Live coverage of SBC Summit Lisbon: Day 2

The SBC Media team is out in force at SBC Summit this week. Live from Lisbon, the SBC News, iGaming Expert, SBC Americas and Payment Expert teams are on site and will keep you updated with the major happenings across “the Greatest Show in Gaming”.

Keep checking back throughout the week with insights from the floor, comments from speaker and the breaking news coming out of Lisbon as ‘Gaming’s Greatest Show unfolds!

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17:00:  That’s the Wrap on Dia-2 — Até amanhã

As the conference sessions are winding down, and attention now turns to an evening of networking and celebrations at the Affiliate Leaders Awards. That’s all from the SBC News desk today — we’ll be back tomorrow with another full day of updates.

16:30 – Finnish Panel shows No Harmony on final launch leg

The Western Markets stage closed with what will likely be  the fiercest panel of the Summit, as rivals debated Finland’s path to launching a new gambling regime in 2027. The session brought together heavyweights from Svenska Spel, Hippos, Kindred Group, Paf and Entain, under the expert moderation of Jaakko Soininen, Managing Director at Finnplay.

The discussion quickly exposed flaws in the draft legislation. Nils Andén, CEO of Kindred (FDJ United), was blunt in his criticism of regulations pitched thus far: “Don’t give me loose interpretations, where we have to ponder the legislation. I want it fixed so that Kindred can compete on product and service. ”

Sverker Skogberg, representing Paf, argued that Finland’s market must embrace greater openness, calling for liberalised media access for affiliates which has is prohibited under current articles and even floating the idea of “Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies being allowed” .

The prospect of operators agreeing to curb advertising was firmly rejected by Hippos ATG. Antti Koivula, Chief Compliance Officer, said: “Why should we enter any agreements? We have never breached laws.”

Looking ahead, Koivula also predicted instant revisions would be inevitable once the market launches, warning of a likely “Finnish grandmothers’ backlash to gambling.”

The panel was united on one point: the transition will not be easy. After more than 50 years to end Veikkaus monopoly privileges, the shift is proving highly divisive, where stakeholders cant even agree on launch date of the market. As Dainis Niedra of Entain cited put it, Finland’s regime could yet be “the gloomiest launch to a multi-billion market ever.”

16:10 – Vox pops from the Day 2 floor

Our colleagues on the marketing team checked in with a number of attendees on how the event is going.

16:00 –  “Sportsbook as a product sucks!”

Arvids Rasa, Head of Sportsbook Platform at Neo Group, thinks that the sportsbook interface in general needs a serious upgrade, having become heavily outdated.

This is why some consumers have moved away from sportsbooks towards casinos and the shiny new product of prediction markets which are taking the US by storm, he says.

This is seconded by Anders Karlsen, Co-Founder & CEO of Sisu Group, who states that ‘old school designs’ often based on the spreadsheet format are a continuing challenge in sportsbook design.

James Watson, Director of Product at online sportsbook kwiff, has faith in personalisation as the future of sportsbook UX and UI. He says: “I would like to look at different demographics of customers”.

The future of the online sportsbook may be in tailoring a different product for different customers – the casual, the savvy, the accumulator experts, for a truly personalised experience – but can the industry pull this off?

15:50 – UAE market can ‘redefine’ what gaming means

The possibilities in the United Arab Emirates were investigated in a panel discussion by several industry experts with a significant stake in the market.

Coming together in-person and on Zoom, Kevin Mullally, CEO at GCGRA; Christina Hu, Chief Strategy Officer at Momentum; Lauralyn Sandoval, Vice President of Gaming Strategy and Business Development at Aristocrat; and David Patent, EVP of Wynn Al Marjan Island, explored critical areas that must be considered with a market that has strong potential.

Moderator Garret Greene, Senior Vice President at SBC, proposed examining the UAE’s regulation, taxation, sustainable market development, consumer protection, licensing, compliance, public trust, and combating the illegal market. 

Mullally mentioned that GCGRA has shut down 6,000 illegal websites since the organisation was established in the region and that they are “only just getting started”.

Patent highlighted the importance of giving players a better option when combating the illegal market. At the same time, Sandoval noted that the UAE offers a place for industry innovators to invest in their future. Hu added that the growth potential in the UAE is “immense”.

“UAE is going to redefine what gaming means for the rest of the world,” stated Mullally.

14:45 –  Kamer ‘State of Mind’ plays on all Dutch gambling affairs    

Dutch betting stakeholders discuss the market’s many problems, with an unstable political situation and incredibly strict regulations around advertising and affordability, among other areas.

But with a snap election due next month, will this situation stabilise? Cristiano Blanco, CEOof Hard Rock Casino NL, and Leon Voogt, Managing Director of Betcity.NL, are not hopeful that the situation will improve any time soon.

