Introduction
Pallavi Deshmukh is the CEO of NetGaming and has spent more than two decades in iGaming. She began her career in the industry in 2003 at PartyGaming, where she spent 13 years before moving to NetEnt. In 2018, she accepted the opportunity to lead the then-new NetGaming and effectively build a slot provider from the ground up.
In the years that followed, NetGaming expanded into regulated North American markets and partnered with major operators including BetMGM, Caesars and Rush Street Interactive. In 2025, Pallavi was named one of iGB’s Most Influential Women.
For the first edition of ReSkin Talks, however, I was less interested in the résumé than in the person behind it. We spoke about what happens when you become responsible for a company, how to make decisions with incomplete information, why the slot industry remains conservative, what AI actually changes, why distribution matters as much as product, and what separates a genuine partner from a contractor.
The person behind the title
If we temporarily set aside titles, companies, and professional achievements, how would you describe yourself to someone who knows nothing about you?
Wow! That’s a great way to start our conversation.
I would say I am gritty, diligent, curious, and a go-getter. I was born and raised in India, so there are certain values and virtues that are deeply ingrained in me. Family and friends are extremely important to me, and I would go to great lengths to ensure their well-being.
I believe in the goodness of others and always have an optimistic view of people. I truly believe in karma. I am grateful to have several loving and caring people in my life who give me the strength I need to face the challenges that life throws my way.
I know I am supposed to set my professional life aside for this question, but my answer wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t touch upon it. :) I have been fortunate enough to work at some of the leading companies in the industry and learn from the best. These experiences have helped shape my career in a way that has made me both confident and self-aware. I have made several lifelong friends throughout my career, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
The moment a career changes the person
You mentioned that your experiences have made you both more confident and more self-aware. Was there a particular moment in your career when you realized you had changed not just as a professional, but as a person? What happened?
I think that moment came when I decided to join NetGaming. When the investor initially approached me, I was extremely sceptical. I had never done anything like it in my career, and most of my family members worked in salaried professions, so I had very little exposure to entrepreneurship. However, after reconsidering the opportunity and evaluating all the practical aspects, I found the confidence to take the plunge.
Running a business is extremely hard. No matter how many relevant books you read or how many people who have been through the entrepreneurial journey you speak to, nothing can fully prepare you for what lies ahead. At times, it can feel quite lonely and daunting.
However, as long as you spend time understanding the core issues, develop a strategy based on the information at hand, and anticipate potential challenges, things tend to work out. The experience teaches you patience, grit, and the relentless drive to make things work.
Data, people, or intuition
I can relate to that very well. I’ve been an entrepreneur for more than 10 years myself, and when I entered the iGaming industry, I knew almost nothing about it. So I really understand that feeling of having to make important decisions while still operating with incomplete information.
You mentioned that you try to understand the core issues, build a strategy based on the information available, and anticipate potential challenges. But there are always moments when the data is still incomplete and there is no obviously right answer.
In those situations, what do you ultimately trust most when making a difficult decision — data, your own intuition, or the people around you? And has that balance changed over the years?
I strongly believe that your gut tells you what the right thing to do is. When you are completely immersed in and focused on your goal, every fibre of your being has a sense of what is right.
It is very rare to have all the information required to make a decision. In entrepreneurship especially, you are constantly working with partial information. In such situations, I trust the process. You cannot control the outcome, but you can control how you approach a problem by carefully considering the information available to you.
Given that we are in the gambling industry, I think a poker analogy fits perfectly here. In a game of poker, you have access to your own cards and the community cards, and you play the best hand possible based on the information available. The same principle applies in business and in life, for that matter.
Over the years, I have learned that data, intuition, and the people around you all have a role to play. I value the perspectives of people I trust and use the available data to understand the knowns and unknowns as thoroughly as possible. However, once I have considered all of those factors, the final decision ultimately comes down to my inner voice, my gut.
However, once I have considered all of those factors, the final decision ultimately comes down to my inner voice, my gut.
— Pallavi Deshmukh
Decisions that only look right with distance
Some decisions only begin to look right with distance. At the time, they may feel risky, unpopular, or even mistaken.
