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SBC Summit Powers Onto Lisbon After Record 2023 Performance
SBC Events has hailed the support of the global iGaming industry as the reason for a record-breaking 2023 edition of the SBC Summit Barcelona.
This year’s exhibition and conference drew an impressive crowd of around 15,000 attendees, a threefold increase from last year’s figures, solidifying its status as the industry’s fastest-growing event.
The post-event survey data revealed a Net Promoter Score of 49 for the event, highlighting SBC’s dedication to upholding high-quality standards, even in the face of substantial growth in attendance compared to the previous year.
The event kicked off with grandeur at the SBC Leaders Summit—an inaugural edition of the exclusive pre-event invite-only gathering that attracted 500 top-tier industry executives.
This full-day affair featured a wealth of conference content, including a keynote from Frank Abagnale, the man who inspired Steven Spielberg’s ‘Catch Me if You Can,’ networking opportunities, and a poker tournament.
A significant highlight of the event was the induction of Gustaf Hagman (CEO and Co-Founder, LeoVegas), Jordan Levin (CEO, OpenBet), Per Widerström (Incoming CEO, 888 Holdings – effective October 16, 2023), and Brigid Simmonds OBE (Chair, Betting and Gaming Council) into SBC’s Hall of Fame.
Taking place at Fira Barcelona Montjuic on 19-21 September, SBC Summit Barcelona boasted a massive 38,000 square metres show floor accommodating 350 exhibitors, marking a 175% increase as compared to the previous year.
Roger Redfearn-Tyrzyk, VP of Global Gaming at IDnow, provider of identity verification solutions and one of the exhibitors, said: “We are being treated as a partner, not just as a company that pays money to get services. We’re being taken to events and get introduced to people. SBC is a solution-finding partner for us.”
The 2023 show floor was effectively split into five zones denoting key areas of the industry: Sports Betting; Casino & iGaming; Affiliate, Media and Marketing; Payments & Compliance; and Emerging Tech. In addition, there was a designated ‘Festival area,’ which not only showcased exhibitors but also provided the perfect casual networking setting, featuring a sangria & tapas bar, an ice cream bar, a smoothie and juice bar and various other amenities.
The exhibition area was enriched by multiple networking zones, with the SBC Connect+ Lounge serving as a central meeting hub for delegates who had organised their meetings through the official event app. Noteworthy is the fact that the app included a lead assessment feature that saw active use, totalling 2,560 interactions.
When asked what sets SBC Summit Barcelona apart as an industry event, Sab Jhooti, Founder & CEO of investment firm Bonmoja, said: “It’s the community element. Whenever I come, I have the opportunity to meet the who’s who in this industry. Everybody you want to meet comes to this event, so I don’t really have to go anywhere else.”
Spanning seven stages, the comprehensive conference agenda delivered over 80 hours of content and offered insights from over 450 industry leaders. 89.4% of the speakers held C-level positions, while 63.7% represented operators, and 8.9% came from affiliates. The remaining 27.4% of speakers represented suppliers, associations, regulators, media, sports teams, and investors. With a total of 302 questions directed at the speakers on stage, the event adopted a more interactive approach.
Based on insights from SBC Connect+, it’s evident that the following five panels were the most sought-after by app users.
- “Sports Betting’s Makeover: The Influence of Gamification, Streaming, and Stats”
- “Affiliate Leaders Panel: Leading Partnerships in Emerging Markets”
- “Sports & Sponsorship Landscape: Growth Markets and Partnerships”
- “SBC Leaders: Exploring Global Growth Markets”
- “Everything, Everywhere, All-of-the-Time: Managing Marketing, Tech & Compliance”
Highlighting the 2023 program were keynotes by Matthew Ball, a renowned metaverse expert and bestselling author, and Daniel Taylor, CEO of Flutter International. In the spirit of increased engagement, each day’s agenda in 2023 concluded with enlightening roundtable sessions — 30 in total — each dedicated to specific markets, verticals, or topics.
A distinctive highlight of SBC’s events, the First Pitch competition, designed to assist startups in bringing their innovative visions to life, announced its latest champion. SnapOdds, the victor of this competition, secured a coveted prize package worth over €60,000, which includes a two-day workshop experience in Tallinn, provided by competition sponsor Yolo Investments, among the list of prizes.
Marking its 10th-anniversary edition, the SBC Awards Ceremony unfolded in style at the iconic Caves Codorníu and recognised industry leaders across 39 featured categories. Hosting the event were the familiar face of SBC Awards, TV personality Kirsty Gallacher, and former professional football player turned manager, Clarence Seedorf, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest midfielders of this generation. The ceremony also featured a special guest appearance by Luis Figo, former World and European Footballer of the Year, who played for both FC Barcelona and Real Madrid and is the current brand ambassador of Digitain.
