SoftSwiss is an iGaming expert and the very first company in the world to start working with cryptocurrency in online gaming.

Last month, SoftSwiss presented SoftSwiss Sportsbook, its solution for the sports betting industry, once again confirming its title of a one-stop-shop. Now more than 100 brands work on SoftSwiss Online Casino Platform. Among them are such brands like Bitstarz, Kingbilly, N1 Casino, Slotwolf and Spinia.

5 Star spoke to the Founder of SoftSwiss Ivan Montik and found out how a company with Belarusian roots managed to accustom itself to the global iGaming market so quickly and assemble such a powerful team of specialists under its roof.

So how did it all start? We started our first business of software development and related services back in 2008 as a small team of four people including myself.  SoftSwiss as a brand appeared in July 2009. We were doing custom programming, developing flash banners, doing design and even providing Ad Words services. We worked with advertising agencies and large companies in Belarus.

In 2010 we developed a custom-made online auction for a client from Switzerland. The client could not pay for the entire development, therefore we agreed that this would be our proprietary product which we would deliver to him as a service. From that moment, we realised that product development not only provides high margins but is also a more exciting and creative kind of business compared to custom projects.

Fast-forward to 2012, we decided to create our Online Casino Platform. At that time, we had no experience in the entertainment industry whatsoever, but we were sure of our competencies as developers. Now, looking back, I see that it was a pure gamble. But risk is an integral part, and we accepted it. By that time, there were about 30 of us and we were still doing custom development, but we allocated a separate team for this new project. I drew up a business plan for 2 years, and we hit the road…

On the one hand, it was a completely spontaneous decision. On the other hand, it was a challenge, as software for the iGaming industry has a number of complex technical features. After all, gambling is about money. This means that the level of system reliability must be very high. We have always set ourselves challenging tasks, thus raising the bar even higher.

I would say that we have something to be proud of after these 10+ years in the iGaming business – our achievements do speak for themselves. In 2013, we were the very first in the world to launch a B2B solution for online casinos running on cryptocurrency, which helped us get to the very top of this industry. Long before that, my business partner and I followed the development of the crypto industry, and at some point, we came to the conclusion that we were ready to successfully compete with those who had been on the market for a long time – and it worked.

At that time, the first and only bitcoin service provider in the world was a DICE project, which based its functionality upon a provably fair algorithm. Other similar projects began to appear, but the market lacked a ready-made all-in-one solution for an online casino with live table games.

In February 2014, at the largest exhibition in London, we were already the title sponsor of the world’s first bitcoin conference in the gambling industry. By that time, we reached such an extraordinarily high level of expertise, that we were the ones telling the key market players, investors and regulators about the possibilities and opportunities of cryptocurrency in the online entertainment industry.

Online casinos operating on the SoftSwiss Online Casino Platform have been chosen as the best casinos several years in a row according to Askgamblers.com. Further expanding our presence in the online entertainment segment, we have launched a successful gaming studio BGaming, which is now creating top gaming content for online casinos. 

We always strive to concentrate on business development and invest in our product portfolio expansion. Last year, we launched a product for fintech and in December 2020 the SoftSwiss Sportsbook solution was released.

Sports betting plays a major role in the online entertainment industry, so we knew we needed to develop in this direction. Clients often come to us telling they want to have their sports betting and online casino platforms combined all in one place.

We have been working hard to make SoftSwiss Online Casino Platform the best solution available on the market, and once we realized we had achieved great results, we moved forward with a sports betting platform.

The actual development process started 2 years ago. We pumped up our skills in this area and put together a cool team of top industry professionals with 20+ years’ experience in sports betting. And there it was –  SoftSwiss Sportsbook was launched. Thanks to our reputation of a competent and reliable provider, the solution was immediately welcomed on the market. Existing and new clients can’t wait to start operating Sportsbook powered by SoftSwiss, with JooSports being one of the first ones already launched.”

We expect that by the time the UEFA European Championship kicks off this summer, at least 5 projects will already be running on our solution. A major competitive advantage of SoftSwiss Sportsbook Platform is that it is created exclusively based on modern technologies – technically and content-wise. Moreover, our Sportsbook development team devoted a lot of time to UX and UI, as this is one of the key factors in attracting customers to our partner operators. 

SoftSwiss company philosophy lies in a passionate and dynamic approach to all work processes, as well as in agile methodology at all levels, not just in product development. 4 years ago, we developed our corporate culture concept based on the main company values, which are top client service, best industry professionals, and cutting-edge innovations. Many people can build a good product, but it is not so easy to maintain a high level of service after product delivery. This can only be achieved with competent and proactive specialists, therefore people are our most indispensable asset. In 2020, the staff of SoftSwiss doubled, and today we have 500+ employees working both in Minsk HQ and outside of Belarus.

The online entertainment industry is currently booming. The top 3 trends for the next 2-3 years, as I see them, are:

• An almost complete switch to mobile devices (be it smartphones or tablets)
• Development of VR technologies that will combine online gaming with an experience of playing in a land-based casino with a dealer.
• Finally, a full transition to digital game tokens. I believe that crypto and blockchain technologies will replace traditional digital currencies, which will help to make the industry 100% transparent for players and regulators.