Games Global, in collaboration with exclusive studio partner Slingshot Studios, has unveiled Candy Combo 2 Power Combo, a vibrant new franchise instalment featuring enhanced Link&Win gameplay and expanded Power Combo mechanics.
Built on the success of the original Candy Combo Power Combo, the sequel introduces up to 31 bonus combinations with heightened win potential.
Set in a vibrant candy-themed world, the 5×3, 20-payline slot features five collectible jar characters that trigger enhanced Link&Win modifiers, with gameplay centred on a 5×4 grid bonus where symbols lock in place.
Returning mechanics such as Connector, Collector and Jackpot symbols are complemented by new additions including Adder and Extender, expanding feature interaction and extending gameplay depth.
Up to five modifiers can combine within a single round, culminating in Super Power Combo, while additional features such as Hot Mode and Upsizer further increase bonus frequency and customisation. Candy Combo 2 Power Combo represents a confident evolution of a proven title within Games Global’s portfolio.
“Candy Combo 2 Power Combo builds on its predecessor – one of our most successful titles – by expanding how features interact within the Link&Win format,” said Richard Vermaak, Creative Director at Slingshot Studios. “The addition of new jars and the ability to combine multiple mechanics introduces more variation across each round, while staying true to the core gameplay players recognise.”
David Reynolds, Director of Games Strategy and Partner Management at Games Global, added: “Slingshot Studios has done brilliantly at evolving a well-established concept by adding depth and flexibility to its feature set. The result is a bright, engaging title that enhances a proven mechanic while offering players more ways to experience its core gameplay.”
Hub88 has reinforced its aggregation platform through its latest partnership with Games Inc, delivering the studio’s portfolio, shaped by more than a decade of close collaboration with operators, to its global network.
The deal introduces Games Inc’s range of more than 70 tried and tested titles to Hub88’s partners, including slots and table games, granting access to premium content developed with a focus on performance, engagement and player-first design.
Founded in 2012, Games Inc began as a bespoke slot developer for some of the world’s biggest operators, before transitioning into a fully independent global content provider.
For Hub88’s partners, Games Inc’s rich knowledge translates into a line-up designed with entertainment and high performance in mind. Each release seamlessly combines engaging mechanics, balanced maths, captivating graphics and immersive audiovisual effects for the ultimate experience.
The agreement further strengthens Hub88’s reputation for choosing partners with intriguing content and robust technology that drives success.
“Games Inc brings a level of experience and deep operator understanding that really stands out to us,” said Ollie Castleman, Managing Director at Hub88. “They have spent years building custom games meticulously, and this is reflected in how their portfolio performs. Their content is shaped by real-world insight and data, and this will only bring further benefits to our operator network.”
Fiona Hickey, Managing Director at Games Inc, shared: “Hub88 is a key partner for us, with their values, way of working and enduring reputation unlocking access to more brands worldwide. Their platform is technically excellent and significantly boosts our reach. We are confident that our style and creative approach will resonate with their partners across multiple global markets.”
On May 10, the entire football world will have its eyes on Camp Nou as another unpredictable El Clásico takes center stage. FC Barcelona and Real Madrid face once again in a clash where more than just points are at stake: pride, status, and supremacy in Spain’s greatest rivalry are all on the line.
This match means a lot to the Catalans. With four rounds remaining, FC Barcelona holds an 11-point lead over Real, and even a draw would be enough to secure the title early. Doing it at home against their biggest rivals would be the perfect scenario for both the team and its fans. The club has won its last 10 La Liga games and heads into the decisive stage of the season full of confidence.
Madrid has almost no chance of winning the title, but matches like this have long played by their own rules. When it comes to El Clásico, Real Madrid never stops fighting. And writing them off would still be a mistake. This squad has more than enough world-class talent capable of deciding the game in a single moment.
Fans will witness a classic clash between two contrasting philosophies in the world of football: Flick’s structured team play against the individual brilliance and winning mentality of the Madrid side. El Clásico punishes every mistake, and this is where history is written.
QTech Games has announced its latest provider partnership with Live22, enabling its platform customers to access another flexible portfolio that has already proven itself a strong performer across both APAC and Asia-facing regions.
Founded in 2018, Live22 is a next-generation studio with a strong track record in high-performing slots, mini games, and arcade titles. The company delivers modern, visually rich gaming experiences to a global audience, highlighted by popular releases such as Mahjong Gold Lion, Kingdom of Luck, and Bloodmoon Amazonia, alongside its Space Quest, Wonders Of, and God’s Gambit franchises.
Its diverse portfolio includes innovative hybrid games designed to balance volatility, enhance retention and dwell time, and support sustainable metrics such as RTP transparency and long-term player value. Titles like Mahjong Gold Lion, featuring a medium volatility profile and 96% RTP, exemplify this approach by combining frequent wins with strong payout potential to drive ARPU.
