Novibet has appointed Yiannis Stravroulas as its new Chief Technology Officer, with leveraging AI and other emerging technologies outlined as a key remit for the new hire.

Headquartered in Greece, Novibet is one of the largest companies in its home nation and in nearby Cyprus, but also a major player internationally, active in eight other countries.

The operator has been active in Brazil’s regulated betting market since 1 January 2025 -when the market first gave the green light to legalised online sports betting and iGaming – and is also active in Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Canada, Ireland and Finland.

In a statement confirming Stravroulas’ appointment, the firm stressed that the new CTO will play a key role in fulfilling the  firm’s vision as a ‘global GameTech company’. 

Stravroulas, formerly Chief Operations Officer at Greek IT firm Cognity, will be tasked with enhancing Novibet’s technology capabilities and backing of its product, customer experience and growth strategy.

“Joining Novibet is a big step out of my comfort zone,” Stavroulas wrote on LinkedIn.

“I take it strengthened by experience, and genuinely excited by the opportunity to learn and grow along with the company – and this means clocking ~ 30% year-on-year, with blitz international expansion across 10 countries in three continents!”

“Here technology is not a supporting function, but an essential part of the core business. With a strong, proven team, it’s the engine propelling the company forward.”

Technology: the secret to becoming a market leader?

Leveraging technology may take on heavier importance for Novibet as it finds its active markets becoming more competitive over the coming years – competitive in two senses: against fellow regulated operators, and increasingly competing against unlicensed ones.

Brazil, for example, now counts over 79 authorised operators that hold a licence with the Secretary of Prizes and Bets (SPA) of the Ministry of Finance. The country also continues to wage a battle against the black market, which has long existed in Brazil, preceding  the regulated one by decades.

In Finland, meanwhile, Novibet is awaiting the launch of a multi-licence market last year as the government presses ahead with overhauling its gambling monopoly, held by Veikkaus Oy. This will likely see a rush for market share in the early months of the market.

The level of competition in Brazil, Finland, and elsewhere may muster up the need to double down on technological prowess, and the ability to conduct business as efficiently as possible, which is even more important for companies like Novibet.

Stravroulas also joins the firm just a few months after the confirmation that a planned majority acquisition of Novibet shares by Allwyn had been called off, following concerns raised by the Hellenic Competition Commission (HCC).

Shortly after Allwyn revealed that the deal had been called off, Novibet issued a statement asserting that it would continue to “execute its strategic and investment plan with consistency, leveraging cutting-edge technology and its privately owned platform as key competitive advantages”.