Going for glory
One of the most prestigious annual iGaming awards events takes place next month in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Over 600 industry movers and shakers have already booked their tickets to the SBC Awards Americas 2026 at the Broward County Convention Center on June 10, hoping to scoop awards and gain priceless peer recognition for their hard work across 34 categories from payments to player engagement.
Despite awards for categories such as compliance and operations, players and iGaming studios alike know where the true glory lies, and that’s Game of the Year.
SBC has just released its shortlist for the showpiece category and VegasSlotsOnline News selects the top six contenders we think could take home the biggest prize of all.
Without much further ado, here’s our top six picks from fiery underworld chaos to clever combos.
1. Devil Fire 2
Contender number one for Game of the Year is Devil Fire 2, which its creator, TaDa Gaming, shared at the time on Instagram:
As players will attest, the Taiwanese firm didn’t simply rest on its laurels after the success of Devil Fire, launching the sequel just months later with completely different mechanics, more cinematic quality graphics, but still the same mischievously demonic soundtrack.
The central little devil character returns in the sequel played on a medium volatility 5-reel, 3-row slot set in a hellish vault filled with coins and flowing with melted gold lava. Players are whisked off on a cheeky pursuit through an underworld teeming with demonic cupids, and gluttonous piggy banks – definitely an intense realm but playful at the same time.
Forty fixed paylines, an above average RTP of 97.16%, and a near-blasphemous max win of 14,000x comes with a bet range of $0.20 to $200 a spin, making Devil Fire 2 accessible yet rewarding for high and low rollers.
What the Game of the Year judges will take particular note of in Florida is the slot’s standout collector mechanics, which include devil twins, bonus coins, four fixed jackpots, free spins, wilds, and hold-and-spin-style action.
2. Fortune of Olympus
Gibraltar iGaming studio giant Pragmatic Play went to the mountaintop for its reimagined Gates of Olympus franchise and came back cloaked in glory.
Contender two for SGA’s Game of the Year, Fortune of Olympus has already won Pragmatic a key award this year, as the firm shared on X back in March:
Fronted by a rejuvenated Zeus, the high volatility, cluster-pays slot pumps up the Greek Mythology genre to the max, with innovative modifiers, max win potential of 10,000x, and a bet range sliding from $0.20 to $240.
Played on a 7×7 grid, the slot has a 96.55% RTP and delivers chaotic, high-stakes god-like gameplay with cascading tumbles, escalating multipliers via free spins, special bets, and bonus buys.
Where Fortune of Olympus may catch judges’ eyes the most, however, is through what trade media described as “god-tier moments” in homage to the way the slot’s multipliers stack and clusters explode to bring players life-changing wins.
3. Dark Waters 2 Power Combo
Created by Just for the Win, the Gothenburg, Sweden-based studio used SBC Awards Americas 2026 hopeful Dark Waters 2 Power Combo to take its predecessor to another level by diving even deeper into haunted, pirate-infested seas patrolled by ghost vessels and sea monsters.
Made exclusively for Games Global, the distributor giant wasted no time sharing the sequel to Dark Waters Power Combo on X back in August:
The slick, high volatility sequel delivers a big upgrade on the Power Combo feature and blows players out of their comfort zone on a six-reel grid peppered with up to 262,144 ways to win.
With a 96% RTP and anchor-solid win potential via expanding reels and mechanics upgrades, the boosted Power Combo system in Dark Waters 2 invites players to upgrade the stack collector, giant and golden reels through diamond tokens in the base game, while carrying the mechanic across seamlessly into free spins.
Ultimately, Dark Waters 2 is a joy to play, thanks to layered bonus stages, multiplier wilds and, when the Kraken does its chaos unleashing thing, escalating thrills.
The moody, high-atmosphere ambience dovetails with genuine mechanical depth, to deliver a premium gameplay experience and potentially Just for the Win the 2026 Game of the Year title.
4. Clover Coin Combo
The dark horse of our shortlisted Game of the Year nominees is Clover Coin Combo, a light-hearted slot brimming with Irish charm created by the low-profile iGaming studio Funky Games.
