Now in its fourth year, the Casino Guru Awards continue to recognize excellence across
the iGaming industry, celebrating meaningful contributions that go beyond commercial
success. The 2026 edition will culminate in an exclusive live ceremony on May 25,
2026, held at The Xara Lodge in Malta, in partnership with NEXT.io during NEXT
Valletta (May 27-28).

Spotlight on New Categories for 2026
This year’s Awards introduce four new categories that reflect Casino Guru’s evolving
mission to promote integrity, innovation, and positive industry culture. With the
nomination deadline approaching, Casino Guru encourages submissions, particularly
for these new categories:

• Woman Leader of the Year: Honouring an exceptional female leader whose vision and influence have meaningfully shaped her company and the wider iGaming industry.
• Rising Star in Responsible Gambling: Recognizing organizations demonstrating outstanding early progress in implementing safer gambling practices.
• Young Changemaker Award: Celebrating a professional under 30 whose forward-thinking ideas and ethical innovation have already made a visible impact in 2025.
• Industry Culture Shaper: Acknowledging companies that foster positive, transparent, and growth-oriented workplace cultures.

Alongside these new additions, nominations remain open across established categories
that embody Casino Guru’s core values of fairness, transparency, and responsibility,
including:

1. The Fairest Bonus Policy
2. The Fairest General Terms & Conditions
3. The Most Impactful Social Responsibility Initiative
4. The Best Implementation of Responsible Gambling Tools
5. The Most Transparent Casino
6. The Most Effective Handling of Complaints
7. Players’ Choice
8. iGaming Changemaker of the Year
9. Voice of the People

Key Dates: Casino Guru Awards 2026

1. Nominations close: February 15, 2026
2. Shortlisted nominees announced: March 1, 2026
3. Public voting begins: March 1, 2026
4. Judges’ evaluations: April 30 - May 7, 2026
5. Public voting ends: May 7, 2026
6. Winners announced: May 25, 2026 - The Xara Lodge, Malta

Celebrating those who move the industry forward
The Casino Guru Awards 2026 Ceremony will once again bring together shortlisted nominees, respected judges, sponsors, media partners, and industry leaders for an invite-only evening dedicated to recognizing progress, responsibility, and innovation in iGaming.

Daniela Sliva, PR & Creative Project Director at Casino Guru and leader of the Awards project, commented: "As the nomination deadline approaches, we encourage the industry to shine a light on the people and companies who are genuinely raising standards. The Casino Guru Awards exist to recognize those who prove that fairness, responsibility, and innovation can go hand in hand, and this final month is the last chance to make sure their work is seen."

With only weeks remaining, Casino Guru invites the iGaming community to ensure that outstanding achievements do not go unnoticed and to help shape a celebration of integrity and progress at the Casino Guru Awards 2026.

Sources

• Casino Guru

Why This Matters

iGaming Times analysis: One-month nomination windows for select award categories typically signal that the awards programme is calibrating against a quality bar rather than running open submissions on volume. The detail worth tracking is which categories carry the residual nomination capacity — usually the segments where the editorial team is signalling there's room for more credible entrants than the existing nomination pool delivers.

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