The sun is shining here in Malta. St. Julians is a hive of activity for the iGaming industry, and the SBC Media team is ready and raring to go, as we’ll be keeping you in the know on the major happenings at this week’s SBC Summit Malta. The team on site today includes Martyn Elliott, Ted Menmuir, Craig Davies, Joe Streeter, Jyoti Rambhai, Viktor Kayed and Luke Miles who will bring you all the latest from SBC News, iGaming Expert and Affiliate Leaders.
Keep checking back through the next couple of days for the latest insights from the conference halls, the best quotes and breaking news from SBC Summit Malta.
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10:00 am: Welcome to Malta!
The doors are open – SBC Summit Malta is underway! Attendees are making their way through the Intercontinental Hotel in St Julians for what promises to be a jam-packed day full of interesting conversations, insightful panel sessions and some very exciting networking.
This year, we have five stages of conference, including dedicated workshops on European regulatory developments, and panel sessions covering everything from marketing, taxes, sports betting and the future of iGaming…
11:00 am: can gamification really cross over between sports and casino?
Conference sessions are underway, and in conference room 2, Alexandre Tomic is diving into the ways that operators can create a unique experience for players that introduces them to new games and products.
However, cross-selling products such as slots to a player that has traditionally bet on sports is no small feat. The secret to achieving this? For Tomic, Founder of Alea, it’s all about a user-friendly interface.
He said: “Once you have a player coming from a sportsbook with the relevant acquisition cost, you want to move them to the casino. It was done through blackjack. Blackjack is a game that a sportsbook player would play without feeling stupid. Then we engage them with a process where they’re gonna feel that it’s ok to play slots. So we go from sports, to blackjack to slots.”
“A user-friendly interface can change everything. I’ve seen cases where gamification features are pushed to the player while they’re betting on sports. The way it is gamified is the game changer.”
Reporting from Viktor Kayed
10:15am: CEO in the hot seat …
Over in conference room 1, Francesco Postiglione, CEO of Casumo, is in the hot seat as he offers his unfiltered insights into strategy, leadership and the future of play.
With a bit of audience participation, Trudy Kerr – Presenter, Producer, Host and Founder of The SHE Word – surveyed the room on whether the iGaming industry has become harder to navigate over the past 5, 10 and 20 years. The majority of attendees raised their hand for all three.
But for the Casumo CEO, one of the biggest challenges for navigating the iGaming industry is standing out from the crowd.
“We’re all looking a bit the same as each other,” said Francesco Postiglione, CEO of Casumo. “And that’s where marketing can help operators stand out. With various regulatory and policy changes start reshaping the industry, operators need to be able to ‘differentiate’ themselves.”
“Differentiation is always possible,” he added. “The user experience is probably the biggest and most important different shapers [things like] seamless registration, a seamless deposit, a seamless withdrawal, good interaction with consumers for any problems, for anti-money laundering checks will still make a big difference.”
Reporting from Jyoti Rambhai
11:45am – Don’t forget about television in the social media age
Marco Trucco, CMO of Immense Group believes TV is still cheapest way to reach his audience and is “happy for competitors to leave TV inventory on the table” for him.
That’s because “fragmentation of the media landscape has created a complexity. […] All the other marketing channels are more time consuming than TV (except for the production stage of course), so that’s where the complexity comes in.
“It takes more skill in the execution of the campaigns. It takes more tech to manage the data and to understand the results. We were right [to think that] TV cannot be the cornerstone of our marketing strategy.”
Nikola Jellacic, CMO of Casumo, echoes this sentiment, saying that “my job title says CMO but my calendar doesn’t”.
“I’m also Chief Data Officer, Chief Marketing AI Officer, Chief Commercial Officer… I’m also Chief PNL Officer,” he explains, adding that it highlights how fast the industry is evolving and how marketers approach the creative, the conversations they’re having and even the scope has changed.
Reporting from Jyoti Rambhai
11:50am – AI is helping fraudsters. Is your infrastructure ready?
AI isn’t just evolving the fraudster playbook, but it is making more accessible. Key industry CISOs warned that levels of fraud is higher than ever before as a result of the rapid adoption of AI.
AI isn’t coming for jobs, but those who don’t use AI are at risk of being left behind in the ever-evolving fight against iGaming fraud.
In conference room three, CISOs Jay Balan (Superbet Group), Donald Tabone (Betsson) and Cedric Mallia (Rush Street Interactive), provided insights into the relationship between AI and iGaming as we reframe cybersecurity as an economic issue on the session ‘Cybersecurity in iGaming: The Rising Cost of Breaches‘.
Reporting from Joe Streeter
12:00 – Payment Fraud Detection
Sticking on the topic of fraud, conference room 3 is in full swing as senior leaders at SEON Technologies, FDJ United, Grand Casino Baden, Lunicorn Ventures and Blockchain.com discuss how to combat a $1.2 billion problem.
“AI is one of those things that can be a friend or a foe. It can be used by us to prevent fraud, but it is also a machine utilised widely by fraudsters.
“I believe that fraud prevention, data assessment, and analysis can’t be the job of AI, because it is a huge tool, but it is not the solution. The solution will and will remain humans.”
Fiorentina D’Amore, CEO Malta, Blockchain.com, emphasised the importance of balance between AI and the human touch when it comes to effective tackling of fraud, during the fintech panel on stage 3.
Reporting from Joe Streeter
12:30 – Streaming wars…
Attendees have packed into conference room 1, where attention has turned to revealing the secrets of streaming. From a deep-dive into the numbers behind the stream and inflated engagement metrics, to the ROI on venturing into the world of influencers, Trudy Kerr and streamer Shane Roberts reveal all.
