Dominator Play on how new casino game providers get clients without a portfolio

In the iGaming business development, a portfolio is a badge that tells everyone who you are and what your value is as a provider. It’s fair enough; nobody wants to be that person who jumps out of a not perfectly working airplane.

An interesting part is that most new studios wait too long before they start talking to operators and platforms. They create in silence, polish everything to shining marble, and prepare 47-slide decks. Only then do they try to enter the market. 

Dominator Play took the opposite route. It starts conversations early. 

For industry newcomers who think it’s impossible to sell without a ready game portfolio, the know-how steps are below.

Turning pre-launch interest into real demand

Dominator Play hasn’t even officially “arrived” with a portfolio, and yet its waitlist is already doing what many studios try to achieve post-launch.

“Over 30 platforms have already signed up for our waitlist. It’s just direct interest and, more importantly, real market feedback flowing in early,” Dominator Play CEO Ivan Kalashniuk says. He frames it without overcomplication: the waitlist isn’t a vanity metric. It’s a live signal of demand and a test of what the market cares about before anything is fully built out.

“Create first, validate later doesn’t work anymore. The smarter move is the opposite: to shape demand before the product is fully dressed. But we don’t speak about ‘empty hype’ here. Dominator Play translates a clear strategy explaining how its flexibility and focus on partners’ goals can work in practice,” Ivan Kalashniuk notes.

“During calls with potential partners, I’m often asked the same question: ‘Why should we choose you over a big-name casino game provider?’ This question is absolutely logical, rational, and fair. Operators don’t want to put resources and see no commercial result. Dominator Play communicates how business owners can generate revenue with it.”

Why co-promotions are the new iGaming USP

A few years ago, an iGaming game provider could close deals by showing portfolio size and distribution numbers.

Today, operators ask a different question: “What are we launching together besides the games?”

The Dominator Play CEO notes that co-promotions are basically a foundation behind a high-performing iGaming title: “Visibility is the new currency. You can have 100+ games in your portfolio, but players don’t pay attention to them. It affects both a B2B iGaming provider and an operator.” 

“We focus on co-promotions from day one,” he continues. “And we emphasize this to our potential partners. In early communication, we talk this through to explain what they can get from our joint marketing activities. It can be free spins, tournaments, leaderboards, UGC, streamer content, affiliate programs – anything that makes sense for an operator.”

Ivan Kalashniuk adds that this is where strong iGaming partnerships are formed at the initial stage. If a game studio and an online casino are aligned on promotions and both are ready to invest in them, it’s a significant step forward toward closing the deal.

“Nobody buys a PDF deck anymore”

According to Ivan Kalashniuk, one of the biggest mistakes an iGaming startup can make is hiding behind silent mode for too long. 

“Nobody buys a PDF deck anymore,” he says. “Operators want to see product logic, communication speed, flexibility, and whether you understand how to make GGR. The earlier you start those conversations, the faster you get potential clients.”

Ivan Kalashniuk, already in active communication with operators, comments that the first thing they ask about is flexibility in commercial terms. They demand better performance tuning that exactly mirrors their iGaming bizdev goals. 

The McKinsey statistics say companies that grow faster generate 40% of their revenue from personalization. In iGaming, that level of personalization is impossible without a flexible provider infrastructure.

“Flexibility is definitely online casinos’ pain point, which every provider tries to cure. One-size-fits-all deals basically block operators from using the revenue paths they planned for. The fatigue from such solutions is spreading across the industry at lightning speed,” the Dominator Play CEO says.  

He adds that it covers almost all sectors of iGaming partnerships. In current market conditions, a perfect game development studio is one that is already preloaded with customization options. 

“Here, we speak about not just placing an operator’s logo somewhere inside our products. It goes much further, including game math. At Dominator Play, we provide our partners with the opportunity to adjust RTP and volatility for different player cohorts. It allows them to align game performance with local dynamics and player expectations.”

Another important direction for product adaptability is branded games. Ivan Kalashniuk also highlights untapped potential in this area. “Branded games for us are a story when partners get a fully branded product in less than 2 weeks. Dominator Play’s value here is that we offer iGaming game customization of every single element, be it visuals, UI, or sound effects.”

He underlines that audio branding is much overlooked in the iGaming business development. 

“Audio is a powerful marketing tool that keeps being unnoticed in the industry,” Ivan Kalashniuk continues. “A well-known sonic cue results in recognition in milliseconds. Even video game companies do it. EA Games uses an audio logo that instantly signals ‘you’re in the game.’” That’s why Dominator Play has sound branding in its customization offering.”

Flexibility wins early deals because it allows operators to get everything done on their terms. Even at the first touchpoint, when a potential iGaming partner sees that every detail can be tuned for their success, it signals a flexible, partnership-driven provider.

There’s a big difference between launching games and launching partnerships.

Games can wait for release dates. Partnerships usually start much earlier: inside conversations about promotions, traffic, retention, and commercial flexibility.

The Dominator Play waitlist remains open for operators that prefer direct access to product discussions before large-scale rollout. Want in? Ivan Kalashniuk is a message away: email, Telegram, or WhatsApp.