iGB Affiliate Awards 2026

The Most Respected
Affiliate Awards in iGaming

The iGB Affiliate Awards are BACK - returning to the heart of the global iGaming community.

This is a celebration of the power players, innovators, and deal-makers who shape the iGaming world - shaken, not stirred for one unforgettable night.

Renowned for their integrity and merit-based recognition, the iGB Affiliate Awards honour the achievements and breakthroughs of the iGaming affiliate community over the past 12 months, recognising excellence across 21 highly coveted categories.

Full Awards and Entries

Nominations deadline - 27 March

iGB Affiliate Awards

WHEN

Thursday 2 July 2026,
19:00 – 02:00

WHO

400 leading affiliates, programmes and vendors

iGB Affiliate Awards 2025 Winners Revealed

SEE THE WINNERS

A huge round of applause to everyone shortlisted for the iGB Affiliate Awards 2025 and thank you to our headline sponsor 7StarsPartners.

Your hard work and innovation have truly earned this recognition in what was an exceptionally competitive field. Congratulations to all the nominees!

Curious to see who made the shortlist?

Check out the 2025 finalists here: Shortlist Officially Released

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Meet the Judges

Ben Robinson

is the Co-Founder of RB Capital, a specialist M&A and funding brokerage, combining best-in-breed expertise for growth, investment and M&A across gaming, fintech and media verticals. Ben has more than 20 years’ commercial experience across technology and media, of which the last ten have been deeply embedded in the online gambling and blockchain sectors. Subsequently Ben sits on a number of advisory boards for fintech and igaming companies across Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Americas.

Christina Thakor-Rankin

is co-founder of the All-in Diversity Project, which advocates for a data-driven approach to improving inclusion in gaming, and also runs a consultancy business. Her career in the industry spans 25 years and the whole betting and gambling ecosystem, including land-based, online and mobile gaming. She firmly believes that diversity and inclusion are critical to success in business.

Claire Adamou

With two decades in iGaming, Claire's specialty is within affiliate management. Claire launched her own consultancy business back in 2017 to assist operators with launching and growing their affiliate business within the igaming space. Since then she has expanded to become a Leadership Coach as VP of Development with Saroca.

Corey Padveen

is a Partner at t2 Marketing International, and the author of Marketing to Millennials for Dummies, as well as a contributing author to Digital Marketing All-in-One for Dummies.

David da Silva

is CEO of Easyodds.com and brings a unique combination of commercial strategy, digital marketing and regulated gaming to the judging panel. His interests extend across product innovation and service design to create business platforms that drive commercial success and differentiation.

Elaine Gardiner-Ruddock

is Affiliate Operations Manager, TAG Media. Elaine has over 14 years’ experience in the iGaming affiliate industry, and has held various positions throughout the years from Affiliate Manager to Head of Affiliates and everything else in between.

Erica Anderson

is the VP of Marketing, iGaming & Income Access, at Paysafe Group. Her role
focuses on developing the marketing strategy for the Income Access brand, as well as the
igaming division of Paysafe. Holding over a decade’s industry experience, she also oversees the company’s in-house affiliate management team and its suite of digital marketing
services being offered to leading global igaming brands.

Gareth Mulley

runs the marketing practice within Pentasia across Europe, Latam and the Middle East. He is passionate about affiliate marketing and recruiting the best talent into positions within operators and affiliate businesses focusing on the igaming sector.

Lee-Ann Johnstone

entered the affiliate marketing industry in the early 2000s when the internet was still new and mobile phones were BIG. She has managed many blue chip and startup affiliate programmes, helping them grow global reach across verticals from retail and ecommerce, payments and fintech, to esports and igaming. Lee-Ann also hosts the award-winning Affiliate Marketing Podcast, which charts regularly in the Top 100 Business News podcasts in the world. She runs a 12-week acceleration programme for affiliate managers (AMPP) and owns award-winning agency Affiverse providing outsourced affiliate programme management services. Inaugurated as a member of the prestigious forbes.com Agency Council (2020) Lee-Ann regularly features in publications such as The Drum, Hello Partner, MartechRecord, GPWA, IGB Affiliate and Forbes.com.

Dr Maris Catania

is a leading expert in safer gambling, specialising in data-driven strategies and cyberpsychology to address gambling harm. She is dedicated to advancing player protection and responsible gaming practices globally. Dr Catania holds multiple advanced degrees, including a PhD from Nottingham Trent University, where her research focused on consumer protection, markers of harm and responsible gambling under the supervision of Professor Mark Griffiths.

Peter Mares

is the founder and CEO of sci:ent, a company focused on delivering technology to the igaming industry through its bespoke technology-at-source business model. He has been involved in the design and delivery of tech for the industry for almost 20 years, having worked
with a number of industry leaders delivering innovative platforms and solutions during his career. He is also a passionate advocate for D&I within the industry (and in general).

Martin McGarry

is a seasoned SEO consultant and affiliate marketer in the iGaming industry since 2010. He has held positions as Head of SEO for WhichBingo, a prominent UK affiliate, and inhouse SEO lead for multiple international iGaming operators. Martin is also the founder of StatsChecker and an affiliate site owner, in addition to being a regular speaker at iGBA conferences.