All these games and formats now form part of Live22’s progressive portfolio which has been made available to QTech Games and its clients.
Commenting on the strategic partnership, Live22’s CEO said: “QTech is the best hub for the finest and most localised digital content across emerging markets. As a result, we were naturally eager to broaden our horizons in lockstep with their platform’s sprawling range of operator partners. In an increasingly competitive landscape, our high-performing titles and their accompanying range of mechanics bridge the gap between attracting new players and securing long-term retention.”
The partnership accelerates Live22’s expansion into high-growth markets spanning Africa to Latin America, unlocking fresh revenue streams. Leveraging its position as a leading aggregator in these territories, QTech delivers a wide-ranging, fully localised gaming portfolio, enhanced by native mobile apps, advanced data tools, and continuous local-language support.
Philip Doftvik, QTech Games’ CEO, added: ““Live22’s burgeoning reputation for immersive and high-quality games makes them an exceptional addition to our platform, pushing the boundaries of casino gaming by combining creativity and technology, while respecting different player proclivities around risk-appetite. We look forward to helping them place market-specific adaptations of their already successful games to find fresh audiences across new territories for Live22.”
BetConstruct AI is set to showcase its latest advancements at G2E Asia 2026 in Macau from May 12–14 at The Venetian Macao, occupying Stands A1023 & A1029 as it joins the region’s premier industry gathering in a year defined by the transformative rise of AI and emerging digital innovations.
The spotlight at the company’s stands will be on the Best Sportsbook for the World Cup 2026: Special Bets, Powerfull, and Bet on League form a ready‑to‑deploy tournament package that enables operators to capture the full commercial weight of the world’s biggest sporting event — with zero development cycles and zero platform risk.
For the World Cup activation, everything is offered at zero cost. New partners receive an immediate 50% platform setup discount, along with 100% Core Suite Access — giving them full use of the Sportsbook and the rest of BetConstruct AI’s offerings free for the first three months (and 50% off for months 4–12). Third‑party tools are available at 51% off for the first three months.
Layered on top for this event, the AI Suite — including CRM AI, Umbrella AI, the AI Game Recommendation System, and Betting Mate — manages everything from churn prediction and risk management to real‑time personalisation and conversational betting.
Beyond this, the company is presenting the full product picture: the Sportsbook Platform delivers over 140,000 pre‑match events and 12,000+ monthly esports live events, while the Casino Platform integrates 350+ providers through a unified aggregation API.
The Affiliate Ecosystem, featuring the Affigates sub‑brand, brings together 7,000+ vetted affiliates supported by AI‑based scoring, completing the acquisition side of the offering.
All visitors are invited to meet the BetConstruct team at Stands A1023 & A1029.
When I look at what’s changing fastest in Asia, it’s payment behavior. Crypto is already embedded in players‘ habits, whether that’s wallets, stablecoins, or how people move funds across borders.
The winning operators will be those that offer fast, reliable, and local deposits and withdrawals. To make sense of it, I break Asia into two crypto realities.
Key takeways
Two Asias: the hubs and the grassroots
The Bybit/DL Research 2025 rankings show two clear adoption patterns across Asia: hub-led and utility-led. On one side, you have hub economies with institutional maturity and policy clarity:
Singapore sits at #1 globally, and the report highlights its strength in regulatory clarity and institutional ecosystem.
On the other side, you have high-utility markets where adoption is pushed by real-life use cases: Vietnam ranks #9 worldwide, with nearly 20% of the population owning digital assets for remittances, savings, and inflation protection.
Hong Kong rounds out the picture at #10, described as a bridge model that combines retail adoption with institutional drivers. Moreover, markets like the Philippines are highlighted for financial inclusion dynamics and institutional readiness.
In one market, they’re driven by efficiency and convenience. In another, they’re driven by necessity and access. Your product and your payment strategy have to meet both realities.
Stablecoins are the signal
If there’s one takeaway operators should internalize, it’s that stablecoins are becoming a mainstream transaction rail. In grassroots markets, they’re used for remittances, savings, and everyday transfers when traditional banking is slow or limited. In hub economies, they’re increasingly part of more structured, regulated payment and settlement ecosystems.
The same shift is showing up in payroll: the share of professionals receiving part of their salary in crypto rose from 3.0% to 9.6% in 2024, with stablecoins making up 90%+ of those payments.
What this means for operators: crypto is becoming a conversion lever
In mature sports betting and casino markets, operators compete on product and marketing. In fast-growing Asian markets, operators also compete on payment fit.
