SOFTSWISS Close-Up: Ivan Montik

For many years, people talked about online gaming as something new, modern and mainly aimed at younger, more tech-savvy audiences. There was also an assumption that it was still smaller than traditional offline gambling.

Today, the reality is very different. iGaming is a major industry. It operates under established regulations in many jurisdictions, follows clear rules and continues to grow year after year.

We’re no longer talking about a challenger to offline gaming. We’re talking about a mature global industry that, in many cases, already rivals or surpasses traditional gambling in both scale and growth. More importantly, it has become a significant part of the global economy.

What’s particularly interesting is that even as the industry matures, it continues to create new opportunities and expand its boundaries. New categories, new business models and new consumer behaviours are constantly emerging.

A good example is the rise of prediction markets. Just a few years ago, this wasn’t part of the mainstream conversation. Today, it’s opening up entirely new opportunities and bringing new audiences into the iGaming ecosystem.

That’s why I think the idea that online gaming is still a young niche industry is becoming obsolete. It’s already a mature industry, but one that continues to innovate and reinvent itself.

I think they’ll have one thing in common: flexibility.

The challenge for every large company is to avoid becoming slow.

If you look at other industries, there are plenty of examples. Take the automotive industry. For years, German manufacturers were the benchmark. But today we can see how difficult it is for large organisations to adapt quickly when the market changes.

That’s the risk every successful company faces.

You grow, you become bigger, you become more stable – but at the same time, you have to make sure you don’t lose the ability to move fast and react to what’s happening around you.

For me, that’s one of the biggest responsibilities of leadership.

A recent example for us is our prediction markets solution. We saw an opportunity, made decisions quickly and launched the product in just two months.

That’s exactly what flexibility looks like in practice.

The companies that manage to combine scale with speed will be the companies leading this industry in five years.

But they will also need to be reliable. As the industry matures and regulation becomes more sophisticated, companies will have to balance flexibility with stability, compliance and long-term trust.

I think the most successful businesses will be the ones that can do both.

For me, growth starts with business results. Revenue and profit are still the clearest indicators that a company is developing in the right direction.

The iGaming market itself is growing. If you’re growing at the same pace as the market, that’s fine – but it also means you’re simply growing together with the market. Today, that growth is around 10% per year.

To outperform the market, you need to offer something new. You need to innovate, launch new products, enter new geographies and create opportunities that weren’t there before.

My view has always been that a healthy company should aim to grow faster than the market. For SOFTSWISS, that means targeting at least 20% annual growth in profit, and ideally around 30%. That’s the difference between simply participating in the market and actively shaping it.

That’s the kind of growth I care about.

Ultimately, our growth is closely tied to our clients’ growth. Over the years, we’ve built more than a portfolio of products – we’ve built an ecosystem of technology, expertise and services designed to help operators launch, grow and scale in regulated markets.

If our clients are entering new jurisdictions, building stronger businesses and succeeding with us as their long-term technology partner, we’ll grow together. That’s the kind of growth that matters most to me.

One thing to remember

First of all, I hope people see a company that builds strong technology and infrastructure for the iGaming industry.

But beyond the technology, I’d like them to see the people behind it.

We’ve always had our own professional mindset and our own standards for how things should be done.

For me, one of the most important principles is simple: do things in a way that you’ll be proud of later.

That applies to our products. It applies to our service. It applies to the way we work with clients and partners.

So if someone takes a closer look at SOFTSWISS today, I hope that’s what they’ll see – a company full of professionals who genuinely care about what they build and take pride in doing it well.