Razvan Haiduc: “ICE is where we position Relum very clearly as a future-ready aggregation partner”
Razvan Haiduc, Chief Product Officer at Relum, discusses how the company’s flexible ecosystem helps operators manage regulatory shifts and sustainable growth ahead of ICE Barcelona 2026.
Exclusive interview.- In the following exclusive interview with Focus Gaming News, Razvan Haiduc, chief product officer at Relum, shares his perspective on how operators can move towards more proactive and sustainable growth in an increasingly complex regulatory environment.
He discusses the importance of early visibility into player behaviour, the false dichotomy between retention and responsible gaming, and the need for flexible infrastructure to manage fast-growing segments and fragmented regulation. Razvan also outlines Relum’s strategic priorities for 2026 and explains why ICE remains a pivotal forum for meaningful, long-term conversations with industry partners.
How does Relum help operators spot risky player behaviour earlier, before problems escalate?
Risky behaviour rarely appears overnight—it develops in patterns. Relum helps operators identify those patterns early by giving them consolidated, real-time access to player activity data across content, engagement tools, and promotions. Instead of reacting to isolated incidents, operators can monitor behavioural shifts over time and intervene before issues escalate.
The key is visibility. When reporting, engagement mechanics, and game performance data all live in one ecosystem, responsible gaming becomes proactive rather than reactive. In practice, this means operators don’t just comply with regulations—they gain the insight needed to protect both their players and their long-term business health.
How do you balance player retention goals with sustainability and responsible gaming standards?
Player retention and responsible gaming standards are not opposites. It’s less about needing to balance between them, and more about how to improve player retention within the responsible gaming frameworks of various markets.
The key is diversity of offering — be it gamification or content. Our product covers the entire breadth of an aggregation and casino platform, giving operators all the tools they need to customise their offering while satisfying local market responsible gaming requirements. Some markets forbid jackpots, others have reality checks and cool-off periods, and in some, content is limited. These are realities operators need to manage, and we provide all the relevant features and alternatives to keep players engaged with the platform.
How do you keep growth sustainable in fast-growing game segments?
Fast growth is exciting, but unmanaged growth is risky. The way we approach sustainability is by giving operators flexibility at every layer—content, jackpots, gamification, and reporting. Instead of locking operators into fixed structures, Relum enables them to scale up, adjust, or pivot quickly as player behaviour and market conditions evolve.
Sustainable growth isn’t about doing more of everything—it’s about doing the right things, in the right markets, at the right time. Our role is to make sure operators have the infrastructure to grow confidently.
Which regulatory changes will impact operators most in 2026?
Regulatory changes are market-specific, not global. Thus, there is no single regulatory change that will impact all operators at once, but rather a large number of shifts across various markets.
As such, our goal is to be flexible and able to adapt quickly to any and all changes. At the moment, these changes follow predictable patterns: reality checks, content limitations, in-game messaging, reporting requirements — all of which we cover and can adjust easily as legislation evolves. However, there is always the chance that a regulator gets very creative and introduces a new limitation, and we need to be (and are) agile enough to address it before it goes live and impacts our operators.
“Our goal is to be flexible and able to adapt quickly to any and all changes.”
Razvan Haiduc, chief product officer at Relum.
What market challenges discussed at the event align most with Relum’s current priorities?
Many of the challenges discussed—regulatory fragmentation, rising expectations around personalisation, and the demand for operational efficiency—mirror what we see daily when working with partners. Operators want to grow, but they want to do so without adding unnecessary complexity or risk.
That aligns directly with Relum’s priorities for 2026: flexibility, transparency, and smarter infrastructure. Our goal is to help operators turn complexity into clarity, so growth feels controlled, compliant, and sustainable, no matter how fast the market moves.
“Operators want to grow, but they want to do so without adding unnecessary complexity or risk.”
Razvan Haiduc, chief product officer at Relum.
What are your key goals for the conference, and how does your prep for ICE differ from other industry events?
ICE is where conversations move from “nice to see you” to “let’s plan the next two years.” Our first goal is to deepen relationships with existing partners by having more meaningful, tailored discussions—less about what we launched last quarter and more about how we help them stay competitive going forward.
Secondly, ICE is the right stage to start new partnerships by showing the full picture of what Relum has become. We’re not pitching a single product; we’re presenting an ecosystem. When operators see how aggregation, jackpots, reporting, and engagement tools work together, the value becomes immediately tangible.
Finally, ICE is where we position Relum very clearly as a future-ready aggregation partner. That means demonstrating not just innovation, but practicality—technology that’s designed for real markets, real regulations, and real growth challenges.
ICE is all about live demos, hands-on walkthroughs, and one-on-one sessions that mirror real operational scenarios. The goal is for delegates to walk away thinking less “that was interesting” and more “I can see exactly how this works for us.”