“If your player prefers crypto and you don’t accept it, you’ve created a churn point before the first deposit. If your crypto flow is slow or unreliable, you’ve created a trust problem.”
That’s why GR8 Tech launched Crypto Turnkey. We see crypto as a clearly defined segment with its own behavior patterns and expectations, and Asia is where that segment is most diverse and most active.
Why “Crypto Turnkey” instead of “add crypto”
A lot of crypto implementations fail because operators treat crypto like an add-on instead of an operating layer. They end up stitching vendors together and inheriting the weak points: approvals, bottlenecks, unclear ownership, and operational risk.
GR8 Tech’s Crypto Turnkey is built for operators who need crypto to work reliably across Asian markets. Its main value comes down to four things:
Payment provider independence
Crypto reduces dependency on third-party PSP onboarding timelines and the operational risk of sudden interruptions. The operator controls the payment uptime directly.
VIP player capture
VIPs drive outsized revenue and increasingly prefer crypto for speed, privacy, and higher limits. (On GR8 Tech’s platform in 2025, VIP turnover reached 49.7% in casino and 44.2% in sports—exactly the segment operators can’t afford to “lose at payments.”)
Geographic flexibility without losing control
Crypto helps operators serve markets where traditional payment coverage is limited or inconsistent, while keeping KYC and responsible gambling frameworks in place through existing platform modules.
Transaction economics
Lower fees, no chargeback exposure, and faster settlement cycles change the unit economics of payments—especially in high-volume, high-frequency segments.
The operator playbook for Asia in 2026
If you’re thinking about Asia, here’s the decision framework I’d recommend:
Treat payments as localization
The best market entry plan fails if deposit and withdrawal behavior doesn’t match local reality.
Design for two archetypes at once
Hub markets reward speed, polish, and reliability; grassroots markets reward utility, access, and trust.
Build your crypto offering around stablecoins and settlement reality
The growth in stablecoin usage and on-chain payroll is telling you what “normal” will look like.
Don’t bolt crypto onto a fragile stack
If the platform can’t handle peak load and multi-geo operations, crypto won’t fix that—it will amplify it.
The bottom line
In Asia, crypto adoption is multiple stories happening at once: policy-led hubs, utility-led grassroots markets, and players whose expectations are shaped by stablecoins and real-time money movement. Operators who treat crypto as an operating layer will convert faster, retain better, and scale with less friction. Crypto Turnkey is built for that reality.
Wynn Resorts has announced it will construct a new 432-key all-suite hotel tower, named the Enclave, at Wynn Palace in Macau, with construction expected to begin in the second half of 2026.
The expansion comes as Macau’s competitive environment continues to intensify, with operators increasingly focusing on the premium mass segment as a key driver of gross gaming revenue (GGR) and market share.
The Enclave Tower at Wynn Palace – Render
According to the company’s quarterly filing, the Enclave at Wynn Palace will be developed adjacent to the resort’s east entrance. The project carries an estimated budget of between $900 million and $950 million, inclusive of capitalized interest, with construction expected to span around 2.5 years.
Wynn said total project capital expenditures for the Enclave and other enhancements across its Macau operations are expected to range between $400 million and $450 million during 2026, increasing to between $700 million and $750 million in 2027. Maintenance capital expenditures at its Macau operations are projected at between $70 million and $80 million during 2026.
The expansion announcement came as Wynn Palace reported stronger operating performance in the first quarter of 2026. Operating revenues at the property rose 23 percent year-on-year to $659.3 million from $535.9 million, while Adjusted Property EBITDAR increased 25.9 percent to $203.8 million.
Renderings of The Enclave at Wynn Palace
The company’s Macau operations generated operating income of $145.3 million in the three months ended March 31st, up from $127.1 million a year earlier, while Adjusted Property EBITDAR increased to $279.4 million from $252.1 million.
Wynn Resorts Ltd said its Macau operations recorded a “meaningful increase” in gaming volumes in the first quarter of 2026, with total operating revenues from subsidiary Wynn Macau Ltd rising 14.2 percent year-on-year to $989 million.
Craig Billings, CEO, Wynn Resorts
In a results release issued on Friday morning, Wynn Resorts CEO Craig Billings said the group saw “a meaningful increase in gaming volumes year-over-year alongside healthy market share” in Macau during the quarter.
Total Macau operations generated operating income of $145.3 million in the three months to March 31st, up 14.3 percent from $127.1 million a year earlier, while Adjusted Property EBITDAR increased 10.8 percent year-on-year to $279.4 million.
Wynn Palace leads revenue gains
Wynn Resorts said most of the Macau revenue increase came from Wynn Palace, where operating revenues rose 27.1 percent year-on-year to $659.3 million from $535.9 million in the prior-year quarter. Adjusted Property EBITDAR at Wynn Palace increased to $203.8 million from $161.9 million a year earlier.
