The evolution of retention tools in iGaming: interview with The iGaming EU
Our COO, Dmytro Kryvorchuk, spoke to The iGaming EU about how modern tournament mechanics are becoming a core part of retention strategies, why player segmentation is now essential for effective engagement, and how operators are using gamified promotions to drive stronger results in increasingly competitive markets.
TGE: Infingame describes itself as a leading iGaming aggregator. What does the platform actually do for operators in practical terms — and what is the core technical advantage you lead with?
DK: Infingame simplifies game integration for operators by offering a single API that unlocks access to a massive portfolio of thousands of casino games from hundreds of providers. Instead of managing multiple individual integrations, operators connect once and instantly scale their content offering, which saves both time and development resources.
One of the key technical advantages we focus on is spin time performance, essentially how fast a game round starts and responds, and we consistently rank among the fastest in the market, which directly impacts player retention and session length. In practical terms, faster spin times mean smoother gameplay and less drop-off, especially on mobile where latency matters most.
The platform is also built for stability, with high uptime levels and a streamlined integration process that typically takes weeks rather than months. Talking about stability, it is just as critical for us as speed. We put a strong emphasis on maintaining fully stable platform workflow with no downtimes, because every minute of downtime directly translates into significant revenue loss for operators. This is why a lot of our infrastructure decisions are built around reliability and consistency under load.
Overall, it’s about giving operators speed both in launching content and delivering it to players. More than that, we focus a lot on transparency, providing operators with reports they need to optimize performance. They can track transactions and see analytics on games, projects, players and dates, and improve their platform accordingly.
TGE: The Tournament Tool has been part of the Infingame offer for several years. What operational problem were you originally solving — and has that problem shifted since the tool launched?
DK: The Tournament Tool was built to solve a clear operational gap. Operators wanted to run engagement campaigns, but they were doing it manually or through fragmented solutions with no real in-game infrastructure. Leaderboards were often external, updates weren’t real-time, and the whole process was time-consuming for both marketing and tech teams. When we launched the tool, the idea was to make tournaments a complete solution: they are fully integrated, provide real-time leaderboards, and automated prize distribution.
Since then, operators see tournaments not just as a promo mechanic, but as a retention and monetization tool, so they expect more flexibility, deeper analytics, and faster setup. The focus has shifted from simply being able to run a tournament to running data-driven and highly customized campaigns with our features such as custom designs and segmentations.
TGE: The tool supports five mechanics — Multiplier Race, Win Race, Bet Race, Highest Win and Highest Multiplier. Do you see clear patterns in which mechanics operators choose, and which actually drive stronger engagement?
DK: There are clear patterns once you look at how each mechanic maps to player behavior. Bet Race is the most straightforward as it rewards total wagering volume, so it’s typically used when operators want to push turnover and increase average bet size. Win Race shifts the focus toward total payouts, which tends to keep mid-tier players engaged longer because it feels more achievable than pure volume. Multiplier Race is more about efficiency and that’s where you often see stronger engagement from more experienced or value-driven players.
On the other hand, Highest Win and Highest Multiplier are peak-event mechanics. They are less about consistency and more about excitement. These work well for acquisition or short campaigns because a single big moment can put a player on the leaderboard.
In terms of performance, volume-based formats like Bet Race usually drive longer sessions and higher total wagering, while multiplier and peak-based mechanics tend to generate stronger re-visits and emotional engagement. That’s why most operators don’t stick to one and rotate mechanics depending on whether the goal is pure revenue, retention, or campaign visibility.
TGE: The Happy Hours feature applies a score multiplier during selected days and time slots. How widely is that being used, and what does it actually do to session behaviour during off-peak periods?
DK: Happy Hours is actually one of those features that looks simple, but operators are using it quite actively, especially as part of a broader tournament or challenges setup. It is not usually a one-off promo as most clients run it as a recurring, scheduled mechanic to target specific low-traffic windows. The logic is straightforward: you apply a 2x–3x score multiplier during defined time slots, and suddenly the same gameplay becomes more valuable for the player without changing the experience.
What we consistently see is a clear lift in activity during those off-peak periods as more sessions start, bet frequency is higher, and players stay longer once they are in. That urgency element really matters because limited-time boosts naturally pull players back into the product and create habit loops if used regularly. Infingame also positions Happy Hours alongside tournaments and challenges as part of a continuous engagement layer, not just a promo. They are something that keeps traffic balanced across the day, so we keep improving the feature and preparing additional upgrades in the near future.
TGE: Player segmentation — targeting VIPs, new users or lapsed players with separate tournament eligibility and reward rules — was added more recently. How does that change the economics of running a tournament campaign?
DK: Player segmentation changes the economics quite a lot because you are no longer running broad and one-size-fits-all tournaments. Before, operators had to open events to the full player base, which meant higher prize pools and a lot of rewards going to already active users. With segmentation, you can target VIPs or new users separately, so the same budget becomes much more efficient in terms of cost per engagement. For example, smaller and focused tournaments for reactivation tend to deliver higher participation rates and better returns compared to open events.
