This year’s Best Casino Award goes to…
Players have spoken. The Players' Choice Award…
The most popular slot of the year is…
Yes, this is it. The AskGamblers Awards. Each year, the best of the best gather in Belgrade, Serbia, to receive trophies in various categories. And each year, the event gets bigger.
For the people in the online gambling industry, this is a familiar event. Those who had the chance to be the guests and even win awards were amazed by the organisation and the attention to detail of the Awards and Charity Night.
And now, for the first time ever, we’re taking you behind the scenes to show you what it takes to organise one of the biggest iGaming award ceremonies.
History of AskGamblers Awards
Before we walk behind the curtains to showcase the step-by-step process of going from nomination stage to the gala ceremony, we must understand how AskGamblers Awards came to be and what our story is. Reviewing online casinos has always been one of the key parts of our business. Each year, we log into so many casinos, test different functionalities, play games, check different payment methods, and talk to customer service.
After we gather all the information, we write a comprehensive review, so that you know whether to sign up to a casino at all and what to expect if you do. No fluff. No polishing. Just the truth.
Although there are some amazing online casinos, it’s hard to determine where to play and which the best of the best are. But at some point, we knew we wanted to reward the casinos that were the best. The main idea was to show the players:
“Hey, this is one of the best casinos you can play in."
So, it was all for the players from the very beginning.
Organising the First Ever AskGamblers Awards
In 2018, a part of the AskGamblers team warmed up for the idea of having some sort of awards in the iGaming industry that resembles Oscars. When they talked about it with the management, the team didn’t receive the green light they’d hoped to get.
So, the team took initiative, despite the hesitance of the management, which didn’t prevent them, but wasn’t overly supportive either.
At the time, no such event existed among gambling affiliates. Even though nowadays, there are multiple award shows organised by different affiliate websites, AskGamblers Awards was the first of its kind.
The first AskGamblers Awards was organised with just a few thousand euros, which went into renting a green-screen studio and paying the host.
Did you know that the first event was filmed with a web camera and that there were no nomination and voting stages? They were added with the second AskGamblers Awards to clarify the process fully and encourage player participation. Besides, you can see how it all looked behind the camera.
Despite the humble beginnings and the team improvising on the spot, the post-award excitement lasted for weeks. Everyone who participated in any shape or form was amazed, but most importantly, our team at AskGamblers knew that for the following year, we had to take the event to the next level. So, we formed a special team just a few weeks after the first AskGamblers Awards to start organising the following year’s event.
AskGamblers Awards During COVID-19
Because the AskGamblers Awards took place in January and the lockdowns weren’t in place, 2020 went smoothly. However, 2021 was the unicorn year, and everything from the organisational standpoint had changed.
At first, hoping the lockdown would end, we postponed the event, but at no point did we think about canceling it. We really wanted to hold the event in Belgrade, just like we’ve been used to doing it. Month after month and we reached June without the policies changing too much.
This is when we decided that it would be in everyone’s best interest to hold the virtual event. And even though it was virtual, the show turned out to be spectacular:
We booked a studio, hired hosts to lead the show, and we had live streaming for everyone who wanted to tune in. Charity also took place with online casinos bidding for the positions on the website. While everything looked specatular, it was a lot of work behind the curtains.
Once 2021 passed, things started to open up, and everything was much easier to organise. Each year, we’ve added new awards, or mixed things up a bit, followed new trends, but we stayed true to what AskGamblers was intentionally invented for - to show our players the best of the industry.
Nominations and Voting Explained
The AskGamblers Awards are divided into two main phases, which last until the Charity Night and the gala ceremony, taking place in June.
Everyone Participates in the Nomination Phase
Each year, the AskGamblers Awards start with nominations, usually in February or March. Players with an account on our website can nominate their favourites in several different categories:
- Best Casino
- Best New Casino
- Best New Slot
- Best Sportsbook
The rules for nominations are fairly simple. For Best Casino and Best Sportsbook, players can nominate any active operator. As for Best New Casino and Best New Slot, players can nominate any casino or slot published on AskGamblers between March 1 of the previous year and the current year. Also, there aren’t any restrictions on how many operators or games one player can nominate.
