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What is Smoking Pistols?
The submission form will close on 1 October, at which time nominations will be put to our esteemed panel of judges for final review.
More information on judges, submissions and deadlines can be found here. You can also access interviews with last year’s winners and the final list for 2025, as well as for every year prior.
We look forward to working with our judges, and once again shining a light on some of the gaming industry’s best talents!
About Smoking Pistols
In an op-ed for the Chicago Tribune in June, Grasso complained that “some members of the Chicago news media stigmatize Italian Americans as Outfit members or mafia operatives whenever it serves to embellish a story.”
Federal prosecutors, however, do not mention the mafia in court documents. They allege the gambling ring generated millions of dollars through illegal sports betting, video gambling, and loansharking operations, with members using intimidation and violence—or the threat of it—to collect debts.
Rovito’s past criminal record includes convictions for aggravated criminal sexual assault and possession of a controlled substance.
What is Smoking Pistols?
“Customers seek personalised experiences, extensive player proposition bets and the ability to build highly customised wagers in real time,” Lamb says. “Meeting these modern expectations through manual trading is no longer realistic at scale.”
AI also helped Kambi reduce the delay between a customer selecting an in-play bet and being able to place it. Its dynamic live delay technology enables it to set bespoke live delay on an individual bet level, optimising the UX and alleviating friction. Across the Premier League and World Cup, Kambi reduced live betting delay by more than 40% between August 2025 and July 2026.
The result for customers was more choice, shorter suspension periods and faster bet acceptance. For operators, those improvements can support both customer retention and profitability.
