Pitch ICE Winner EmpowerYourPlay is a classic positive disruptor with its model for replacing tired and ineffective bonuses with an exciting and dynamic gamified giving which creates an emotional connection, enhances retention and stimulates play. Founder Tiffany Santisteban Lagos explains the proposition of making giving fun and giving fun to meaning.

Can you provide an overview of EmpowerYourPlay and its stand-out characteristics?

Essentially, player retention in iGaming is broken with most players churning by month eight. Bonuses are generic, forgettable and ineffective, particularly in bonus-restrictive markets. 

EmpowerYourPlay changes all of that. We transform retention and loyalty rewards into frictionless, gamified giving where players choose the charities they support. This results in higher engagement, stronger loyalty, and fully personalised ESG.

Players return because their rewards support the causes they care about, in the process creating an emotional connection with iGaming brands.

It drives New Audience Appeal. Gen Z and Millennials, demographics which comprise 75% of the future player base, spend more with brands that align with their values.

It navigates any of the issues which exist in bonus restricted markets. The rewards model fits seamlessly into bonus-limited regions including the UK, continental Europe, the U.S., Africa and India.

Finally, it successfully differentiates brands by allowing them to stand- out as one of the first to offer better rewards to better players.

 

How does it work?

Players pick their charity with donations taking place automatically through operator-configurable mechanics including betting, deposits, and net losses.

Charity-linked rewards plug into existing retention strategies, replacing or complementing bonus mechanics seamlessly, with no added cost to the user or operator.

Players earn philanthropy badges, track impact milestones, and share their giving progress, boosting organic engagement and brand awareness.

Operators define rewards and contribution rules via the EmpowerYourPlay back-office which is fully configurable and fully compliant.

With over 50% of digital entertainment rewards going unclaimed and tightening regulatory restrictions on bonuses, the industry needs a smarter, stickier, and socially conscious retention model. 

EmpowerYourPlay is that model. By simply redirecting existing bonus and rewards spend (~$51Bn in digital entertainment), to £50M+ in donations by 2030 at the same time as boosting engagement, retention and spend.

 

How did you come up with the concept – was it a Eureka moment or was it more of a process?

I spent a decade fixing retention for industry names like Lottoland, Betway, and Betsson—working across high-value player management, marketing, and multi-million-pound P&Ls. I built loyalty programmes from scratch, ran VIP verticals, and optimised retention strategies across multiple products. The same issue kept coming up - bonuses don’t build loyalty—great products and emotional connections do.

I also have a strong personal connection.

When my father passed from dementia and my mother suffered a stroke, I saw how quickly people need support they never expected having to rely on. I always wanted to help but like most people, life got in the way. Then, one birthday I ran a donation campaign, and realised something: donating to charity online feels transactional. Maybe you get a thank-you message. Maybe an email with ten pages of text that you’ll never read. But it doesn’t feel right or fun.

At the same time, I was spending my days making iGaming more engaging, immersive, and rewarding for an industry that players often find shallow and self-indulgent. That’s when it hit me - what if giving online could be transparent, effortless and fun and, what if our leisure spend actually meant something and could affect positive change.

So in early 2024, I put 1+1 together. That’s how the vision for EmpowerYourPlay was born: to make giving fun; and give fun meaning.

 

Pitch ICE 2025 attracted a record number of entries: can you describe how it feels to head a distinguished field and win?

Winning Pitch ICE in Barcelona was exhilarating, and I think it is proof that we’re onto something. 

Having industry veterans like Adam Rosenberg, and VC investors to the likes of Connor Williams and Tom Waterhouse buy into our vision proves that they see the potential in micro-donation rewards not just ‘being ethical’ but also being smart business. Winning ICE

represents the ultimate validation and we’re very grateful to ICE, to sponsors NYCE, the judges, and to host, Karolina Pelc.

 

 

In practical terms what does it mean to the business?

It puts EmpowerYourPlay on the map and has already fast-tracked conversations with operators who were previously hesitant, giving us real momentum in our go-to-market strategy. More importantly, it validates that iGaming loyalty and rewards need an overhaul and we’re leading that change.

The win has raised awareness among investors, which if secured would allow us to scale integrations faster, grow our dedicated engineering team, and widen our portfolio of vetted charities. 

Our ambitious vision—£50M+ in donations by 2030 isn’t that insanely aspirational, considering digital entertainment spends ~$51Bn+ on bonuses, rewards and loyalty programmes. With the right operator partnerships, our vision becomes a highly achievable target.

Currently we’re preparing to launch with 1–2 early adopters, but there’s room for one more forward-thinking operator, someone willing to be part of the first few in the UK to launch socially conscious rewards. Being part of our pilot is a chance to gain proprietary insights, free PR exposure, and a powerful and truly innovative way to engage and retain players.

 

 

How difficult is it to secure funding for a start-up?

I’m pleased that you asked this because its Brutal.

Raising for a first-of-its-kind iGaming product and one that doesn’t follow a ‘rigidly repeatable model’ such as a ‘crypto casino’ is an uphill battle, all of which validates and underscores the thinking and motivation behind Pitch ICE.

The irony is that other industries have already validated this model. U.S. online retail case studies show up to a 6x revenue increase through donation-based incentives and a 30% boost in average order value. Yet in iGaming, if something hasn’t been done before it’s met with hesitation.

The question remains how can the industry expect to innovate if it rejects anything that isn’t a copy-paste of past success?

 

So what are your next steps?

Winning Pitch ICE Barcelona has opened doors, but we’re still in the trenches. Our challenge is to demonstrate that this isn’t simply a positive PR play but the stand-out alternative for players uninterested and unsubscribed from bonuses a segment which operators are currently unable to excite.

That’s why, to date, we’ve bootstrapped, secured LOIs, and entered contract negotiations—all with barely any funding. Now, we’re looking for investors who see the long-term potential in scaling a category-defining product but aren’t afraid to take a calculated bet.

We want to attract those who believe in our vision and my decade of experience running and optimising high-value player and  marketing campaigns and lastly tech backers who trust in our ex-Twitter, ex-start-up engineering team to deliver.

Our £750K pre-seed round will allow us to add engineering firepower, take our team full-time, onboard more operators, and expand our vetted charity network.

We don’t expect risk-free bets. But we do hope some industry leaders will dare to back a winning hand!

If interested, simply connect with me Tiffany Santisteban Lagos on LinkedIn or email tiffany@empoweryourplay.com