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OKTO: As cashless becomes king, land-based gaming requires an industry-specific solution

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As a provider of digital payments for the entire high street, fintech firm OKTO stands out as having a unique cashless solution that caters to the nuanced needs of the UK’s highly regulated land-based gaming sector. As demand for such solutions accelerates due to the global pandemic, Dimitar Shopov, OKTO Wallet Commercial Owner, explains how crucial it is that operators pick a partner that understands the specifics of their industry, whilst also evolving its technology to keep up to date with global fintech trends.

On a global basis, how busy has OKTO been since the start of the pandemic? Has there been a notable increase in interest and urgency for the installation of cashless systems?

It is a question we are increasingly asking ourselves as a society: “Do we still need cash?” The decline in the use of cash and the concurrent rise in digital and card payments has been charted for years, but the pandemic definitely marks the real beginning of the end of cash in many mature markets like the UK who is a fast adopter, ushering the interest and urgency toward cashless systems.

A combination of contributing factors play a role here; tech advances, measures from authorities, and actions from big retailers across the world that have already adopted the use of digital payments as a safer method to maintain social distance and contain the spread of the COVID-19. Cashless systems have increasingly become the new norm, simply due to the fact that society demands it.

Now, all our partners are asking us how we can help them transition to cashless operations and the driver is always the same; the ability to respond to their users’ demands, leverage user services and experience and reduce cost and risk of cash. And that is what we deliver with our OKTO.WALLET solution.

Is the UK a market you are monitoring in respect to its uptake of cashless payments?

The use of cash has been falling around the world and the pandemic along with the fear of infection from bank notes are accelerating the trend away from cash towards digital payments. The UK ranks higher than all other countries in the EU when it comes to cashless payments for a few years now.

Naturally, not everybody is ready for a digital switchover, but it’s apparent that more and more people turn to digital payment options. Cash’s share of in-store transactions in the UK plummeted from 45 percent in January to 23 percent in July, per a report from Square that analyzed data from hundreds of small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) across the UK while the digital will likely retain greater popularity. Therefore, as a fast adopter, the UK was a natural fit for us to invest in this market, creating a powerful solution, designed to address the needs of the Pub & AGC sector with the main mission to be the enhanced user experience.

And here comes the question: Will we ever have a digital alternative that offers the same mix of convenience and freedom as cash? For me the answer is yes. Contactless forms of payment have created a new level of convenience for people around the world, and this has provided a real boost for certain industries, from gaming and betting to hospitality sectors. OKTO.WALLET solution is not only the safe and fast transactional tool that both users and merchants demand but it also offers users the freedom to move and use their funds as they wish instantly.

How do you think Covid-19 has accelerated this increasing disdain for products and services that require cash payment? Does another round of government restrictions in the UK spell further worry for cash-only businesses?

A few years ago, while I was walking through London, I noted some signs dotted around a pub that announced the complete move from cash to customers: “Apologies, but it is the digital age.” Don’t forget that there are benefits in digital payments that make life easier not only for the pubs but for all retail businesses. Think about it, at the end of the night whatever the retail business is, the people there need to count up endless piles of coins, managers need to transfer bags of cash to be lodged at the bank, also there are the additional charges to processing cash transactions versus digital ones and so on. All these can be eliminated with the digital cashless payments.

The trend was there and Covid-19 came and sped up that trend. All the cashless benefits along with the fact that banknotes and coins have been identified as a medium for transmitting the pandemic is clearing the way for another stellar rise in digital payments.

I cannot see the crystal ball and make the prediction for further pandemic-related worries for cash-only businesses, but when you hear announcements from World Health Organization back in March, recommending people to turn to cashless transactions to fight the spread of Covid-19, and rapidly a number of governments and retailers across the world took action, you can realize the evident concern. This shift should not be underestimated, as cashless transactions become the norm and rapidly impact niche industries like hospitality and gaming.

A cash-free future is getting closer, and the new lockdown is further accelerating that shift, but this change won’t be a 100 percent switch over night, there will be a prolonged period cash and digital payment options living side by side. After all, consumer payment choice is one of the most essential ways to maximise a merchants revenue potential, and operators should ensure that they will offer their customers the same level of choice in payment options as other sectors of the leisure industry, offering cashless facilities and we are here to assist operations in this transition.

Despite being a fintech provider to many markets across the world, OKTO clearly sees gaming as a particularly important one. How does this focus on gaming, whilst also offering all the benefits of neo-banks such as Monzo and Revolut, put OKTO in a better position to serve the market than competing cashless solutions in this space?

There are plenty of cashless solutions available and it can be confusing at times, what and why different digital solutions are better suited to certain sectors, and this is especially true in gaming.