Sarafina Wolde Gabriel

has over 19 years of experience in digital marketing and more than a decade’s worth of expertise in leadership within the igaming and marketing sectors. Sarafina joined Paysafe’s Income Access, a digital marketing technology and services provider, in 2004 as a leader of its in-house affiliate management team. Going on to serve as Director of Affiliate Marketing, CMO and VP of Strategy over 18 years at the company, Income Access collected six iGB Affiliate awards for Best Affiliate Network, five for Best Affiliate Software and three Best Acquisition Partner awards. In 2022, Sarafina joined geolocation and fraud prevention company GeoComply as a senior director, focused on new business development and international expansion. Sarafina is now Chief Strategy Officer at marketing compliance company Rightlander, where her responsibilities include developing business strategies to help grow and expand into new markets and verticals, evaluate new product opportunities and build strategic partnerships.

Sarah McLean

is Managing Director of B2C at Pretty Technical, where she leads the strategy, growth, and operations of the company’s customer-facing business. With two decades of experience in iGaming, Sarah has launched and scaled successful B2C brands across global markets, with a focus on growth strategy, marketing and platform innovation. She brings a deep understanding of player behaviour, affiliate dynamics and product performance, and is passionate about helping brands connect more meaningfully with their audiences.

Sebastian Jarosch

is an iGaming veteran who has been active in the industry since 2007, driven by a passion for affiliate marketing and backed by a strong track record of growth. He has held several high-profile positions, including Head of Affiliates at Betsson Group and Poker Affiliate Director at Gaming Innovation Group for almost a decade. Sebastian is also the founder of Mithrillium Media Ltd, a fast-growing casino affiliate specialising in high-quality SEO traffic.

Shona ODonnell

With over 15 years of experience in the iGaming sector, Shona has been responsible for the creation and development of some of the industry’s biggest events, including iGB L!VE, LAC (now iGB Affiliate Barcelona), Sports Betting USA and ICE as the portfolio director of Clarion Gaming. As head of strategic events at leading sports betting affiliate Better Collective, she was responsible for developing the Better Collective Bookmaker Awards and delivery of all events and industry marketing. Shona is now working as a consultant in the industry helping clients deliver and develop bespoke events, marketing and brand strategy.

Simon Collins

is a prominent figure in the iGaming industry, with over 25 years of experience launching and scaling successful brands. He co-founded Cashcade Ltd, the company behind Foxy Bingo, which was sold to bwin.party for £96m in 2009. At Cashcade, Collins pioneered affiliate marketing strategies, leveraging early adoption of search engine and social network marketing to forge profitable affiliate relationships that drove significant growth. Following Cashcade, Collins co-founded mobile gaming startup Gaming Realms Plc and served as managing partner of New Game Capital, further sharpening his expertise in affiliate-driven ventures. From 2019 to 2021, he was Managing Director of Betting & Gaming at News UK, overseeing brands like Sun Bingo. There, he managed affiliate marketing campaigns that boosted traffic and engagement. Today, Collins chairs platform and casino content provider Jogo Global and advises ClearStake, a FinTech startup focused on iGaming compliance while his investments in ventures like Daymade and Spinfinite highlight his ongoing commitment to innovation. With a career rooted in affiliate marketing - from pioneering strategies at Cashcade to steering affiliate-reliant brands at News UK - Collins brings unparalleled expertise to the iGB Affiliate Awards.

Simon Pilkington

has 17 years’ experience within the igaming industry with a specific focus on affiliation and content strategy. Previously the CEO of super affiliate KaFe Rocks (now Time2Play Media), Simon now runs his own consultancy business, SMPL Consulting. He also recently launched a JV recruitment business, Wander, aimed at helping improve standards within the industry one person at a time.

Thies Petersen

is a seasoned software engineer whose career began in 2005. His journey started in usability consultancy and BI development, establishing the foundation for his eventual entrance into igaming in 2017. At prominent affiliate WIS, Thies played a crucial role in founding and developing the engineering department, where he managed frontend and backend development, QA, IT, DevOps and emerging technologies. In July 2022, Thies took on a new challenge as the Group Head of Software Engineering at Catena Media, where he leveraged his extensive experience and leadership to further his impact in the tech domain. Thies' career progression continued as he joined Blexr in January 2024, where he now applies his deep expertise as the Head of Engineering to lead and drive innovation within the engineering team.

Vicki Reed

After spending more than a decade working for Gala Coral Interactive, Betfred and GentingBet, Victoria Reed saw firsthand the devastation caused by gambling addiction and decided she had to act. As a recent alumna of Harvard Business School, she teamed up with her fellow classmate and together they started Better Change. By challenging the status quo and truly partnering with operators to help them raise standards through improved compliance, innovative social responsibility strategies and robust safer gambling tools designed to maximise player protection, she is determined to sustain the industry and deliver clear, sustainable and progressive results for their partners and their players.

For full award details, categories, judging criteria, key dates and related articles, please visit the official iGB Affiliate Awards page on igbaffiliate.com