On the eve of December 4th at the Artillery Garden at the HAC, hundreds of sports betting industry and gambling industry professionals gathered for an end of the year celebration at the SBC Awards 2018.
“It feels fantastic, what a great end to the year. We work really hard to try to translate for the entire gaming industry and we’re writing content and I think everyone’s happy, well they must be happy if we’re winning awards!” Michele Spiteri of All-in Translations, winner of Best Service Provider, shared with CalvinAyre.com.
In addition to providing a casual atmosphere for networking, catching up with old friends and just having some fun, the SBC Awards inspires teamwork and inspiration in the sports betting industry, especially for the winners.
“Optima is an incredible company, mostly because of the people who work there”, said Marta Nikolova of Optima, winner of Best Retail Betting Product.
“It’s a relatively new company that grew up extensively during the past few years and even though the retail is the foundation of our business we are a multi-channel product, able to serve perfectly well the clients both in retail and online, mobile – all the platforms that exist actually- but we are very, very proud to have won the retail award because this is the foundation of everything, actually”, she added.
One of the most prestigious awards of the evening came in the form of Leader of the Year and this year’s recipient was the humble and honored Sergey Portnov of Parimatch.
“Just being even nominated already gave me a lot of motivation, we were expecting a different award, we lost on that award but I won something that is unbelievable. I don’t know how they picked it, I thought it was a mistake but it true, so I feel really, really recharged and it gives me a big influx of motivation for future achievements”, Portnov shared.
Team SBC put a lot of hard work into this year’s awards to make them the biggest and best yet, an effort that was obvious to anyone who was in attendance on the night.
“We had all these special coffee and gin cocktails, chosen specifically by Rasmus Sojmark and a lot of the music played tonight was from his personal Spotify list so don’t blame me!” SBC’s Andrew McCarron told CalvinAyre.com with a smile.
“We had a good performance with a Hollywood theme to keep everybody’s energy up and then we had Kirsty Gallacher with the great Peter Schmeichel, a good friend of mine [laughs] presenting the awards and doing a little piece for us there, so yea, we’ve had a fun-filled night and its not even finished yet!” he added.
SBC Awards 2018 Winners:
Bookmaker of the Year: Bet365
Rising Star in Sports Betting: Mr. Green
Football Bookmaker of the Year: Bet365
Racing Bookmaker of the Year: William Hill
Retail Bookmaker of the Year: William Hill
Esports Bookmaker of the Year: Betway
Socially Responsible Bookmaker of the Year: Kindred
Marketing Campaign of the Year: Sky Betting & Gaming
Sponsorship of the Year: Dafabet
Affiliate of the Year: Catena Media
Best Affiliate Product Innovation: Bettor Collective
Best Affiliate Partner Scheme: Bet365
Leader of the Year: Sergey Portnov, Parimatch
White Label Supplier of the Year: BetConstruct
Sportsbook Supplier of the Year: FSBTech
Standalone Platform Provider of the Year: SG Digital
Marketing Agency of the Year: Square in the Air
Esports Supplier of the Year: BetGenius
Rising Star in Sports Betting Innovation: 1XBet
Best Live Betting Product: SG Digital
Best Live Streaming Product: Betradar
Best Sports Data Product: Betradar
Payment Provider of the Year: SafeCharge
Best Retail Betting Product: Optima
Best Virtual Football Product: Golden Race
Best Virtual Sports Product: Vermantia
Best DFS Product: Scout Gaming Group
Best Multi-Channel Supplier: SBTech
Best Virtual Sports/Game Innovation: Spiffbet
Best Acquisition & Retention Partner: Optimove
Best Service Provider: All-in Translations
Innovation in Payment, Fraud and Compliance Solutions: Trustly
Innovation of the Year: BetGenius Sportcast
Casino Operator of the Year: LeoVegas.com
Rising Star in Gaming: Twin
Game Developer of the Year: Play’n Go
Best Gaming Innovation: Yggdrasil
Innovation in Live Casino: Evolution Gaming
