Industry News
Yahaha Studios announces Asset Ovi, 3D search tool to support game developers
Yahaha Studios has announced the launch of YAHAHA Asset Ovi, a first-of-its-kind platform to help game developers to search for game assets quickly. Using artificial intelligence (AI), Asset Ovi is the go-to platform to search for assets for any level of creators, from students and hobbyists to indie developers and 3D creation experts. Asset Ovi cuts out the middle-man, allowing users to access search for assets across several of the most prominent 3D asset marketplaces through one platform, including the Unity Store, Sketchfab and CGTrader. YAHAHA Asset Ovi is now live, in partnership with Jina AI.
Finding the perfect assets for game creation is not easy for developers. Yahaha Studios conducted research to better understand the challenges associated with the asset search experience. The results showed that 80% of developers spend 10 minutes or more searching for a new game asset across multiple storefronts – making it a time-consuming, as well as difficult and stressful task to find the hundreds of assets required for a new game. With Asset Ovi, creators can browse over a million assets, using search functionality based not only on text but also by model, ensuring they find the specific asset required.
By launching YAHAHA Asset Ovi, Yahaha Studios hopes to help developers create more efficiently. Introducing this new tool to its free-to-use platform, YAHAHA is supporting game developers and creator enthusiasts at all levels to have easy access to millions of assets for free, making the game creation process as easy as possible.
Chris Zhu, CEO at Yahaha Studios, said: “Yahaha Studios is constantly investigating new technologies to support creators – we are passionate about making it easy to make great content and bring imagination to life. When our research showed that some developers were spending hours searching different stores for assets, we wanted to help them. YAHAHA Asset Ovi is a free platform that anyone can use and it is integrated with other storefronts, such as the Unity Asset Store, saving game developers considerable time and frustration searching for the right assets.”
In order to make Asset Ovi as creator-friendly as possible, the platform has announced the YAHAHA 3D viewer. By using this method, assets can be viewed and closely examined prior to making a purchase decision. This tool allows users to examine the fine details of each asset, including wireframe, post-processing and material channels. Asset Ovi uses AI to power its search. Partnered with Jina AI, it supports AI-powered similarity search, making it easy to locate assets. Users can also perform mesh-to-mesh, text-to-mesh, and colour-to-mesh searches. The search engine learns from large data sets, understands the shape, text, and colour of the asset with neutral network algorithms, and finds the most relevant results. The engine will continue to learn as more people use it, meaning it will understand more as time progresses.
Joel Fällbom, Head Teacher of Game and UX Design, at Futuregames, said: “As someone who has spent countless hours looking through every single asset store, finding high-quality assets, with real-time previews, with all the necessary info such as polycount, topology, lods and textures is really time consuming and difficult. In fact, it is close to impossible to navigate and find what you need. YAHAHA 3DSearch solves a real problem for anyone developing a game, I can’t wait to try it.”
In the closing months of 2022, Yahaha Studios announced it had secured an investment of $40 million to further build upon the Early Alpha success of YAHAHA, a creator-focussed user-generated content social platform. YAHAHA is currently open in Early Alpha, offering anyone the opportunity to be among the first to test the platform and share feedback as it continues to grow. This early community has an important role to play in how YAHAHA will evolve, influencing the shape the platform takes and building its digital world.
Industry News
Evoke Announces the Establishment of a New Technology Committee

Evoke, one of the world’s leading betting and gaming companies with internationally renowned brands including William Hill, 888 and Mr Green, announced the establishment of a new Technology Committee of the Board effective immediately.
The Committee will be chaired by Independent Non-Executive Director Susan Standiford. Non-executive Directors Limor Ganot and Ori Shaked will also be members of the Committee.
The Committee will provide Board-level oversight of evoke’s major technology investments and initiatives, ensuring alignment with business strategy, risk management and operational effectiveness.
Jon Mendelsohn, Chairman of evoke, said: “In a world where technology is evolving at break-neck speed and in an industry where technology leadership is a core driver of sustainable success, our Technology Committee will play an important role in strengthening the Board’s governance and long-term strategy development. The Committee will focus on providing transparency and insight across our product, technology, data and operational initiatives as well as informing the Board and executive leadership on technology trends with the potential to shape the Group’s long-term competitive advantages.”
The post Evoke Announces the Establishment of a New Technology Committee appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Gambling in the USA
Gaming Americas Weekly Roundup – May 19-25