But, it’s crucial for any operation to back the right horse. It’s imperative to choose a reliable solutions partner and few providers are focusing on the nuanced needs of gaming operators, especially for land-based, which make us unique in what we do. At OKTO, we want to assist our partners to make informed decisions for both their businesses and customers. Now with the industry to face more challenges than ever gaming operators need a payment service to ease the burden rather than add to it. Industry-specific, mobile-first and open-loop are the keys here.

A payment provider with a mobile payment platform, tailored for the gaming industry that aims to reduce payment friction, enhance the user experience, allowing real-time e-money fund transfer in a simple, secure and fast way is the answer to their quest. When this comes with a universality, then this is a sure bet, as consumers can use, move and collect their funds anywhere, not just for gaming.

Having a dedicated team on gaming, are you confident OKTO is well-equipped to cater to the needs of such a heavily regulated industry, where the expectations for compliance, data protection, and social responsibility are higher than any normal consumer market?

It’s vital to choose the right partner as I previously said; one that utilises field-proven technologies and has the extensive know-how of key integrations across all physical touchpoints of a gaming venue ranging from gaming machines to Self-Service Betting Terminals and Cash Redemption Terminals as well as a strong understanding and proven ability to integrate the wallet with digital touchpoints. We have exactly this 360 approach through our OKTO.WALLET solution, that the operators need to get ahead.

Heavily regulated industries are not unknown to us. We have an extensive understanding of the current climate; and we have developed solutions that ease compliance issues. Utilising the highest level of data encryption, we ensure all users data are fully encrypted while also all fund transfers are audited using market-proven algorithms to detect fraudulent activity including not only Money Laundering but also game manipulation and cash peripheral attacks.

Social responsibility is also at the top of our minds. With tools available through the OKTO app, we cover the social responsibility quota, incorporating a strict age verification process, time-out periods, betting limits, and profit and loss calculator tools that further enhance consumer protection as well as a dedicated section embedded in the app with national problem gambling helplines.

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Scale isn’t everything: Why agility is the new advantage in live casino

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Live casino’s rise has been meteoric, but the recent slowdown at the top end of the market suggests the next phase of growth won’t come from scale alone. As the sector matures, Ady Totah, CEO at LuckyStreak, explains why agility, hands-on management and a sharper product focus are fast becoming the new competitive edge.

 

There is a perception that the biggest live casino providers are the most capable. Is bigger always better?

It’s easy to assume that the biggest brands automatically deliver the best service, but with scale comes complexity. For larger organisations, adding new features or reacting to a regulatory update can take weeks or even months, especially when decisions span multiple time zones or teams have long approval chains.

At LuckyStreak, while we’re an established business with a large, dedicated workforce at our live dealer studio in Riga, our management team remains intentionally small and hands-on. In many ways, we operate more like a start-up, with fast, focused leadership at the core.

Myself and my co-founder Erez Cywier are closely involved in the day-to-day operations. This proximity shortens decision making processes, speeds up product assessments and empowers us to act quickly. We’re not tied down by long-winded protocols or bureaucracy.

A perfect example of this agility came when we saw an opportunity in the growing sweepstakes market. We already had the foundations but needed to adapt quickly. In just one quarter, we delivered compliant user interfaces, multi-coin virtual currency systems and configured both our own live games and third-party content to meet the unique needs of the sweepstakes audience. This is the kind of rapid pivot that is only possible when your decision-makers are hands-on.

 

How do boutique providers keep product planning sharp and strategic?

Knowing what matters and prioritising ruthlessly is what allows smaller providers to remain competitive in the market, when faced with more established, Tier 1 names. Speed, however, does not mean shortcuts.

We are sharpening our performance across the board and ensuring our roadmap gives us the flexibility to act when new opportunities arise. Effective product planning is all about focus. That means tuning out the industry noise, resisting trends for the sake of trends, and asking: what delivers real impact for our partners?

While some companies struggle under the weight of large and inflexible roadmaps, we have the luxury of being selective in what we build, and that makes our product roadmap  more actionable, more tailored and therefore more valuable to our partners.

 

How can providers keep up with rising regulatory pressures?

Operating across multiple jurisdictions means navigating a complicated patchwork of compliance frameworks, licensing rules and technical standards quickly.

Compliance is not a support function, but a core part of the business. For larger businesses, these regulatory changes may present disruptions, but our size and structure allow us to react quickly and stay ahead of the curve, without compromising on quality.

To maintain both speed and quality, we moved from traditional Agile sprints to a continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) model. Instead of bundling releases every two weeks, we push updates multiple times a week. This means we can react quickly to feedback, ship improvements faster, and keep our platform evolving without unnecessary delays.

 

Why is a more focused approach the future of live casino?

The criteria for what operators need from their live casino provider is changing. Reliability, flexibility, speed and compliance support are becoming just as, if not more, important than table count. We design everything with these qualities in mind, and we back that up with a strong culture of ownership and continuous delivery. This mindset allows us to innovate quickly, without sacrificing the robustness our partners expect.

