EGR B2B Awards 2017 Shortlist Highlights

The annual ERG B2B Awards ceremony is taking place on Tuesday 6 June 2017 at The Hurlingham Club in London. Widely regarded as the most prestigious award in its category, it’s an event where software and game developers of the iGaming industry get recognised for their achievements. As the list is relatively long, here are some highlights on the nominations in the casino sphere.

First up is the innovation awards, which NetEnt and Quickspin successfully managed to claim last year. This time, the competition for the “Innovation in Mobile”, “Innovation in RNG Casino Software” and “Innovation in Slot Provision” awards got even tougher. This is mainly thanks to quickly-growing iGaming developers like Yggdrasil Gaming and Red Tiger Gaming, which has been releasing a massive amount of games on a monthly basis, including innovative new features that other companies can’t keep up with.

That’s the innovation part. However, there’s also the “Slot Provider” spot to be claimed too. This year’s nominees for that include ELK Studios, with notable new releases like Sam on the Beach and Poltava, as well as IGT, Microgaming, NetEnt, NextGen Gaming, Playtech, Quickspin, Realistic Games, Red Tiger Gaming and the last year’s winner, Yggdrasil Gaming.

The competition for the “Live Casino Supplier” is ferocious too and can include any of this year’s live gaming innovators like NetEnt, Playtech and Evolution Gaming, among others. Will Evolution win this year’s award too, like their soaring stock price promises, is to be seen in a few weeks.

Then there’s the “Software Rising Star” award, which includes brands like Pragmatic Play. After much rebranding and affiliation with the notorious Topgame, they’re finally on their way to a better future and are coming up with competitive products almost on a monthly basis. This year’s ceremony is that much more special for the fact that they’re shortlisted for not one but three awards, including “Innovation in RNG Casino Software” and “RNG Casino Supplier”.

To show their gratitude, Yossi Barzely, Head of Business Development at Pragmatic Play, remarked: “It’s a real honour for Pragmatic Play to be shortlisted in three categories at such a prestigious event – and another indication of our rapidly growing reputation in the industry.”

While Pragmatic Play is listed for three, Playtech is competing for a whopping 17 EGR crystal trophies, their subsidiary Quickspin for 5, Microgaming for 12 and NetEnt for 10. That’s not to say that they’re better, but it certainly shows who's in the position of power in the industry as a whole.

To wrap it up, which of the developers have surprised you the most over the year? Leave your comment below.