Over the years, SBC events have received tremendous support from the iGaming industry worldwide, which is why SBC cited this support as the main reason for the unparalleled edition of SBC Summit Barcelona in 2023.
An impressive audience
The 2023 conference and exhibition attracted an overwhelming audience of nearly 15,000 attendees, three times the number in 2022, cementing its status as the industry’s fastest-growing event. Additionally, post-event survey data revealed a Net Promoter Score of 49 for the aforementioned event, underscoring the SBC’s commitment to maintaining high quality standards, even despite the significant increase in participation compared to 2022.
The event itself got off to a great start at the SBC Leaders Summit, the introductory edition of the Private event “before the event, by invitation only” attended by 500 top industry executives. It also lasted the whole day and included a lot of conference content, including the keynote address by Frank Abagnale, the man who was the main inspiration for it “Catch Me If You Can” by Steven Spielberg, a poker tournament and networking opportunities.
A major highlight of the event was the introduction of Jordan Levin (OpenBetCEO), Brigid Simmonds OBE (Betting and Gaming Board, Chairman) and Gustaf Hagman (LeoVegasCEO and co-founder) inducted into the SBC Hall of Fame.
Description of the SBC Summit Barcelona
The above SBC Summit Barcelonawhich took place from September 19 to 21 in a large conference area of 38,000 square meters of conference space and brought together 350 exhibitors, a growth of 175% compared to 2022. Commenting on the event, IDnow Vice President Global Gaming, one of the exhibitors and provider of identity verification solutions, Roger Redfearn-Tyrzyk, said: “They treat us like partners, not just a company that pays money to receive services. They take us to events and introduce us to people. “SBC is a partner that looks for solutions for us.”
The 2023 exhibition floor is practically divided into 5 zones that mark the crucial areas of the industry such as: partners, media and marketing, new technologies, payments and fulfillment, casino and iGaming and sports betting. In addition, there was one “Festival area” which, in addition to the exhibitors’ presentations, also offered the best informal networking environment, which consisted of a tapas and sangria bar, a smoothie and juice bar and an ice cream bar, among other benefits.
The exhibition space was expanded with many networking zones and the SBC Content+ Lounge acted as a central meeting center for representatives who organized their meeting via the official event app. Interestingly, the app had a lead scoring feature that was actively used and generated 2,560 interactions. When asked what makes the SBC Summit in Barcelona special compared to other events, Sab Jhooti, founder and CEO of investment firm Bonmoja, replied: “It’s the community element. Every time I come, I have the opportunity to meet the who’s who of this industry. Anyone you want to meet comes to this event, so I don’t really have to go anywhere else.”
The extensive conference program, consisting of seven stages, included more than 80 hours of conference content and provided insights from more than 450 of the industry’s leading companies. In this context, 89.4% of speakers were C-level officials, 63.7% were operators and 8.9% were subsidiaries. However, the remaining 24.7% was made up of suppliers, regulators, associations, sports teams, investors and media. Everyone had to answer a total of 302 questions, which further increased the interactivity of the above event.
Based on SBC Connect+ insights, it is also evident that the following five dashboards were the most requested by app users.
- “Renewing sports betting: the influence of gamification, streaming and statistics”
- “Affiliate Leaders Panel: Leading associations in emerging markets”
- “Sports and sponsorship landscape: growing markets and partnerships”
- “SBC Leaders: Exploring Global Growth Markets”
- “Everything, everywhere, always: marketing, technology and compliance management”
One of the important events of the above 2023 agenda was the opening keynote by renowned best-selling author and Metaverse expert Matthew Ball and Flutter International CEO Daniel Taylor. With increasing participation, the daily program completed a total of 30 educational rounds on specific industries, topics or markets in 2023.
The latest highlight of SBC events, the First Pitch competition was created to help startups bring their inventive visions to life, according to its recent champion SnapOdds. He also won a coveted rewards package worth over €60,000, which also includes a two-day workshop experience in Tallinn, offered by Yolo Investments, the competition sponsor.
To mark its tenth anniversary, the SBC Awards ceremony took place in the famous Codorníu Caves and officially recognized the industry’s most significant companies in 39 outstanding categories. The event’s MCs were already a familiar face at the SBC Awards, Kirsty GallacherTV presenter and Clarence Seedorf, former professional footballer and now coach and one of the best midfielders of today. But what is a ceremony without a special guest, hence Luis Figo, the predecessor “World and European Footballer of the Year”Appearing as a special guest was , who played for Real Madrid and FC Barcelona and is currently a Digitain ambassador. In this sense, the CEO and founder of SBC said: Rasmus Soymarkcommented: “The SBC chapter in Barcelona had a spectacular conclusion. This event has exceeded our wildest dreams as we have worked tirelessly to make it the fastest growing gathering in the industry. With 15,000 people on the show floor, this show will always be a treasured part of SBC history. However, as you all probably know, we are far from finished. The success of this edition paves the way for an even more successful next edition. We can’t wait to welcome everyone to the SBC Summit 2024 in Lisbon!” In addition, the general director of the Brazilian operator VaiDeBob, Thomas Carvalhaesadded: “The quality and skills of the participants are very impressive. I was on a podcast recently and they asked me what my favorite event was. I said it was the SBC Summit Barcelona because of its relevance, because of the people who are here and because they give us an idea of what is to come.”
Next location
The SBC has announced the next venue for its iconic international flagship event, now officially renamed the SBC Summit to highlight its global significance. The next location will be the Lisbon International Fair (FIL) The summit starts from September 24th to 26th and is expected to take place in a huge area of more than 100,000 square meters, where 25,000 participants and 600 exhibitors are expected. It will also feature opinions from 500 speakers who are experts in the category they are speaking about.
Spring: “SBC summit reaches Lisbon in 2023 after record performance“, European gaming. October 6, 2023
