888 Holdings Bags The Best Digital Operator Award At GGA

888 Holdings, the operator of the world’s second largest online poker site 888poker has won the Best Digital Operator award for the year. The award was given out as a part of the Global Gaming Awards (GGA) ceremony held recently under the aegis of this year’s Global Gaming Expo (G2E), an annual gaming conference and exhibition event.

The awards recognize the best performers in the gambling industry across different categories such as Casino Product of the Year, Digital Gaming Innovation and Land-Based Gaming Innovation.

Held on Sept. 26 at the Venetian Palazzo Congress Center in Las Vegas, the awards luncheon was attended by all major gaming operators. Awards in 12 categories were given out and the short-listing was done by a nomination panel comprising of eight senior industry experts. The winners were then adjudged by a panel having 60 industry veterans cutting across all functions.

888Holdings won the coveted prize for its strong performance in the previous year. In a statement, Alex Hammond, Gambling Insider Editor who presented the award said

Congratulations to 888, a first Global Gaming Award win for the operator who has made great strides in challenging the dominance of PokerStars in both the US and Europe in the past 12 months and in the process given the online poker industry a jolt that many believe the industry needs to return to its former glory

888 Holdings’ chief executive officer Itai Frieberger accepted the award and said that he was delighted that GGA had recognized 888poker’s contributions. He reaffirmed 888 Holdings’ commitment to delivering superior online poker experience.

Other winners included gaming developer and supplier IGT which took the top honours in two categories – Land-Based Industry Supplier of the Year and Casino Product of the Year for its innovative PlaySpot solution.

Playtech won the Digital Supplier of the Year award after missing it last year. Microgaming was declared the winner in the Digital Product of the Year category for its Quickfire product that enables over 400 online brands to access to more than 600 Microgaming games and third-party products.

The Land-Based Gaming Innovation award went to Scientific Games for its SG Universal mobile gaming service while the Digital Gaming Innovation award was given NYX Gaming

Group for its Witch Pickings slot product. Unibet picked up the Digital Acquisition Program of the Year category and GeoComply, a company that provides geolocation technology products won the Responsible Business of the Year award.

Maureen Sweeny, Chief Commercial Officer at Aristocrat Leisure the gambling technology provider, was honoured with the North American Executive of the Year award.