BGaming partners with PokerStars to further global expansion
Icasino game provider BGaming has announced a partnership with ipoker platform PokerStars as part of its global expansion.
Owned by global operator Flutter Entertainment, which also owns US sportsbook FanDuel, PokerStars will offer exposure to BGaming because of its high daily player volume.
Its platform will offer BGaming’s entire portfolio of games to its players, including popular titles such as Merge Up, Gemhalla,and Wild Cash x9990.
Its portfolio is divided into three divisions, including #Casual, #Classic, and #Entertainment, which will be available on the PokerStars platform.
“This deal with PokerStars will provide massive exposure for BGaming and help us strengthen our presence in key regulated markets,” Olga Levshina, Chief Communications Officer at BGaming, said. “PokerStars has built a strong reputation as a leading operator over the years, and we’re thrilled to bring our content to more players worldwide.”
BGaming plans to continue its worldwide expansion throughout 2026, and its partnership with PokerStars will help the company position itself in the market.
BGaming also collaborated with YouTuber Jon Vlogs in September last year, naming him the company’s official ambassador in Latin America. BGaming promotes Vlog’s BDJ na Amazônia project, which raises awareness for younger audiences about environmental issues.
Abi Bray brings strong researching skills to the forefront of all of her writing, whether it’s the newest slots, industry trends or the ever changing legislation across the U.S, Asia and Australia, she maintains a keen eye for detail and a passion for reporting.
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The Backstory
Why PokerStars matters now
BGaming’s move to join the PokerStars platform fits a pattern: content studios are chasing distribution through operators with scale, cross-border licensing and a steady pipeline of new markets. PokerStars, part of Flutter’s stable, has been expanding its non-poker ambitions, especially in live casino, where the operator has deepened supplier ties in regulated jurisdictions. In North America, PokerStars named Evolution its exclusive live casino provider, a pact that extends across Ontario, New Jersey, Michigan and Pennsylvania and gives players access to marquee titles like Crazy Time and Lightning Roulette, as reported in Evolution announces extended partnership with PokerStars in North America. That deal underscores the competitive bar content studios must clear to win prominent placement on a platform that already commands a large, engaged audience.
The growth of live dealer offerings further tightens the race to fill lobbies with sticky, high-margin content that can localize by market while staying compliant. Ezugi, a live dealer specialist acquired by Evolution in 2018, recently took its own step into Ontario by integrating titles such as Revolution Roulette and Unlimited Blackjack with PokerStars, according to Ezugi expands into Ontario with PokerStars partnership. For studios like BGaming, the takeaway is clear: PokerStars is curating a broader, deeper portfolio to serve regulated markets, and suppliers that can deliver variety without sacrificing speed to market have an advantage.
The live-casino arms race shapes the lobby
PokerStars’ deepening live casino stack is more than a content refresh; it is a strategic moat in markets where table games and game shows are increasingly the retention engine. Evolution’s North America exclusivity, detailed in the Evolution extension, locks up a category-leader catalog across four key jurisdictions. Ezugi’s Ontario launch, outlined in Ezugi’s Ontario expansion with PokerStars, adds differentiated formats that emphasize multipliers and unlimited-seat mechanics, strengthening day-two engagement.
That dynamic matters for any RNG slot studio seeking visibility on the same platform. To earn front-page real estate, studios often emphasize mechanics innovation, localized themes and reliable uptime. BGaming’s segmented portfolio — casual, classic and entertainment — aims at varied demographics that operators like PokerStars target in their account-based marketing. With live casino cementing session length, RNG providers can ride the increased traffic if their games slot into adjacent user journeys, such as jackpots, crash mechanics or quick-play features that complement longer live sessions.
Aggregators open doors for upstarts
The path to global reach increasingly runs through aggregation layers that compress integration timelines and extend compliance tooling. Konquer, a California-based studio that launched in 2023, chose Hub88 to take its titles abroad for the first time, a step that shows how smaller developers can leapfrog to multi-market distribution through a single technical bridge, as described in Konquer partners with Hub88 for global expansion. Early access launches like Card Castle help aggregators offer operators fresh content while letting studios test performance across regions without stitching together one-off deals.
