Choosing an iGaming platform is like picking a business partner—you’re stuck with them for better or worse. Get it wrong, and you’re looking at six-figure losses, technical headaches, and a team that hates their life. Get it right, and you’ve got a foundation for growth that doesn’t keep you up at night.
Real Talk: We’ve seen operators lose €200K+ and years of progress because they fell for shiny demos or “too good to be true” pricing. This guide is your cheat sheet to avoid those traps, built from real-world lessons and a lot of coffee-fueled frustration.
The Traps You’re Already Falling For
Before we dive into the 47 questions you need to ask, let’s call out the mistakes you’re probably making right now. We’ve seen these patterns across hundreds of operators, and the numbers don’t lie:
- Shiny Object Syndrome: 67% choose based on demo impressions Price Tunnel Vision: 52% focus only on setup costs
- Feature Overload: 43% want everything, optimize nothing
- Salesperson Hypnosis: 38% believe every promise made
- Peer Pressure: 29% copy competitors without thinking
The Cost of Getting It Wrong
Pick the wrong platform, and you’re not just out a few bucks. Here’s what’s at stake:
- Migration nightmares: €200K+ and 6 months lost
- Revenue leakage: 15-30% lower performance
- Technical debt: Ongoing compatibility issues
- Team burnout: Constant firefighting mode
- Reputation damage: Player experience suffers
The 47 Questions That Save You From Disaster
These aren’t just random questions—they’re the ones we wish we’d asked before signing contracts that cost us time, money, and sanity. Ask them. Demand answers. Don’t let slick sales reps dodge them.
1. Can their system handle your projected player load without melting?
What to ask: “Show me load testing results for 10,000 concurrent players. Not theoretical—actual tests.”
Red flag: Vague answers about “cloud scalability” without specific numbers.
2. How many times has their platform gone down in the last 12 months?
What to ask: “Can I see your incident reports and post-mortems from the last year?”
Red flag: “We don’t track that” or “Our uptime is 99.9%” without documentation.
3. What happens when their main data center catches fire?
What to ask: “Walk me through your disaster recovery process. How long until we’re back online?”
Red flag: No documented disaster recovery plan or testing schedule.
4. Can you export your data if you want to leave?
What to ask: “Show me the data export format and process. How long does it take?”
Red flag: Proprietary data formats or “we’ll help you migrate” without specifics.
5. How fast can they deploy critical security patches?
What to ask: “What’s your emergency patch deployment process? Can you show examples?”
Red flag: No defined security update process or reliance on scheduled maintenance windows.
6. Does their API actually work under real-world conditions?
What to ask: “Can I test your API with realistic traffic loads during our trial period?”
Red flag: Rate limiting that’s too restrictive for normal operations or poor API documentation.
7. How do they handle traffic spikes during major sporting events?
What to ask: “Show me performance data from your busiest day last year. How did you handle it?”
Red flag: No auto-scaling capabilities or history of performance issues during peak times.
8. Can their platform survive a DDoS attack that actually tries?
What to ask: “What’s your DDoS protection strategy? Have you been tested by real attacks?”
Red flag: Basic CloudFlare protection without advanced mitigation or no incident history.
9. How much will customization actually cost beyond the quoted price?
What to ask: “Give me a written estimate for these specific customizations with hourly rates.”
Red flag: “We’ll figure it out later” or reluctance to provide detailed development estimates.
10. Can you actually integrate with your existing payment providers?
What to ask: “Show me successful integrations with [your payment provider]. What was the implementation time?”
Red flag: “We can integrate with anyone” without specific examples or documented APIs.
11. How long do integrations really take, not in sales-land time?
What to ask: “What was your longest integration project and why did it take that long?”
Red flag: Only providing best-case scenarios without discussing potential complications.
12. Who’s actually doing the integration work?
What to ask: “Can I meet the development team who will work on my project?”
Red flag: Outsourced development teams or “we’ll assign someone later” responses.
13. Can you control your own user experience without begging for changes?
What to ask: “Show me exactly what I can customize myself versus what requires your development team.”
Red flag: Rigid templates with limited customization options or high change request fees.
14. How do updates affect your customizations?
What to ask: “What happens to my customizations when you release platform updates?”
Red flag: Updates that regularly break customizations or no version control for custom code.
15. Can their CRM actually talk to your existing marketing tools?
What to ask: “Show me how your CRM integrates with [your specific marketing tools]. What data syncs?”
Red flag: Generic integrations without specific functionality or real-time data sync capabilities.
16. How vendor-locked will you become?
What to ask: “What parts of my business become dependent on proprietary systems I can’t replicate elsewhere?”