“The conversation will continue both ways, but I feel that the plan they have goes against the growth and protection of the regulated market,” said Blanco.

Stable regulation requires a stable government, Voogt added, noting that this is something the Netherlands has lacked for some time, with the last government falling apart back in June while a package of gambling reforms was on the table.

The panel also looked at advertising, a total ban on sports sponsorship and other marketing coming into effect on 1 July. Speakers stressed that advertising bans will diminish the regulated market’s ability to promote itself and dissuade customers from the black market, 

However,  Eric Olders, CEO and Chairman of the Board, JVH Gaming & Entertainment Group, did share some humorous optimism, stating that maybe the absence of gambling ads on politicians’ TV screens would eventually lead to the industry being dropped from the political agenda.

14:10 –  Lessons from Latin America

Efe Yucemen, Director of Partnerships at Optimove, believes there are three key lessons European operators can take on from Latin America and Asia.

Firms need to understand the benchmarks available to them, should benchmark generosity through bonuses, and use as many channels as possible to engage players, he says.

13:45 –  Regulatory renaissance makes Italy, Europe’s brightest gambling market 

The Italian Gambling Panel drew a full house at the Western Markets Stage of the SBC Summit, as experts shared frontline insights and reflections on what is now Europe’s most competitive gambling marketplace.

Trust between licensees and the regulator has returned, but Fabio A. Buffalini,  General Manager of Stake Italia, noted that “many scars remain from the bad decisions of past regimes.”

“Full transparency and trust can only return once the Dignity Decree is lifted — that remains in the balance for everyone,” he added.

The panel dismissed suggestions that Italian gambling will be dominated by a duopoly of Flutter and Lottomatica.

Marco Tiso, Online Managing Director at Sisal (Flutter), remarked: “I wish it were that easy. What the figures miss is penetration — for example, online casino participation is still only 23%, and Lotto just 3%. These are markets that anyone can capture.”

Nicola Tani, founder of AgiproNews concluded that Italy had once been the test case for Europe’s prohibition, but now has the potential to be the frontrunner in changing European regulations.

13:20 –  iGP makes its Lotto play…

The first Press Conference of Day-2 proved that the lottery sector is far from being an obsolete concept despite a rapidly growing iGaming industry.

Jovana Popovic Canaki, CEO of iGP, highlighted that the company’s latest lottery product release is grounded in tradition as much as it is in modern technology advancements.

The product – which offers bets on the results of more than 70 global lotteries – taps into an unexplored niche with plenty of potential, the CEO added, allowing a “player from Zimbabwe to play for the Powerball jackpot in the US”.

13:00 – AI trepidations for lazy humans

Joe Streeter, Editor of iGamingExpert views AI taking centre stage at the Technology Stage of SBC Summit,  though not without its cautions. Speakers warned of the dangers of losing the human touch, particularly given the speed at which AI moves.

Yet the mood was far from pessimistic. There was strong excitement about AI’s power to deliver personalisation at scale, with Viktoriia Grygorenko, CEO of The Playa, noting that even the smallest amount of data can spark meaningful personalisation.

However clear liabilities are visible as Phyllyp Sedicias, Country Director at Click Hunters, warned that AI’s speed makes close supervision vital, as errors can quickly snowball — often triggered by poorly researched or lazy human prompts.

12:40 – Euro Leaders jaded by bad debate on tax status

At the Wester Markets stage, European leaders remain cautiously optimistic that igaming and sportsbook businesses can adapt and grow despite looming tax headwinds across multiple markets. Still, the challenge is daunting, with several jurisdictions set to introduce effective tax rates approaching 50%.

Opportunities for growth remain in Europe, but 2025 has been a tough year. BoyleSports CEO Vlad Kaltenieks noted that gambling continues to face a reputational issues . Meanwhile, LiveScore CEO Sam Sadi expressed disappointment at how the industry has been represented by its trade bodies in key tax debates in the UK and the Netherlands – “the platform of debate has been poor”

Pascal Chaffard, CFO and Strategy Officer at FDJ, added: “Gambling must find a better way of representing itself holistically — there is too much focus on sports, and not enough on softer verticals such as lottery and betting.”

12:20 – All eyes on Eurasia movements 

An amalgamation of cultures and customer profiles, the Eurasia region is perhaps one of the most diverse target markets for the gambling industry.

This belief was further reinforced during the Eurasia Leaders panel, hosting Adam Lamentowicz, GM of Superbet, Simon Westbury, Strategic Advisor for 1xBet, and Novibet CEO George Athanasopoulos.

The trio shared the same view – customers in the Balkans, and further east in countries like Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, are reaching a high level of maturity, with the region ripe for the taking for those ready to localise their proposition.

