partnerships
Elys Game Technology Partners with Bookmakers LLC

Elys Game Technology, an interactive gaming and sports betting technology company, has announced a partnership with Bookmakers LLC to provide land-based sportsbook services within the Top Hat Sports Bar & Grill, located in Parkville, Maryland.
Under the agreement, Elys will receive a percentage of all sports betting revenue generated pending final regulatory approval of the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission.
“We are delighted to partner with Elys to provide sportsbook services within the Top Hat Sports Bar & Grill located in Parkville, Maryland. Elys’ experience in the market, ease of use for players and reporting for regulatory compliance is what drove Bookmakers to select and sign with Elys. We expect that their ‘Build-A-Bet’ feature will be especially attractive to our customers. We are excited about the prospect of offering yet another layer of entertainment to the customers of this already busy establishment. I am truly excited at the prospect of being part of this progressive program in the state of Maryland and appreciate the support of the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission in driving new revenue streams to support locally owned businesses,” Karen Senac, Owner of Bookmakers LLC, said.
“We are pleased to enter this partnership with Bookmakers, LLC to provide them with an end-to-end, best-in-class sportsbook solution for their customers. Top Hat Sports Bar & Grill, Parkville’s premier pool hall for over three decades, includes a sports bar and lounge area with multiple flat screen TVs for viewing your favorite sports, making it an ideal location to include our sportsbook solution for their customers. We look forward to working with Karen Senac and the Bookmakers team to fulfil their inaugural sportsbook goals,” Michele Ciavarella, Executive Chairman of Elys Game Technology, said.
“This partnership is a further example of both our growing traction within the state of Maryland, as well as the eagerness of local business operators to provide their customers with sports betting as an ancillary product in their establishments. The Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency recently approved new rules for Maryland sports betting. This agreement follows a similar agreement in the state of Maryland with the Rod ‘N’ Reel Resort, which is one of just seven named ‘class B’ entities in the state of Maryland guaranteed a sportsbook license. Adding a sportsbook to a local business operator, such as the Top Hat Sports Bar & Grill, is expected to be a win-win for the establishment, as it could generate a new stream of revenue and provide an engaging product and service for their current guests, as well as potentially allowing establishments to build their businesses by drawing new customers interested in the sportsbook solution to their venues. We plan to continue to aggressively develop our sales pipeline with additional bars, restaurants and other retail establishments to implement our sportsbook solution throughout the nation,” Michele Ciavarella added.
Latest News
Inspired Launches V-Play Football Brazil with EstrelaBet via the Altenar Sportsbook

Inspired Entertainment, Inc., a leading B2B provider of gaming content, technology, hardware, and services, is pleased to announce the launch of V-Play Football Brazil with EstrelaBet, a leading Brazilian gamingtech company. The integration is powered by Altenar, a leading sportsbook platform provider for licensed operators around the world.
This launch marks an exciting new chapter in Inspired’s expansion across Brazil delivering its market-leading Virtual Sports content to a local, LATAM focused operator. V-Play Football Brazil, designed specifically to capture the flair, passion, and energy of Brazilian football, provides fast-paced betting action with high-frequency, ultra-realistic match simulations.
“We’re thrilled to bring V-Play Football Brazil to EstrelaBet’s customers,” said Brooks Pierce, President and Chief Executive Officer of Inspired. “Brazil has a deep-rooted passion for football, and our latest Virtual Football product is tailor-made for that audience. This launch with EstrelaBet, through Altenar’s dynamic platform, represents a powerful combination of cutting-edge technology, local insight, and premium virtual content. It’s a major milestone in our commitment to growth in Brazil.”
EstrelaBet, known for its strong brand presence in Brazil and innovative approach to player engagement, continues to invest in new ways to enhance its sportsbook offering. V-Play Football Brazil is now available at estrela.bet.br, optimized for desktop and mobile platforms, as well as the Android app.