Red flag: Core business logic tied to proprietary systems without open alternatives.
17. What happens when you call support at 3 AM on Sunday?
What to ask: “Can I test your emergency support during off-hours? What’s the actual response time?”
Red flag: “24/7 support” that’s really just an answering service or offshore level-1 support only.
18. How many times will you get transferred before talking to someone useful?
What to ask: “What’s your escalation process? Can I get direct access to senior technical staff?”
Red flag: Multiple support tiers with no direct access to people who can actually solve problems.
19. Do they have dedicated account management or just sales reps who vanish?
What to ask: “Who will be my ongoing contact after launch? Can I meet them now?”
Red flag: Sales reps doubling as account managers or no clear post-launch support structure.
20. How do they handle urgent technical issues during major events?
What to ask: “Tell me about a time you had to fix a critical issue during a major sporting event. How did you handle it?”
Red flag: No emergency procedures or examples of handling crisis situations effectively.
21. What’s their actual track record for hitting support SLAs?
What to ask: “Show me your support metrics for the last6 months. What percentage of tickets meet SLA?”
Red flag: No documented SLA performance or reluctance to share real support metrics.
22. Can you get useful technical documentation that’s actually current?
What to ask: “Show me your API documentation and integration guides. When were they last updated?”
Red flag: Outdated documentation, lack of code examples, or “we’ll provide that during implementation.”
23. How do they communicate during service incidents?
What to ask: “What’s your incident communication process? Do you have a status page?”
Red flag: No transparent incident communication or real-time status updates.
24. Will they train your team or just throw you the manual?
What to ask: “What training do you provide? Can you customize it for our specific setup?”
Red flag: Generic training materials only or additional charges for customized training sessions.
25. What are ALL the costs, including the ones they’re not mentioning?
What to ask: “Give me a complete cost breakdown for years 1-3, including all optional features we might need.”
Red flag: Vague pricing or “we’ll discuss additional features later” responses.
26. How do they calculate transaction fees and volume charges?
What to ask: “Show me exactly how you calculate fees with real examples at different volume levels.”
Red flag: Complex fee structures that are hard to predict or understand.
27. What happens to your costs when you actually start growing?
What to ask: “Model my costs at 2x, 5x, and 10x my current projected volume.”
Red flag: Pricing that becomes prohibitive at scale or surprise volume charges.
28. How locked-in are you to their pricing structure?
What to ask: “What are my options if your pricing becomes uncompetitive? Can I renegotiate?”
Red flag: Long-term contracts with no price protection or renegotiation options.
29. What do change requests actually cost?
What to ask: “Give me your standard hourly rates for different types of changes and modifications.”
Red flag: High change request fees or no clear pricing for common modifications.
30. Are there exit fees or termination costs?
What to ask: “What does it cost to terminate our contract? Are there any exit fees or penalties?”
Red flag: High termination fees or complex exit procedures designed to prevent leaving.
31. How do they handle currency fluctuations and international fees?
What to ask: “How do you handle pricing in different currencies? Who bears the exchange rate risk?”
Red flag: No currency hedging or unexpected international transaction fees.
32. What’s the real cost of their “free” trial period?
What to ask: “What setup work is required for the trial? What happens to that work if we don’t proceed?”
Red flag: “Free” trials that require significant upfront investment or setup work.
33. How do they handle regulatory changes that actually matter?
What to ask: “How did you handle the last major regulatory change in [your target market]? What was the timeline?”
Red flag: No examples of successfully adapting to regulatory changes or slow response times.
34. Can they prove their security claims with actual certifications?
What to ask: “Show me your current security certifications, penetration testing reports, and compliance audits.”
Red flag: Security claims without documentation or outdated certifications.
35. How do they handle data protection and GDPR compliance?
What to ask: “Walk me through your data processing procedures and how you handle GDPR requests.”
Red flag: Vague data protection policies or lack of clear GDPR compliance procedures.
36. What happens during a security incident or data breach?
What to ask: “What’s your incident response plan? How do you communicate with customers during security events?”
Red flag: No documented incident response plan or unclear communication procedures.
37. How do they handle responsible gambling requirements?
What to ask: “Show me your responsible gambling tools and how they integrate with my player management.”
Red flag: Basic responsible gambling features without customization or integration capabilities.
38. Can they handle multi-jurisdiction compliance without breaking?
What to ask: “How do you handle different regulatory requirements across multiple markets simultaneously?”
Red flag: Single-market focus or inability to demonstrate multi-jurisdiction expertise.
