with NEXT.io — The World's iGaming Community. More at www.pragmatic.solutions/connected [http://www.pragmatic.solutions/connected] #igaming #podcast #dataanalytics #igamingtech #realtimedata

iGaming Leadership: What Boards Want from the C-Suite | Connected Podcast Ep. #19: Odgers

Odgers Partner Andrew Bulloss draws on 16 years of senior executive search in iGaming to explain what boards, investors, and founders are now asking for from their senior leadership teams, how AI is entering executive briefs, and what separates the candidates who succeed at C-suite level from those who don't. Odgers is one of the world's leading executive search firms, with a dedicated global gaming and gambling practice focused on senior leadership appointments for operators, B2B suppliers, and investment-backed organisations worldwide. In this episode of Connected with Pragmatic Solutions, our CEO Ashley Lang speaks with Andrew Bullos about what effective senior leadership hiring looks like in iGaming in 2026, including: - How regulated markets have changed what boards and investors expect from senior leaders, and why rigour now matters as much as ambition. - Why the most effective iGaming CEOs combine commercial drive with emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and data-led decision-making. - How to match the right leader to the stage a business is at, and why the skills needed for each phase differ. - The difference between B2B and B2C leadership requirements, and where the core traits overlap. - How AI is beginning to appear in C-suite job specifications, and what AI fluency is starting to mean in practice for operators and suppliers. - Where out-of-sector talent works in iGaming, and why onboarding strategy determines whether those hires succeed or fail. - The five behavioural traits that define successful iGaming CEOs, drawn from 25 to 30 conversations with chief executives in the sector. - What aspiring senior executives can do now to prepare for C-suite roles, including finding a mentor, gaining board exposure, and seeking honest feedback. Episodes: CHAPTERS * 00:00:00 Introduction * 00:01:00 Welcome and about Andrew Bulloss * 00:02:22 What boards and investors look for in senior leaders * 00:05:04 How leadership demands have evolved over the last decade * 00:08:59 B2B vs B2C leadership: are the skill sets different? * 00:11:56 Matching the right leader to the stage of the business * 00:14:48 Culture fit vs culture change: how to approach the hire * 00:17:36 The impact of AI on executive briefs and leadership requirements * 00:23:57 Bringing talent into iGaming from outside the industry * 00:29:02 What makes iGaming attractive (and off-putting) to outside candidates * 00:32:59 What organisations should look for when hiring senior leaders * 00:33:47 The five behavioural traits of successful iGaming CEOs * 00:38:05 What candidates should ask in a senior interview * 00:43:18 How to prepare for a C-suite role: three practical steps * 00:47:53 Closing remarks and how to contact Andrew Bulloss The Connected with Pragmatic Solutions podcast brings you the latest insights in iGaming technology and innovation. Produced in collaboration with NEXT.io — The World's iGaming Community. More at www.pragmatic.solutions/connected #igaming #podcast #igamingleadership #executivesearch #igamingtalent

iGaming CRM Strategy: Retention, VIPs and AI | Connected with Pragmatic Solutions Ep. #18: Kyborg