Thomas Carvalhaes, Managing Director of Brazilian operator VaiDeBob, said: “The quality and calibre of people attending is very impressive. I was on a podcast recently and they asked what my favourite event was. I said it’s SBC Summit Barcelona – for its relevance, for the people who are here and for giving us a sense of what’s about to come.”
Rasmus Sojmark, CEO and Founder of SBC said: “The Barcelona chapter for SBC came to a spectacular close. This event exceeded our wildest dreams as we worked tirelessly to make it the industry’s fastest-growing gathering. With 15,000 attendees filling the exhibition floor, this show will forever be a cherished part of SBC’s history. However, as you all probably know, we’re far from done. The success of this edition paves the way for an even more prosperous next edition. We can’t wait to welcome you all in Lisbon for SBC Summit 2024!”
In a significant development, SBC has announced the next edition of its renowned global flagship event, now rebranded as SBC Summit to underscore its worldwide prominence. The event is set to make its home at Lisbon’s Feira Internacional de Lisboa (FIL) on 24-26 September and is anticipated to occupy a vast area exceeding 100,000 square metres. Expecting a gathering of 25,000 attendees, the event will welcome a substantial 600 exhibitors and feature insights from 500 expert speakers.
Major findings from the newly launched report include playable ads having the potential to deliver impression-to-install rates 16 times that of non-playable formats for emerging gaming apps and a 20% increase in spending on interactive ads year over year.
Liftoff, a leading AI-enabled growth platform for the mobile app economy, has published its seventh annual Mobile Ad Creative Index. The report explores top creative trends that are attracting and scaling in ad spend across consumer apps and games. It also highlights the expanding role of AI in creative production, testing, and optimization.
This year’s Mobile Ad Creative Index specifically analyzes creative concepts that have excelled in scale for Liftoff’s highest-spending advertisers over the past 12 to 48 months. It is based on findings from over 4.7 trillion impressions, 263 billion clicks, and 1.1 billion installs between 1 January 2023 and 31 May 2025.
Highlights from the report include:
Top consumer apps are investing in interactive ads to compete for engagement
In 2024, the share of spend on interactive ads for top apps increased by 20% year over year. The share of spend increased by 2% for spenders outside the top tier. Top-spending apps differentiate their campaigns by adding innovations to evergreen concepts such as social scrollers, carousels, and scratch-offs.
Playable ads deliver returns across ad budgets for mobile game advertisers
In 2024, the share of spend on playable ads for top games averaged 35% higher than other games. Across all ad budgets, however, playable ads delivered higher conversion rates. Impression-to-install rates were 8 times that of non-playable formats for top spenders and 16 times that of non-playable formats for other game advertisers.
Tailoring “metaplay” elements to motivations can improve performance
“Metaplay” elements—gameplay that diverges from an app’s core design to appeal to a broader audience—are widespread, but top games gain an edge by tailoring their metaplay ads to the publisher audience. The report found that aligning “metaplay” creative with publisher audiences resulted in a 93% increase in installs-per-mille.
UGC is becoming a key differentiator in driving scale for consumer apps
The share of spend on user-generated content (UGC) increased 11% for top-spending apps, with social and utility apps seeing the most significant jump of nearly 30% between 2023 and 2024.
Widespread adoption of Gen AI leads to more customized ad experiences
Creative teams increasingly leverage AI to enhance top-performing assets with 3D and motion and to create and test variations. Top advertisers also use AI to recombine their assets in customized ad experiences that break away from standard video to playable formats.
Yann Zeller, Chief of Staff, Creative at Liftoff, said: “Today’s creative landscape is shaped by a single, powerful truth: attention is the commodity, and brands, games, and influencers are all vying for it. Great mobile ad experiences can earn attention by aligning context with behavior. As ad formats become richer and AI expands our ability to personalize and adapt creatives at scale, we’re able to unlock new insights into user behavior and motivation. We see users spend meaningful stretches with the right content, sometimes 60 to 90 seconds when the ad feels personal or prompts meaningful participation. This isn’t just a better way to advertise—it’s a better way to tell stories and the most exciting brief we’ve had in years.”
Soren Steelquist, Director of Creative Production, said: “The proof is in the data—more and more consumer apps are incorporating UGC into every stage of their marketing, and programmatic is no different. UGC works because it’s authentic and relatable, and users are more likely to be influenced by ad when it’s coming from a trustworthy source. To see higher impact from UGC creatives, work with a partner that can match the right creator with your brand and develop winning concepts that resonate with audiences.”
