EGR Global is pleased to announce that the EGR Operator Awards 2019 voting process will once again be officiated by accountancy giant Deloitte. This marks the first time the Awards have been adjudicated by a third-party and is part of EGR’s pledge to make the judging process the most stringent and transparent in the industry.

HOW THE JUDGES ARE CHOSEN

EGR’s team of independent, external judges is updated each year and is selected to bring a diverse range of in-depth egaming expertise to the judging process. All judges are required to sign a disclaimer form to keep all submitted information and the winners confidential, and are obliged to declare that they have no conflicts of interest prior to judging.

The full list of judges will be published after the judging process has been completed so that there is no attempt to influence the judges as this would result in immediate disqualification from the awards.

HOW CATEGORIES ARE ALLOCATED TO THE JUDGES

Groups of judges are allocated categories, which are aligned to their specific market knowledge and avoid conflict of interest. Each group of judges have no access to the submissions or results of categories they are not involved in judging.

THE SHORTLISTING PROCESS

Awards will only be awarded in categories where two or more submissions have been received. A panel of independent, external judges decides on the shortlist prior to the submissions being sent to the final judges.

THE JUDGING PROCESS

The judges read and analyse the submissions. Each judge allocates a score to each individual criteria per category, as well as a brief summary of their thoughts

Once the above is complete, judges submit their scores

Once the scores are submitted the winners are then automatically calculated by our online judging platform. If there is no clear winner, the lead judge in each group will have the final casting vote to determine the winner. A Highly Commended may also be rewarded in this instance.

EGR does not contribute or have a vote within this process. The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony.

SUBMISSION FEEDBACK

EGR do not share individual judges’ scores and comments, however explanations for the winner of each category will be provided online after the event.

2018 JUDGES COMMENTS

Here are what last year's judges said about the 2018 winners:

Sports affiliate – Skores
A great product, appealing to real valuable punters and sticky so they keep coming back. Very impressive across the board.

Casino affiliate – Gambling.com Group
Overall a well-rounded submission that demonstrates strong growth over the judging period through a mixture of organic and M&A. One of the best in the business.

Affiliate of the year – Gambling.com Group
The presentation was crystal clear as they came in with the numbers and reasons behind why they have made the decisions they have made. They have also streamlined organic growth, done the right M&A and focused on new markets.

Bingo operator – Tombola
Tombola was the obvious choice as they ticked every box. They have grown the fastest and in the most stable way, have the clearest strategy, investing in the right places, and it is all in-house. It’s everything we were looking for.

Casino operator – GVC Holdings
Their broad range of initiatives impressed us, including on CRM, supplier relationships, geographic expansion, and quick integrations. On top of that, the performance year on year is incredible.

Employer of the year – Sky Betting & Gaming
A very strong submission on staff retention/engagement, incentives/benefits and training. Overall SBG appears to be a great company to work for and all employee reflections on the working experience there seem positive.

Mobile operator – William Hill
The presentation was very balanced with good specific examples of product improvement and increasing customer engagement.

Operator of the year – GVC Holdings
It was a transformational year for GVC with both the successful migration of bwin.party and the completion of Ladbrokes Coral acquisition. To complete one merger in this industry is bold, to take on two is truly brave and that GVC have managed to pull it off and emerge with all brands stronger as a result is a truly impressive achievement. And success has been widespread, with all online divisions (Ladbrokes, Coral, Brazil, partypoker) contributing strongly.

Poker operator – partypoker (GVC Holdings)
Provided many examples of their growth and improving returns from their customers, and showed a real mixture of improving the product and customer interaction, stitched together into an overall strategy. What resonated most was the piece about truly understanding the customer.

Rising star – SuprNation
An innovative concept which, despite its youth, is already profitable. Its approach to gamification will open up further revenue opportunities and therefore we see this positive trajectory sustainable.

Socially responsible operator – Sky Betting & Gaming 
Arguably the operator that has really taken the challenge of responsible gambling head-on in the previous 12 months and made some impactful changes. Responsible gambling is a priority of the business but more importantly it's dealt with honestly and with a sense that is has not solved the problem and there is a clear a culture of continuing improvement. 

Sports betting operator – bet365
It's incredibly hard to look past bet365 who continue to dominate many of the major markets and show strong levels of growth against a very competitive market backdrop. Alongside this they continue to innovate around product and trading and remain the firm everyone wants to beat.

Affiliate programme – LeoVegas
This is a quality programme for a quality operator. They care about their good affiliates and about partnering to both make good money - they are the ones to beat.

Esports operator - Pinnacle
Pinnacle is the leader and given its market positioning has been able to build a scaled esports business.

Lottery operator - Lottoland
Lottoland is a high-quality innovator and genuine disrupter in the marketplace. Its move into insurance reflects real domain expertise and leadership. The fact the company is willing to challenge lottery dominance and the hurdles associated with this demonstrates the confidence in its offering.

Customer services operator - Betsson Group
An incredibly strong and well put together submission showing a real commitment to customer service backed by strong measurables and consistent reviewing to measure effectiveness.

Horse race betting operator - Paddy Power Betfair
Paddy Power has always been racing-led relative to other mainstream bookmakers and it has maintained this product commitment amid much stronger football growth in the market. It effectively leveraged horseracing as part of a core mainstream offer rather than a niche.

Football betting operator - Paddy Power Betfair
PPB is a first-rate operator and really brings together commercial and marketing expertise together with strong product and technology fundamentals. Particularly strong in the UK, Australia and Ireland. They do football betting extremely well indeed.

In-house product - BetVictor
BetVictor's #PriceItUp builder has not been the only product of this nature developed in 2018, but it has been one of the best received - and is one of the most responsive algorithms. Customer reviews are consistently good and despite the World cup coming to an end, continues to be well used by customers.

In-play sports operator - Sky Betting & Gaming
Led the market with its RequestABet feature with a focus on continuous innovation. Sky Bet has been an outstanding performer in this area for the last five years.

Marketing campaign - tombola
An extremely effective campaign that seems to have had a significant impact on the business and is what you would expect from a great brand like this: the player at the heart.

Mobile bingo product - Jackpotjoy
A very strong entry identifying key differentiators in each of the criteria - standout feature is its product recommendation facility.

Mobile sports product - bet365
With market leading revenue and growth, a strong product in multiple jurisdictions, and one of the best-known brands in the market, it was another successful year for bet365. Demonstrable customer-focused features and just does what it says on the tin.

Slots operator - William Hill
Customer satisfaction messages very welcome, as is NPS measures, with a remarkable level of game launch and collaboration with software houses. A good submission with loads of information – it has been a good slot operator for a while and that remains the case.

Social operator – KamaGames
One of the best poker offerings in the market with extremely favourable monetisation. These guys have continued to do a great job.

HOW TO ATTEND THE AWARDS

To find out more about attending the 2019 awards, please contact:

Clark Beecroft
c.beecroft@egr.global
+44 (0)20 7832 6596

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