Global Gaming Awards Winners Announced
The Global Gaming Awards London 2019 took place on the 4th February at the Hippodrome Casino in London, with winners including LeoVegas, Novomatic, Evolution Gaming and NetEnt. After a period of voting, the extensive judging panel, comprising leading industry figures, chose a first, second and third place for each of 16 categories. For the online casino industry, the biggest awards were the Online Casino, Online Casino Supplier and Casino Product.
The Results
Before the event, which took place over a glitzy afternoon tea in the capital, a shortlist of nominees across all 16 categories was published. All nominees were deemed to have excelled across the previous 12 months and to have made an impact on the industry in some way. Competition is always fierce, with standards consistently high, and each category representing a particular sector of gambling companies. This means that there was no one award seen as the biggest or most important at the event. The title of Online Casino 2019 went to LeoVegas, fending off 888Casino and Mr Green to the title. This award potentially came as somewhat of a surprise, following a fine from the UK Gambling Commission in May 2018 for accepting bets from self-excluded gamers.
Evolution Gaming was victorious in the Online Casino Supplier award, while NetEnt won best Casino Product with its 2018 slot release, Jumanji. The latter was also nominated last year for the EGR Game of the Year award but lost out in the end to Evolution’s Lightning Roulette. This difference may be explained by the different wording of the awards. EGR’s Game of the Year is specifically for the product that has made the greatest impact on the industry, while the GGA award is for the game deemed to be best by the judging panel. Following the event, the Hippodrome Casino released a full video of the ceremony, including the introductory and closing speeches given by employees of Gambling Insider. You can also see a full list of winners and runners-up below.
The Results in Full
Betting Shop Operator
- Ladbrokes
- Tipico (joint)
- William Hill (joint)
Online Sports Betting Operator
- Bet365
- Sky Betting & Gaming
- Bwin
Retail Supplier
- Betradar
- SBTech
- BetConstruct
Online Sports Betting Supplier
- Kambi
- SG Digital
- Betradar
Casino
- Casino de Monte-Carlo
- Hippodrome Casino
- Holland Casino
Online Casino
- LeoVegas
- 888Casino
- Mr Green
Casino Supplier
- Novomatic
- Scientific Games
- Merkur Gaming
Online Casino Supplier
- Evolution Gaming
- NetEnt
- Microgaming
Casino Product
- NetEnt – Jumanji
- Mr Green – Live Beyond Live
- IGT – CrystalCurve
Payment Solution
- Trustly
- PayPal
- Easy Payment Gateway
Corporate Services Provider
- Continent8 Technologies
- BMM Testlabs
- Gaming Laboratories International
Online Bingo Operator
- Jackpotjoy
- Gala Bingo
- Svenska Spel
Online Poker Operator
- PokerStars
- Svenska Spel
- 888Poker
Affiliate Programme
- Bet365 Affiliates
- LeoVegas Affiliates
- 1xBet
Corporate Responsibility Programme
- Kindred Group – Player Safety Early Detection System
- Mr Green Ltd – Green Gaming Predictive Tool
- Senet Group – When the Fun Stops Stop campagin
Chief Executive
- Kenny Alexander – GVC
- Pontus Lindwall – Betsson (joint)
- Jesper Svensson – Betsson Malta (joint)
The Event and Judging Panel
The awards ceremony was run by Gambling Insider, with the support of lead partner, BetConstruct. Other sponsors included SG Digital, Pragmatic Play, inbet Games, Asia Live Tech and ActiveWin. The event was perhaps unusual in that it took the form of an afternoon tea, but given the proximity to the ICE conferences taking place in London over the following three days, the more relaxed atmosphere was perhaps the best decision. The event was fully booked and ran smoothly from start to finish.
The judges themselves also represent some of the biggest names in gambling; CEOs and directors from firms like EveryMatrix, Red Tiger Gaming, 888 Holdings, Play’n GO and LeoVegas were joined by real-money gaming executives from Google and Facebook. All in all, there were 50 judges on the panel.
The original nominations were made by a panel of experts picked by the GGA. These individuals were Alex Pratt, iGaming Business Managing Director; Steve Donoghue, GamblingConsultant.co.uk CEO; David Sargeant, iGamingIdeas.com Betting & Gaming Innovation Consultant; Tal Itzhak Ron, Tal Ron Managing Partner and Ollie Drew, Square in the Air Director. The judging was overseen by KPMG Isle of Man in order to ensure a fair and unbiased process.
