Ten Most Prestigious iGaming Awards in the Online Gambling Industry

Restaurants strive for Michelin stars, the entertainment industry for the Oscars, music artists for the Grammys and online gambling businesses for highly-reputable iGaming awards.

Winning an iGaming award is more than just receiving a trophy on a stage. It defines you as a leader and celebrates your hard work, integrity, and perseverance throughout the years. It also distinguishes your brand from your competitors and opens doors for more business opportunities when you’re one of the best iGaming companies.

For players, ‘awards’ are one of the best indicators in choosing the best online casinos to play from, whereas, from a business point-of-view, this status means professionalism, trustworthiness and great credential for potential collaborations.

But, does that mean that any award can make your business more popular and successful?

No. In the iGaming industry, reviews and awards are a dime a dozen. Anyone with a laptop can easily rate or promote any online casino, games, and sportsbook on a website, but not every review can be genuine. Because of incentivized promotion, it’s become difficult for iGaming players to choose whose review to trust, and differentiate the best iGaming companies from the mediocre crowd.

Therefore, ‘awarding organizations’ have become another important benchmark for choosing the best iGaming operators these days.

That is why, in this article, we are going to talk about the ten best iGaming awards that are given by some of the most respected organizations in the gambling industry.

They are:

1. Global Gaming Awards (GGA)
2. International Gaming Awards (IGA)
3. EGR Awards
4. iGB Affiliate Awards
5. Sports Betting Community (SBC) Awards
6. Asia Gaming Awards
7. Malta Gaming Awards
8. Central and Eastern European Gaming Awards (CEEG)
9. Southern European Gaming Awards (SEG)
10. The Baltic and Scandinavian Gaming Awards (BSG)

Global Gaming Awards

Global Gaming Awards is one of the most trusted and respected awards in the gambling industry which recognizes companies and individuals for their operational excellence in the past 12 months.

This event is powered by a leading B2B publication of the gambling industry, Gambling Insider in conjunction with G2E (Global Gaming Expo). An expert judging panel is formed with 50 C-level executives from the leading iGaming companies to vote for the shortlist. Moreover, to ensure full transparency, the voting process of Global Gaming Awards is independently audited by KPMG Isle of Man.

The winners of GGA London 2019 were revealed on 4th February, and among the winners, LeoVegas and Bet365 took the trophies back home with the Online Casino of the Year award, and Online Sports Betting Operator of the Year award respectively.

However, there is one more event yet to happen, and it is GGA Las Vegas 2019, which is going to take place on 14th October in Las Vegas. We are all excited to see who will bring trophies back home from this event too.

International Gaming Awards (IGA)

Considered one of the most prestigious casino awards in the world, the International Gaming Awards are even referred to as the ‘Oscars’ of the gaming industry.

IGA awards have been given out since 2008, and their 12th annual event was successfully celebrated earlier this year in February in London. IGA awards cover gambling businesses from all verticals, i.e., from land-based and online casinos to operators, suppliers, and manufacturers of different sectors.

Among the 30 award categories handed out this year, a few companies which proved to be the best among the crowd are:

• Online Casino Operator: Casumo
• Mobile Operator: LeoVegas
• Live Casino: Mr Green
• Sports Betting Operator: William Hill

International Gaming Awards organization also runs iGaming Post and Infinity Gaming Magazine, which feature B2B content curated for top executives in the iGaming and land-based industry throughout the world.

EGR Awards

Given out by EGR (eGaming Review), the annual EGR Operator Awards are one of the most reputable award series in the iGaming industry.

The awarding organization, EGR, is claimed to be the world’s leading B2B publisher (both magazine and online publication), featuring the most exclusive industry insights, specialist reports, interviews, and up-to-the-minute news of the online gaming and gambling industry.

EGR Operator Awards reward the best operators and affiliates who stood out from the pack through excellence in business growth, operations, innovation, and marketing strategies.

Out of the 28 EGR operator awards, Operator of the Year award, Affiliate of the Year award, and The Rising Star award are some titles any iGaming business should set goals for. Players (and business partners) should also look out for these awards on websites as they are the most iconic awards in the EGR Operator Awards series.

Last year, GVC holdings, Gambling.com Group, and SuperNation were announced as winners in the respective categories mentioned above. If you want to know the rest of the 2018 EGR Operator Awards winners, here is a short compilation video for you:

For those who are keeping track of these awards for this year, 2019 shortlist will be coming out on 29th August and winners will be announced at the EGR Operator Awards 2019 event on 24th October in London.

iGB Affiliate Awards

The iGB Affiliate Awards is the UK’s premier recognition platform which purely honors the online gaming affiliate community. This event series is hosted by iGB Affiliate, publishers of iGB Affiliate magazine, a well-respected bi-monthly editorial curated specifically for iGaming affiliates of all levels and categories.

Affiliates are the essential components of the iGaming industry as they have so much power to drive a significant amount of traffic and revenue to operators. However, as competition in the iGaming affiliate sector has grown so much lately, it is important to empower the companies and individuals who can push boundaries through strategic innovation, ingenious marketing programs, and dynamic business growth.

