Karina Moral, Zenith: “One of the most valuable things we offer to operators is fully targeted, localised portfolios”

Karina Moral, Senior Business Development Manager at Zenith, spoke to Focus Gaming News about the supplier’s content curation strategy, infrastructure, and plans for the Latin American market.

Exclusive interview.- Ahead of SBC Summit Lisbon, Karina Moral, senior business development manager at Zenith, spoke to Focus Gaming News about the company’s plans to bring partner studios SuperBull Gaming, Crystal and LetsGo to the event, and looked at the broader trends shaping LatAm, from localisation and AI-driven personalisation to the transition from retail to digital gaming.

How would you introduce Zenith to readers who may not yet have met the company?

Zenith is a B2B igaming platform provider and ecosystem enabler but another way to describe what we do is to say that we help operators access the content and infrastructure they need to compete across markets that are moving very quickly and in very different directions.

At the core of that is OneAPI, our award-winning aggregation platform that gives operators access to over 2000 games from more than 60 providers through a single integration. There is also GamesAPI which takes a more selective approach and allows operators to curate market-specific portfolios at commercially competitive terms. Alongside those two products sits ALIZE, our proprietary studio developing localised content for emerging markets, and a team that is globally distributed across the markets we serve rather than managing everything remotely from one location.

Zenith has been around for over a decade and the company has grown considerably during this time but our fundamental proposition has remained the same. We consistently strive to give operators high-performing, localised content with unbeatable commercial terms and better infrastructure than they could build or source independently.

Zenith continues to add new portfolios to OneAPI and GamesAPI. What do you look for when adding a new partner?

The starting point is always performance. We want to know whether a studio’s content converts with players, whether it retains engagement over time and whether it has a track record of delivering that consistently across different markets and player demographics. A large portfolio is meaningless if the titles within it do not perform.

Beyond that, we look at market fit. Some studios have built content that is deeply relevant to specific regions, whether that is because of localised themes, particular mechanics that resonate with a certain player base or game formats that are gaining traction in markets we are actively focused on. One of the most valuable things we offer to operators is fully targeted, localised portfolios. We also look at technical reliability, certification standards and the commercial terms we can offer to operators on that content. The goal with every addition to OneAPI or GamesAPI is that operators come away with something that gives them a stronger position in their target markets and adds value to their offering.

“A large portfolio is meaningless if the titles within it do not perform.”

Karina Moral, senior business development manager at Zenith.

As igaming matures, how have platform expectations changed and how do you see them evolving?

The shift has been significant. A few years ago, the conversation was largely about access: how many games, how many providers, how quickly can you integrate. Today that baseline is assumed and the question has moved on to flexibility and commercial structure.

In LatAm particularly, operators are under more margin pressure than they previously were and regulatory complexity has increased across major markets like Brazil and Peru. As a result of these factors, maintaining direct supplier relationships has become increasingly difficult to justify for all but the largest operators. What they are asking for now is a platform that removes as much of that overhead as possible while giving them the flexibility to respond quickly when markets shift. That is what Zenith stays on top of, the evolving player preferences for new titles and new game formats and offers roadmaps to reflect this.

Looking ahead, I think the expectations will continue to move in that direction. Real-time data and performance insight are going to become more central to how operators manage their content strategy, AI-driven personalisation is going to raise the bar on what a relevant player experience looks like and the operators who are best positioned will be those who invested in the right infrastructure early enough to adapt quickly.

“In LatAm particularly, operators are under more margin pressure than they previously were and regulatory complexity has increased across major markets like Brazil and Peru.”

Karina Moral, senior business development manager at Zenith.

How do you ensure well-curated aggregation content that meets audience interests as well as operator needs?

It comes down to data and local knowledge working together rather than either one in isolation. The performance data we hold across our operator network gives us a meaningful view of what is converting in which markets, which mechanics are gaining traction and where the engagement patterns are shifting. That is incredibly useful when an operator is building or refining their content strategy because it means decisions are grounded in what is happening across real player bases rather than assumptions.

Local knowledge fills in what data alone cannot tell you. Understanding why a particular game mechanic resonates in Brazil but underperforms in Mexico, or why a format that is growing quickly in Colombia has not yet translated to the same audiences in Peru, requires a team that is close enough to those markets to read the signals correctly. That combination of data and on-the-ground expertise is what allows us to be useful to operators when they are making content decisions and it’s why we’ve continued to grow quickly across LatAm in the past few years.

Why should people drop by the Zenith stand at SBC Lisbon?

We are at an interesting moment for the company and Lisbon feels like the right place to reflect that. For the first time we are bringing three of our partner studios to the stand with us; SuperBull Gaming, Crystal and LetsGo, so there is a real opportunity for operators to have direct conversations with the people behind some of the most engaging content we are currently distributing. Whether that is SuperBull’s high-volatility mechanics and distinctive brand energy, Crystal’s three-format live casino approach or LetsGo’s visually distinct slot universe, the stand will give operators a much closer look at what sits behind our ecosystem.

Beyond that, the conversations I am most looking forward to are the ones about what problems operators are facing and trying to solve across LatAm. Content strategy, margin pressure, the retail-to-digital transition, localisation, these are all live discussions and Lisbon is one of the best places in the calendar to have them properly. These events are invaluable for Zenith and help shape our strategies for the year ahead as LatAm continues to evolve.