The Promotion
Altenar has elevated Giannis Papakonstantinou to Director of Sportsbook Product following more than eight years with the B2B supplier. The promotion reflects Altenar's commitment to internal career progression and its partner-led approach to product development — building sportsbook technology around the real-world needs of operators rather than developing in a vacuum.
Papakonstantinou's journey at Altenar is a case study in how deep, long-term engagement with both a product and its customers can create the expertise needed to lead product strategy. He joined the company as an Account Manager, progressed to Account Management Director, and now assumes responsibility for the platform's entire sportsbook product strategy and development.
- New role — Director of Sportsbook Product
- Tenure — more than 8 years at Altenar
- Previous roles — Account Manager → Account Management Director
- Focus — product strategy, development, and market alignment
From Account Manager to Product Director
Papakonstantinou's career trajectory is unusual in the B2B iGaming sector, where product leadership roles are often filled through external recruitment. His progression from account management to product leadership reflects a deliberate strategy by Altenar to develop product leaders who understand both the technology and the commercial realities of operator partnerships.
In his account management roles, Papakonstantinou worked closely with operators across different markets, gaining first-hand insight into their requirements. This experience gave him a detailed understanding of:
- Operator pain points — the specific challenges that operators face when deploying and managing a sportsbook
- Market differences — how sportsbook requirements vary across jurisdictions, sports cultures, and player demographics
- Product gaps — areas where the existing Altenar platform could be improved to better serve operator needs
- Commercial constraints — the pricing, margin, and operational pressures that influence operators' technology decisions
This ground-level knowledge is difficult to acquire without years of direct operator engagement, and it is what makes internal promotions like this particularly valuable for B2B providers.
Leadership Endorsement
Antonis Karakousis, Director of Operations at Altenar, endorsed the promotion in strong terms:
"Giannis' promotion is a great example of the opportunities available to people who grow with Altenar. Over these years, he has gained an exceptional understanding of our business, our operators and, most importantly, our sportsbook product. Having worked closely with customers throughout his career, he knows not only what our product can do today, but also what it needs to do next. That combination of product knowledge, commercial understanding and first-hand customer insight makes him ideally placed to lead the next stage of our sportsbook development."
Karakousis's emphasis on the combination of "product knowledge, commercial understanding and first-hand customer insight" highlights what makes this promotion strategically significant. In the B2B sportsbook market, product development is not purely a technical exercise — it requires understanding the commercial context in which operators use the product, the competitive pressures they face, and the player expectations they must meet.
The Vision Ahead
Papakonstantinou outlined his vision for the role:
"I'm excited to take on this role at a time when sportsbook technology is evolving rapidly and operators are looking for greater flexibility, smarter solutions and stronger opportunities to differentiate. We have a strong foundation to build on, and I'm looking forward to helping shape the next stage of our product journey."
His reference to "flexibility," "smarter solutions," and "differentiation" signals the direction of Altenar's product development. In a market where many B2B providers offer similar core functionality — pre-match and live betting, risk management, and standard sports coverage — differentiation comes from flexibility, customisation, and the ability to adapt the product to each operator's specific market context.
The B2B Sportsbook Market Context
The promotion comes at a time of significant change in the B2B sportsbook technology market. Operators are increasingly demanding:
- Flexibility — the ability to customise the sportsbook front-end, trading rules, and risk parameters
- Localisation — content and features tailored to specific markets and sports cultures
- Speed to market — faster integration and deployment timelines
- Data-driven features — bet builders, cash-out, and in-play betting powered by real-time data
- Regulatory compliance — built-in features that meet varying jurisdictional requirements
Altenar's recent successes — including the AdmiralCasino.co.uk launch in the UK and the Winpot partnership in Mexico — demonstrate the company's ability to deliver localised, flexible sportsbook solutions. Papakonstantinou's promotion suggests that Altenar intends to double down on this strategy, using deep operator relationships to guide product development.
Product Strategy and Player Experience
While B2B providers like Altenar build the technology that powers sportsbooks, the ultimate beneficiary is the player. The quality of the sportsbook product — from odds competitiveness to in-play betting speed to bet builder flexibility — directly determines the player experience.
Platforms like https://spinpanda.co.uk/ rely on B2B technology to deliver a seamless sportsbook experience to players. The partnership between B2B providers and operators is what ultimately shapes the quality of the product that players interact with — and leaders like Papakonstantinou, who understand both sides of that partnership, are essential to building products that serve the entire value chain.
Source: GamblingTimes