“Our first quarter results reflect the strength of Wynn’s business across all of our markets,” Billings said.
According to the company, mass market table games win percentage at Wynn Palace was 26.6 percent in the first quarter, compared with 24.8 percent a year earlier. VIP table games win percentage was 3.11 percent, within the property’s expected range of 3.1 percent to 3.4 percent and above the 2.61 percent recorded in the prior-year period.
By comparison, Wynn Macau generated operating revenues of $329.9 million, largely unchanged from $330.0 million in the first quarter of 2025. However, Adjusted Property EBITDAR at the property declined to $75.6 million from $90.2 million a year earlier.
The company said mass market table games win percentage at Wynn Macau fell to 15.1 percent from 18.7 percent in the prior-year quarter, while VIP table games win percentage dropped sharply to 0.39 percent from 1.09 percent and below the property’s expected range of 3.1 percent to 3.4 percent.
Group revenue nears $1.9B
At the group level, Wynn Resorts reported total operating revenues of $1.86 billion for the first quarter of 2026, up from $1.70 billion a year earlier. Net income attributable to Wynn Resorts Ltd increased to $120.5 million from $72.7 million in the prior-year quarter. Adjusted Property EBITDAR rose to $562.4 million from $532.9 million a year earlier.
The company also announced a quarterly cash dividend of $0.25 per share, payable on May 29th, 2026 to shareholders of record as of May 18th, 2026.
Wynn Al Marjan Island remains on track
Wynn Resorts said Wynn Al Marjan Island in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) remains on track to open in 2027.
Billings said the company is “closely monitoring the broader situation in the Gulf region while taking additional precautions to ensure the safety and well-being of our team on the ground.”
During the first quarter, Wynn Resorts contributed $100.1 million in cash to the 40 percent-owned joint venture developing the integrated resort project, bringing its total cash contributions to $1.01 billion to date.
SJM Holdings was unable to fully offset the loss of gross gaming revenue (GGR) from its former satellite casinos in the first quarter of 2026, according to a Thursday note from Seaport Research, which said the operator’s market share continued to decline despite gains at its self-promoted casinos.
Seaport analyst Vitaly Umansky indicated that SJM’s overall Macau market share fell to 9.6 percent in the first quarter, down 390 basis points year-on-year and 80 basis points quarter-on-quarter, as contributions from the satellite casinos — which accounted for 5.1 percent market share in the prior-year quarter — disappeared following their closure.
SJM reported first-quarter revenue of HK$5.9 billion ($754 million), down 21.1 percent year-on-year and 9.1 percent quarter-on-quarter. Adjusted EBITDA declined 4.3 percent year-on-year to HK$917 million ($117 million), although this exceeded Seaport’s estimates and came in slightly above Bloomberg consensus expectations.
Seaport identified SJM’s other self-promoted casinos as the ‘one bright spot‘ during the quarter, with market share rising to 3.9 percent, up around 150 basis points both year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter.
The gains were attributed largely to the acquisition of the L’Arc satellite casino and the expansion of Casino Lisboa. The segment represented 54 percent of SJM’s EBITDA in the quarter, slightly more than Grand Lisboa, according to the report.
Even so, Seaport said much of the GGR previously generated by the satellite casinos had been dispersed across the broader Macau market, limiting SJM’s ability to fully recover the lost share through its self-promoted properties.
The brokerage said it expects SJM’s market share to remain in the ‘~10% range‘ this year. It also added that April ‘was off to a rough start,‘ estimating that SJM’s market share declined further from first-quarter levels.
GLP ramp-up remains ‘unimpressive’
Seaport said the ramp-up at Grand Lisboa Palace (GLP) remains a key driver of SJM’s long-term growth prospects, but described the property’s performance as ‘anemic.‘
According to the report, GLP achieved only 2.7 percent market share in the first quarter, compared with 2.8 percent a year earlier and 2.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2025. Seaport said it does not expect GLP to surpass 3 percent market share this year.
‘Our concern is that GLP share may be hitting a ceiling in the low 3% range, unless there is a material change in strategy and execution,’ Umansky wrote.
The brokerage added that GLP would need to more aggressively target the premium mass segment in order to materially improve its Cotai market position, while noting that the property currently lacks a strong ability to do so.
GLP generated HK$1.75 billion ($224 million) in GGR during the quarter, up 11.7 percent year-on-year and 13 percent quarter-on-quarter. However, adjusted EBITDA fell 61.1 percent year-on-year to HK$58 million ($7.4 million), with EBITDA margin declining to 2.8 percent from 7.7 percent a year earlier.
