Cafrino's B2B Pivot Fuels Record Growth, Reshapes Online Casino Strategy

COSTA MESA, Calif. – February 18, 2026 – Cafrino Gaming, a veteran in the legal online poker space, has announced a record-breaking 2025, capped by a remarkable 64% year-over-year revenue surge in its fourth quarter. The performance significantly outpaces the broader U.S. commercial gaming industry's respectable 9% growth, signaling a major strategic success for the Costa Mesa-based company.

The impressive figures are the result of a deliberate, two-pronged strategy: a deep investment in platform technology and a pivotal expansion from a direct-to-consumer model into the business-to-business (B2B) sector, offering its seasoned poker technology to other online casino operators.

A Strategic Shift to Powering the Industry

After more than a decade of building its brand and technology directly with players, Cafrino embarked on a new chapter in 2024. The company identified a burgeoning opportunity within the rapidly expanding online casino market, which is often dominated by slot-based games.

"In 2024, we made the decision to expand our product offering to existing casino brands," said Mike Murphy, CEO of Cafrino, Inc. "After more than 10 years of providing legal online poker to players around the world, and witnessing the rapid growth of online casinos, we recognized a clear opportunity. Offering our poker technology to other thriving casino operators was the logical next step."

This strategic pivot materialized in the third quarter of 2025 with the official launch of Cafrino's B2B Online Poker technology, offered in both a turnkey White Label format and a more customizable API integration. By providing the complex architecture required for online poker, Cafrino enables other gaming platforms to add a highly engaging and differentiated product to their portfolios without building it from scratch.

Poker as a Potent Growth Engine

The most compelling validation of Cafrino's strategy came swiftly. The company's first B2B client, which integrated the technology and launched in Q4 2025, reported staggering results within its first few months of operation.

The partner witnessed a 131% increase in revenue, a 41% growth in its player base, and a near-doubling of customer value, reflected in a 99.56% increase in average purchase size. Critically, these gains were achieved alongside a decrease in the cost per acquisition (CPA) for new players.

"With the dramatic growth in new online casinos focused primarily on slots, we believed adding poker would serve as both a key differentiator and a tool to reduce CPA costs while increasing revenue per player," explained John Buckman, Cafrino's Head of Partnerships. "The early performance validated that strategy, and we're excited about the continued impact."

This success story suggests a broader trend: online poker, once seen as a niche vertical, is re-emerging as a powerful tool for acquisition and retention. In a sea of similar slot libraries, a robust poker offering can attract a different player demographic, foster community, and increase overall platform engagement. The global online poker market itself is on a significant upswing, projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 10% and reach a valuation of nearly $7 billion by 2030, underscoring the market potential Cafrino is tapping into for its partners.

A Foundation Built on Technology and Partnerships

Cafrino's successful B2B launch was not an overnight success but the culmination of targeted investment and foundational work. In the first half of 2025, the company dedicated significant resources to overhauling its core technology. This included a redesigned player-facing user interface (UI) for a more modern and engaging experience, substantial backend performance improvements, and infrastructure upgrades to ensure scalability for enterprise-level demand.

This technical foresight proved essential for supporting B2B deployments and ensuring a stable, high-performance experience for partners' players. The emphasis on a scalable architecture is a critical asset as the company expands its global footprint.

Further bolstering its expansion plans, Cafrino announced a strategic partnership in late 2025 with SCCG Management, a leading advisory firm in the iGaming sector. The collaboration aims to leverage SCCG's global distribution network and expertise in navigating complex licensing and compliance landscapes, accelerating Cafrino's ability to bring its poker platform to online casinos worldwide.

"For Cafrino, 2025 represented more than a revenue milestone—it marked a year of foundational expansion," stated Haig Kayserian, Chairman of Cafrino, Inc. He praised the team's execution in enhancing platform scalability and strengthening strategic partnership positioning, laying the groundwork for sustained growth.

Navigating a Dynamic and Regulated Market

Cafrino's growth is set against the backdrop of a complex but expanding U.S. online gaming market. While only six states, including recent multi-state compact addition Pennsylvania, currently offer a fully legal and active online poker ecosystem, the trend toward regulation continues. Cafrino's decade of experience operating within these legal frameworks provides it with a crucial competitive advantage.

The company's B2B model is particularly well-suited to this fragmented regulatory environment. By partnering with already licensed operators in various jurisdictions, Cafrino can deploy its technology more efficiently than by seeking individual B2C licenses in every new territory.

The momentum from 2025 has reportedly carried into the new year, with January 2026 setting new records for revenue and player engagement. With multiple new partners currently in the onboarding process and a pipeline of active discussions, the company is poised for continued acceleration. Looking ahead, Cafrino plans to further broaden its White Label Casino offering by integrating additional casino games, evolving from a poker specialist into a more comprehensive gaming technology provider.