Was there a decision you seriously doubted at first, but later came to see as one of the right decisions of your career? What exactly changed the way you viewed that decision?
I am sure there have been quite a few, but two stand out.
The first was my decision to leave the insurance industry and move into the gambling industry. I deliberated over it for a long time because a career in insurance was considered mainstream, well-respected, and stable. There was a clear path for growth, and I was fully committed to it. Switching to an unfamiliar industry did not seem practical at that stage.
However, within the first six months, I was confident that I wanted to continue my career in the gambling industry. Twenty years later, I couldn’t be happier with that decision.
The second was my decision to leave bwin.party, now Entain, and join NetEnt. I had been with bwin.party for more than 13 years. I had recently moved to the US and was enjoying life on the East Coast of one of the most sought-after countries in the world. Leaving a long-standing, stable role and moving from one of the world’s largest countries to one of the smallest, Malta, did not seem to make much sense.
However, in hindsight, it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. My career growth accelerated significantly at NetEnt, and the knowledge I gained there was invaluable. Those experiences changed the way I viewed the decision.
No matter how meticulously you plan your life, life has plans of its own, and sometimes you simply have to trust the flow.
How conservative is the slot industry?
You’ve mentioned a few times that curiosity, being willing to step into the unknown, and trusting your own judgement have played an important role in your career. At the same time, you’ve now spent around 20 years in the gambling industry and have seen it evolve from the inside.
While developing slot games ourselves, I keep noticing that the industry talks a lot about innovation, but most games still remain fairly close to proven mechanics, themes, and visual formulas.
As someone who has personally chosen the riskier and less obvious path more than once, how do you view this conservatism in the slot industry? Do you think it is justified by commercial realities, or has the industry become too cautious?
This is an age-old discussion that will continue as we mature as an industry. Innovation is not easy by any means. It requires deep pockets, a great deal of time and patience. One might fail several times before an idea clicks and becomes a hit.
A traditional slots player, or casino player, for that matter, will continue to enjoy classic games. Familiarity is the main attraction in this case. In North America, we have noticed that players with a background in traditional land-based casinos tend to seek out similar themes and mechanics when playing online.
A younger player, however, might find traditional slots or table games less exciting. Instant games, chicken run, CCTV, crash games and mines might capture their imagination and align more closely with their lifestyle.
If there is a degree of conservatism in the industry, it is driven by players to some extent. Don’t get me wrong, players love to experiment, but they will eventually gravitate towards their comfort zone if they do not enjoy what they have tried.
At NetGaming, we introduced the Fortune Pick mechanic in 2023, and it proved very popular. It is a game based on a simple pick mechanic, with three perceived persistent bonus features. We have since created several branded versions of this mechanic, which are live with one of North America’s top operators.
When taking risks, there are several factors to consider. As an individual, I can take chances and accept a certain level of risk because the consequences may affect only me. I cannot afford to have the same attitude when making decisions for the company.
People’s careers and the company’s future depend on those decisions, so I am very careful to strike the right balance between driving innovation and offering classic casino games.
Players love to experiment, but they will eventually gravitate towards their comfort zone if they do not enjoy what they have tried.
— Pallavi Deshmukh
What does the industry overvalue and undervalue?
I actually agree with you that players themselves dictate a lot of the rules. I have a very personal example.
My girlfriend plays poker professionally — although she always asks me not to call her a professional poker player. :) And when it comes to slots, there is essentially one game she keeps coming back to: Daniel Negreanu’s Fish Buffet. She barely acknowledges any other slots at all.
She was the one who showed that game to me in the first place. I started looking at it more closely and trying to understand why someone would keep returning to the same slot again and again — and, in many ways, that was what first pushed me towards making slot games myself.
Now that I’m on the other side and building games myself, I see how much attention the industry gives to trends and high-profile success stories — and how easy it is to overvalue one thing while overlooking another.
From your perspective, after around 20 years in the industry, what do you think iGaming currently overvalues — and what does it seriously undervalue? And why?