iGaming CRM specialist Kyborg explains how operators can move beyond deposit-focused campaigns to build behavioural-based retention strategies, manage VIP churn proactively, and integrate AI without losing strategic control. Brigitta Szenczy is Co-Founder of Kyborg, a specialist CRM and player lifecycle agency with a decade of iGaming experience. She works with operators to diagnose CRM weaknesses, design lifecycle strategies, and execute across retention, VIP management, and player engagement. This conversation covers the full scope of iGaming CRM strategy, from goal-setting and tooling selection to personalisation, VIP warning signals, and the practical role of AI in day-to-day operations. Some of the topics covered are: - Why treating deposit conversion as the primary CRM success metric leads operators to optimise for the wrong outcome. - How to diagnose business weak points before setting KPIs, rather than building campaigns first and measuring results after. - The difference between behavioural-based real-time CRM and campaign scheduling, and why these are frequently confused. - How to select CRM tooling based on platform integration, compliance requirements, and market-specific functional needs. - When generic campaigns outperform personalised ones, and how to judge which approach is appropriate at each stage of the player relationship. - How CRM functions as an early warning system for VIP churn by tracking behavioural signals before revenue impact becomes visible. - Where AI adds genuine value in CRM operations, and where human expertise remains necessary. The importance of product and operational alignment for CRM to function effectively. CHAPTERS * 00:00:00 Introduction to Kyborg and CRM Strategy * 00:01:36 What is Kyborg: Agency Services and Approach * 00:04:14 Identifying Problems and Setting Strategy * 00:06:06 Platform Requirements and Tooling Selection * 00:08:40 Setting Goals and Avoiding Common Pitfalls * 00:15:03 Beyond CRM: Product Alignment and UX Issues * 00:17:13 Generic vs Personalized Campaigns: When to Use Each * 00:20:31 Key Focal Points: Retention and Conversion First * 00:24:58 AI in CRM: Ally Not Enemy * 00:29:56 VIP Strategy: Personalization and Early Warning Systems Kyborg is a specialist CRM and player lifecycle agency serving iGaming operators across multiple markets, providing strategy, execution, and ongoing optimisation across the full player lifecycle.The Connected with Pragmatic Solutions podcast brings you the latest insights in iGaming technology and innovation. Produced in collaboration with NEXT.io — The World's iGaming Community. More at www.pragmatic.solutions/connected #igaming #podcast #igamingcrm #playerretention #igamingmarketing

AI-Powered Market Intelligence for iGaming. Connected with Pragmatic Solutions. Episode #17: Blask

Do you have a clear view of player behaviour across markets? What if the data behind your decisions is only telling part of the story? In this episode of Connected with Pragmatic Solutions, our CEO Ashley Lang speaks with Max Tesla, CEO and Co-Founder of Blask, about how iGaming businesses can access real-time competitive intelligence to make better-informed market decisions. Blask is a market intelligence platform built specifically for iGaming, tracking more than 5,000 brands across 126 countries. It provides operators, game providers and investors with daily visibility into where player attention is moving, how brands are performing relative to each other, and how markets are evolving in real time. The conversation explores how this data is used in practice, from benchmarking performance and shaping acquisition strategy to evaluating market entry and supporting M&A due diligence. CHAPTERS * 00:00:00 Introduction to Blask and Market Intelligence * 00:02:52 The Blask Index: Measuring Player Attention * 00:04:03 Brazil Case Study: Timing Market Entry Decisions * 00:06:30 Game Provider Intelligence and Lobby Visibility * 00:09:14 Platform Demo: Real-Time Market Analytics * 00:11:24 Understanding the Blask Index Methodology * 00:12:58 Competitive Benchmarking and Market Positioning * 00:14:48 M&A Intelligence and Competitive Earnings Baseline * 00:16:56 Growth Without Context: The Tesla and CPG Examples * 00:21:03 Regulated vs Offshore Market Analysis * 00:25:46 Industry Trends: US Market Underestimation * 00:29:14 Africa: The Fastest Growing Opportunity * 00:31:13 Market Share Trajectory vs Absolute Growth * 00:32:32 Future Predictions: AI Agents and Prediction Markets * 00:34:02 UAE Emergence and US State-by-State Window Closing * 00:36:22 Getting Started with Blask: Access and Pricing Some of the topics covered include: • Blask Index insights into player attention shifts and its reliability compared with revenue and deposit data. • How operators and studios use attention data and lobby analytics to understand visibility and performance across markets. • The use of competitive earnings baselines as an independent check on revenue claims in M&A transactions and investment due diligence. • What the data reveals about emerging opportunities in markets such as the US, Africa and prediction markets. • Differences between offshore and locally regulated market share across Brazil, Germany, and the UK. • The impact of AI on how market intelligence is consumed and applied across the industry. The Connected with Pragmatic Solutions podcast brings you the latest insights in iGaming technology and innovation, in collaboration with NEXT.io — The World’s iGaming Community. More at www.pragmatic.solutions/connected #igaming #podcast #competitiveintelligence #marketintelligence #igamingdata