“Inspired’s V-Play Football Brazil delivers the quality, authenticity, and excitement that our players expect,” said Fellipe Fraga, CBO (Chief Business Officer) at EstrelaBet. “The launch of this product aligns perfectly with our mission to offer customers a dynamic and differentiated sports betting experience. We’re excited to bring Brazilian fans a product that feels made just for them.”
The launch was made possible through Altenar, whose scalable and flexible sportsbook platform supports operators across more than 30 countries.
“We are proud to power this exciting launch between Inspired and EstrelaBet,” said Antonis Karakousis, Director of Operations at Altenar. “Inspired’s V-Play Football Brazil is a perfect match for the Brazilian market, and this rollout exemplifies Altenar’s ability to support rapid integration and localization of best-in-class content. We look forward to seeing strong engagement and performance from this partnership.”
Gaming
Avalanche and Helika Launch New Gaming Accelerator – Applications Now Open

The Avalanche Foundation and Helika, a leading provider of technical and creative solutions for the video games industry, have officially launched their joint video game accelerator program and opened applications for the first cohort.
The newly announced strategic partnership is designed to engage both Web3-native studios and traditional game developers exploring blockchain integration. The accelerator aims to identify and support the next generation of studios building at the frontier of blockchain-based gaming.
The program is focused on product interaction and is designed to discover, support, and fast-track promising studios and projects building on the Avalanche blockchain. It will provide selected projects with unparalleled access to resources, mentorship from industry leaders, technical support, activations, and funding opportunities for qualifying or top-performing teams.
The accelerator is open to seasoned teams building high-quality, engaging experiences across platforms, from mobile to desktop and everything in between. Projects with prior traction or cross-platform aspirations are especially encouraged to apply.
The program will run for 3 months, with virtual onboarding and IRL showcases planned across major gaming and blockchain events.
What selected teams get:
Funding & Resources: $25,000 in initial support and up to $125,000 in additional funding for qualifying or top-performing teams.
Expert Guidance: Mentorship from game veterans, blockchain experts, and industry leaders through group sessions and 1:1 consultations.
Analytics Support: Comprehensive analytics solutions to track performance, improve retention, and optimize monetization strategies.
Blockchain Integration: Dedicated assistance for integrating with the Avalanche blockchain and optimizing technical performance.
Community & Growth: Activations with partner communities and platforms and support in player acquisition, community building, go-to-market strategies.
Helika Advisory Access: Access to specialized experts from Helika’s network for tailored support.
Ecosystem Access: Direct connection to a vibrant network of developers, investors, publishers, and Web3 enthusiasts.
Showcase Opportunities: A final Demo Day event to present games to investors, publishers, and ecosystem partners.
“We are excited to partner with the Avalanche Foundation to create a world-class accelerator for Web3 gaming. Avalanche’s robust and scalable infrastructure makes it an ideal environment for innovative game development. Studios need tools that work, data that matter, and real support from people who understand what it means to build in this space — this accelerator provides all of that, plus a direct line into a powerful Web3 ecosystem,” said Anton Umnov, Founder and CEO of Helika.
“Avalanche is focused on the long game. There’s no shortage of flashy ideas. What’s missing is the support that helps studios turn those ideas into real, playable, scalable games. Avalanche has long been the go-to chain for speed and innovation, and now we’re channeling that energy into the future of gaming, supporting teams who understand the nuance of player experience, community building, and long-term value creation,” said Parker Heath, Ava Labs Gaming Partnerships Lead.
Avalanche plays host to a vibrant lineup of video games, including Off The Grid and Maple Story Universe, all pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in blockchain-powered play. Thanks to its customizable Avalanche L1s, lightning-fast transaction speeds and low fees, developers can tailor unique environments for their games without compromising on user experience.
Helika has become a cornerstone for modern game studios, equipping developers with real-time insights into player behavior, on-chain economies, and engagement metrics. From Proof of Play and Parallel to Nexon, Ubisoft, and Com2Us, Helika’s platform is shaping how developers build, balance, and scale their games in real-time. This accelerator takes that impact further by embedding support into the earliest stages of development when it matters most.
