EGR Power 50 2024: Ones to watch
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Roobet
As one of the fastest-growing crypto casinos, five-year-old Roobet deserves attention – and its place on the ones to watch list of operators threatening to break into the EGR Power 50. While Roobet made headlines two years ago when it was included on Twitch’s list of crypto gambling sites to be banned from being streamed on the Amazon-owned platform, it seems to have had little impact on growth. Its (highly paid) micro-influencers have found a new home at Twitch rival Kick, and enlisting hip-hop superstar and media personality Snoop Dogg as an ambassador didn’t hurt. Roobet even has Snoop-inspired casino games on its site. Particularly active on social media platforms, the operator has amassed a combined 457,000 followers across Instagram and X.
KTO Group
A self-funded startup established in 2018 and led by an experienced team – including industry veteran Andreas Bardun as CEO – KTO Group has made creditable inroads into its core market of Brazil with the KTO brand and its localised offering. As the country sits on the cusp of regulation, Bardun remarked in a recent interview with EGR that KTO was positioned between eighth to 10th in the market share pecking order. “I’ll put us pound for pound as one of the best-performing brands in Brazil,” he proudly stated. Marketing strategies, influencer partnerships and local sponsorships have all played their part, too. When KTO started, sportsbook accounted for about 80% of the business, yet casino has since taken the lead partly due to Brazilians going gaga over crash games.
Coolbet
Sporting a distinctive multi-coloured polar bear logo, a core aim of Coolbet when it launched in 2016 was to be different amid what founder Jan Svendsen deemed to be the homogeneity of sports betting products. Tallinn-based Coolbet, which bills itself as ‘the most transparent sportsbook in the world’, soon built a name for itself in its home market of Estonia as well as Scandinavia, underpinned by in-house technology built from the ground up. This growth and proprietary assets didn’t go unnoticed; in early 2021, supplier GAN (currently in the process of being bought by Sega Sammy) swooped to acquire the bookmaker for just shy of $176m. Licensed in Estonia, Sweden and Malta, Coolbet has embarked on replicating its Northern European success by pushing into Latam.
WPT Global
Piggybacking off one of the most trusted names in poker via its partnership with the World Poker Tour has helped make WPT Global one of the world’s largest poker sites, as has hiring poker legend and 11-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Phil Ivey as an ambassador. Steering clear of regulated markets like the US, UK, France and Italy hasn’t prevented WPT Global taking second spot, with a seven-day average of 2,300 players at the cash game tables, at the time of writing, according to Poker Scout, ahead of PokerStars (1,800). In October, WPT Global partnered with the Triton Poker Series to become the official sponsor of the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series. It also branched out into casino and sports betting.
Apuesta Total
With Peru becoming a newly regulated online market in March 2024, leading the charge in the Andean nation from a domestic perspective is homegrown hero Apuesta Total. Supported by a network of more than 500 retail outlets, which helps with brand awareness, this omnichannel operator was the most-visited gambling site in October, according to Semrush, with over 18 million hits. That was easily more than the combined traffic of the other four sites in the top five. In July, Blackstone-owned Spanish gambling group Cirsa snapped up a 70% stake in Apuesta Total. Calls and puts are in place to potentially acquire up to 100% of the business. At the time of the announcement, Cirsa revealed Apuesta Total generated 2023 GGR north of €100m, although this does include retail.
Betika
Kenya isn’t an easy place to be a bookmaker given its burdensome tax framework, not to mention the government takes a cut of players’ winnings. It’s no wonder some firms have packed up shop and left the East African market. Not Betika. This is an operator based in the capital, Nairobi, that has elbowed its way to the top in a country boasting a population of more than 55 million. Betika has also used its profits and brand presence in its home market to expand with a localised offering into other African countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique. Meanwhile, its glossy ‘The Home of Champions’ TV and digital advertising campaign, launched at the end of 2023, reinforced its standing in the region.