As an AWS Solution Provider, Continent 8 also offers managed services, including Managed AWS Outposts and Managed Hybrid Networking, available via the AWS Marketplace
Continent 8 Technologies, the leading provider of global cloud hosting, connectivity and cybersecurity solutions for the iGaming and online sports betting industry, announces enhanced AWS support to facilitate the deployment and management of the latest generation AWS Outposts racks, enabling secure, ultra-low-latency hybrid cloud infrastructures.
The second-generation AWS Outposts, announced at the end of April 2025, offer significant performance enhancements over their predecessors, including faster processing, higher memory capacity and increased network bandwidth for on-premises workloads. Continent 8 enables customers to capitalise on these advancements through the following offerings:
Continent 8 has extensive experience with AWS Outposts, having provided comprehensive support to operators and suppliers with the initial generation of rack platforms. Today, Continent 8 is responsible for over 90% of AWS Outposts deployments within the regulated betting and gaming industry.
Justin Cosnett, Chief Product Officer at Continent 8, stated, “Our strategic partnership with AWS, along with our deep experience with the first-generation AWS Outposts technology, enables us to provide the requisite expertise for delivering seamless AWS experiences. With the launch of the latest generation of AWS Outposts, we are well-positioned to manage the betting and gaming industry’s ‘business as usual’, day-to-day operations and IT infrastructure needs, allowing customers to swiftly benefit from the platform’s latency and performance enhancements for their most demanding gaming projects.”
Continent 8 is a Gold sponsor of the AWS Community Day Malta on 30 May and will be running a session on ‘Future-ready cloud solutions: winning in regulated markets’. Contact sales@continent8.com to arrange a meeting at the event.
Continent 8 designed, planned and executed full-service VMware-to-Nutanix migration effort, helping Sportingtech avert 42% increase in virtualisation costs.
Continent 8 Technologies, the leading provider of global managed hosting, connectivity, cloud and cybersecurity solutions to the iGaming and online sports betting industry, is pleased to announce an expanded partnership with multi-award-winning global betting and gaming provider, Sportingtech. In a strategic collaboration to optimise its virtualisation environment, Sportingtech entrusted Continent 8 to successfully oversee and implement their VMware-to-Nutanix cloud migration initiatives.
In the wake of Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, Sportingtech encountered an unexpected increase in costs, rising by as much as 42% due to licensing changes. This development significantly impacted the cost structure of their VMware-based virtualised enterprise private cloud architecture. To mitigate against these cost fluctuations, Sportingtech chose Continent 8, a Nutanix Authorised Service Provider and their current cloud infrastructure and cybersecurity services partner, to provide professional and managed services for a VMware-to-Nutanix migration.
Continent 8 executed a comprehensive assessment, prioritisation plan and migration journey of hundreds of virtual appliances. The significant efforts led by Continent 8, in close collaboration with Sportingtech, ensured no disruptions in operations or to users and were completed well within the originally anticipated target date. As a result, Sportingtech now benefits from a more predictable, manageable and cost-efficient virtualisation platform and environment.
Michael Jack, Chief Technology Officer at Sportingtech, said: “We are always looking for ways to enhance the solution we build for our customers and to keep costs down. Working with Continent 8, who constantly push to provide efficiencies, cost reductions and value-added expertise, made good sense to us. They continue to be a valued partner and managed to deliver the project on time with no service interruption for us or our customers, which is critical.”
Justin Cosnett, Chief Product Officer at Continent 8, said: “Continent 8 is able to use its experience with VMware, Nutanix, private and public clouds to provide professional as well as managed services to customers, enabling them to focus on core revenue-generating operations. Being able to demonstrate such a significant saving and ROI will be of interest to many enterprises in today’s market.
“It’s thanks to the experienced and highly qualified project and cloud engineering staff at Continent 8 that we were able to successfully complete this project, while earning Sportingtech’s trust to manage their critical operational infrastructure.”
Read the full Sportingtech virutalisation migration case study here.
Tachi-Yokut Tribe of Santa Rosa Rancheria-owned and operated casino now equipped with world-leading 24/7/365 monitoring, proactive threat prevention and rapid response capabilities to safeguard its tribal gaming operations
Continent 8 Technologies, the leading provider of managed hosting, connectivity, cloud and cybersecurity solutions for the tribal gaming industry, is pleased to announce a new cybersecurity agreement with Tachi Palace Casino Resort to oversee and optimize their Security Operations Center (SOC) and Security Incident and Event Management (SIEM) cybersecurity operations.