Latest News
ZBD and TapNation forge new status quo in rewarded gaming

ZBD, the payments innovator powering real-money rewards for games, has introduced embedded in-game rewards, an evolution in how mobile games use real-money rewards to engage players, alongside launch partners including TapNation and Fumb Games.
Embedded rewards are a new approach to rewards in the mobile gaming industry, taking lessons learned from the rise of rewarded play apps to give any game the ability to incentivize users to play more, for longer and more profitably. Players can now earn real-money rewards inside the game, not a separate app, resulting in triple-digit retention boosts.
This solves an issue inherent in rewards apps which, while undeniably effective, limit the scale at which games can benefit from rewards by only applying rewards systems to users sent to a game from a specific app. Additionally, this system mostly performs well for IAP-monetized games due to the high cost of rewarded users, which are difficult to absorb for ad-monetized titles.
ZBD’s solution changes that. Already successfully integrated into titles such as Idle Bank, an idle tycoon hit by TapNation with more than 12M downloads, it embeds rewards directly into the gameplay experience. Powered by a lightweight SDK, the ZBD model drives improved retention and monetization for titles that monetize with ads as well as IAPs.
Philippe Lenormand, Head of Web3 at TapNation said:
“ZBD is taking a bold approach to boosting game monetization while keeping players happy, which comes at a good time for the industry. Embedded rewards have the potential to transform performance for games, especially those that partly rely on ad monetization.”
Beyond TapNation, the new SDK is already live in 20+ games from 7 other partners, including Fumb Games, PlayEmber and Hazmob. This includes a mix of older games, like Merge Monsters from Fumb Games, which saw a +181% increase in D7 retention after years of little activity, as well as new titles geared towards rewards, like Crypto Idle Tycoon by Ruleks Games, which saw its D30 retention climb by +355% and ad revenue per user by +124%.
Ben Cousens, Chief Strategy Officer at ZBD said:
“Rewards are proven beyond doubt to improve the value exchange between games and gamers, leading to powerful upticks in engagement, retention and monetization. With embedded rewards, we’re unlocking that potential beyond the constraints of rewarded UA channels. We’re using real-money payments to make a game more worth playing. And removing all the complexity that usually comes with payments to create a solution tailor-made for mobile game studios.”
Rewards powered by ZBD are always real money, not just in-game points. To facilitate this kind of money movement for amounts as small as a cent, ZBD uses the Bitcoin Lightning Network. But developers can choose whatever icon and currency name they want to show for the rewards, the Lightning Network is just the underlying payments layer that enables the transactions in real-time all over the world. ZBD has long offered a powerful payments API for studios to craft bespoke reward systems with custom logic, interfaces, and UX flows. The SDK builds on that foundation, transforming what was once an extensive technical integration into a ready-to-deploy layer that gets games live with rewards in less than a week.
Last month, ZBD announced its payments technology had been approved by Apple to enable native Bitcoin microtransactions in the mobile game SaruTobi, making it the first iOS game to integrate in-app purchases using Bitcoin. Now, embedded rewards are making it easy for any game to send microtransactions to players and gain massive performance boosts.
-
Latest News6 days ago
Quick Custom Intelligence Partners with ComOps to Offer Secure, Scalable Off-Site Human Player-Development Services for Casinos
-
Compliance Updates6 days ago
Illinois Gaming Board Announces Enhanced, Uniformed Advertising Rules for Casinos, Video Gaming and Sports Wagering
-
Latest News6 days ago
Stake strikes new global partnership with Street League Skateboarding
-
Compliance Updates7 days ago
SOFTSWISS Strengthens Regulated Market Presence in LatAm with Full Product Certification in Brazil
-
Latest News6 days ago
VIP Play and Decentral AI Announce Strategic Partnership to Shape the Future of AI-Powered Sports Entertainment
-
Canada6 days ago
Segev LLP Celebrates 10 Years of Business-Focused Legal Innovation
-
Canada5 days ago
AGCO Removes Cap on Seller Commission for Charitable Lottery Products
-
Latest News6 days ago
Winpot names Miroslava Montemayor as brand ambassador