In this new landscape, being lean, focused and responsive isn’t a limitation. In live casino, a genre requiring significant on-going operational investment, the providers that thrive are not always the biggest, but the smartest and the ones who can adapt fastest.

The post Scale isn’t everything: Why agility is the new advantage in live casino appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

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Getting to Know Incline Gaming Marketing with Chief Commercial Officer Jo Dennis

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Incline Gaming Marketing is redefining how gambling brands scale and succeed worldwide. Founded by industry veteran Peter Laverick, the agency delivers end-to-end digital marketing services across user acquisition, CRM, and creative. In this interview, CCO Jo Dennis explains how Incline acts as an extension of operators’ in-house teams, helping them acquire players, boost retention, and compete globally.

 

Incline Gaming Marketing. Tells us what we need to know about the business.

Incline Gaming Marketing (Incline) is a full-service digital marketing partner dedicated exclusively to the regulated gambling industry. We’re not just a supplier of campaigns or assets, we run marketing operations end-to-end for our partners, functioning as an extension of their in-house team.

Our expertise spans user acquisition, CRM, and creative, delivered by specialists who’ve worked inside top operators and suppliers. With offices in San Francisco, Philadelphia, and London, we provide market-specific strategies and execution for brands in North America, Europe, Africa, Australia, and beyond.

Founded by industry veteran Peter Laverick in 2020, Incline is part of The Conexus Group alongside Pentasia (recruitment) and Partis (strategy and M&A). Our partners range from household-name operators to ambitious new entrants, all looking for a team that can step in, own the process, and deliver measurable results from day one.

 

Who are the main players running the business day to day?

Peter Laverick, our CEO and founder, has led marketing at some of the industry’s biggest names, including BetVictor, Aristocrat, and PlayStudios. Chief Commercial Officer Jo Dennis joined through our acquisition of Random Colour Animal in 2024 (RCA was originally founded in 2018) and brings more than 25 years in brand and marketing strategy.

Chief Marketing Officer Oren Langburt has over 15 years’ experience in real-money gaming, including leading marketing at FanDuel. VP Partner Success Haig Sakouyan is a 20+ year industry veteran, ensuring our partnerships deliver beyond marketing.

 

Talk us through Incline Gaming Marketing’s core service offering.

We operate in three connected disciplines that together form a complete managed marketing service:

  • User Acquisition (UA): We plan, execute, and optimise campaigns across Meta, Google, TikTok, Snapchat, Apple, and programmatic networks, managing multi-million-dollar budgets. As an approved Facebook Business Partner, we’ve been rated the most effective media buyer in North America’s online gaming sector, achieving a 99.9% efficiency score.
  • Customer Relationship Marketing (CRM): Our CRM specialists handle the full player lifecycle — from onboarding and first-time deposit conversion to long-term retention and reactivation. We combine data-led segmentation with targeted offers and creative to grow lifetime value while controlling bonus spend.
  • Creative: We produce more than 1,000 assets per month, from brand identities and websites to broadcast-quality TV spots, slot game creatives, supplier content packs, and conference materials. All creative is performance-driven and integrated into UA and CRM campaigns for maximum impact.

When combined, these services allow us to act as a partner’s complete marketing department – – strategy, execution, and optimisation under one roof.

 

Which markets are you focused on? Are you pushing into any new regions?

We built our reputation in North America, where we work with leading land-based and online operators across casino, sportsbook, lottery, social gaming, and daily fantasy sports. We now deliver integrated managed services in Canada, the UK, continental Europe, Africa, and Australia, tailoring each approach to local regulations, player behaviours, and market dynamics.

For many partners, this means we handle all marketing in new markets from day one – avoiding the time and cost of building a local team – and then continue as their long-term, embedded marketing function.

 

Why are your services particularly valuable to operators in the current industry climate?

Player acquisition costs are rising, retention is harder than ever, and regulatory pressure is mounting. Building and managing an in-house team with the full range of skills required – from media buying to lifecycle marketing to creative production – is expensive and slow.

Incline solves that. We provide an instant, proven marketing department with deep gambling expertise, multi-channel capabilities, and global reach. Our managed services model means we don’t just advise, we execute, optimise, and deliver results. Whether launching in a new jurisdiction or scaling in a mature one, we know the levers to pull for sustainable growth.

 

What can we expect from Incline in the second half of the year?

We’re deepening our presence in Europe, Africa, and Canada while cementing our leadership in North America. Several major launches and brand refresh projects are underway, alongside scaled acquisition and retention campaigns for our long-term partners.

Our focus remains the same — provide operators and suppliers with a high-performing, fully managed marketing function that delivers measurable results faster, and with more certainty, than building it in-house.

