Soft2Bet promotes two executives to “accelerate B2B growth”

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The Backstory

Soft2Bet’s commercial reshuffle follows a North American push

Soft2Bet’s decision to elevate James Hancock and Harry Heynes is best understood as part of a broader effort to turn product momentum into distribution in regulated markets. The company has spent the past year presenting itself less as a conventional platform supplier and more as a retention-focused technology partner for operators facing rising acquisition costs, tighter compliance requirements and intense competition for player loyalty.

That message has been especially pronounced in North America. Soft2Bet Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Cochrane has said the company is intent on expanding in the United States, where it is licensed in New Jersey, while also building on activity in Canada and Mexico. In an earlier interview about Soft2Bet’s plans to expand in the United States, Cochrane framed the company’s core advantage as retention rather than simple content aggregation or market access.

The logic is straightforward: Operators are spending heavily to acquire players in crowded online casino and sports betting markets, but acquisition economics deteriorate quickly if customers do not return. Soft2Bet’s pitch is that its platform and gamification tools give operators more ways to keep players engaged after sign-up, improving lifetime value and making marketing spend more sustainable.

Gamification has become the company’s calling card

Central to Soft2Bet’s strategy is its Motivational Engineering Gaming Application, or MEGA, a gamification layer that can sit on top of an operator’s existing front end. The company says the tool can be used to customize experiences through missions, free-to-play features, rewards, community elements and other interactions designed to create reasons for players to return beyond a standard sportsbook or casino lobby.

Soft2Bet has leaned heavily into that positioning at major trade events. At the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, the company showcased MEGA at its booth and held sessions demonstrating how the product could help operators differentiate their brands. The timing mattered: MEGA had won Product Innovation of the Year at the 2025 Global Gaming Awards Americas, giving Soft2Bet a marketing hook as it courted operators and potential partners. The company said the product had already contributed to momentum in North America, including through ToonieBet in Ontario, as noted in its Global Gaming Expo showcase of the MEGA platform.

The emphasis on gamification also helps explain why the company is strengthening B2B marketing and business development at the same time. For a supplier selling a technical product that affects engagement and retention, the challenge is not only winning introductions. It is translating a product concept into commercial outcomes operators can underwrite: lower churn, stronger activity rates, improved cross-sell and more efficient use of promotional budgets.

Regulated markets demand sharper local execution

Soft2Bet’s expansion agenda sits within a wider supplier race to capture newly regulated or maturing online gambling markets. The opportunity is significant, but recent industry experience shows that entering regulated markets requires more than licensing and a global product deck. Operators and suppliers must adapt to local player behavior, regulatory expectations, payments infrastructure and marketing constraints.

That lesson has been visible across the sector. Light & Wonder Vice President of New Markets Magdalena Podhorska-Okolow described the need to “fail fast” when entering emerging jurisdictions, after the company found that online players in the Philippines did not always behave like land-based casino customers moving online. In an Inside Asian Gaming interview on Light & Wonder’s approach to new markets, she said local nuances became clear only after operating in the market, forcing the supplier to refine assumptions about omnichannel demand and product fit.

The same dynamic applies to suppliers pursuing North America and Latin America. A product that performs well in one market may need different packaging, integration support or marketing explanation in another. Brazil, Ontario, New Jersey and Mexico all present different mixes of local incumbents, global brands, tax structures and regulatory scrutiny. That makes senior commercial hires particularly important. Hancock’s marketing role and Heynes’ business development remit point to a need for more disciplined positioning, partnership structuring and market-by-market execution.

Canada is becoming a proving ground

Canada is likely to remain an important stage for Soft2Bet’s commercial strategy. Ontario has become one of North America’s most closely watched regulated igaming markets, combining a competitive private-operator model with detailed standards around advertising, responsible gambling and product conduct. Alberta is also preparing to open a competitive framework, adding another potential growth market for suppliers with Canadian experience.

Soft2Bet’s visibility in Canada is expected to continue at industry events. Cochrane is listed among speakers for SBC Summit Canada 2026, where a new leaders track will examine developments such as Alberta’s impending launch and the 2026 World Cup. The event’s programming, including a session on how operators can convert an influx of World Cup bettors, underscores the same commercial question Soft2Bet has been emphasizing: how to turn bursts of acquisition into durable engagement. The agenda for SBC Summit Canada’s leaders track includes executives from major operators such as BetMGM, DraftKings and OLG, putting suppliers into the same conversation as the brands they hope to serve.

The World Cup could become a major acquisition event for Canadian sportsbooks, but it also may sharpen competition in a market where casino revenue has often outpaced sports betting. Suppliers that can help operators retain sports bettors, migrate them into casino products where permitted and maintain compliant engagement standards will have an opening. Soft2Bet’s commercial hires appear designed to support that kind of consultative sale.

Marketing standards are tightening around the sales pitch

The company’s B2B growth push also comes as the regulated online gambling industry faces closer scrutiny of marketing practices. The Responsible Online Gaming Association recently released a voluntary Marketing and Advertising Code, adopted by its members, setting expectations on legal-age protections, message content, digital marketing and responsible gaming commitments. The standards include restrictions on youth appeal, requirements for clearer promotional disclosures and limits on claims such as “risk-free.” The full code is available through ROGA at its marketing and advertising code page.

Those standards primarily address operators, but they have implications for suppliers. Engagement tools, promotional mechanics and personalized offers must be compatible with responsible gambling frameworks and advertising rules. Soft2Bet has described MEGA as supporting responsible play as well as engagement and retention, a distinction that will matter as regulators and operators examine how gamification affects customer behavior.

In that environment, Hancock’s role in aligning B2B marketing with operator needs is not just about brand visibility. It is about explaining how Soft2Bet’s technology can be deployed within the guardrails of regulated markets. Heynes’ role, meanwhile, requires building partnerships that reflect local compliance obligations and commercial priorities. The two appointments suggest Soft2Bet is trying to professionalize the bridge between product innovation and market adoption.

The stakes are distribution and credibility

Soft2Bet already has a broad content and licensing base, including thousands of games from more than 100 providers and licenses across multiple jurisdictions. But the next phase of growth depends on whether it can persuade operators that gamified retention is a strategic requirement rather than an optional enhancement.

That is why the executive promotions matter. In mature markets, operators are seeking ways to protect margins as taxes, promotional costs and compliance burdens rise. In new markets, they need suppliers that can adapt quickly to local demands without exposing them to regulatory or reputational risk. Soft2Bet’s commercial message is that its technology can support both goals: helping operators expand while keeping customers engaged in a more personalized way.

The appointments of Hancock and Heynes signal that Soft2Bet sees a window to convert product recognition into long-term B2B contracts. Whether that window widens will depend on execution in the markets the company is targeting most aggressively, particularly North America, where competition is deep and operators have become increasingly selective about the technology partners they bring into their stacks.