News

We welcome Mr. Martin Martirosyan to our Digitain family as Group Deputy CEO.

Martin, Ph.D in Economics, has a profound corporate background in business, products, and risk management. Now he is joining Digitain Group of companies’ leadership team as a Group Deputy CEO. 

Digitain Founder Vardges Vardanyan commented on the appointment: “We are delighted for Martin to join our senior leadership team. Our business continues to grow strategically across multiple regulated markets across the globe. Martin, who has held senior corporate positions with HSBC, brings that wealth of experience as our group of companies expands and we service more B2C partner operators in regulated markets.”

Martin Martirosyan, Deputy CEO, said: “I’m honoured to join the Digitain Group as it expands its business operations within continental Europe, the United Kingdom, and beyond. Digitain is an example of a great organisation, people, and culture, and technology delivery that has been recognised with multiple international and local industry and business awards. I look forward to being part of this next chapter of Digitain’s growth story over the coming months and years ahead.”    

Digitain, the leading sportsbook and casino platform provider in the iGaming industry, immediately confirmed the promotion of Grigor Asoyan to Group Deputy CEO of Technology.

Grigor formerly held the position of CTO and has worked for the business for ten years in senior technology roles.

Vardges Vardanyan, Founder of Digitain, said: “Grigor has demonstrated strong leadership and vision to our business throughout the last decade. As we expand our global reach in new and existing markets, his contribution to technology and solutions will further consolidate our market position as a leading iGaming provider. ” 

Commenting on the promotion, Asoyan said: “I’m delighted in this new role within the business. Digitain has been a great brand to be part of over the last ten years and has experienced growth in all areas of its operations across multiple global markets.

I will look forward to this next part of my journey with the brand. We have been and will continue to focus on new experiences, innovations, and the latest digital technologies for all our partners and customers to ensure we continue empowering your success within the iGaming supply chain.” 

The beautiful, cold, London night of February 6th saw Digitain get selected as the best Sports Betting Platform during the 16th Annual charity-centred International Gaming Awards (IGA), organised and run by leading media company Clever Duck Media. Hosted at the fantastic, legendary 5-Star Savoy Hotel, this highly-regarded event recognises and celebrates the annual achievements of the iGaming industry professionals. Supported by the most prominent iGaming businesses from across the world, the IGA embraces a global attendance of the industry giants from both the online and land-based gaming sectors worldwide.

“It’s always a thrill to be among the chosen!”, admits Digitain Group Chief Marketing Officer, Aregnaz Hakobyan. ”It feels so good to be once again recognised and celebrated as one of the best worldwide! This goes to show that hard work pays off. Congratulations to the Digitain team and all the other winners! Plus, our special thanks to the Awards committee for our award! See you next year!”

Digitain, the leading sportsbook and casino platform provider in the igaming industry, announces the appointment of Iain Hutchison as its Chief Revenue Officer. Iain brings with him over 20 years of experience in building and scaling successful technology start-ups in sports-betting, digital marketing, live trading and sports-betting affiliates.

Mr. Hutchison has extensive experience in managing teams, driving significant revenue growth as well as leading organizational transformations and developing strategies.

As the Chief Revenue Officer of Digitain, Iain will be responsible for leading the company’s revenue growth strategy, expanding its global reach and driving its continued success in the igaming industry.

“We are thrilled to welcome Iain to the Digitain team. His expertise will be invaluable as we continue to grow our business and expand our reach globally,” said Vardges Vardanyan, Founder of Digitain. “Iain’s track record speaks for itself and we are confident that his leadership and vision will help drive Digitain to even greater heights.”

Iain’s appointment comes at a pivotal time for Digitain as the company continues to expand its offerings and explore new opportunities in the igaming industry. With Iain’s extensive experience and leadership skills, Digitain is poised for continued success and growth.

We are excited to announce the opening of our newest branch in Bucharest, Romania.

Located in the heart of the city, the new office will allow us to provide better service to our growing client base in the region and further expand our presence in the European market.