In collaboration with Continent 8 and its cybersecurity division, C8 Secure, Tachi Palace Casino Resort will implement their managed SOC and SIEM services. The customer will gain instant access to a comprehensive SOC and SIEM solution featuring round-the-clock monitoring, sophisticated threat detection to pinpoint anomalies and potential risks, integrated threat intelligence to anticipate evolving threats and an advanced SIEM architecture designed for high-performance analytics and streamlined incident management.
Patrick Gardner, Chief Security Officer at Continent 8 said: “We are honored that Tachi Palace Casino Resort selected Continent 8 through a rigorous selection process as their trusted Managed Security Operations Center partner. As a leading Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) specializing in the gaming industry, we have deep insight into the unique cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities facing our customers today. Tachi Palace Casino Resort’s proactive commitment to safeguarding their infrastructure demonstrates exceptional leadership and a clear understanding that robust, continuous security is vital for protecting their customers, data and gaming operations.”
Jerad Swimmer, Regional Sales Director at Continent 8 added: “It’s inspiring to see an increasing number of tribal gaming and casino organizations such as Tachi Palace Casino Resort making cybersecurity a core component of their strategic initiatives and organizational culture.
“We are delighted to support Tachi Palace Casino Resort as their trusted MSSP, ensuring a secure and strategic cybersecurity journey.”
David Clark, Information System Director at Tachi Palace Casino Resort said: “I am looking forward to our new partnership with Continent 8 and what the future brings for us.”
Join Continent 8 at the SBC Summit Americas from May 13-15 at Booth D750. Book a meeting to explore top cybersecurity practices and strategies tailored for the tribal gaming community.
The year 2024 marked another remarkable chapter for Continent 8 Technologies. Over the course of the year, we expanded our global network, enhanced our infrastructure and cloud services, forged new cybersecurity partnerships, introduced innovative products, launched our inaugural podcast and much more.
Explore below as we reflect on some of our remarkable accomplishments from 2024.
We continue to expand our data centre locations and points of presence globally, with an unrivalled private network of over 100 locations across four continents. Our carrier-grade network, which includes more than 35 global Internet Edge and Internet Exchange locations and over 5 Tb of IP transit capacity, provides resilient, high-performance and low-latency connectivity, ensuring zero-compromise user experiences. We’re equipped to support the growing regulated iGaming and online sports betting sector, covering more than 30 US states and six LATAM and Caribbean regions, including Brazil, an exciting new regulated market.
As the fastest go-to market supplier and the trusted infrastructure and cybersecurity partner to the industry, we power and protect the world’s leading brands, such as bet365, Apricot (formerly Microgaming), BetMGM, DraftKings, FanDuel, PointsBet, Playtech, Sportingtech and more. We also take pride in being a supporting partner to 90% of the top 10 organisations on the 2024 EGR Power 50 Rankings list and over 95% on the 2024 EGR Power US Rankings list.
We were selected to join the prestigious AWS Solution Provider Program (SPP). Through this AWS partnership, we introduced a suite of managed and professional services designed to simplify hybrid and multi-cloud environments and infrastructures. These new services, available via the AWS Marketplace, include:
This effort is part of our expanding cloud initiative designed to support the varied needs of our customers seeking hyperscale, hybrid, public and private cloud solutions.
To continue to provide the industry with comprehensive 360-degree protection, and meet the increasing market demand as a Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) via our cybersecurity division, C8 Secure, we collaborated with cybersecurity specialists to enhance our range of cybersecurity services and solutions.
In 2024, we partnered with MIRACL, a passwordless multi-factor authentication (MFA) provider, to deliver a secure, single-step MFA solution, ensuring the most secure and efficient authentication experience possible. Additionally, we teamed up with Corrata, an advanced detection and response provider for mobile endpoints, to fortify mobile devices against modern security threats, ensuring secure access to corporate data.
As cyber threats became the new normal in 2024, it is unsurprising that we observed a record number of customers adopting our managed cybersecurity services. Sportingtech, for example, has implemented our Managed Security Operations Centre (MSOC) and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) services to ensure continuous 24/7 monitoring, prompt threat prevention and rapid response.
In 2024, we marked a significant corporate milestone by meeting and exceeding 300 employees in December, representing a growth of over 20% from 2023. With specialists now located in 19 countries, including our newly established offices in the Philippines, we are dedicated to growing our team to deliver outstanding service and attention to our customers worldwide.
