Being a technology leader in the fast-paced world of sports betting is not just any task, it’s a high-speed race with continuous laps. This is what our CTO George Stalev knows first-hand and what he shared with DEV.BG in an exclusive interview. Check out his thoughts and insight on what the role of personalization is in this industry, why PHP is not yet retired, and what the balance between innovation and common sense is.
– George, Delasport is in a highly competitive industry. What technologies or innovations are you currently developing?
– The key is personalization. One of our most interesting product-related initiatives is our ‘My Era’ suite – imagine the Netflix approach to personalization but in a betting platform. Users set their preferences and get content that’s exactly to their liking based on their actions, which are changed by intelligent algorithms. These algorithms, in turn, adapt the platform to players’ behaviour in real time.
We are not a betting operator, but a technology provider; our customers – iGaming operators – build their business on our platform. Yet, we make sure the product completely answers their needs. We have over 250 engineers on our team making sure this happens flawlessly.
– Tell us about your technology stack. How do you ensure scalability, security, and reliability?
– In short, with a combination of proven technology and innovation. We work with microservices architecture, Kubernetes, and cloud solutions for agility. We primarily use Java, NodeJS and PHP. I know some may smile skeptically, but the truth is they are stable and work perfectly for our needs. And, of course, we’re constantly introducing new technologies where it makes sense. Security is critical – user data must be protected and the platform must be reliable. We have multi-layer protection, encryption and a whole arsenal of cybersecurity measures and this is one of the fields that receives constant innovation boosts.
– Data is key in sports betting. How do you use it to add value?
– Imagine a football game with millions of bets to be processed in milliseconds. That’s where the magic of data comes in – our algorithms analyse the information in real time and provide the best options for our customers. The big trick is to strike a balance between speed and accuracy – and I believe we’ve achieved it.
– How do you encourage innovation in your team?
– We give freedom and support curiosity. We want our engineers not just to perform tasks, but to think and propose solutions. When we hire new people, we look not only at technical skills, but also at the ability to understand the business. That’s why we have a three-day onboarding, after which everyone realizes that sports betting is much more than “I place a bet and wait.” In the onboarding we talk about the product and the business, and once the three days are over, the new people are directed to their Team Leads who are now focused and how to put the knowledge into practice.
If you’d like to work in a motivated and highly skilled team and by led by an expert like George Stalev, make sure to keep an eye on our Careers page.
