The Hippodrome in London is the venue for the crowning glory of the past year’s online, mobile, and land-based casino and gambling efforts – the Global Gaming Awards (GGA).
These awards, seen as the most prestigious and reputable in the gaming industry, recognise the most innovative and outstanding companies and individuals in gaming, the absolute pinnacle and pioneers of the games that make our day.
The GGA is usually held at two ceremonies during the year, one in Las Vegas, USA and one in London, UK. The Las Vegas event focuses on the American region while the London event brings in nominees from the EMEA and Asian regions. One of the biggest and most welcome pieces of news for industry players has been the announcement that this year’s awards will be held in-person at the Hippodrome Casino in Leicester Square – one of the UK’s largest and most popular land-based casinos – on 31 January 2022.
Apart from the fact that we at CasinoPlay.com are ecstatic that the world is once again opening for live events, the CasinoPlay.com crew are looking forward to seeing who has really shown initiative this year, who has really made an impact, and who the industry sees as being the leaders in the world that we live and play in.
Awards, for us, are not just about being the best. They are a sign that our peers see what we are doing and admire us for it. The GGA is less about who sold the most and more about who did the most – for the players and for the industry.
And in a year where we have had very little to celebrate thanks to the pandemic and global political tensions, it’s just a relief and a joy to be able to celebrate the good things in life like the games of chance and the industry that provides them.
There are a ton of people involved in putting this gala event together. The main driver for the Global Gaming Awards over the last eight years has been industry icon Gambling Insider.
The judges are industry leaders from a host of companies and bodies that most gamblers will recognise. With over 50 judges from companies such as Google, BetGames, NSoft, Esports Technologies, Connective Games, Swintt, Relax Gaming, Kambi, Yggdrasil Gaming, Global Players Network, OpenBet, Enteractive, Playtech, Trustly, Holland Casino, First Sport Media, Grand Casino Luzern, and more, it is a meeting of the minds of some pretty big players.
And it’s all kept above board by the oversight of global auditors KPMG.
So, what does this all mean? It means that the Global Gaming Awards are awards from the industry to those in the industry who know the industry and who live and breathe the industry.
This year’s GGA London categories are:
As massive online and mobile casino fans, we are keen to see who takes the gong for Online Casino of the Year, obviously. But we are also looking forward to seeing who wins the Online Casino Supplier of the Year as this is usually awarded to the best games developer. Casino Product of the Year is also interesting as there have been several very innovative products that have been launched for the iGaming sector this year.
We wonder whether the winners of this year’s GGA need to be given the Responsible Gambling chat about winners knowing when to walk away? Maybe if Hollywood had a ‘Winners Know When To Stop’ disclaimer they stars wouldn’t ramble on for half an hour when they got their little statues: on stage, “thanks, everybody”, off stage. Done.
Jokes aside, the GGA deserves its place in the sun and the winners deserve the accolades for making our year that much more fun and that much more entertaining.
The short-list for the nominees will be announced soon and CasinoPlay.com will definitely keep you updated. Bring on 31 January, and let’s see who is making waves in our favourite industry!
