Spire

How to play Spire

Harrison Barrett, VP of business development, spoke to the iGB team at iGB L!VE 2026 to discuss the evolution of Soft2Bet’s MEGA platform, which started out as a purely gamification layer but has become “much more compelling than simply leaderboards, missions and point-based rewards”.

As Barrett puts it, MEGA is “ultimately a retention tool that helps our partners move away from heavy bonus and costs”.

With ice hockey and UFC-themed initiatives driving engagement in North America and a 45% lifetime value increase seen with the launch of MEGA Shoot, a player-versus-player simulation penalty shootout game initiative which launched during the World Cup, it is an exciting time for the Malta-based platform provider.

How to play Spire

“During the hybrid period in Q1, Cubeia solved 259 issues. Once it moved to the AI-driven process, that figure rose to 421 – a 62% increase. Larger projects increased from 17 to 58. So the answer is yes: moving to AI-driven development has increased our output tremendously,” Grenstad says.

But the more important question now is what Cubeia does with that capacity. “Because we’re not spending as much time coding, we’re spending more time on the business: talking about value and understanding the domain,” he says.

Rather than simply building what is requested, teams are increasingly expected to understand why something is being built and what value it should create.

How to play Spire

Christofidou also floated the idea of issuing GMI recipients with a special card for in-person verification at gambling venues, but several MPs warned this could stigmatise welfare recipients.

Current gambling legislation restricts participation for minors and those classified as “financially vulnerable”. However, GMI recipients are not yet formally classified as such for the purpose of these regulations.

The NBA has operated a online self-exclusion scheme since 2024. It requires users to register with a mobile number, email address and ID. Since around 80% of gambling in Cyprus happens online, this route offers a far easier way to identify and exclude claimants than monitoring anonymous betting at physical outlets.