 

The post Getting to Know Incline Gaming Marketing with Chief Commercial Officer Jo Dennis appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry in the Americas.

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Interviews

Getting to Know Incline Gaming Marketing with Chief Commercial Officer Jo Dennis

Published

on

getting-to-know-incline-gaming-marketing-with-chief-commercial-officer-jo-dennis
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Incline Gaming Marketing is redefining how gambling brands scale and succeed worldwide. Founded by industry veteran Peter Laverick, the agency delivers end-to-end digital marketing services across user acquisition, CRM, and creative. In this interview, CCO Jo Dennis explains how Incline acts as an extension of operators’ in-house teams, helping them acquire players, boost retention, and compete globally.

 

Incline Gaming Marketing. Tells us what we need to know about the business.

Incline Gaming Marketing (Incline) is a full-service digital marketing partner dedicated exclusively to the regulated gambling industry. We’re not just a supplier of campaigns or assets, we run marketing operations end-to-end for our partners, functioning as an extension of their in-house team.

Our expertise spans user acquisition, CRM, and creative, delivered by specialists who’ve worked inside top operators and suppliers. With offices in San Francisco, Philadelphia, and London, we provide market-specific strategies and execution for brands in North America, Europe, Africa, Australia, and beyond.

Founded by industry veteran Peter Laverick in 2020, Incline is part of The Conexus Group alongside Pentasia (recruitment) and Partis (strategy and M&A). Our partners range from household-name operators to ambitious new entrants, all looking for a team that can step in, own the process, and deliver measurable results from day one.

 

Who are the main players running the business day to day?

Peter Laverick, our CEO and founder, has led marketing at some of the industry’s biggest names, including BetVictor, Aristocrat, and PlayStudios. Chief Commercial Officer Jo Dennis joined through our acquisition of Random Colour Animal in 2024 (RCA was originally founded in 2018) and brings more than 25 years in brand and marketing strategy.

Chief Marketing Officer Oren Langburt has over 15 years’ experience in real-money gaming, including leading marketing at FanDuel. VP Partner Success Haig Sakouyan is a 20+ year industry veteran, ensuring our partnerships deliver beyond marketing.

 

Talk us through Incline Gaming Marketing’s core service offering.

We operate in three connected disciplines that together form a complete managed marketing service:

  • User Acquisition (UA): We plan, execute, and optimise campaigns across Meta, Google, TikTok, Snapchat, Apple, and programmatic networks, managing multi-million-dollar budgets. As an approved Facebook Business Partner, we’ve been rated the most effective media buyer in North America’s online gaming sector, achieving a 99.9% efficiency score.
  • Customer Relationship Marketing (CRM): Our CRM specialists handle the full player lifecycle — from onboarding and first-time deposit conversion to long-term retention and reactivation. We combine data-led segmentation with targeted offers and creative to grow lifetime value while controlling bonus spend.
  • Creative: We produce more than 1,000 assets per month, from brand identities and websites to broadcast-quality TV spots, slot game creatives, supplier content packs, and conference materials. All creative is performance-driven and integrated into UA and CRM campaigns for maximum impact.

When combined, these services allow us to act as a partner’s complete marketing department – – strategy, execution, and optimisation under one roof.

 

Which markets are you focused on? Are you pushing into any new regions?

We built our reputation in North America, where we work with leading land-based and online operators across casino, sportsbook, lottery, social gaming, and daily fantasy sports. We now deliver integrated managed services in Canada, the UK, continental Europe, Africa, and Australia, tailoring each approach to local regulations, player behaviours, and market dynamics.

For many partners, this means we handle all marketing in new markets from day one – avoiding the time and cost of building a local team – and then continue as their long-term, embedded marketing function.

 

Why are your services particularly valuable to operators in the current industry climate?

Player acquisition costs are rising, retention is harder than ever, and regulatory pressure is mounting. Building and managing an in-house team with the full range of skills required – from media buying to lifecycle marketing to creative production – is expensive and slow.

Incline solves that. We provide an instant, proven marketing department with deep gambling expertise, multi-channel capabilities, and global reach. Our managed services model means we don’t just advise, we execute, optimise, and deliver results. Whether launching in a new jurisdiction or scaling in a mature one, we know the levers to pull for sustainable growth.

 

What can we expect from Incline in the second half of the year?

We’re deepening our presence in Europe, Africa, and Canada while cementing our leadership in North America. Several major launches and brand refresh projects are underway, alongside scaled acquisition and retention campaigns for our long-term partners.

Our focus remains the same — provide operators and suppliers with a high-performing, fully managed marketing function that delivers measurable results faster, and with more certainty, than building it in-house.

 

The post Getting to Know Incline Gaming Marketing with Chief Commercial Officer Jo Dennis appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

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