Pragmatic Play has signed actor and comedian Kevin Hart to host four live casino sessions on 6 and 7 November, a two-day broadcast that will not be available to players in the UK.
The supplier said Hart will host from its live casino studio floor and front a selection of its live titles. It has not named the tables. Pragmatic Play said the lineup will be revealed to players on each of the two days, so operators will not know the game list far enough ahead to build campaigns around specific titles.
Hart is known for the Jumanji and Ride Along film franchises and for a stand-up career that has filled arenas across the US and Europe. He will host four separate sessions across the two days.
“When the opportunity to host some of Pragmatic Play’s biggest live casino games came up, I jumped at the opportunity. I’ve seen what they’ve got planned and let me tell you; they don’t do things small. I’m bringing the Kevin energy to Pragmatic Play. November can’t get here fast enough. Let’s play!”
Irina Cornides, Chief Operating Officer at Pragmatic Play, described the two days as an entertainment event for the supplier’s operator partners.
“Kevin Hart needs no introduction, and we are absolutely thrilled to welcome him into the studio. We thought Zeus knew how to command a room, but Kevin Hart hosting some of our biggest titles? Now that’s a whole new level of entertainment you won’t want to miss. This collaboration is all about creating a truly memorable entertainment experience. We know Kevin will bring his signature wit and personality to the table, and we can’t wait to deliver an unforgettable experience for our operator partners and their players.”
Free Chips before, cash drops during
Pragmatic Play said it will run a series of promotions in the weeks before the broadcasts, giving players the chance to win Free Chips on live casino games, including the tables Hart hosts. During the sessions themselves, the supplier will drop random cash prizes across the event.
The promotional mechanics carry the commercial weight for operators. Free Chips and network cash drops are what turn a two-day broadcast into measurable session time at the tables, and they are also what an operator has to fund, report and reconcile. Pragmatic Play has not published prize pool values, the list of participating markets, or how operators opt in. Those details will determine how much of the audience an individual brand can claim.
The UK carve-out
The announcement carries a footnote: the event is not available in the UK, and availability may be restricted in other jurisdictions. Pragmatic Play did not say why.
UK advertising rules have tightened around celebrity gambling content since 1 October 2022, when CAP rule 16.3.12 replaced a “particular appeal” test with a stricter “strong appeal” standard. Under the current rule, gambling advertising must not be of strong appeal to children or young persons. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) guidance treats a figure’s following among under-18s, and their association with content aimed at younger audiences, as central to that assessment. Hart’s best-known screen work sits in family film franchises.
In November 2025 it agreed a deal with Entain to put its Big Bass series into Ladbrokes and Coral retail shops across the UK. The exclusion applies to this event only.
A narrower product focus
The Hart sessions land after a year in which Pragmatic Play cut its product range back. In June the supplier exited sportsbook, bingo and virtual sports, leaving slots and live casino as the two verticals it invests in. Live casino has taken most of the visible spend since. In January it deployed four branded live tables for Madison Casino in Belgium, and it has continued adding studio capacity in new markets.
The event sits in a crowded segment. The same roulette and blackjack formats run across every major live supplier, and differentiation now comes from game shows, branded environments and scheduled events that give a lobby a reason to be opened at a specific hour. A named host for four sessions is a scheduling device as much as a marketing one.
What operators still need
Pragmatic Play said players and partners should follow its official channels for broadcast schedules and further detail. With the table lineup held back until each day and the jurisdiction list undefined beyond the UK exclusion, operators planning around 6 and 7 November are working with two months’ notice and an incomplete brief. The promotional calendar Pragmatic Play says is coming in the lead-up will show how much of the event is built for operator activation, and how much is a broadcast they are expected to point their players at.
Source: Pragmatic Play
