Plucky follows funding round success with EGR Innovator of the Year award

Plucky, the leading platform for monetising free-to-play games and modernising pool betting, has been awarded the Innovator of the Year award at the prestigious EGR Operator Awards 2024, emerging victorious from the headline category which included the likes of Entain, Kaizen Gaming, and PokerStars.

The UKGC-licenced operator was commended for its pioneering means of bringing new revenue streams to free-to-play and fantasy games providers, with its partnership with Genius Sports, powering the first publisher in its agreement – The Telegraph Fantasy Football game with paid leagues, one of its standout deals in the judging period.

The inaugural gaming award win for Plucky follows a successful funding round – which closed earlier in October – that has raised over £500,000 and will provide strategic funding to facilitate the firm’s next stage of growth across its B2B and B2C arms.

The new financing will be used to accelerate Plucky’s free-to-play monetisation arm, as well as expanding the footprint of its pool betting, which allow social circles to easily set-up randomised cash draws on any sporting event, such as the Grand National and Euro 2024. The UKGC-licensed operator is also exploring opportunities within live competitive socialising venues and has imminent ambitions to enter new regulated gaming markets.

Prominent investors entered in the latest round, demonstrating confidence in both the scalable business model that utilises existing partner audiences, and the Plucky team, consisting of serial entrepreneur Sebastian Lewis and fantasy sports expert Matthew Steer, amongst other industry and tech veterans.

Sebastian Lewis, CEO & co-founder at Plucky, said: “The Plucky model has been refined over the past couple of years to ensure it can fully meet the vast demand that we know is there for more engaging free-to-play games and pool betting opportunities. To have this validated with the Innovator of the Year award is testament to the concept and rare capacity to bring new revenue streams and retention opportunities to such a competitive igaming sector.”

“This latest funding round comes at a great time, having demonstrated what Plucky is all about with our partnership with Genius Sports. We’ve shown the appeal that paid leagues and app-first pool betting opportunities have for the end user, and the monetisation opportunities these bring to free-to-play and media partners is vast.”