As industry leaders, we are committed to informing, educating and guiding the iGaming and online sports betting community on all matters related to infrastructure, cloud and cybersecurity. In 2024, as an engaged participant in the community, we participated in over 50 industry events, contributed to or led more than 20 industry panels and received 5 industry awards, along with numerous accolades and recognitions for our customer-centric managed services and solutions.
Our enduring presence in the iGaming industry is largely attributed to the strong partnerships we have cultivated over our 25-plus years of operation. Among these is Playtech, a leading provider of platforms, content and services in the industry. In November, we were pleased to extend our two-decades-long partnership, allowing Playtech to further utilise our range of managed and professional services. This renewal underscores both companies’ shared commitment to advancing and shaping the expanding regulated online gaming market.
Shimon Akad, COO at Playtech, stated, “Continent 8 have been our hosting and connectivity partner since the onset of our journey, 20 years ago. Renewing our agreement is a testament to the joint work and success we’ve built together, and I look forward to continuing our strong collaboration for years to come.”
At the 2024 SBC Summit North America, Michael Tobin, the Founder and CEO of Continent 8, was formally inducted into the Sports Betting Hall of Fame. He was recognised for his relentless dedication over the past 25-plus years, driving innovation and fostering growth in the global gaming industry.
Michael expressed his gratitude, sharing, “It is truly an honour to be recognised by my peers, and it’s also a testament to the hard work and dedication of the entire Continent 8 team.
“I am incredibly proud of all that we have accomplished, the value we have added to the industry and the ways in which we have empowered our customers and partners to achieve success. The iGaming and online sports betting industry is constantly evolving, and I am excited to see how we can continue to embark on this journey to grow the market together.”
Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware had a substantial impact on the HCI market. As a Nutanix Authorised Service Provider, we transitioned numerous iGaming and non-iGaming customers from their VMware ecosystems to Nutanix HCI environments. Our own documented journey from VMware’s Cloud Foundation platform to Nutanix’s Acropolis and Acropolis hypervisor (AHV) demonstrated the benefits of a VMware-to-Nutanix migration, reducing hardware infrastructure, physical footprint and operational costs, all with minimal disruption and downtime.
In response to the growing need for tailored cybersecurity services and insights within the tribal gaming sector, we launched the ‘Tribal Talks: Cybersecurity Unlocked’ podcast series. Hosted by Continent 8’s Jerad Swimmer, this podcast provides a unique forum for tribal leaders and experts to share their experiences, accomplishments and lessons learned. Through insightful discussions, listeners gain a comprehensive understanding of the technological advancements, cybersecurity challenges and best practices influencing the tribal gaming industry.
As 2024 draws to a close, we are excited to kick off the New Year with ICE 2025 (stand 2G20) in Barcelona. At ICE, we will showcase our regulatory and compliance-driven hosting, connectivity, cloud and cybersecurity solutions, with our industry experts on hand to discuss and explore the latest technological advancements, trends and challenges for 2025 and beyond.
If you’re interested in scheduling a meeting with one of our specialists or joining us for a coffee at our Caffein8 bar, please visit our ICE 2025 page.
Matteo Gabrielli, Senior Technical Solutions Architect, Continent 8 Technologies
At AWS re:Invent 2024, Amazon Web Services announced Amazon EKS Hybrid Nodes (EKS-H), and Continent 8 Technologies is proud to be a strategic launch partner for this new feature. As a trusted infrastructure provider in the betting and gaming industry, we enable customers to extend their EKS clusters to Continent 8’s on-premises infrastructure. This solution addresses a critical need in the betting and gaming industry: extending Kubernetes clusters to meet regulatory requirements with minimal operational overhead. By running EKS-H on Continent 8’s infrastructure, customers can efficiently deploy workloads in regulated jurisdictions while maintaining the simplicity of AWS-managed services as EKS.
EKS-H allows customers to use on-premises servers as worker nodes in their EKS clusters located in-region. While AWS continues to manage the control plane, workloads can run on Continent 8’s infrastructure in specific jurisdictions where data sovereignty and gaming regulations require local presence.
Gaming operators and suppliers face unique challenges:
EKS-H on Continent 8’s infrastructure solves these challenges by providing:
Our infrastructure is uniquely positioned to support EKS-H:
Continent 8 provides a seamless path to implementing EKS-H. Our team can help:
Ready to modernise your betting and gaming infrastructure while maintaining regulatory compliance? As an AWS Advanced Partner and member of the AWS Solutions Provider Program (SPP), we can help you architect, deploy and optimise your hybrid Kubernetes environment. Contact our sales team at sales@continent8.com to begin your journey with us.