Welcome to our weekly roundup of American gambling news again! Here, we are going through the weekly highlights of the American gambling industry which include the latest news and new partnerships. Read on and get updated.
Latest News
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa has been named the luckiest casino in the US according to a recent study conducted by Casinos.com. The resort claimed the top spot based on an in-depth analysis of Tripadvisor reviews, measuring the frequency of luck-related keyword mentions. With a 25.49% luck rate, Seminole Hard Rock Tampa topped the list thanks to glowing guest feedback, including frequent mentions of jackpots, hand pays and bonus wins. 50 reviews mentioned the word “jackpot,” and 19 even referenced a “hand pay.” Casinos.com tracked keywords such as lucky, luck, won, winning, success, jackpot, hand pay, winner, bonus, profit to determine which U.S. casinos inspired the most winning moments among visitors.
The Missouri Gaming Commission has announced that it has officially begun accepting applications for sports betting license. The Commission made the announcement following the unanimous approval of a resolution drafted Tuesday that approved the licensing process. The resolution passed after Gov. Mike Kehoe’s office reviewed it. The licensing period opens roughly six months after Missouri voters narrowly approved a constitutional amendment legalising sports betting. The measure passed by less than half a percentage point, with a margin of less than 7500 votes.
Underdog Fantasy has relaunched its draft-style daily fantasy sports (DFS) games in New York, nearly two months after it withdrew all of its DFS competitions from the Empire State. The decision to withdraw all DFS contests from New York in March came after a ruling from the New York State Gaming Commission in which the commission determined Underdog was not in line with the state’s current DFS law. An Underdog Fantasy spokesperson confirmed the company is still working under a temporary license. The New York State Gaming Commission agreed to allow the company to offer its draft DFS games with the temporary license. Most DFS companies in New York operate with a temporary license.
New Partnerships
Pollard Banknote Limited has congratulated the West Virginia Lottery on the successful launch of Royal Court Riches, its first eInstant game from the Pollard Digital Games Studio. Royal Court Riches has already demonstrated strong performance in multiple markets—in its first international launch, it achieved that jurisdiction’s highest tickets sold, total sales and gross gaming revenue within its first 30 days of release. Royal Court Riches is the first in a series of games from the Pollard Digital Games Studio slated to launch in West Virginia this year.
SYNOT Games has announced a new partnership with Caliente, one of Mexico’s top gaming platforms. This collaboration marks an exciting expansion for SYNOT Games, as it brings its acclaimed portfolio of gaming content to the Mexican market. It enhances Caliente’s offerings with an extensive array of high-quality slot games such as Respin Joker, Book of Secrets, Realm of Lions and Forest Maiden, designed to captivate players and boost engagement. Caliente with its strong presence in Latin America, is the perfect partner for SYNOT Games’ expansion into the region. The partnership aims to deliver an exceptional gaming experience, combining SYNOT’s visually rich, innovative games with Caliente’s extensive reach and reputation.
The post Gaming Americas Weekly Roundup – May 19-25 appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Industry Awards
Betsson Group Nominated in 14 Categories at the Women in Gaming Diversity Awards 2025

Betsson Group has been nominated in 14 categories at the Women in Gaming Diversity & Employee Wellbeing Awards 2025, hosted by Clever Duck Media. These include five company-wide nominations and nine individual nominations for eight of its employees.
These annual awards celebrate excellence in equality, diversity, inclusion and employee wellbeing across the global gaming industry. Since its launch in 2010, the event has solidified its position as one of the global gaming industry’s most respected diversity accolades.
The categories in which Betsson Group and its employees have been shortlisted include:
Company Category Nominations:
Best Diverse Place to Work
Community Engagement
Company of the Year (Operator)
Diversity & Inclusion
Great Place to Work Award
Individual Category Nominations:
Affiliate Leader – Shakyra Jonsson
Employee of the Year (Operator) – Lisa Mifsud
Excellence in Customer Service – Gabriella Larsson
HR Champion (Operator) – Tamara Klibadze
Innovator – Lena Nordin
Inspiration of the Year (Operator) – Lena Nordin
Positive Role Model of the Year (Operator) – Lara Lombardi
Star of the Future (Operator) – Jessica Carrillo Miranda
Young Leader of the Year (Operator) – Chellyanne Cassar
These nominations reflect the company’s ongoing dedication to creating a workplace where employees feel valued, respected and empowered to succeed. At Betsson Group, diversity, equity and inclusion are more than buzzwords; they are embedded in the company’s culture, values and daily actions. In previous years, Betsson has been recognised at the WiG Diversity Awards for Best Diverse Place to Work (2022 and 2024), Company of the Year (2019 and 2022) and for Diversity & Inclusion (2021). For the individual categories, Betsson employees have previously won Excellence in Customer Service, Star of the Future and Young Leader of the Year.
The post Betsson Group Nominated in 14 Categories at the Women in Gaming Diversity Awards 2025 appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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