It also gives operators better control over player value. They can design reward structures that actually match the segment’s behavior instead of overpaying across the board. From a technical side, it doesn’t add complexity as it is a part of the same tournament infrastructure that enables player tagging and eligibility rules through the existing API. In practice, it turns tournaments from a generic promo tool into a much more precise lifecycle management instrument.
TGE: Auto Payouts is positioned as an operational efficiency feature. For operators managing tournaments at scale — hundreds or thousands of participants — what does that actually replace in terms of manual workflow?
DK: Before Auto Payouts, prize distribution was largely a manual back-office task. Operators had to export leaderboard results, calculate rewards, and then credit player accounts one by one or in batches through the CRM or wallet system. For a mid-size tournament with a few hundred participants, that could easily take several hours, and with larger campaigns running into the thousands, it became a full-day job with a real risk of delays or human error.
Auto Payouts replaces that entire workflow with a single action. Once the tournament ends, prizes are credited automatically to player accounts based on predefined rules. Operators typically enable it for high-volume or recurring campaigns where speed and accuracy matter most, and it’s fully optional depending on their internal processes. It removes a major operational bottleneck and ensures players receive rewards instantly, which also improves trust and post-event engagement. Operators, on their side, get all the reports, scores, and other details to plan future events.
TGE: The tool supports both local and network tournaments — with network events sharing prize pools across multiple operators. What is the commercial logic for an operator to enter a network event rather than run their own?
DK: The idea behind network tournaments is that multiple operators contribute to a shared prize pool, which is then competed for across all participating brands. Instead of funding a large campaign alone, each operator puts in a portion, but gets access to a much bigger, more visible event than they could typically run independently. That scale is what makes it commercially interesting because larger prize pools naturally attract more players, and for some clients, it has become a strong acquisition channel with a lower cost per first deposit compared to standalone campaigns.
From the operator’s perspective, you don’t fully own the player pool in the same way as a local tournament, but you benefit from cross-brand liquidity and increased visibility. Prize distribution is still handled transparently based on performance, so your players compete on equal terms, just within a larger ecosystem.
TGE: You upgraded both the Tournament Tool and Challenges in early 2026. What specifically drove that upgrade cycle — operator feedback, gaps in the product, or pressure from elsewhere?
DK: The upgrade cycle in early 2026 was largely driven by operator feedback, especially from clients who were already running tournaments and challenges at scale and started to hit the limits of the earlier setup. The main focus was around flexibility and targeting: operators wanted better player segmentation, more control over campaign timing like Happy Hours, and the ability to customize events more precisely to their brand and audience. There was also a clear push for deeper analytics and smoother operational workflows, particularly for teams managing multiple campaigns simultaneously.
So the March 2026 update focused on exactly that. We expanded segmentation capabilities, improved scheduling logic, and made both tournaments and challenges more configurable without adding technical overhead. It wasn’t about reinventing the product, but about evolving it into a more data-driven engagement tool that fits how operators actually run campaigns today. This year, more upgrades are coming, stay tuned!
TGE: Infingame has been expanding in Latin America, including Brazil. Do engagement mechanics like tournaments work differently in emerging markets compared to established European operators, and does the localisation layer matter?
DK: Yes, there are noticeable differences between European markets and regions like Latin America, both in how operators use the tools and how players respond to them. In more established markets, campaigns tend to be more data-driven where operators experiment with segmentation, rotate mechanics, and optimize for long-term retention. In LatAm, especially in markets like Brazil, tournaments are often used more aggressively for acquisition and short-term engagement, with simpler mechanics like Bet Race or Win Race performing really well because they are easy to understand and jump into.
Localisation plays a much bigger role than just language support, although having Spanish and Portuguese is obviously critical. It is also about pacing, prize structures, and how frequently campaigns run as in emerging markets, players tend to respond better to more frequent, high-energy events with visible rewards. You also see stronger engagement with peak-style mechanics like Highest Win, because they create standout moments that resonate well in those audiences. So the tool has to be flexible enough to adapt not just the interface, but the entire campaign logic to regional behaviour.
TGE: What does the next 12 months look like for the Tournament Tool and for Infingame’s promotional suite more broadly?
DK: Over the next 12 months, the focus is on making the promotional suite more flexible and more tightly integrated into the operators’ overall CRM and bonus ecosystem. We are working on deeper analytics so operators can not just run campaigns, but actually measure impact across player segments and adjust in real time. On the product side, there are upgrades coming to both Tournaments and Challenges, including more configurable formats.
The direction is toward more dynamic mechanics and smarter automation, essentially reducing manual setup while increasing customization. We are preparing new mechanics, network jackpots and lootbox updates that will give operators more opportunities for their campaigns.
We are also expanding localisation and language support to make rollout in new markets smoother. Overall, it is about turning these tools into a fully integrated engagement layer rather than standalone promo features.