Welcome back to the third and final day of SBC Summit Lisbon. It’s going to be a long and epic one, as we have another full day of content as well as Infinity Lisbon at MEO Arena to close out this year’s event.
The SBC Media team is once again on site from the conference floor to bring you all the big news and action from the eight conference stages, so keep checking back in for the latest.
4:30 pm: To INFINITY and beyond…and on to SBC Summit Lisbon 2027
Things are winding down on the show floor, but there is plenty more to come for SBC Summit attendees. For some of the industry’s best, the SBC Awards at MEO Arena awaits.
But the real highlight of the evening is going to be the INFINITY Lisbon featuring Alok and Timmy Trumpet. Those holding a VIP Event Pass or equivalent are invited to attend the festivites which kick off at 8:00 pm and keep going until 3:30 am Friday morning.
From all of us at the SBC Media team, thanks for tuning in and we’ll see you next year!
4:10 pm: We have a winner! AIStats takes home the big prize
Alexey Vorobey took to the stage after being named the winner of the 2025 prize. He will walk away with an investment package of over €90,000 to support AIStats’ growth ambitions and plans.
Offering some advice for any other startups in attendance, he reflected on his company’s foundation as a small startup using its own investment and very little assets.
“If there are any founders I would advise never to give up, pursue your idea,” he said.
3:50 pm: Meet the startup making a head start in Japan
The final First Pitch contestant company is the only one to come from a country where betting is illegal – Japan. Keigo Namiki, one of the founders of Nandemo Draft, talked attendees through the social betting and casino platform, how it legally operates in Japan, and how it is preparing for the eventual launch of a regulated market there.
3:40 pm: LiveDuel has eyes on US growth
The betting industry is reliant on a third party patchwork of suppliers and affiliates, Will Martin, CEO of LiveDuel, told the packed First Pitch room. Answering a question from the panel, Martin said the company is aware of the regulatory challenges of taking its product in the US betting and prediction markets spaces, but is eager to seize opportunities.
3:30 pm: First Pitch hopeful’s chatbot obsession
ChatBet AI has the most powerful AI chatbot in the industry, company CEO Joshua Swerdflow boldly asserted, but will he convince the judges? With launches planned in Peru, Columbia and Mexico, the group has some big ambitions, with its only integration so far being with prominent B2B firm Digitain.
3:20 pm: BetPass is redefining Brazil, CEO tells First Pitch judges
Bruno Barroso, Founder and CEO of BetPass, stakes his claim to the First Pitch prize. The company is creating partners dependent on its tech, he said, as it works to create links between affiliates and operators in Brazil’s rapidly growing market.
3:10 pm: First Pitch contestant number one takes to the stage!
Alexey Vorobey, Co-Founder and CBDO of AIstats, made his case to win the 2025 SBC Summit First Pitch competition, pitching his company’s football stats business to a panel of senior executives from Soft2Bet, Metbet, Sharp Alpha Advisors and Vello Partners.
3:00 pm: 30,000 strong
It’s only the second year of the SBC Summit in Lisbon, but the event has already made its mark as a true global gathering point for the industry. During SBC’s press conference, Senior Marketing Director Dennis Algreen shared that SBC has exceeded expectations, welcoming over 30,000 attendees this year – a 20% increase from 2023.
Algreen pointed to the diversity of the crowd, with representatives from 150 countries and particularly strong growth from Africa, up 78% year-on-year. The show floor has remained buzzing through day three, bolstered by 235 new sponsors and an expanded footprint of 135,000 sq. m., up from 110,000 last year. He also noted the record 5,969 C-level attendees, underlining SBC’s draw for senior decision-makers.
Another focus has been bringing in perspectives from outside gaming, with speakers such as Gary Vaynerchuk and Randi Zuckerberg. “We don’t propose to have all the answers for the industry, and that is why we look to source the leading experts,” Algreen said.
He also highlighted Lisbon’s growing role as a host city, with 72,000 hotel nights booked and 30,000 visitors in a city of just 550,000.
The popularity of the speaker sessions was matched by the Legends Charity Game, which brought nostalgia to Lisbon and international attention abroad.
Managing Director Andrew McCarron highlighted the refinements made to the conference agenda, including a dedicated emerging markets stage and more space for SBC’s “bread and butter” regions. He emphasised the Summit’s dual role as a learning and networking hub, pointing to the new academies designed to explore technologies shaping the future.
“Nobody puts on as much content as SBC, no one does networking like SBC. I think we are by far the best at that. I think we are one of the best organisers in the world now. What we do – our attention to detail, our care for what we do – the experience is second to none,” McCarron said.
On the entertainment side, he acknowledged the “huge leap” in staging the Legends Game, but the results spoke for themselves: streamed in 19 jurisdictions, with half a million viewers in Spain alone and major fundraising efforts led by Kaizen Gaming’s €150k contribution.