“We are thrilled to open a new branch in Bucharest,” said Digitain Founder Mr. Vardanyan.” Romania is a dynamic and growing market, and we believe that this new office will allow us to better meet the needs of our clients and partners in the European market.”

The Bucharest office will accommodate a team of experienced professionals who will work closely with clients to provide top-quality services and support.

“At Digitain, we are committed to delivering the best possible experience for our clients,” Mr. Vardanyan added. “We believe that the opening of our new Bucharest office will help us to achieve this goal, and we look forward to building strong relationships with our clients in Europe.”

The opening of the Bucharest office is part of our ongoing expansion strategy, and the first one of the multiple offices we are planning to open around the world.

“We are always looking for opportunities to grow and improve, and the opening of our new Bucharest office is a testament to this commitment,” added Mr. Vardanyan.

Last week, winners were announced at the biggest event ever held by Romania’s gambling industry. Yet another award for Digitain in Bucharest reconfirms the fact that we have a stable presence in the European iGaming market. When the Casino Life & Business Magazine held their annual Romanian Gambling Industry Grand Awards ceremony on December 14, our company took home the prize for the best Software Provider.  

The Official Gala of the Grand Awards was the largest social event ever held in Romania’s gaming industry, with 153 attendees, 26 sponsors and supporters, 8 audio/video technicians, 7 performers (including musicians and dancers), and a staff of 20. 

As Digitain’s Head of Marketing, Aregnaz Hakobyan, put it, “The excitement of receiving due recognition through such an important international event is overwhelming and never-ending.” 

Congratulations to the Digitain team and all the other winners, and sincere thanks to the organisers and jury! 

November of 2022 saw Digitain win Platform of the Year at the Starlet Awards, organised by 5 Star iGaming Media! 

Known for fostering success, innovation and ethics in the iGaming industry, the Starlet Awards recognise the achievements of the most cutting-edge companies and B2B service providers in the sector. The judges are specially selected professionals with extensive knowledge and experience to determine which candidates provide the best products and services. 

In Digitain’s Head of Marketing Aregnaz Hakobyan’s words, “It’s an incredible thrill to be once again internationally recognised for the work we collectively put hearts in.” 

Congratulations to all the other winners and special thanks to the organisers and judges! 

Digitain Group R&D Director Peter Nolan speaks to Gambling Insider about the company’s future in the US, the LatAm market and Luís Figo playing football on an Armenian roof.

Where is Digitain right now in the market and where does it want to be?

It’s in a good state. We’ve just come out of a good conference. We’re looking to expand our global footprint in regulated markets; that’s our target. We’re building sales teams in Latin America and Asia to help support that, and the general sales team has doubled in the region in the last 18 months. We’ve got some good products; in particular, we launched the new platform called Centrivo in the summer and it has had a big impact – so we’re in good shape platform wise. It’s got some really good verticals, support and a lot of tools for the operators: like CRM and an integrated payment gateway, content management system, etc. We bumped up the tools and the whole stability and flexibility of it, where people can quickly change the website and mobile sites to suit their brand. That has been successful so far.

What about the core products?

We upgraded our sportsbook, which is our hero product. Digitain started out in this industry with shops in Armenia and a sports betting B2C. Sports betting was our original business, so we have a large team of traders and risk management people, with algorithms – we’ve upgraded that recently so it’s ready for the World Cup. Also, we launched our online casino studio in the last few months and have signed up over 50 partners on the live casino. That’s a completely new studio built in our Digitain headquarters, which is a state-of-the-art building housing over 2,000 people now. We’re also building another studio so we can offer some more bespoke services to clients.

In terms of sports betting, how interested are you in the US market right now?

It’s on our radar at some point in the future. There are certainly plenty of opportunities there as the various new regulated markets open up. Right now, we have plenty to do, plenty on and are focused on Central European, LatAm and Asian markets. Looking at it, there’s a fight going on in the US, people spending a lot of money in terms of operations, while most people are cutting down on that to save money. However, we’re confident we will achieve growth there over time.