39. How do they keep up with anti-money laundering requirements?
What to ask: “What AML tools do you provide? How do you handle suspicious transaction reporting?”
Red flag: Basic AML compliance without sophisticated monitoring or reporting capabilities.
40. Who’s liable when compliance goes wrong?
What to ask: “What liability do you accept for compliance failures? What insurance do you carry?”
Red flag: No liability acceptance or inadequate insurance coverage for compliance failures.
41. How do they handle technology updates without breaking your business?
What to ask: “What’s your update schedule? How do you test changes before deploying to production?”
Red flag: Frequent updates without proper testing or no rollback procedures.
42. Are they actually innovating or just following trends?
What to ask: “Show me innovations you’ve developed in the last 2 years. What’s in your development roadmap?”
Red flag: No recent innovations or roadmap that just follows industry trends.
43. How do they handle emerging technologies and market changes?
What to ask: “How are you preparing for cryptocurrency integration, VR gaming, or other emerging technologies?”
Red flag: No strategy for emerging technologies or resistance to market changes.
44. What’s their plan if they get acquired or go out of business?
What to ask: “What happens to my data and service if your company is acquired or fails?”
Red flag: No succession planning or data protection in case of business changes.
45. Can their platform evolve with your business growth?
What to ask: “Show me how you’ve scaled with other clients. What were the challenges?”
Red flag: No examples of successfully scaling with growing clients or architectural limitations.
46. How do they incorporate client feedback into product development?
What to ask: “Give me examples of features you’ve built based on client requests. What’s your feedback process?”
Red flag: No client feedback loop or examples of implementing client-requested features.
47. Will they still be relevant in 5 years?
What to ask: “What’s your 5-year vision? How are you preparing for industry changes we can’t predict yet?”
Red flag: Short-term thinking or inability to articulate long-term strategy.
Your Platform Selection Action Plan
This isn’t just a list of questions—it’s a process. Here’s how to use it to pick a platform that won’t screw you over:
Week 1: Initial Screening
Focus on the core questions that reveal deal-breakers:
- Questions 1-4 (Technical Foundation)
- Questions 17-20 (Support Reality)
- Questions 25-28 (Financial Transparency)
- Questions 33-36 (Compliance Basics)
Goal: Eliminate obvious non-starters. You should have 3-5 viable candidates by week end.
Weeks 2-3: Deep Dives
Get into the nitty-gritty with your shortlist:
- Questions 9-16 (Integration Details)
- Questions 29-32 (Financial Fine Print)
- Questions 37-40 (Advanced Compliance)
- Questions 41-47 (Future-Proofing)
Goal: Understand the real relationship and costs. Narrow down to 2-3 finalists.
Week 4: Validation
Test their answers with real-world scenarios and references:
- Request technical demos with your specific use cases
- Contact at least 3 current clients for honest feedback
- Validate compliance claims with your legal team
Goal: Validate your finalists can grow with you and handle future challenges.
Week 5: Decision
Score your finalists using this simple framework:
- Red Flag (0 points): Vague answers, no documentation, or obvious problems
- Acceptable (1 point): Basic capability, meets minimum requirements
- Excellent (2 points): Goes above and beyond, proven track record
Goal: Choose your platform and begin the relationship on solid ground.
Bonus: Email Templates to Make This Easier
You’re going to be asking a lot of questions. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Use these templates to get the answers you need:
Sample: Technical Due Diligence Request
“Hi [Name],
Thanks for the demo yesterday. Before we proceed, I need to understand your technical architecture better. Can we schedule a call with your technical team to discuss:
- Load testing results for concurrent users
- Disaster recovery procedures and testing
- API performance under realistic conditions
- Security certifications and audit reports
I’d also like to see documentation for these areas. When can we schedule this technical deep-dive?
Best regards,
[Your Name]”
More templates available in our full platform selection toolkit.
Ready to Pick a Platform That Doesn’t Suck?
Look, platform selection is hard enough without learning from your own mistakes. This checklist represents hundreds of thousands of euros in lessons learned the hard way. Use it. Seriously.
But if you want someone who’s already made all these mistakes to help you avoid them, that’s what we’re here for. We’ve been through this process dozens of times, know where the bodies are buried, and can spot red flags from three sales meetings away.
Our Platform Selection Support Includes:
- Independent vendor evaluation and scoring
- Technical due diligence that goes beyond marketing
- Contract negotiation support and red flag identification
- Integration planning and timeline validation
- Total cost of ownership modeling
- Compliance and regulatory requirement mapping
- Future-proofing assessment and roadmap alignment
- Post-selection implementation support
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