Comtrade Gaming: API-first architecture gives operators flexibility

Comtrade Gaming's VP Technology, Rok Intihar, said the API-first architecture enables operators to integrate new game providers, develop custom front ends and manage complex technology ecosystems. In his view, this structure works without compromising the platform's stability, security and scalability.

Intihar said the company's product has been shaped by its experience in public sector and other industry projects. He noted that choices such as layered architecture, interfaces within the code and separation of the database form the foundation of the API-first approach. In his view, adding an API afterward to a platform whose internal structure is a single block is difficult, and in that case the API remains only a thin wrapper.

At iCore, the company's own back office and player portals use the APIs provided to operators. Modules such as tournaments, jackpots and promotions run as separate services and communicate with the core through APIs and events. Intihar added that older services are also being updated step by step behind stable contracts.

Front ends, participation modules and providers behind the integration adapters can change without affecting the core. Wallet, player accounts and regulatory controls remain in the core. In some markets, these components are certified down to the file digest, so changing them means recertification.

Intihar said the company has completed more than one hundred casino integrations and a similar number of service-side integrations. He said there are templates for each category, and adding a new game provider mostly means mapping the provider's API to the platform. He added that once integrations are completed, they are packaged as an AddOn, and subsequent operators can use them through configuration.

He said most of the biggest delays encountered stem not from code but from missing provider documentation and regulatory processes. He noted that AI generated the first version of an integration from provider documentation, while engineers checked each step, and that this noticeably shortened the coding phase.