The post Liftoff’s 2025 Mobile Ad Creative Index Reveals UGC Is a Key Differentiator for Top Apps appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry in the Americas.
Affilka by SOFTSWISS, an affiliate management software platform, has secured the title of Affiliate Software Supplier at the prestigious EGR B2B Awards for the second consecutive year. The awards ceremony took place on 3 July at London’s iconic The Roundhouse, where the iGaming industry gathered to celebrate the most successful and innovative companies of the past year.
The consecutive win reinforces Affilka’s growing leadership in iGaming affiliate marketing software. Over the past 12 months, the product has consistently evolved, launching a series of powerful new features.
Among the recent updates is the Cross-Brand Player Duplicate Detection tool, which identifies overlapping player accounts across different casino brands within a single affiliate program. The platform also introduced the new Traffic Report, which provides real-time, click-to-registration and click-to-FTD metrics with multi-dimensional filters. Another new feature allows affiliates to access data on their marketing campaigns and tracking links directly via API, enabling automated data extraction and custom integrations.
At the end of last year, Affilka rolled out the Geo-Distributed Redirect feature, which boosts site visits by reducing redirect times from 1.5 seconds to 300–500 milliseconds, and the Cohort Analysis Report, which offers deeper insights into player behaviour.
Anastasia Borovaya, Head of Affilka by SOFTSWISS, commented on the recognition: “Winning this award two years in a row is an incredible achievement for our team. It reflects our hard work, creativity, and deep commitment to the continuing improvement of our platform. What makes this win special is knowing that the tools we build are already helping our partners solve real challenges. Whether refining traffic strategies or making smarter, data-driven decisions, we’re proud Affilka plays a part in their success.”
Thanks to ongoing updates and the introduction of new innovative features, Affilka by SOFTSWISS now supports over 450 brands, 400 thousand affiliate accounts, and 98 million player registrations.
Earlier in June, SOFTSWISS won two prestigious trophies at another EGR Ceremony – Marketing & Innovation Awards 2025. The company’s marketing department received the Marketing Team of the Year Award for its bold creative approach and effective use of new technologies and data analytics. In addition, Valentina Bagniya, CMO at SOFTSWISS, was named B2B Marketer of the Year for transforming the company’s marketing function into a powerful brand engine within the iGaming industry.
About SOFTSWISS
SOFTSWISS is an international technology company with over 15 years of experience developing innovative solutions for the iGaming industry. SOFTSWISS holds a number of gaming licences and provides comprehensive software for managing iGaming projects. The company’s product portfolio includes the Online Casino Platform, the Game Aggregator with over 30,000 casino games, the Affilka Affiliate Platform, the Sportsbook Software and the Jackpot Aggregator. In 2013, SOFTSWISS revolutionised the industry by introducing the world’s first Bitcoin-optimised online casino solution. The expert team counts over 2,000 employees.
The post Affilka by SOFTSWISS Wins at EGR B2B Awards for Second Year Running appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
As summer reaches its peak, so do the opportunities for operators partnering with Spinmatic. The premium Slot developer has launched two new exclusive offers as part of its ongoing Rock the Month campaign – a high-impact promotional series featuring targeted incentives, exclusive discounts and seasonal themes designed to support long-term operator growth.
After a strong debut in July with Fruit Fiesta and Summer Splash, Rock the Month has quickly become a key initiative for many partners, offering unique commercial advantages each month, exclusively to Spinmatic clients.
For August, the provider turns up the heat with two new offers: Summer Crash and Freespin Hype. Both are available to apply for until July 25 and designed to help operators during the summer’s most critical weeks.
This August’s promotions offer Spinmatic’s partners the chance to unlock up to 60% off in Revenue Share, depending on the offer selected. Full activation details – including game selection and placement requirements – are reserved exclusively for Spinmatic’s operator network.
“Our goal with Rock the Month is to bring consistent value to our partners,” said Norbert Mathies, Managing Director at Spinmatic. “We know operators are constantly under pressure to keep players engaged, so with our monthly promotions, we aim to offer something that’s genuinely useful. With two offers available each month, operators can choose the one that best fits their market. At the same time, we’re helping them get more out of their campaigns and explore new games with reduced risk.”
Spinmatic encourages operators and industry stakeholders to stay tuned, as new Rock the Month promotions will continue to be rolled out monthly. For those looking for innovative ways to increase player loyalty and revenue, now is the perfect time to get involved.
The post “Rock the Month”: Spinmatic’s monthly promos to power operator growth appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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