COVER STORY: SPORTRADAR
Playradar launch signals a new era of iGaming as sports and casino content combine
A new era in hybrid gaming gets underway as Sportradar launches its Playradar brand, developing games combining two worlds of sports and casino together into a unique player experience. Leading Sportradar’s iGaming expansion, Edo Haitin, former CEO of Playtech Live, brings more than 20 years of experience across iGaming operations, live casino development, and executive leadership. Here, he outlines the thinking behind the new approach.
T Edo Haitin
he hybrid gaming concept has come about as we looked at Sportradar’s existing portfolio including slots, arcade and virtual games being offered by a company that is also renowned for its sports data, technology and streaming expertise going back 25 years this year. When looking at the assets across the business, this seemed like a great combination – what if we combined the two together to create a new industry category of sports casino entertainment? The assets, content and expertise were all
available in one place and Sportradar identifi ed opportunities for expansion into adjacent verticals in 2025, with iGaming noted as an area where developments could be introduced. Our virtual sports portfolio and games have proved popular with operators and Playradar is well-positioned to leverage Sportradar’s historical data and streaming catalogue to create a wide range of new experiences to offer in regulated markets. Carsten Koerl, Founder and CEO of Sportradar, adds: “iGaming represents a natural and scalable extension of our business, and a strategic acceleration of our long-term growth roadmap. Playradar content is designed to provide optimized cross-sell between the worlds of sport and casinos, helping operators to increase player value and session length at a time when engagement and retention are key to operational sustainability. Our ambition is to develop content that appeals to both sports fans and casino players at the same time, moving away from the preconception that they are always different people.”
A NEW EXPERIENCE
We decided to take sports videos and gamify them to engage audiences, using live and historical streaming combined with casino games to build a sports casino offering. Rather than just watch the action, players can now interact with it.
Previously, there’s been no engagement on a stream but now we’re enriching the stream so that it becomes a game.
This creates a whole new experience that will resonate with all age groups, the same as sport. We know that people want to consume video in their leisure time and content is king so this is about creating concepts that can be viewed at any time – it’s about reusable content, delivering sustainable growth.
6 APRIL 2026 GIO
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