I think one of the most undervalued aspects of the iGaming business is the technology that underpins it. It is at the core of everything we do, yet it is rarely at the forefront of our thinking. The first iPhone was released in 2007, but we were still talking about adopting a mobile-first approach in 2017. The adoption of new technology has often remained on the sidelines rather than becoming part of our mainstream thinking.
With the AI revolution, there has naturally been a great deal of excitement. NetGaming was among the early adopters of AI-generated art in 2022, when we developed Wild Buffalo Bonanza, which was released in early 2023. I wouldn’t say that AI itself is overrated, but adopting it blindly could add unnecessary complexity rather than genuinely streamlining operations.
Some companies are promoting AI-driven game-development platforms and claiming that a new game can be delivered within a week or two. However, the bigger question is whether there is enough demand for that many games. Most games are already struggling to secure shelf space.
Rather than overvaluing speed and quantity, I believe we should focus more on quality.
Rather than overvaluing speed and quantity, I believe we should focus more on quality.
— Pallavi Deshmukh
What should the industry look like in ten years?
I agree with you about AI. We are also gradually introducing it into our art-production process, but cautiously. It is definitely not a “press a button and get finished artwork” situation: there is still a lot of manual work after generation — redrawing, cleaning up AI slop, separating assets into layers, and refining them before animation. Even so, it significantly speeds up production, although for some artists it is still genuinely faster to draw everything from scratch. :)
AI is especially useful for rapid prototyping: references, testing a visual direction, and quickly visualising an idea for the team. We are even more cautious with code, where for now we mainly use it for routine, clearly defined tasks that are still reviewed by a developer.
So I relate to your point: the value of technology is not simply speed, but how much it improves the process. And that makes me want to look at the bigger picture. Over the past twenty years, the industry has gone through the shift online, mobile, new game formats, and now AI — but technology often changes faster than the market itself.
If we imagine that we are having this conversation again ten years from now, what would need to have changed in the slot industry for you to look at it and say, “Yes, this is exactly the direction the market should have evolved in”?
Oh, there are several areas in which I would like to see the industry change for the better. Let me focus on two that I believe could significantly reshape its landscape.
I would love to see more US states regulate iGaming. Unfortunately, progress has been painstakingly slow. After the first few states introduced regulation, the momentum began to fade. If it gathers pace again, it could significantly benefit the regulated real-money iGaming market. It would directly result in more players, greater confidence among operators and suppliers alike, and ultimately better product offerings.
I would also like to see AI become ubiquitous among all stakeholders in the industry, including regulators. AI can support key processes and automate some of the more mundane ones. It can help with slot development, testing, player protection, player acquisition and retention, and many other areas.
This could significantly improve productivity and reduce costs. The ripple effect would allow companies to spend more time and resources on product enhancements and design improvements, ultimately creating better experiences for players.
What is hardest for a new slot provider?
You mentioned something in one of your earlier answers that really resonated with me: most games today already struggle to secure shelf space.
For me, this is quite a painful topic because I am building a new slot provider myself, and I have learned firsthand that making a good game is only one part of the challenge. Then come distribution, relationships with operators, securing good lobby placement, and fighting for players’ attention among an enormous number of releases.
If you had to launch a new slot provider from scratch today, what would you consider the hardest part: creating a genuinely good product, getting distribution, or winning players’ attention? Or do you think the biggest challenge lies somewhere else entirely?
I think it is difficult to choose just one because each of these elements is essential to a game’s success. They are all interconnected. A good product without distribution will lack reach. Wide distribution of an average product will fail to impress players. Even if you manage to capture players’ attention, without the right product and distribution support, that initial interest will not translate into sustained uptake. The greatest challenge is making all these elements work together.
Launching a games studio targeting regulated real-money gaming markets in Europe and North America today requires approximately two to three times more investment than it did a decade ago. Increased regulation, the shrinking .com market and increasingly stringent compliance requirements make it extremely challenging to establish and sustain a business in this market.
Content creation also requires far greater attention to detail. Every element of a game has to be spot on. Players are spoilt for choice with high-quality content, so mediocre games struggle to survive. The game maths has to be finely tuned, the back end must be robust enough to execute complex calculations reliably, and the front end must make everything appear simple and intuitive so that players can easily understand the game. These are complex problems to solve, and doing so requires a strong, experienced team capable of delivering the expected quality.