So LatAm is a bigger focus for you in the near future, then?

Yeah, but we want to go into the regulated markets, too. I worked in Brazil for a couple of years, so I know it quite well. We have a couple of good people that work there for us, who are talking to the regulators a lot in Brazil and Argentina. We want to get our products certified for these areas; that’s our aim. However, right now, we’re focused on getting more visibility.

In terms of visibility, it must be great for the brand to have Luís Figo as an ambassador, which Gambling Insider exclusively revealed back in July.

Yes, that’s a big statement for us and our B2B suppliers, as well. Obviously, you get a lot of B2C people with advocates and footballers. So, for our B2B supplier to get him was a big statement. It’s a bit like our show at ICE London: every year it’s a bit bigger, a bit better and represents the confidence we have in the business.

Digitain’s new Group COO, Armine Sirunyan, speaks to Gambling Insider about her new role within the business and the company’s plans for 2023 and beyond.

Congratulations on your appointment! What was your first thought when you found out you were going to become Group COO?

Excitement! There is a great deal still to achieve and I’m so looking forward to working with colleagues from across the organisation to ensure our continued success. I’m also very thankful to be given this opportunity to continue my journey with this progressive organisation in such an important role.

What is your biggest target as Digitain COO?

There are many and all of them are big and undertaken with strong determination. I would outline, that I am strongly committed to driving continual improvement in how we serve our partners and how we support our teams in ensuring that we deliver the very best standards of customer experience. I would also highlight balancing efficiency with effectiveness – ensuring that all systems and processes across the business are optimised – especially those “moments of truth” that make the real difference to our partners.

How has working at Digitain changed since you joined the company?

We see the advancement of technology in an enormous speed every single day and across all the aspects of our life, which is as well reflected in our work. Saying this, we are now integrating and using machine learning and AI across all our products and services.  Our global footprint has grown significantly as we expand our geography and move into more regulated markets. This in its turn drives us to furnishing our products and services with more market specific functionals and solutions.

Another significant change to me, as to a person who has spent with the company around a decade, is the size and the scale of the team. It used to be a team of few hundreds, and now we have a workforce of over 2000. And it is not only the numbers that matter. I am very proud to see that we have built a diverse and multifunctional team covering various professions, talents and new directions. Another change I would highlight, is the complexity of products. Digitain used to be a sportsbook-oriented provider-sportsbook being the first product it introduced to the market. Now we are a multi-vector business, offering wider range of products and solutions and continuously heading towards new business directions.   

Finally, what are the company’s biggest goals for 2023?

We follow through our goal to enter more regulated markets globally and expand our geographical presence. This, in its turn, drives us to constantly developing our product base – including live casino, sportsbook, payment gateway and RGS.

We are very much focused on creation and development of our in-house products, and ensuring that those are equipped with constantly evolving, top-notch and competitive features.  Some of our in-house products have succeeded to an extent that they have grown into stand-alone companies and are creating their own success path.

As a client- centric company, we are committed to putting our best effort, our in-house expertise and knowledge to facilitate the sustainable growth and development of the business of our partners. We keep on being innovative and taking every opportunity to delight our new and existing partners with new offerings that will reinforce their competitive position in the market. And last, but not the least, we have an ultimate vision to grow the technical skill base in Armenia (as a centre of excellence) via company initiatives such as M1TQ.

Digitain’s Zohrab Karapetyan talks exclusively to G3 magazine about the company’s expectations of the 2022 FIFA World Cup and his plans to deliver a special sportsbook experience.

What opportunities does the upcoming World Cup present the sports betting industry?

We expect betting levels to significantly exceed those seen in the 2018 tournament. If you look at the betting history of the World Cup, the betting turnover has grown over every tournament since Italia ’90 and we do not feel this pattern will change.

It has been estimated that the total amount of bets placed globally on the 2018 World Cup Finals exceeded €130 billion, an average per match of €2.1 billion, with over €7 billion being gambled on the France v Croatia final. That is spectacular and just underlines the popularity of football across the world.

