Ray Lee: “Our compliance through licensing and certification is now a core competence within TaDa Gaming”
Focus Gaming News spoke with Ray Lee, Director of Business Development at TaDa Gaming, to discuss the company’s glocalisation strategy and its upcoming presence at ICE Barcelona 2026.
Exclusive interview.- As TaDa Gaming sharpens its focus on regulated growth and localisation-led product development, ICE Barcelona 2026 represents a key moment in the company’s European expansion strategy.
In this interview with Focus Gaming News, Ray Lee, director of business development at TaDa Gaming, outlines how the company is preparing for the upcoming event and unveils its priorities for 2026, from deepening its presence in regulated European markets to educating operators on the long-term value of fish-shooting titles. He also discusses TaDa Gaming’s glocalisation approach, the impact of its first celebrity-branded slot, and how compliance-ready content is shaping the roadmap for the year ahead.
What are the primary strategic objectives for your ICE Barcelona 2026 presence? How will you differentiate your booth experience and engage with operators seeking diverse, localised content?
2026 is another year for consolidation and growth for us. We have successfully implemented our gloacalisation strategy across our portfolio for global core mechanics/local content and we are seeing significant engagement and retention numbers, especially with our Lucky slot series in Brazil.
Our European expansion is underway and, as it focuses on regulated markets, our compliance through licensing and certification is now a core competence within TaDa Gaming, enabling us to develop precise entry strategies.
We’ve already set a number of meetings with potential new clients at our Stand 2S70 to discuss what this local knowledge and compliance means for their business. In addition, we will reveal our Q1 Roadmap and how this is driven by player-centric development, especially with our recent celebrity co-branded release Fortune Yuri 500.
We’re known for our successful promotion of fish-shooting titles at our on-stand Experience Zone, so we will be reinforcing awareness of how they create differentiation for operators as well as impressive engagement and retention.
Visitors actually get to play the games and this hands-on experience is always a show stopper. This year we’re planning to really grab operators’ attention with new release Fortune Zombie 2 and the 3D title, Boom Legend. These games will create better than ever gaming excitement and entertainment at our stand and we’re looking forward to meeting as many delegates as possible.
“2026 is another year for consolidation and growth for us.”
Ray Lee, director of business development, TaDa Gaming.
TaDa Gaming is recognised as a pioneer and leader in fish-shooting games. As you showcase these products in Barcelona, how are you educating European operators on the retention potential of this vertical, which is already a phenomenon in other regions?
We’d describe this as education through experience. Everyone who visits our stands and plays fish-shooting is convinced within a very short space by the impressive and immersive gameplay.
Where we have launched fish-shooting in established regions, from Brazil to North America and most recently the UK, we quickly attract a younger demographic and consistently deliver longer session times and higher repeat visits plus there is a strong cross-sell potential to slots and table games.
Seeing these KPIs helps European operators understand that fish-shooting is not a novelty but a serious retention driver and the next evolution in player engagement. We will be demonstrating how our glocalisation impacts gameplay mechanics, bet structures and the overall UX to align with European preferences and regulatory frameworks, making adoption safe, scalable and delivering differentiation.
But, as we always say, come and play and see for yourselves. You won’t be disappointed.
TaDa Gaming’s first celebrity co-branded slot, Fortune Yuri 500, launched in Brazil last December. How successful has this celebrity co-branding strategy been? Are there any plans for additional celebrity or influencer partnerships in 2026 across European and other markets?
We are delighted with the results to date of Fortune Yuri 500. Not just players and operators but the industry press has really picked up on both the striking design and the robust gameplay the slot offers. It’s still early days but the numbers are very positive.
Naturally, Yuri’s social media presence of over 2.2M Instagram followers and 1M+ YouTube followers means he’s a significant force in Portuguese-speaking gaming environments, but we’ve had a very international impact with this collaboration. So we are certainly looking for both the next step with Yuri as well as other influencers.
In a recent article for Focus Gaming News, Andy Huang emphasised that “regulated markets are the future of igaming” because they offer stability and predictability. How is this philosophy influencing TaDa Gaming’s roadmap for 2026?
We’ve been continuously securing smooth and effective entry to multiple regulated markets over the last year with our licence applications. Our most recent entry was to the UK, and now we have Ontario’s AGCO, we are developing further growth opportunities as well as expanding our presence in Italy.
Gaining access to credible, commercially stable markets with solid consumer protection frameworks is critical for sustained growth. For 2026, our strategy is to strengthen strategic partnerships across the industry value chain so we can promote and reinforce our trustworthy content and brand.
We will also be reinforcing our compliance standards to give us a competitive edge while building cross-regional operational resilience. Embedding ourselves into multiple regulated markets while maintaining our pipeline of licence applications supports our business-building strategies.
We future-proof our technology, compliance and content through expert localisation to enable fast adaptation, rigorous adherence to all regulations and a constantly expanding, diverse and immersive portfolio.
Whether our fish-shooting games, TriLuck slots or gamification tools, we tailor and certify to ensure our compliance-ready releases work for operators in regulated markets from launch, and 2026’s roadmap is following this course.
What additional European market entries are planned for 2026? How does your glocalisation strategy adapt across diverse regulatory frameworks?
Eastern European markets are on our radar currently. We received our licence from the Romanian ONJN in 2025 and subsequently have undertaken deep research and data mining to determine the key drivers for a successful launch. 2026 will see this materialise.
Our glocalisation strategy is highly adaptable through our global core mechanics/local content approach. This keeps compliance modular and localisation configurable while ensuring all our releases feel ‘made’ for our target audiences.
For our recent UK launch, for example, we have adjusted for typical time-on-device and session length with localised bonus rounds. From gameplay speed, on-screen information and tips to character design, win details or with fish-shooting games, the Room choice for volatility and bet exposure, many highly significant factors have been re-set for new market compliance and quick player onboarding.
This approach allows us to scale efficiently while respecting the legal, cultural and player-protection realities of each market.
Beyond ICE Barcelona 2026, what are TaDa Gaming’s primary strategic priorities for the first half of the year?
Deeper market penetration in mature regulated jurisdictions is our goal. We are also looking to strengthen and expand our distribution partnerships.
Specifically, we are investing in the Netherlands, where we are actively pursuing certification, while Romania, Greece, Sweden, and the UK are key markets. This growth will be supported by ongoing game certification, new partnership rollouts and new game releases tailored to these markets.
The plan is also to expand our network through closer co-operation with affiliates and streamers. The uplift in traffic from affiliate sites has driven a new stream of players to our games, while the successful launch of Fortune Yuri 500 in conjunction with Yuri himself delivered impressive numbers from day one.
We are launching a new gamification tool – Highlights – which enables players to review their top wins, re-watch at will and share on social media. We are also adding an extension to our award-winning GiftCode with Hot Hand, which gives enhanced engagement through an extra layer of rewards.
The TaDa Gaming team will be back out on the global tradeshow circuit too, where we intend to put great play back into gaming for these events. So, as always, a lot to come from TaDa Gaming.
For more information, visit TaDa Gaming or email [email protected] to set a meeting at TaDa Gaming’s Stand 2S70, ICE Barcelona.
“Deeper market penetration in mature regulated jurisdictions is our goal.”
Ray Lee, director of business development, TaDa Gaming.