A simple 5×3 layout with fixed paylines and focus on fortune, coins, and combo rewards underlines the power of less is more.
Herein lies the charm of Clover Coin Combo. Its simplicity belies its attractiveness to high rollers while its relaxed, warm, and color-rich ambience invokes a sense of classic slot nostalgia that rakes in casual players by the droves.
The slot brings Irish fortune to the reels via its combo mechanics that focus on harvesting lucky coins and clovers, which trigger free spins, wild substitutions, and extra magic courtesy of multiplier boosts in the bonus stages.
Clover Coin Combo comes with a robust 96% RTP and balanced volatility that suits just about all types of slots players. Funky Games caters to casual players with minimum bets starting at $0.50 and a straightforward route to a 10,000x max win potential via coin collections, while it shows high rollers the faster highway to fortune with a max bet cap of $200.
fun and approachable slot
Judges in Florida will take good note that Clover Coin Combo stands out from the other contenders as a fun and approachable slot in a field of much heavier hitters.
5. 3 Magic Pots
London studio Push Gaming is no stranger to the limelight thanks to innovative, premium titles like Wild Swarm, Razor Shark, and Jammin’ Jars, which won Best High Volatility Game at the 2018 Videoslots Awards.
Despite many nominations, the British firm’s trophy cabinet is a lonely place, but 3 Magic Pots released last April and shared on X might make it a pair:
Like the previous contender, the six-reel, four-row 3 Magic Pots balances accessibility with 4,096 ways to win and is expandable to 46,656. With its low volatility, simplicity and 5,992x max win a departure from Push Gaming’s signature heavier-hitting releases, its mass-market appeal is blatant and may be the USP that caught the SBC judges’ eye.
The session-friendly slot is packaged with charming magic aesthetics, such as a light and twinkly soundtrack and the three animated colored pots that watch over the reels as if alive.
Collector mechanics, instant wins, sticky prizes, and three standalone free spins features tied to the three pots adds to the enchantment, as does the combined Magic Reels free spins feature that expands the grid with a wow factor similar to how sorcerer’s apprentice Mickey’s brooms multiplied in Disney’s 1940 hit Fantasia.
If 3 Magic Pots takes the title in June, it will be because the slot caters to a wide audience via an entry level bet of $0.10, a max cap of $100 for simplicity loving high-rollers, and a variety of other enchantments.
6. Three Little Pigs: Magic Never Ends
Everyone loves a good story, which brings us to our final contender for Game of the Year: Three Little Pigs: Magic Never Ends, a release by Massive Gaming arm Slot Mart, a nomination the firm shared on LinkedIn:
Magic Never Ends gives the classic fairytale a fresh narrative-based twist, with a fun, larger-than-life bad wolf trying to huff and puff down houses made of straw, wood, and brick on 3×3 grids, before expanding to a 5×3 home via escalating rewards as the pigs’ houses gain magical upgrades.
With the hand of the three pigs’ magic wand-wielding mom directing the play, familiar narrative elements fuse with multiplier wilds, scatter-triggered free spins, making Slot Mart’s storytelling the focus in Magic Never Ends along with solid, consistent payouts over five paylines.
The high-volatility slot with a solid 96.10% RTP promises potential max wins of 10,000x from single spins, with the Piggy Coin Bonus and Magic Wand Bonus triggerable in any of the base games.
While the mechanics are simple, the animated nostalgic charm, multiplier wilds, and instant reward free spins are crowd-pleasers and the betting range slides from a minimum $0.10 to a max $100 to cater for most levels of players.
Ultimately, the gameplay depth and feel-good nature of Magic Never Ends gives it robust appeal for players who enjoy story-driven slots and, as such, offers a refreshing balance to make it a strong contender to take the prize on June 10.
Over to the judges
From Devil Fire 2’s high-RTP devilish thrills and Fortune of Olympus’ godly clusters to Dark Waters 2’s deep-sea power mechanics and the more accessible charms of Clover Coin Combo, 3 Magic Pots, and Magic Never Ends, each contender has what it takes to lift the crown in Florida.
