Kaizen Gaming CEO maps out Betano’s global ambition
Table of contents
- George Daskalakis spoke at the Panathēnea festival in Athens, detailing how Kaizen Gaming grew from a 20-person startup into one of iGaming’s biggest operators.
- The company survived two near-existential crises in 2015 and 2020 and emerged stronger from both.
- Daskalakis set out his ambition to make Betano the world’s most trusted iGaming brand.
Kaizen Gaming Co-Founder and CEO George Daskalakis used a fireside chat at the Panathēnea festival in Athens to chart the company’s evolution from a bootstrapped Greek startup into what he described as a global decacorn. He set out his ambition to make Betano the industry’s number one brand worldwide.
Built from the ground up
Kaizen Gaming was founded in 2012 with a team of just 20 people and minimal outside capital. The business launched under the Greek brand Stoiximan, which was gradually acquired by retail monopoly OPAP, now part of Allwyn, from 2018 onwards.
Proceeds were reinvested into technology, talent and the development of Betano, the company’s international brand.
According to the company, Kaizen Gaming now operates across 20 markets in Europe, the Americas and Africa, employing approximately 3,000 people worldwide.
George Daskalakis, Co-Founder and CEO of Kaizen Gaming, said:
“With just 20 people and a €700k investment, we managed to build a decacorn from Greece.”
Crisis as a catalyst
Daskalakis spoke candidly about two periods that tested the business to its limits.
The first came in 2015, when Greek capital controls and bank closures struck the company hard. Daskalakis said the restrictions effectively eliminated 93% of customer deposit channels almost overnight. Rather than retreat, Kaizen doubled down on the domestic market as international operators pulled back, and emerged among the biggest winners within months.
The second blow came in 2020, when the global suspension of live sport during the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out roughly half of the company’s revenues, according to Daskalakis. Having navigated the financial crisis five years earlier, the leadership team responded quickly and once again turned disruption into opportunity.
Lessons from failure
International expansion was not without setbacks. Daskalakis acknowledged an early failure in Poland, citing mistakes in market entry strategy, recruitment and localisation that led to the closure of operations within a year.
Those lessons shaped a more disciplined approach in Romania, which helped Kaizen unlock a repeatable formula for growth. The company has since expanded steadily, entering Ghana as its 20th regulated market, and bolstered its product capabilities through acquisitions such as the Gameplai deal to enhance sports trading.
Daskalakis said:
“When we first expanded, we were building for Greece and not for the world. My advice to B2C founders is: Start locally but keep a global mindset in the way you build from day one, especially in the era of AI.”
The road to number one
Daskalakis distanced the company’s ambitions from financial metrics, noting that profits are “the applause” and not the goal. Building an enduring global brand, he said, is the genuine measure of success.
Kaizen Gaming has claimed “Operator of the Year” at both the EGR Operator Awards 2025 and the SBC Awards 2025.
The company is also activating Betano’s role as an Official Tournament Supporter of the FIFA World Cup 2026™ for Europe and South America, with campaigns already under way including backing Argentina ahead of the tournament.
George Daskalakis, Co-Founder and CEO of Kaizen Gaming, said:
“Our vision is for Betano to become the number one, most trusted brand in the world in our industry.”
Daskalakis also highlighted Co-Founder Dimitris Maris as central to the company’s success, and cautioned entrepreneurs against ceding control too early.
Daskalakis said:
“Stay in control of your company if you can or otherwise choose carefully who you bring into it as a partner; you might be better off rejecting a bigger ticket now in order not to pay the price down the road.”
With the World Cup under way and Betano active across 20 regulated markets, Kaizen Gaming enters the second half of 2026 with the scale and brand recognition to mount a credible challenge for the top spot in global iGaming.
The FIFA World Cup 2026™ partnership is the third between Betano and football’s global governing body. The brand first partnered with FIFA as an Official Regional Supporter for Europe at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, becoming the first sports betting operator to do so at a World Cup. It subsequently signed as an Official Partner of the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™ for South America.
This progression shows how far Betano’s commercial reach has extended in a relatively short period and the scale of investment the company has committed to building the brand’s global profile ahead of what it hopes will be its defining moment on the world stage.
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