🌞July 2026

Smartico release notes for July 2026 - covering CRM Automation and Gamification improvements done since the previous release.

Jackpot Admin Fee calculated from Contribution Amount

You can now choose how the Jackpot admin fee is calculated. In the Contribution rules setup, the updated Admin fee % field includes a new setting that lets you decide whether the percentage is calculated "From players bet" or "From contribution amount".

Regardless of the option selected, the fee is funded directly from the player's wallet and remains excluded from the Jackpot pot.

Read more about Contribution Rules in Jackpots

Custom Games in Vibe Studio

You can now build your own branded mini-games in Vibe Studio, backed by the standard Smartico mini-games engine.

The mini-game template stays the source of truth for rewards, prize pools, odds, limits, and eligibility — you configure those in Gamification → Mini-games using the Custom mini-game type. Vibe Studio → Custom games is where the game's look and interaction are built. Because the two are separate, you can swap the design of a live game without touching its reward configuration.

Ready-to-use game templates you can start from include Shell game, Balloon game, Sphere Strike / Spiral, Darts, and Pinyata. Translations can be produced from the AI chat, and you can test the result in both desktop and mobile previews.

Vibe Studio

We're introducing Vibe Studio — a design studio built into the Back Office that lets you create your own custom, on-brand player experiences without writing code. You describe what you want in plain English, an AI assistant builds it, a live preview updates as you go, and one click takes it live.

See our dedicated demo site with examples of widgets, promotions, landings, and custom games: https://smartico.dev

Vibe Studio covers four kinds of player-facing experiences:

Widgets — gamification embedded in your existing site through a one-line JavaScript snippet.
Promotions — a page for a single promotion (a tournament, a raffle) that you link from campaigns.
Landings — a public page to attract and convert new visitors.
Custom Games — your own branded reward game.

The split of responsibilities is important: Smartico supplies the data and the rules — missions, prizes, balances, odds, segments — all configured elsewhere in the Back Office. Vibe Studio supplies the look, the layout, and the experience on top.

Vibe Studio itself is included for every Smartico client at no extra cost.

Vibe Studio is in Beta. If you have no previous experience with AI-assisted development, plan for it: always test deeply rather than trusting the assistant's "it's done", and expect the first impressive result to need several more rounds before it is production-ready. Smartico support can help if you get stuck.

RCS messages

We are excited to announce the launch of RCS which delivers interactive, media-rich messaging experiences directly to your players native smartphone messaging apps to drive engagement and retention.

Here are some of the key features and capabilities:

5 Message Types: Choose the right structure for your campaigns - Text, standalone Media, Rich Card, multi-card Carousel, or pre-registered Template layouts.
Card Buttons & Suggested Actions: Engage players with click actions (URL redirects, phone dialing, pre-written quick replies). Use floating Suggested Actions across standard messages or embedded Card Buttons within cards and carousels.
SMS Fallback: Automatically failover to a plain SMS if a recipient's device does not support RCS, ensuring maximum campaign reach.
Live Preview: See exactly how your content renders in real time directly within the Back Office.

Edit in Vibe Studio for Liquid Custom Sections

The same "Edit in Vibe Studio (Beta)" button is now available for Gamification Custom Sections of the Liquid type on the "Page content" editor.

As with mail templates, Apply returns the edited content to the Custom Section form for you to review and save.

Edit in Vibe Studio for mail templates

Mail templates can now be edited with the Vibe Studio AI assistant. In the mail template's content editor, you'll find an "Edit in Vibe Studio (Beta)" button, available for the RAW (HTML) and Liquid content modes.

What the assistant does for you:

It knows your user state tags. The assistant looks up the label's real {{state.*}} merge tags instead of guessing at property names, and treats merge tags and Liquid logic as data — it never renames, translates, or "corrects" them while restyling around them.
It can generate images. Ask for a header, a banner, or an illustration; the generated image is stored in the brand's media library and referenced by its CDN URL, which is what an email needs.
The result is mail-client friendly. The assistant follows email HTML rules — table-based layout, inline CSS, no JavaScript, absolute image URLs, a 600–640px safe width, and dark-mode-safe backgrounds — so the template renders correctly in Outlook, Gmail, and the rest.
Two preview modes. Without a preview user, merge tags are shown with their configured preview values. Pick a preview user, and you get a full personalized render with Liquid actually executed; Liquid errors are reported in a banner.

When you're happy with the result, Apply hands the content back into the mail template form — you still review and save it there, so the form remains the single place that writes your mail.

Manual Claim for Prize Drop

We've introduced a new manual claim option for Prize Drop rewards, allowing players to choose whether to claim their prize immediately. This option is available in the "When to give the prize" setting as "Give prize only after manual claim". When enabled, all Prize Drop templates automatically display two configurable buttons: Claim and Cancel. These button labels can be customized in the prize configuration.

From the player's perspective, the Prize Drop reward will present both Claim and Cancel options:

If the player clicks Claim, the prize is immediately awarded.
Until Claim is selected, the prize remains unissued.
If the player clicks Cancel, the prize is not awarded at that time. However, it remains available in the Prize History (if enabled for the prize), where the player can return and claim it later if they choose.

New Campaign Activity: Approve Jackpot

We are introducing a new activity in the Campaigns flow: Approve Jackpot. This gives you the flexibility to delay jackpot crediting until specific player actions are completed.

In the activity itself, you can define the following:

Jackpot template: Easily select from templates with manual approval enabled, complete with a quick search filter.
Pot approval options: Choose whether to approve all pending manual pots or approve the most recent one.

Read more about Approve Jackpot Activity

Early VIP Detection AI Model

We're introducing Early VIP Detection — a model that identifies high-value players early, before their value is visible from deposits alone.

Early VIP Detection flags new depositors whose early behavior resembles players who went on to become VIPs. Every first-time depositor is scored across their first 14 days.

Scoring is calibrated per brand and brand-relative — "high potential" means high against that brand's own players, not a generic benchmark. The model is precision-first: fewer, higher-confidence flags instead of noisy volume.

Outputs are delivered straight into the CRM as the early_vip_flag and tier bands (D0 Watch, Watch, Probable, Strong), available in the player panel and for use in segmentation, journeys, missions, and host queues — so your team can reach the right players while it still matters.

Early VIP Detection is activated on request. Once enabled for a label, the model scores the brands within it, and the flag and tiers become live for use.

For additional info refer to Early VIP Detection Model

Auto resolve rounds and season for Match X and Quiz

We’ve introduced a new Auto Resolve Date option for Match X and Quiz, allowing you to automatically resolve a round or an entire season at a specified time. The new setting, “Auto Resolve Date (UTC)”, is available in the Round Settings and, when Seasonal Ranking is enabled, at the Template level for the entire season. Once the configured date and time are reached, the round or season will be automatically resolved and prizes will be awarded. By default, the setting is left empty, meaning rounds and seasons must be resolved manually.

Note: Auto Resolve for a round will only be triggered once all matches in that round have been resolved. Similarly, Auto Resolve for a season will only occur once all rounds in the season have been resolved.