And that’s exactly what iGB Affiliate awards are doing now; raising the standards of the iGaming affiliate community and rewarding the top performers for their achievements.

There are a total of 21 iGB Affiliate awards available for nomination in 2020, and they are as follows:

• Best affiliate website: Poker, casino, sports betting, bingo, lottery
• Best affiliate manager: Poker, casino, sports betting, bingo, lottery
• Best affiliate program: Poker, casino, sports betting, bingo, lottery
• Best newcomer: Affiliate program and affiliate
• Best innovation
• Best non-English: Affiliate website and affiliate program
• Lifetime Achievement

Earlier this year, our fellow partner AskGamblers was awarded as the Best Casino Website of the year, while Global Gaming Affiliates was awarded as the Best Non-English Affiliate Website. Other award winners that are worth mentioning are:

• Best Poker Website: World Poker Deals
• Best Sports Betting Website: Skores
• Best Bingo Website: Best New Bingo Sites
• Best Lottery Website: Lotto Arvonta

Sports Betting Community (SBC) Awards

From marketing, and customer service to innovative products and IT solutions, SBC Awards acknowledges operators, affiliates and suppliers who have achieved the best in their fields. SBC Awards are hosted by Sports Betting Community (SBC), which is the largest B2B news publisher in the betting industry as well as organizers of some of the world’s leading sports betting industry events such as ‘Betting On Sports’ and ‘Casino Beats Summit.’

Bringing together more than 700+ influential sports betting delegates, the 6th edition of this annual event will take place on the 3rd of December in London. The 2019 awards will feature a total of 39 awards categories which include 12 Operator/Affiliates awards, 15 Supplier awards, 6 CasinoBeats awards, 2 Specialist awards, and 4 Payment Expert awards.

As for 2018, some of the high-achievers who celebrated their success last year are:

• Bookmaker of the year: Bet365
• Rising Star in Sports Betting: Mr Green
• Affiliate of the Year: Catena Media

You can also check out the rest of the winners in this video:

Asia Gaming Awards & Malta Gaming Awards

Both Asia Gaming Awards & Malta Gaming Awards are operated under the same organization called SiGMA. SiGMA events are perfect opportunities to network with leaders in the iGaming industry, where you can reach out to the biggest brands, and turn these social interactions into business opportunities. It also publishes the latest iGaming news and in-depth features through SiGMAnews and SiGMAgazine.

For the SiGMA Awards, Malta Gaming Awards will be celebrating its sixth edition this year during Malta Gaming Week on 26th November. On the other hand, Asia Gaming Awards will step into the spotlight for the first time on 7th June 2020 during the debut of SiGMA Manila 2020.

Continuing the success of its sister event SiGMA Malta, SiGMA Manila 2020 will hopefully evolve into a major iGaming expo in Asia which will shine the spotlight on the Asia iGaming market and help the industry push boundaries beyond limits.

Central and Eastern European Gaming Awards (CEEG)

Established in 2016, the 4th edition of the CEEG Awards will be held on the 24th of September in Budapest (Hungary) in conjunction with the Central and Eastern European Gaming Conference (CEEGC). This event aims to reward those online gambling companies (gaming software suppliers, operators, and service providers) that are operating in the Central and Eastern European region for their outstanding achievements.

Since its launch in 2016, this award ceremony has been a brilliant opportunity for online gambling professionals from the CEE region and the Balkans to gather and support their fellows for their impressive contribution to the industry in the last 12 months.

To highlight some of their last year’s winners, they are:

• Best Overall Sports Betting Operator 2018: Superbet
• Best Customer Support in Online Casino 2018: Betsson Group
• Best Overall Online Casino 2018: Mr Green

Southern European Gaming Awards (SEG) & The Baltic and Scandinavian Gaming Awards (BSG)

Following the same transparent awarding process as CEEG Awards are the BSG Awards and the SEG Awards. SEG Awards will be given out to B2C and B2B gambling operators who have achieved remarkable success in Southern Europe, while BSG awards are for those in the Baltics and Scandinavian regions.

SEG 2019 awards will take place in Milan (Italy) on the 8th of November as a part of the European Gaming Congress, whereas BSG awards 2019 have already taken place on 9th May in Vilnius (Lithuania) during the second edition of MARE BALTICUM Gaming Summit.

Conclusion

To conclude, these are the ten most sought-after awards in the gambling industry which are given out with one common purpose, i.e., to improve the quality of the gambling industry as a whole by appreciating the outstanding performance of the current gambling businesses and motivating up-and-coming companies to strive for the best.

Whether you are an iGaming affiliate, a software supplier, or an online casino, don’t be shy to aim for these awards and jump into the competition. Success is no accident. Make sure you work for it and earn it!

And if you are looking for quality content and translations for your iGaming website, do not hesitate to contact us. We will assist you in doing your absolute best. Whether you are an operator or affiliate website, we have got you covered.