For established platforms like PokerStars, aggregator-fed pipelines offer a low-friction way to diversify the lobby, run A/B tests and tune discovery. For studios, the trade-off is margin and data visibility, but the upside is speed and the ability to prove engagement metrics quickly. BGaming, already operating at a larger scale than most new entrants, is pursuing direct operator partnerships for brand lift while many peers rely on aggregation to cross borders. The strategies are complementary in a market where procurement teams favor a mix of direct and hub-sourced content to balance risk and refresh rates.
Regulators redraw the map
Compliance tailwinds and headwinds are reshaping where and how operators prioritize content. In the Philippines, the regulator has been cutting revenue-share fees to pull activity into the legal channel, moving to a 30 percent rate for E-Games and 25 percent for online gaming at integrated resorts effective Jan. 1, 2025. The reductions, framed as part of a broader campaign against illegal operations, follow earlier cuts and coincide with surging E-Games growth, as noted in PAGCOR further slashes fee rate charged to Philippine online gaming operators to 30%. Lower state take can support more aggressive promotion and deeper content catalogs, encouraging suppliers to invest in localized portfolios.
Conversely, U.S. regulators continue to squeeze offshore operators. The Michigan Gaming Control Board issued 10 cease-and-desist letters to Belize-based Apex Dynamics over unlicensed casinos targeting the state, a reminder that enforcement’s focus is not abating, per Michigan regulator issues further cease-and-desist letters to offshore operators. For PokerStars’ legal market footprint, heightened enforcement can channel players to regulated platforms where live dealer and curated RNG lineups convert and retain more effectively. For suppliers like BGaming, that translates to higher-quality traffic and clearer attribution when games roll out under robust KYC frameworks.
Ontario remains a bellwether. Its open, license-based model continues to attract suppliers via tier-one operators, illustrated by Ezugi’s PokerStars integration. With Evolution’s exclusivity on live casino in the province, RNG studios that can complement live engagement with quick-entry games may capture incremental minutes without cannibalizing table time. That alignment reduces friction for operators balancing compliance constraints with product mix.
Stakes for studios, operators and markets
For studios, the imperative is distribution plus differentiation. Direct deals with scaled operators promise visibility, but the bar for performance is higher when lobbies are already stacked with proven live franchises. Aggregators deliver breadth fast, at the cost of share and brand control. Studios that straddle both channels stand to move fastest when regulators either open a market or tighten rules that redirect players to legal platforms.
For operators like PokerStars, the strategy is to anchor the lobby with exclusive live content, then layer in high-velocity RNG experiences to cover multiple player intents. The combination improves retention and monetization across regulated markets with different maturity curves. Where fees fall, as in the Philippines per PAGCOR’s latest cut, operators can invest more in content variety. Where enforcement rises, as in Michigan per the MGCB crackdown, legal incumbents can consolidate share.
For regulators, the balance is revenue and consumer protection. Lowering fees to outcompete illegal sites can expand the licensed base, while visible enforcement in mature markets strengthens trust. Both dynamics favor platforms that can scale compliance and content simultaneously.
What to watch next
Expect more exclusive or semi-exclusive live casino arrangements in North America and continued Ontario expansions, following the template in Evolution’s North America deal with PokerStars and Ezugi’s Ontario launch. Watch for smaller studios to use aggregation, as with Konquer’s Hub88 agreement, to test mechanics that complement live game sessions. Track fee and licensing shifts in Southeast Asia after PAGCOR’s rate reductions, and the next enforcement wave in U.S. states where regulators, like Michigan’s, are actively pruning the illegal market. The winners will be studios that can localize quickly, operators that orchestrate balanced lobbies and markets that align incentives with compliance.