The impact of Amazon EKS Hybrid Nodes is already resonating within the industry, particularly among our current customers. Games Global, a long-standing Continent 8 partner, has been at the forefront of infrastructure innovation within the gaming sector. Matthew Harris, their Principal Architect, explains how this solution addresses key industry challenges:
“Online gambling companies not only have to protect customer data and ensure security like everyone else, but they also face tough regulations from gaming authorities worldwide. These rules often dictate where we can host our gaming systems, which can limit or even rule out using public cloud services in some markets. EKS Hybrid Nodes let us meet these requirements by hosting workloads where needed while still taking advantage of AWS EKS’s easy management. Partnering with experts like Continent 8, who really know our industry inside and out, makes this option even more appealing.”
– Matthew Harris, Principal Architect at Games Global
The customer is a technology services supplier to iGaming and online sports betting customers operating globally.
With a legacy “all-VMware” virtualised enterprise architecture, and a requirement for high availability, scalability and multi-purpose workloads, they needed to replace the current hardware and future proof whilst maintaining 24/7 availability.
Needing a service provider to design, plan and execute a migration to a new, cost effective virtualised hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI), Continent 8 Technologies, a Nutanix Authorised Service Provider, provided managed and professional migration services to deliver the project.
There were multiple requirements to be met, from technical to commercial, with a requirement for minimal operational impact. The project’s migration requirements included:
Continent 8 proposed and delivered a solution using Nutanix Acropolis hypervisor (AHV) in two clusters in two geographically diverse locations. The solution involved multiple components:
On average four to eight virtual servers were migrated per day around an agreed, lowest impact schedule between Monday to Thursday.
“Infrastructure migration and management can be a costly and long process, with pitfalls for even the most skilled technical teams. Continent 8 has demonstrated that customers can achieve the benefits of lower cost, quicker deployment, and therefore swifter ROI, by engaging us to scope and execute this project with experienced and certified professionals. When Continent 8 is engaged, we don’t just try to achieve a migration – but a future-proof and scalable platform for growth.”
Justin Cosnett, Chief Product Officer, Continent 8 Technologies
Global iGaming aggregator utilises Continent 8’s VAPT cybersecurity services to securely connect B2C operators to over 150 game providers and more than 15,000 games
Continent 8 Technologies, a leading provider of global managed hosting, connectivity, cloud and cybersecurity solutions to the iGaming and online sports betting industry, today announces that Alea, an award-winning iGaming aggregation platform, has appointed Continent 8 as its Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT) cybersecurity services provider.
Alea is among the fastest-growing game aggregators in the industry. Through one single API integration, Alea provides clients with access to over 15,000 games from over 150 providers, reducing their technical complexity and improving operational efficiency. The security and reliability of the game APIs and these integrations are crucial to Alea’s operational integrity. To manage the emerging cybersecurity challenges with a rapidly expanding network, Alea has partnered with Continent 8 to assess and evaluate their cybersecurity framework through a VAPT.
Partnering with Continent 8 and its specialised cybersecurity company, C8 Secure, Alea has undertaken a VAPT test. This comprehensive assessment enabled Alea to identify potential internal and external IT vulnerabilities, allowing them to prioritise and implement security enhancements to mitigate risk exposure, giving their customers confidence that they are accessing a secure and reliable platform.
Eduard Fumás, CTO at Alea said, “At Alea, security is at the core of everything we do. Our commitment to creating a secure, robust and scalable API solution sets a new standard in the iGaming industry, where data protection and system integrity are critical. Partnering with Continent 8 has been an important step for us in proactively safeguarding our platform and reinforcing the trust our partners place in us. This collaboration ensures that we continue to deliver a reliable, secure API experience to our clients. We’re proud to work with a partner that shares our dedication to cybersecurity excellence.”
Patrick Gardner, Vice President and Chief Security Officer at Continent 8 said, “Alea’s three principles of security, scalability and robustness resonate with Continent 8. Given the number of APIs Alea is using, their proactive approach to assessing their business and guaranteeing security for its partners is imperative.
“It’s great to be supporting Alea; we encourage all businesses in this industry to take the cybersecurity threat seriously.”
Join Continent 8 and Alea in a rapid-fire VAPT webinar, titled ‘VAPT: iGaming industry requirements and use cases’ on Wednesday, 20 November 2024, at 15:00 GMT / 10:00 EST.
Key takeaways from this must-attend webinar:
To register for the webinar, visit: https://lp.continent8.com/vapt-webinar.