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Nik Robinson is the founder and CEO of Big Time Gaming (BTG). It’s the Sydney studio behind Bonanza, Extra Chilli, and the Megaways mechanic. He’s run the company since starting it in 2011. BTG hasn’t been independently owned since 2021, but Robinson is still in charge. That year, Swedish live-casino giant Evolution bought the studio outright for up to EUR 450 million. Robinson stayed on as CEO of the newly acquired subsidiary. Founders often exit soon after a sale like that, so it’s an unusual arrangement in gambling M&A. Robinson instead kept running the same Megaways online pokies engine he invented. It now sits inside one of the industry’s largest public companies. Below is his career timeline, the Evolution deal terms, and what makes BTG different from other gambling executives profiled here.
Nik Robinson’s Career Timeline at Big Time Gaming
Robinson spent two decades in gambling technology before he built a slot studio of his own.
- 1996 – Robinson founded New Tech Media, a gaming technology company later sold to News Corp. The business was folded into what eventually became OpenBet, the sports-betting platform still used by major bookmakers today.
- 2005 to 2011 – Robinson held a senior creative and product role at OpenBet. He carried his background in game mechanics into the sports-betting software world.
- 2011 – Robinson founded Big Time Gaming in Surry Hills, New South Wales. Huw McIntosh joined as chief technology officer and Ian Schmidt as creative director. Robinson has served as CEO ever since.
- 2016 – BTG launched Dragon Born, the first game built on the Megaways mechanic. Bonanza followed later that year and became one of the best-known slots of the decade.
- 2018 – Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Megaways brought the mechanic to a mainstream audience. BTG began licensing Megaways to rival studios, starting with Blueprint Gaming and Storm Gaming.
- 2021 – Evolution announced its acquisition of BTG in April and completed the deal in July. Robinson remained as CEO of the subsidiary.
- 2026 – Robinson continues to lead BTG’s game development and licensing business. Recent branded releases include Monopoly Rush Hour.
Robinson had already built and sold a gaming technology company before any of this. That gave him product experience and a network across the supplier side of the industry. It shaped BTG’s early focus on mechanics and engineering, not just individual game titles. That distinction became central once Megaways took off.
Nik Robinson’s Ownership and the Evolution Deal
Robinson built BTG from a standing start in 2011. A decade later, Evolution valued the company at up to EUR 450 million. Robinson held founder ownership the entire time. Evolution’s April 2021 agreement structured the purchase as EUR 220 million upfront. That split into EUR 80 million in cash and roughly 1.12 million newly issued Evolution shares. On top of that, Evolution agreed to earn-out payments worth up to a further EUR 230 million. Those payments were tied to BTG’s 2022/23 and 2023/24 earnings. BTG reported 2020 revenue of EUR 33 million against EBITDA of EUR 29 million. That’s an unusually high margin. It reflects how much of BTG’s income already came from licensing fees rather than game sales.
Robinson didn’t cash out and leave once the deal closed. He stayed on to run the subsidiary instead. A meaningful share of his payout was tied to BTG’s post-acquisition performance through the earn-out. That’s a different shape of exit than most founder sales in gambling. Buyers typically absorb the target’s staff and technology while the founder moves on.
Why Nik Robinson’s Track Record Matters
Robinson’s most consequential decision as CEO wasn’t a single game. It was licensing Megaways to competitors instead of keeping the mechanic exclusive to BTG’s own titles.
- Megaways debuted in Dragon Born in 2016. It randomises the number of symbols on each reel every spin, generating as many as 117,649 ways to win on a single spin.
- BTG holds the US patent on the mechanic. It has licensed Megaways to dozens of rival studios since 2018, including Blueprint Gaming, Storm Gaming, Red Tiger, iSoftBet, and Merkur.
- That licensing model turned one studio’s invention into an industry-wide standard. It’s the main reason BTG’s margins, and Evolution’s purchase price, looked the way they did.
Most slot studios compete by releasing more games. BTG competes by owning the mechanic other studios build on top of. That’s a structurally different position in the games supply chain. Robinson has kept that strategy running under Evolution’s ownership. He continues to license Megaways and newer mechanics like Megaclusters to third parties rather than keeping them in-house. One question worth watching is whether Evolution keeps licensing Megaways this openly, now that a public company owns the patent.
Regulatory and Licensing Context Facing Nik Robinson
BTG’s regulatory position looks different from a player-facing casino operator’s. BTG doesn’t take bets or hold player funds itself.
As a B2B games licensor, BTG is certified in the jurisdictions where its software providers and platform partners operate. It doesn’t hold a single direct-to-consumer licence the way an operator does. Its games carry certification through bodies including the Alderney Gambling Control Commission, under licence number 000-038696-R-320048-001. BTG’s content reaches players through aggregators and platform deals with more than 350 operators. That structure means compliance obligations sit mostly with the operators and platforms distributing BTG’s games. BTG itself isn’t setting player-facing terms.
There’s no active licence dispute or investigation tied to BTG or Robinson at the time of writing. The one live regulatory-adjacent question sits around the Megaways patent, now an Evolution Group asset. It’s worth watching how licensing terms evolve as more studios seek access.
Frequently Asked Questions About Nik Robinson
Who is Nik Robinson, CEO of Big Time Gaming?
Nik Robinson is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Big Time Gaming. It’s the Australian slot studio that invented the Megaways mechanic. He has led the company since founding it in 2011. He stayed on as CEO after Evolution acquired BTG in 2021.
How did Nik Robinson become CEO of Big Time Gaming?
Robinson founded Big Time Gaming himself in 2011. Before that, he built and sold an earlier gaming technology company called New Tech Media. That business was later absorbed into what became OpenBet. Robinson has run BTG as CEO from its founding onward, including through the 2021 Evolution acquisition.
What is Nik Robinson’s biggest achievement at Big Time Gaming?
Robinson’s studio invented Megaways, a reel mechanic first used in 2016’s Dragon Born. It generates up to 117,649 ways to win per spin. BTG then licensed the patented mechanic to dozens of rival studios. It’s now an industry-standard feature used across hundreds of slot titles.
What was Nik Robinson’s career before Big Time Gaming?
Before founding BTG in 2011, Robinson founded New Tech Media in 1996. He later worked in a senior creative role at OpenBet following that company’s sale. That background in gaming mechanics and betting technology fed directly into BTG’s product-first approach to slot design.
Is Nik Robinson still CEO of Big Time Gaming under Evolution?
Yes. Robinson remained CEO of Big Time Gaming after Evolution completed its acquisition of the studio in July 2021. He continues to lead the business as of 2026. He still oversees BTG’s game development and its Megaways licensing arrangements with other studios.
Explore more gambling executive profiles to see how other industry leaders across Australia’s gambling sector built their careers.
Gambling Executive Sources
Career timeline
- Nik Robinson: CEO and Founder Q&A – Big Time Gaming Casinos
- Big Time Gaming CEO has Netflix-style ambitions – GamblingTV
- Big Time Gaming Slots Q&A with Nik Robinson – OLBG
Ownership and the Evolution deal
- Evolution has entered into an agreement to acquire Big Time Gaming – Cision
- Evolution finalises Big Time Gaming acquisition – CasinoBeats
Why this appointment matters
- Big Time Gaming Review: Megaways Mechanics Explained for Operators – GamingSoft
- Evolution progresses with EUR 450m takeover of Big Time Gaming – SBC News
Regulatory context
Background