2:45 pm: The future of slots in a rapidly shifting market
Slots are forever looking for new ways to innovate in a competitive market, so it comes as no surprise that a panel – Slots Powered by Players – on the Technology – Innovation stage discussed the vertical in great detail.
However, even with the technological advances available to operators and suppliers alike, transparency, fairness, and regulatory compliance must be at the forefront of decision-making.
Moderated by Ivita Rukmane, Head of Casino at Luckyslots, the expert panel dissecting topics included Dr Eyal Loz, CPO at RubyPlay; Kate Puteiko, Chief Marketing Officer at BGaming; Michael Foster, Group Head of Gaming & Commercial Strategy at FEG; Stanislav Pavlovcin, Product Manager at Swiss Casinos; and Diana Larina, Head of Marketing at Evoplay.
Some of the topics discussed included the slots, skill-based games, land-based games, marketing and acquisition, combining every talking point with a technological perspective.
2:35 pm: Brazilians creativity may be industry’s biggest challenge
It’s still early days in Brazil’s regulated betting journey, and as expected the market transition has come with a few challenges. Dealing with money laundering, fraud, and other KYC issues are a big part of this.
Brazilians are very creative, and so KYC service providers need to think about what can happen, what they can do for fraud, proof of age, proof of likeness,” said Laura Beatriz de Souza Morganti, Regulatory Compliance Counsel with BetBoom.
“Fortunately we do have that in Brazil, and it is becoming tougher to onboard a bad person on the system, but it has happened in the past. Brazilians’ creativity is the most important topic to deal with.”
Barbara Teles, Legal and Compliance Director with multinational gaming firm Stake, added that ‘everyday we see another challenge’ in Brazil, and bad actors’ creativity in bypassing KYC measures is certainly one of these.
She is confident, however, that the various KYC tools in development will help operators with the necessary checks. The task at hand is to be even more creative than the most creative fraudsters, while also taking on board lessons from more mature markets, like those in Europe.
“We have to learn from best practices around the world, we have to learn from the mature markets and this is an opportunity for Brazil to start from the beginning,” Teles said.
2:30 pm: Take a deep dive on Thailand
iGaming Expert editor Joe Streeter took a deeper look back on discussions around the downfall of Thailand’s integrated resorts bill, where even amidst political friction, there is still hope for the future of the bill.
2:15 pm: Zero percent gaming
“We’re providing the ‘zero percent’ or ‘nonalcoholic product,” Low6 Chief Strategy Office Josh Turk when describing the free-to-play version of their product. A question from the audience suggested there could be more use of gamification for responsible gambling efforts, but even with the “nonalcoholic” version is not something that can appeal to people in that manner.
Aposta Ganha CEO Herbert Gaban didn’t think it will work though, noting that the end goal of the operator is to convert to real money and that players at these real-money sites are not interested in free-to-play.
2:00 pm: How do you quanitfy gamification?
The North Americas stage tackled gamification at the first post-lunch panel and the panelists had different takes of which metric is most important to them. Lottofy CEO Fernando Ortega said lifetime value to him was the best way to determine how your gamification efforts are performing.
Tombola Managing Director Marion Ryan said for her, the session length is key because liquidity is so important for something like a bingo site.
12:30 pm: Did India rush with its RMG laws?
Real-money games in India were banned by a unified national law not so long ago, which significantly terraformed the local gambling sector – and many were not happy about it.
Lawyer Ranjana Adhikari called the decision a culmination of “confused” opinions that the government wrongly encouraged, and said that consumer interest should outweigh the opinion of the government.
A counterpoint was offered by Japneet Sethi, Chief Growth Officer for iGaming NDA, who outlined that the new laws have put a much-needed stop to the skill vs chance games debate going on for years, and that clearer rules should heightened investor interest.
However, given that there’s still no exact deadline for the bill’s enactment, Sethi’s prediction might prove inaccurate further down the line.
Amarchand also reflected on another interesting scenario – a potential push-back by individual states. But as usual, political developments are tough to foretell. One takeaway remained crystal clear throughout the panel, however – every law affects only licensed operators, and barely the black market.
12:30 pm: Fraud costing operators upwards of $400bn a year
The threat of fraud and financial crime against bookmakers and casinos is the highest it’s ever been, as fraudsters and other bad actors increasingly target operators with sophisticated AI-backed tools.
Mike Reaves, Head of Worldwide Solutions for Betting & Gaming at Amazon Web Services (AWS), declared that ‘fraud is huge in betting and gaming’ as operators find themselves embroiled in the ever growing AI arms race against financial crime.
“Fraud is huge in betting and gaming. We’re seeing estimates from 2024 of fraudulent losses being anywhere from $400bn dollars to several trillion dollars, depending on where you look.”