When I was at NetEnt, we tried to recreate Starburst, but we were never able to recreate its magic. There are several theories behind the success of Starburst. It was released in 2012: there was less competition, it was a simple, low-volatility game, it paid both ways, the art and animation were beautiful, and its €0.10 minimum bet made it less expensive to promote through free spins.
However, if Starburst were released today, would it have the same impact? A new generation of players is now playing casino games, and their entertainment needs have changed. That is why I do not believe there is one single hardest part.
Success comes from the right combination of product quality, distribution, visibility, timing and market fit, and achieving that combination is harder today than it was a decade ago.
Launching a games studio targeting regulated real-money gaming markets in Europe and North America today requires approximately two to three times more investment than it did a decade ago.
— Pallavi Deshmukh
What separates a contractor from a genuine partner?
You mentioned that creating a truly high-quality product today requires a strong and experienced team. That leads me to a question that is a little more personal for me.
Alongside developing our own games, we are also building ReSkin as an external studio, creating full slot games as well as individual parts of the production process for other companies.
When you bring in an external studio or development partner, what is the main thing that makes you feel you can trust that team with a real project? What separates a good contractor from a partner you would genuinely want to work with again?
When we decide to work with an external supplier, we spend a great deal of time gathering all the relevant information. We have detailed documentation that we share with potential suppliers to assess whether they can meet our requirements. Quality and flexibility are absolutely crucial to making the relationship work, but the main quality I look for is ownership. A trusted partner takes ownership of the outcome rather than simply completing the tasks assigned to them.
If there are strict limits on the number of iterations or feedback rounds, or if the quality is mediocre, we are less likely to work with that supplier again. However, it works both ways, and we try to be fair and reasonable in our approach. We plan our roadmap meticulously, provide detailed GDDs, animation briefs and sound lists, make ourselves available when our partners need us, and provide prompt feedback.
It cannot be a constant fire drill and everything cannot be urgent. Treating our partners with courtesy and respect is essential, and we strive to do that every time.
We have a proprietary RGS, so our core development takes place in-house. We have a brilliant team working across every aspect of game development. We also work with an external studio that works exclusively with us, and over time, they have developed a strong understanding of how we operate.
We are fortunate to have partners who work diligently, understand our vision and are willing to make that vision their own. That, for me, is what separates a good contractor from a genuine partner.
A trusted partner takes ownership of the outcome rather than simply completing the tasks assigned to them.
— Pallavi Deshmukh
One thought for the future leaders of iGaming
Thank you — this is genuinely very useful for me, especially your point about ownership. Right now, I’m thinking not only about how to build a good product, but also about how to position ReSkin as a true partner for other companies rather than simply a team that executes a list of tasks. Your point about taking responsibility for the final outcome describes that distinction very well.
It was also interesting to hear the other side of it: a good partnership requires the same discipline from the client — clear GDDs, proper planning, and timely feedback. I feel this side of the relationship between a studio and a client is discussed far less often.
And I think this is a good point to finish the interview with one more personal question.
If you could leave future leaders of iGaming companies with just one thought — not a rule or an instruction, but a single idea that reflects your own experience — what would it be?
The one thought I would like to leave future leaders with is how we can better integrate AI into regulatory processes, from licence applications through ongoing licence maintenance.
The iGaming industry is already embedding AI across several areas of its operations. If the regulators also consider how these technological advances could be incorporated into regulatory processes to improve efficiency, while maintaining human oversight and never compromising player protection, market integrity or regulatory standards, doing so would significantly improve speed to market.
In some jurisdictions, AI and other digital technologies could streamline complex administrative requirements. This is not about removing regulatory oversight, but exploring whether the same objectives can be achieved more securely, consistently and efficiently through digital and risk-based processes.
As regulated markets face increasing competition from offshore operators, the licensed industry must remain safe, attractive and commercially sustainable. Regulators and industry participants can work together to reduce unnecessary administrative friction, strengthen regulated markets and ultimately benefit regulators, responsible businesses and players alike.
