The missing competitive layer: How Hub88 Tournaments is introducing a new dimension of social play

With many operators hitting barriers when competing for player attention, building an interconnected, social experience through tournaments provides an effective and largely untapped way to differentiate. Yet not all tournaments hold the same power. In this interview, Gabriel Kolawale, Director of Product at Hub88, shares why the aggregator launched its new Tournaments tool and how it is helping operators drive acquisition, retention, session frequency and lifetime value with more control.

iGB: What is the missing competitive layer that Hub88 is looking to address with the new Tournaments tool?

Gabriel Kolawale: “Most operators lack a clear differentiator, and many casinos have become indistinguishable from each other. At present, the brands that do utilise tournaments are limited by several common bugbears.

“Tournaments are usually tied to a single supplier’s catalogue, so running a cross-provider event means juggling separate tools. They often rely on scattered dashboards and manual processing. And they rarely give operators meaningful performance data.

“As an aggregator, Hub88 is in a unique position to solve this. Because we already see player activity across every supplier on our platform, we can run tournaments across multiple suppliers without any new supplier integrations. Hub88 Tournaments introduces a new layer of flexibility and customisation for our operator partners, with significantly deeper data insights. Our operators can run, manage and use Hub88 Tournaments independently and tailor it to fit their wider retention and acquisition strategy.”

iGB: Why is the competitive element important from an operator perspective?

“Without a reason to return, players simply end their session. That affects session frequency and retention. It also impacts loyalty, because players can ultimately churn, reducing their lifetime value.

“Tournaments give players that reason. Seeing your name on a live leaderboard, competing against other players and returning to defend your position turns solo play into a shared event. That social element is what makes tournaments such an effective retention tool.

“They work for acquisition too, where operators can use a headline tournament to bring new players into their casino. And in a market where many brands offer the same games, a well executed tournament programme can provide that differentiation.”

iGB: How does Hub88 Tournaments work in practice?

“We designed Tournaments to fit into the tools operators already use, so a tournament can be launched in simple steps.

“They then define eligibility, selecting the countries, currencies and games included, and build the prize pool, which currently supports cash prizes with physical prizes and free spins to follow. Finally, they add players, either by importing a CSV or selecting them from their player base, and publish. Performance can then be tracked live in the BackOffice.”

iGB: How much flexibility does this give operators when it comes to the games and players they wish to include?

“Operators can include the full suite of games available via Hub88, so they can bring together multiple suppliers and games into the same tournament. From an integration perspective, all that is needed is the lightweight Hub88 Tournament SDK which  adds the leaderboard, entry options and invitations making it accessible. Prize payouts run through the operator’s existing wallet integration.

“An operator starts with a business goal, shapes a tournament to serve it and then picks which players to target.”

“Operators can also target specific cohorts. For example, they can set up tournaments for high-value players or a reactivation campaign for players  who have been inactive for a while. Country and currency eligibility gives them control over which markets each tournament runs in.

“In practice, an operator starts with a business goal, shapes a tournament to serve it and then picks which players to target. Cross-supplier tournaments also help players discover studios they might not otherwise have tried, which benefits our supplier partners as well.”

iGB: What does this experience look like for players?

“On the casino side, players see a live leaderboard that updates as they play, alongside a clear description of the prizes, eligibility and rules, including terms and conditions. Operators can also use banners and widgets provided by us, or they can build a whole interface and adapt it to their own branding.”