And as a curveball, Athanasopoulos maybe, just maybe, hinted at Novibet potentially challenging Caliente for its market share in Mexico.

12:00 – Gary Vee warns about your grandkid’s AI bride

The hottest take to come out of Gary Vaynerchuck’s keynote address on the Super Stage is his undeniable belief that your “grandkids will get married to AI robots”.  Shocking, but he had some more timely advice for attendees as well.

First off, Vee believes the gaming industry is underutilising social media influencers at an epic scale. Part of his argument is that the landscape for media has changed so much.

“Over the last five years, something I call the TikTokification of social media has happened,” he noted. “I believe we are now in interest media and not social media.”

Interest media, he explained, is media led by an individual’s interests. They are served what they are interested in more than who they are interested in. So, for marketers, the answer is not to bring a “TV mindset” to the medium but to create tons of social media posts and only putting media budget behind something after it takes off.

One way to supply that stream of content? Longform videos, posted at a regular cadence, that can be clipped up and sent out on social. And who should be the face of this social content? Well, we started with AI, so no surprise we end with AI, as he advocated for every company to create a human AI character to serve as the face of the company.

11:45 – Genius Sports takes Long View on Betting Innovations

At Western Markets Stage, Genius Sports’ Thomas Holland and BVGroup’s Eoin Ryan discussed the shift to faster, more personalised in-play betting.

Product lead Holland pointed to Genius’ BetVision—low-latency streaming with integrated betting—as a game-changer, doubling turnover, tripling bet size and extending sessions. Ryan noted streaming is now a “hygiene factor,” but ROI remains hard to prove.

On pricing and risk, BVGroup favours a hybrid model, while Genius is pushing liability-aware systems and automated profiling. Both agreed the future lies in granular, context-driven markets and personalised betting experiences – in which the dominance of wagering of in-play Bet Builders is the next mass-market opportunity for bookmakers

11:40 – The Champ is Here!

Oleksandr Usyk takes his seat at the Super Stage at the MEO Arena, where he is joined by Kirsty Gallacher and the team at GR8 Tech to discuss his journey to becoming a three-time undisputed heavyweight world champion, overcoming adversities and his role at GR8 Tech and Ready To Fight.

Gallacher “Firstly Oleksandr, well played on the football pitch”…. to which the champ replied “I enjoyed it, but I’m better at boxing!”

Oleksandr Usyk’s achievements and his journey to become the undisputed heavyweight champion have touched audiences worldwide, establishing him as a one-of-a-kind global athlete, in pursuit of excellence, resilience, and performance at the very highest level.

“Usyk  reflects the same values we live by at GR8 Tech,” said Yevhen Krazhan, Chief Sales Officer at GR8 Tech. “His team is renowned for having the highest IQ in boxing, and that relentless pursuit of excellence is exactly what drives us. Just like Usyk’s camp, we build for champions, training to perform at the highest level — even in the twelfth round. That’s the spirit we share.”

11:15 – BetMGM Brazil Ai outlook 

“Players trust us with their data and we have to be responsible with that,” kicking off events on the tech stage, André Sapuca, Principal Product Manager, BetMGM Brazil underpins the importance of the responsibility and accountability as the evolution of AI continues at a rapid pace. 

AI has been at the forefront of discussions in Lisbon, not only boosting the player experience offered by bigger operators, but also enabling smaller operators to personalise at scale and strengthen their approach to CRM. 

11:00 – Let’s talk….

The latest episode of iGaming Daily is out and features host Charlie Horner chatted with SBC News Editor Ted Orme-Clay and SBC Media Managing Editor Jessica Welman about what they have been hearing from the crowd here at Lisbon.

Emerging markets, be it sweepstakes or new geographic territories were the topic du jour, with the trio wondering how Thursday’s North America track and today’s Western European markets track will address the issues surrounding them.

10:15 – Grab your issue of SBC Leaders

If you didn’t find time to do so yesterday, be sure to stop by the SBC Events booth in between Hall 2 and Hall 3 or grab an issue SBC Leaders Magazine from one of the magazine stands in front of the various conference stages. 

The latest edition features a cover story on Allwyn, interviews with operators including FanDuel and Stake and more than 100 pages of industry insights.

10:00 – Bom diaaaaaaaa!… Its Day-2 of the  SBC Lisbon Summit 

In 30 minutes, Day 2 of the SBC Summit Lisbon will be in full swing. A heavyweight conference agenda will be brought to life by undisputed boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk and undefeated social media goliath Gary Vaynerchuk on the Super Stage.

Day 2 coverage will further focus on the continued headwinds impacting Western markets, as well as the new frontier markets of Eurasia and the Middle East and global gambling forthcoming technology disruptions. 

Stay tuned to the SBC live blog for full coverage of the SBC Summit.