Regulators are also becoming more demanding, requiring risk based assessments across multiple products and thorough and prompt suspicious activity reports. Operators need to keep their AML and KYC processes on point if they want to avoid getting burned.
“The AML role is becoming more disciplinary, more strategic thinking,” said Andrea Carvalho, Head of Legal, Compliance & AML Affairs at Entain.
“It is not obsolete, it is evolving, and we need to make sure we tackle the grey areas and high risk situations and work together with relevant stakeholders. We need to stay on track and keep working together with the market’s evolution.”
12:15 pm: Mobile betting is the way forward
Stage 2 is bringing all eyes to Asia today, with Optimove revealing that it is already ahead of the game when it comes to regional partnerships.
Efe Yucemen, Director of Partnerships at Optimove, highlighted that players on the continent are massively migrating to mobile, with 80% playing on mobile devices vs 20% web users on average.
Live betting is also going through a major uptick, with 84% of players preferring live betting over 16% pre-match betting in the month of August, according to Optimove data. Live betting, of course, is more profitable in terms of average player spend.
And as to how to reach those customers, Yucemen said that Optimove is already partnering with companies like Viber and Telegram for targeted local integrations.
12:00 pm: Thailand’s past haunts regulatory efforts
Asia may hold tremendous potential as a market, but at the same time it is also one of the most nuanced regulatory landscapes in the world due to its geographical complexities.
This was best described by Lau Kok Keng, Head of Intellectual Property, Sports & Gaming at Rajah & Tan Singapore, who painted a convoluted situation in Thailand.
A bill to legalise casinos in Thailand was suddenly shelved just weeks prior to being reviewed in the Senate. Keng said that this was as deeply rooted in the country’s rich history as it is in the most recent political developments.
A Thailand-Cambodia skirmish that took place earlier in July led to the appointment of a new anti-gambling Thailand PM, thanks to a constitutional process that dates back to 1932. Now, whilst not completely rejected, Keng said that the bill needs a concoction of perfect conditions to be brought back to life next year.
11:45 am: Optimism vs caution on betting M&A and investments
Investors and strategists seem divided on whether now is the time to strike in betting and gaming, as the industry feels the impact of the wider macroeconomic and geopolitical trends as well as the challenges specific to the sector.
Tom Field, Director of Corporate Strategy & M&A, at Flutter International, arguably the most active acquirer in the global betting space, noted that times have been tough for the industry – but he has faith that it can weather any storms.
“I think when I look at the period that we’re in in terms of the market, I think gaming itself has proven to be a very resilient sector over many, many years,” he said.
Offering a more US-focused perspective, Adam Rosenberg, Senior Advisor | Gaming & Leisure, Blackstone, says that ‘all the signs are good’. In the US, the Federal Reserve has made rate cuts, and this is being mirrored with other country’s market regulators, making the situation easier for M&A.
However, Klen Kaljulaid, Principal at Yolo Investments, was blunt in his statement that “we’ve never been in more turmoil than right now’, particularly citing the neverending black market vs white market battle while also taking note of some changing trends in the US.
American investors seem to be banking heavily on the growing prediction markets space, he said, an unsurprising development given the rise of Kalshi, which for better or worse has caught a lot of attention in both the betting and finance fields.
11:35 am: California dreaming
Bet99 CEO Jared Beber pointed out that the user experience for sweeps is not ideal and not something people are actively seeking out.
“Why would I play on a sweepstakes casino?”
“Because you live in California,” Altenar COO and Co-Founder Dinos Stranomitis quipped.
11:15 am: The official data monopoly
The group of leaders on the North American stage all seemed to agree that the prohibitive cost of official data is a huge problem that drives people out of the regulated space.
“Everyone deserves to access official data at a fair price,” argued Altenar COO and Co-Founder Dinos Stranomitis.
However, Alea Founder and CEO Alexandre Tomic said he learned there is indeed a different and separate demographic for the vertical than something like regulated sports betting.
11:05 am: Do unregulated verticals stifle or spur on innovation?
Sweeps, event contracts and the other unregulated markets are top of mind in the first panel of the North American track today.
“In the United States, more people are talking about banning stuff than building stuff,” noted Canadian Gaming Association President and CEO Paul Burns.
“Regulators are being told by the wrong people with the wrong agenda what is important,” added Defy the Odds CEO Paris Smith.
10:00 am: Congrats to the first-ever Affiliate Leader award winners
Last night, the best in the affiliate business gathered at MEO Arena for the first-ever Affiliate Leaders awards. Clever Advertising arguably had the best night as the only two-time winner, while FlashScore and GameLounge took the Sports Betting and Casino affiliate awards, resepctively.
Check out the full list of winners.