Since then, a number of significant new markets have been regulated and interest in football continues to grow, so we are confident that, despite this tournament being the first one to be held in winter, the 2022 World Cup will beat all records for betting handle.

Excitement for the Qatar World Cup has been comparatively muted, namely due to the human rights abuses committed in the region, the excessive cost of travel and tickets, a disrupted domestic calendar, and the sweltering heat that is likely impact on the quality of matches being played. Nonetheless, does the tournament have the potential to still be an engaging and entertaining betting experience?

We’re confident that this year’s tournament will deliver some great viewing and betting experiences, with regular bettors on premium football switching to betting on the tournament.

There could be some impact on the dynamic nature of the games, given the heat of Qatar, even at his time, but I think the levels of excitement of watching the world’s best teams will overcome any potential obstacles. It’s going to be a wonderful spectacle, in my opinion.

Do you anticipate greater betting engagement rates than Russia four years ago? 

From a Digitain perspective, our partner network has grown significantly since the last World Cup, so we will obviously see much higher volumes being processed through our platform than previously. However, as stated above, we still feel that our World Cup 2022 organic growth with be significant over the previous competition.

How will overall betting spend on the tournament be impacted by the cost-of-living crisis? As mortgage payments continue to rise, energy bills soar and with Christmas around the corner, how will sports betting handle be impacted? 

Traditionally, sports betting tends to be recession-proof to a large extent, although the global economic picture this year may test that theory.  However, I think the World Cup is such an iconic tournament, with high-profile games coming thick and fast, that the overall spend will still increase over previous tournaments.

 It would not be surprising if this year’s World Cup generates over €250 billion in stakes, with football fans ignoring the controversies surrounding the event and focusing on the spectacle.

How have operator partners approached the winter tournament differently to a traditional summer event? What have been the biggest hurdles with the different timing?

The games are being played at 6pm and 11pm locally, which is reasonably attractive from a European, African, Asian and even North and South American betting fan’s perspective, fairly similar to current domestic league timing – so our partners are not expecting too much disruption to their normal operational processes.

From a partner perspective – there will be an obvious impact on the expected betting handle on the domestic football leagues, especially the key European ones; the Premier League, the Bundesliga, Primera Liga and Serie A, that all plan to take a six week break when the World Cup is on. However, this should balance out as the postponed games will be squeezed into an extended season ending later than usual at the end of May 2023.

What betting trends are you anticipating for this World Cup? Are we likely to see a greater focus on outright betting or bet builders? 

Outright betting is always popular on football tournaments, particularly the World Cup where you see lots of “patriotic” bets, especially if the team have a successful run in the competition and the nation and media get behind them.

From an operator perspective, the key period for revenue in the tournament is the Group stage where we they will see the most money bet per day, due, of course, to the number of games being played. As the tournament progresses the games become more spread out and there is less daily betting activity. 

What features, products and innovations have you lined up to coincide with the World Cup?

We understand the importance of the World Cup for our partners, so we have been busy preparing some new offers, promotions and additional content for them to ensure their players remain engaged and loyal for the duration of the tournament.

We have developed a World Cup Predictor game that operators can customise to suit their marketplace and can reward their players with prizes or free bets.

As well as this, we have launched a new World Cup Player Tournament application, allowing our partners’ players to participate and win prizes based on their skills in predicting and betting on the competition results.

We have a wealth of new bonuses, bet boosters and promos dedicated for the competition – one of my favourites is our “2 Goal Early Pay-out” offer, where we will settle bets as winners if a team goes ahead in a match. It applies to both singles and multi bets – so is bound to be a winner with players who like to re-invest.

Finally, your pick of this year’s winner…

I think England will have good tournament despite recent form, but France may find it is very difficult to defend the trophy –it hasn’t been done since Brazil in 1962.

Belgium at 16/1 and Croatia at 50/1 a are good each-way bets, but I might have a small bet on Argentina at around 7/1 to win – they always turn up at the big tournaments.