David Natroshvili
David Natroshvili

On October 1, 2026, at the SBC Awards in Lisbon's MEO Arena, David Natroshvili received the Nico Jansen Vision to Reality Award. The honor was one of 39 categories presented that night, and it came four months after an industry publication ranked the SPRIBE founder and CEO first on its list of the most influential people in the sector.

The two recognitions arrived in the same year for different reasons. One measured influence. The other, by its name, recognized a founder who turned an idea into a working business.

First on the list

On May 29, 2026, iGaming Express named Natroshvili the most influential person in global iGaming, placing him first on its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the sector. The publication describes the list as covering founders, executives, investors and regulators whose decisions had a measurable impact on the industry over the preceding year. Natroshvili was ranked ahead of the chief executives of several of the industry's largest companies, as European Gaming reported on the ranking.

The publication credited his influence to the scale of Aviator, the title SPRIBE launched in 2019. According to the ranking, Aviator now attracts more than 77 million unique players each month and has reached more than 5,000 operators since launch. It also noted that operators use the game as a tool for attracting new players to their platforms, a role that goes beyond content alone.

Natroshvili responded by pointing to his team. "This recognition belongs to the entire SPRIBE team," he said. "Over the past few years, our goal has not simply been to build a successful product, but to create an experience capable of driving the industry in a new direction."

From vision to reality

The SBC Awards 2026 brought a second individual honor. Natroshvili received the Nico Jansen Vision to Reality Award, and on the same night Aviator was named Crash Game of the Year, repeating its win in the category from 2025.

The award's name fits the arc of his company. Natroshvili founded SPRIBE in 2018 around a format that did not yet have an established market. In an interview on the genesis of SPRIBE, he recalled that "initially, many operators were hesitant to adopt something so different." Seven years after Aviator's launch, SPRIBE reports working with more than 6,000 operator partners, employing 420 people across five countries and holding more than 90% of the crash game category.

A run of individual honors

The 2026 recognitions continue a pattern that began the previous year. In November 2025, SiGMA named Natroshvili to its Hall of Game at a ceremony at Cinecittà Studios in Rome, citing more than 25 years of work across public administration and business. SPRIBE also received the Outstanding Leadership award at SiGMA Asia in 2025. In August 2026, SBC announced Natroshvili as one of five inductees in its 2026 Hall of Fame class.

Those honors reflect an unusual career path for the sector. Before founding SPRIBE, Natroshvili worked at a U.S.-based Fortune 500 company and held senior positions in Georgia's government, including First Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Deputy Minister of Agriculture. A City AM profile of Natroshvili describes a leadership approach built on innovation, adaptability and strategic execution.

What the recognition reflects

Natroshvili has said his role has shifted as SPRIBE has grown, from involvement in everything to a focus on direction and people. The awards of 2026 are personal honors, but his response to the iGaming Express ranking framed them as a reflection of the team he has built.

For SPRIBE, the year also brought practical milestones. The company is expanding its product, engineering, data, compliance and regional business development teams, and says it expects to announce at least two significant global partnerships during 2026. The recognition in Lisbon closes a year in which the founder's original idea was measured both by its reach and by the industry's view of the person who built it.