Our team tracks every nomination, and there are a few things we take into consideration. It’s important for the people who nominate operators and games to have real AskGamblers accounts. Additionally, we’re tracking bot traffic, and bot votes are cancelled. At the end of the nomination phase, we come up with the finalists in each respective category, and then the voting begins.
Finalists Enter the Voting Phase
The voting phase is next in line, and players have a chance to vote for their favourite online casino, new online casino, new online slot, sportsbook, and software provider.
The Best Provider is the category that is available in the voting phase only and is based on the top 10 slots that make it to the finals. The rules during voting change slightly.
Each player can cast only one vote in each category. Additionally, the 20 finalists in the Best Casino and Best New Casino categories are up for the Players' Choice Award. As the name suggests, the winner is the casino that gets the most votes from players.
The winners in other categories are determined together by our AskGamblers team, players, and Forum members. How does this work, exactly? Who’s the AskGamblers team?
AskGamblers employees from different departments create three random teams, which then organise meetings to decide how to split the votes. We take into consideration every aspect of each casino, new casino, sportsbook, and slot. Once each team has made the final decision, we share the information. Later, votes from the AskGamblers teams are grouped together with votes from the players and forum members.
Inviting Forum Members to Vote
Up until the 8th AskGamblers Awards, Forum members could only vote as players. Because we have a thriving community, we’ve granted the most active members the right to vote as Forum representatives.
Keep in mind that there are some awards assigned by our AskGamblers team solely. These are the Best Crypto Casino, Best Partner, and Best Manager. In 2025, the Superstar Award winner will be announced for the first time ever. It is the casino that best represents the values of AskGamblers and it’s also decided solely by our team.
Players can have a few months to nominate and vote for their favourites and the winners are announced at the gala ceremony in June. The timeline goes like this:
Making a Real Difference at Charity Night
AskGamblers Awards rules have always been straightforward and communicated clearly to our players and partners. But let’s now dive deeper into the organisation of the two most important nights of the entire cycle.
First up: Charity Night!
Charity Night takes place the evening before the Awards. Each year, we carefully select the location for the Charity Night, which is usually somewhere along the Danube or Sava River overlooking Belgrade.
During the Charity Night, we’re selling several positions on the website to online casinos and partners through a live auction. The total amount of money collected is announced as the night ends, while later on, it’s party time.
Here are some interesting facts about Charity Night:
- Money is donated to organisations working with children (HISBAS, UNICEF, etc.).
- We do a background check before the donation is placed.
- We decide on an organisation based on their needs, not the location.
Every September is the charity month. Operators who paid for the positions are featured on the website throughout the entire month. This is also the month when we forward the money to the selected charity.
Let’s Get Ready for AskGamblers Awards
To participate in the AskGamblers Awards gala ceremony, you either have to work at AskGamblers or be one of the finalists. However, we’ve decided to do something special in 2025. In collaboration with Next.io, AskGamblers organised a raffle at one of the Next.io Summit events.
Anyone from the industry was able to apply, and two people were randomly selected to join us for the Awards ceremony in June, all expenses paid!
Although the ceremony is scheduled for June, the organisation begins in December. One of the biggest challenges each year is to find a venue suitable for a large number of people. We’re looking at reputable venues in Belgrade, weighing the offers and settling for one space.
Once the finalists are confirmed, we’re purchasing airplane tickets and booking hotels. Usually, we leave gifts to our guests in their hotel rooms, and the gifts for finalists are different each year. Even though the day before the gala ceremony is Charity Night, it’s also one of the busiest days of the year for our team.
We visit the venue to check everything, from the seating area, lights, sounds, and music, etc. Every detail must work perfectly before the gala ceremony. During the AskGamblers Awards Night, the winners are announced in a show that lasts a few hours, interwoven with singing and dancing performances.
If there are three things you must know about AskGamblers Awards, they would be these:
- Nobody can buy awards (we declined all offers without a second thought)
- There are no sponsors (AskGamblers pays for everything)
- It’s an exclusive event (only the finalists are invited)
As the lights die down and winners walk home with their well-earned trophies, we only have one thing left to do…
…and that’s to start planning for the next year’s Awards!
