With sporting events around the globe cancelled or postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, igaming operators have been given a big opportunity to pull in traditional sports punters.

Similarly, gaming platform providers – particularly those pushing a dual sportsbook and casino offer – are seizing the moment to bolster the selection of integrated casino games.

This is to make sure that the diversity of the offer appeals to both traditional casino players and those sports fans that might otherwise not have been open to the cross sell. 

Taking into account the drop off in sports, H2 Gambling Capital’s weekly COVID Impact Tracker has today downgraded 2020’s global gambling gross-win projection from pre-COVID-19 forecasts of $473bn to $421bn.

Worrying numbers, no doubt, but the online casino vertical needs to find a silver lining during a time of crisis. Gamingtec is one such company following this trend by extending its casino and games portfolio to include content from Pragmatic Play, Maverick and Genii.

This trio of fresh collaborations will see a variety of new games integrated with the Gamingtec platform, which includes a complete casino suite and sportsbook, with the former now boasting more than 5,000 titles. 

Integration of Pragmatic Play’s live casino content marks a new stage of the content provider’s existing partnership with Gamingtec, now set to include roulette, speed roulette and blackjack.

Gurkan Atakul, casino products manager at Gamingtec, explained: “We have been working with Pragmatic Play for many years and are delighted with their random-number generator game quality and performance.

“Now, we come to a new era in our partnership with Pragmatic Play. I believe Pragmatic Play’s live casino will be a great addition to our portfolio and will strengthen our partnership.”

Meanwhile, Gamingtec’s partnership with Asian slots game provider Maverick will offer the latter a gateway to the European market to supply some of its key titles, such as Cloud 9: Surf Bliss, Battlemech: Earth, 123 Goal!, Sky Jewels, Pear Fisher and 777 Daytona Beach.

Gamingtec’s partners will be able to gain access to a wide range of marketing tools, including free spins, jackpots and gamification layers, which will enable them to promote these games as well as execute player acquisition and retention campaigns.

Enrico Bradamante, CEO of Maverick, commented: “We are very much looking forward to our partnership with Gamingtec, which will be the first company to offer our innovative games to players in Europe.”

And finally, under the terms of the collaboration with Genii, video slots such as 7 Chakras, Age of Spartans, Tales of Time Travel, Wild Berries and others will be integrated. The genre of games made available to Gamingtec includes fruit slots, heroic, adventure, cartoon and sci-fi. 

Sapar Karyagdyyev, CEO of Gamingtec, said: “Genii’s high-quality game portfolio is innovative and mobile-focused. We expect that our collaboration will benefit each of Gamingtec’s platform partners. The integration of this game content continues to raise the quality of our Casino Suit solution.”

With the current uncertainty around when sporting events will resume, casino games, virtual sports, esports and poker can pick up the slack. Gamingtec will hang its hat on the quality of integrated casino content to see it through.