SBC Summit Lisbon brought together operators, game providers, platforms and aggregators from across the global iGaming industry, with CT Interactive using the event to highlight its growing aggregation offering. The company sees aggregation as a natural evolution of its business, building on years of experience developing its own games, expanding distribution across regulated markets and establishing relationships with operators and technology partners.
In this exclusive interview with Yogonet during the show, Antonio Donov, Head of Business Development & Sales EMEA & ASIA at CT Interactive, discusses the company’s aggregation strategy, the role of localisation in building content portfolios for different markets, and how operators can benefit from accessing a broader range of games through a single integration.
He also looks at CT Interactive’s expansion in markets such as South Africa and explains why the company is taking a market-by-market approach to its international growth.
What are your takeaways from the latest edition of SBC Summit?
It is a very busy show, with an agenda fully booked by clients with their own portfolio of games, providers, operators, and other aggregators as well. SBC delivers a lot of leads and deals with existing and new partners across many different verticals of what CT Interactive, as a one-stop shop for iGaming and aggregation, has to offer
CT Interactive highlighted its expansion into aggregation at SBC Summit. Why is this the right next step for the company?
For us, aggregation is a natural evolution of the business rather than a change of direction.
CT Interactive has spent many years developing its own games and building distribution across different regulated markets. During that time, we have also built an established network of operators, platforms and other partners.
At the same time, our content ecosystem has expanded. Today, we are not talking only about CT Interactive games. We can bring together our own portfolio, content from other studios within our group, and additional content from external providers.
We already have many of the elements required for aggregation: content, technology, distribution experience, and, most importantly, existing relationships with operators. The logical next step is to connect these elements. Our goal is to give operators access to a much broader gaming portfolio through one integration and one relationship.
Aggregation is the next stage of what we have already been building.
What is the idea behind the CT Interactive aggregation platform?
The idea is to create a complete content ecosystem for our partners.
At the core, of course, is CT Interactive’s own portfolio. Then we add content from the other studios within our group, which gives us an increasingly diverse range of proprietary content.
The third element is external content. We want to integrate popular and relevant games from established third-party providers because we recognise that operators need variety and players want choice.
This means that through one integration, an operator can access a much broader range of gaming content. We are talking not only about slots, but about a wider entertainment offering that can include live casino, table games such as poker and blackjack, crash games and other popular verticals.
We don’t want to create a closed ecosystem containing only our own games. We want to combine the strength of our own content with the strength of selected external providers and create a more complete solution for the operator.
Our content is the foundation. Aggregation expands the possibilities around it.
Why would an operator choose an aggregation platform instead of integrating providers separately?
The first advantage is efficiency. Instead of managing multiple individual integrations with different providers, the operator can access a much broader content portfolio through one technical integration.
But for me, the bigger opportunity is flexibility. The gaming market changes very quickly. New game mechanics appear, player preferences evolve, and different types of content become popular. Operators need the ability to respond quickly.
With aggregation, we can give them access to CT Interactive content, games from the other studios within our group, and popular third-party content within the same ecosystem.
Instead of asking, “How many games can we give you?” we can ask, “What content does your business actually need?” That is the real value we want to create.
What does the “one aggregation strategy, different markets” concept mean in practice?
It means that the infrastructure can be global, but the final content offering needs to be local. We can build one aggregation ecosystem with a very broad pool of content. But we should not assume that the same portfolio will work equally well everywhere.
Our experience across international markets has shown us that player behaviour can be very different from one country to another. There are differences in themes, game mechanics, volatility, game pace, and the popularity of different verticals. And, of course, there are significant regulatory differences.
So our aggregation platform gives us scale and access to content. Then localisation allows us to decide how to use that content in each individual market.
One platform does not have to mean one portfolio.
How do content strategies differ across EMEA and Asia?
The first thing I would say is that neither EMEA nor Asia should really be treated as a single market.
Even within Europe, you can see significant differences between countries. Africa has different market dynamics again. And Asia is an extremely diverse region with very different regulatory environments and player preferences. We prefer to look at individual markets rather than make broad assumptions about entire regions.
Generally, we consider three things: first, regulation — what content can be offered and what requirements need to be met; second, the operator — what that particular operator needs and what audience it serves; and third, the player — what content, mechanics, and gaming experiences are relevant to that local audience.
Aggregation gives us a large content pool. Those three factors help us decide what we should actually take from that pool and offer in a particular market. Aggregation gives us scale. Market knowledge tells us how to use it.
Is localisation becoming more important than simply having the largest possible game catalogue?
I think this is one of the most important questions in aggregation today. Scale matters because it gives you choice. But having thousands of games available does not automatically create a successful casino offering. The important question is what you do with that choice.
In one market, slots may dominate the portfolio. Somewhere else, live casino may be particularly important. Another audience may respond strongly to crash games or faster gaming experiences. Even within slots, preferences around themes, mathematics, volatility, and game mechanics can differ.
This is why we do not see aggregation as simply collecting content. We see it as building portfolios. We want to start with a very broad ecosystem and then create the right combination for each partner.
Our own content gives us identity. Third-party content gives us breadth. Localisation gives us relevance.
Aggregation is already a competitive space. What can CT Interactive bring that is different?
We are entering aggregation from the perspective of a company that already understands content and distribution. We develop games ourselves, so we understand the provider side of the business. We have also spent years distributing our content internationally through operators, platforms, and aggregation partners, so we understand the distribution side.
Because we already have an international client base, we have direct relationships with operators and an understanding of what they require in different markets.
Now we are bringing these elements together: CT Interactive content, additional studios and content capabilities within our group, selected popular content from third-party providers, and the relationships through which this ecosystem can be distributed.
Our ambition is not simply to say, “We are another aggregator with a large number of games.” We want to say, “We understand content, we understand distribution, and we understand that every market requires a different mix.”
South Africa is another market where CT Interactive is expanding. Is aggregation part of the strategy there?
South Africa is a very good example of why we need different strategies for different markets. Our focus there is not aggregation. The opportunity for us in South Africa is to expand the distribution of CT Interactive’s own games through partnerships with operators and other established partners in the market.
We have already taken important steps in that direction, including the certification of an initial portfolio of our games for the South African market. The objective now is to build on that foundation and develop additional partnerships that can bring CT Interactive content to more players.
We do not believe that one business model has to be applied to every market. In some markets, aggregation can create significant opportunities. In others, the opportunity may be the distribution of our own content through strong partnerships.
What remains consistent is our approach: understand the market, understand the regulation, find the right partners, and offer the right content.
For us, international expansion is not simply about adding countries to a map. It is about building sustainable positions in those markets.