12:50 – Are Bet Builders old news?
The concept of bet builders when they first emerged was novice, shiny, and exciting. Now that the hype is something behind us, what would be the next big thing? That’s the topic of discussion over in conference room 2 at the Beyond the Bet Builder session.
For Tamazi Gambashidze, Head of Sports Brand Experience Department, Flutter CEE, Adjarabet, the future, at least for Georgian bettors, is that customers remain on Adjarabet’s platform for as long as possible.
“Our main goal is to keep our players on our website as much as possible. In one or two years, I’d love to have a product that makes this possible, for example an AI tool which engages users in a meaningful way so that they don’t leave our website.”
Gega Topuridze, Deputy CEO at betlive, is taking a different approach, albeit with the same goal. “We’re trying to shift to a place where a bet is what a player will always be wanting to do. How fast can they go from logging in and depositing and then placing a bet. In between that you’ve got to perfect what you’re offering.”
However, bet builders are still alive and doing well within the sports betting ecosystem. Ivan Gojic, Chief Sportsbook Officer, Entain added: “Betbuilder is the perfect scenario for customers of how to see the match is going. If you want to do the acquisition, you’re gonna do something with higher odds, if you want to push retention, you’re gonna lower the odds. You’ve got to be ready to do a lot of things and see what sticks.”
Reporting from Viktor Kayed
12:50: One for you, 19 for me
The taxman is coming for you, and there’s little escape if you’re a regulated operator in western Europe or the UK.
In conference room 3, Stephen Hodgson, VP of Tax at Midnite and former BGC and Entain exec, had his say, noting that UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves hiked taxes on online casinos because they’re ‘an easy target’. He added that the government could rue its decision when it sees the black market fallout.
“I actually think it’s going to turn out too counterproductive, not just in the case of consumer harm, but also, ultimately in the case and the government itself admitting after that budget that these tax increases will result in a hit about market, and the tax revenue won’t be as gross it could have been, because they will link your activity to the black market.”
It’s interesting that they recognise that. How do we go about channelisation we are able to effectively measure the size of the black market, of course, then the negative economic impacts that may have to go about. Do you see policy makers in three-to-five years from now, sitting down and saying, ‘Okay, we made this (decision) and it didn’t work out as expected’?
Reporting from Joe Streeter
Is Malta the Silicon Valley of iGaming?
Ivan Filletti, CEO of GamingMalta, certainly thinks so.
Filletti opened proceedings this morning in conference room 1 with his presentation Malta: The Global Powerhouse of Gaming, where he pulled back the curtain on the engine behind Malta’s gaming success and gave the stats that paint the picture.
Filletti recently joined iGaming Daily to chat all about Malta’s success as an industry hub, and to tackle some of the big issues the island may face to keep top spot. Catch that episode below while we wait for the afternoon’s sessions to begin.
What makes an SBC event worth it?
That’s what our Head of Content Marketing & Strategic Communications Masha Tsnompilantze wanted to ask some attendees.
From networking parties to high-quality delegates, from the conference content to the variety of people, check out why iGaming loves coming to the Intercontinental for SBC Summit Malta.
14:30 – Battling the black market
We are back underway for the afternoon of conference content and attention is all on the rise of the black market amid stringent regulatory pressure globally. In conference room 3, a debate is taking place on how regulated operators can help bring players back to the legitimate market and improve channelisation rates.
Aurora Merino, Betsson’s Director of Compliance warned that getting channelisation right is a fine art and a real challenge. These challenges have been seen first hand in Brasil, where too many changes and too much fluctuation of the market has had a real impact on bringing players in from the dark side.
Martina Cilia, Regulatory Affairs Manager at LeoVegas told the panel that in Europe, there is a real risk that other markets will follow the lead of the Netherlands and the UK, where channelisation is set to struggle amid tax hikes.
Meanwhile Joseph Attard of Entain, highlighted that we are in danger of normalising the black market.
Reporting from Joe Streeter
14:00: churn-and-burn is no longer a viable business model
We’re back in conference room 1 to look at marketing spend and the all-important question of where we should be spending marketing budgets.
For Clint Griscti, Co-Founder at apidae.DIGITAL, being a “churn-and-burn” brand is no longer possible in today’s market, he says “maybe 5 or 6 years ago, but in today’s world, that’s going to be hard, or you’ll pay through your nose for it”.
“So you need to make sure that you’re not just having an affiliate channel as your marketing mix, you need to have other additional creative channels, whether you’re regulated or offshored”. Clint highlighted how regulated brands can afford to be less creative and give more focus to brand sponsorships, while unregulated operators have a greater freedom to be creative.
For him, the impact of affiliates is not only diminishing, but can vary immensely between brands, “Whenever we run affiliate audits, we tend to find that 20% of the affiliates are generating 80% of the ROI. So why do brands have 3,4,500 affiliates when only 20% of them are making money?”
Clint believes that long-term success is about building a brand, “if you’re not building a brand, offshore or not, chances of success are slim to none in today’s world”.
Reporting by Luke Miles
15:30 – The Future of Slots?
When you’ve got an iGaming product on offer, you’re constantly venturing on a journey to find that next big hit.
But what does the future of slots actually look like? Well, for our expert panel members, one guaranteed venue for success – that of course comes with it’s specific caveats – is episodic content.
“If you have a good title it is a good idea to make it episodic like a series. It’s all about retention. If you build a loyal player base, you’ll have an audience forever as long as you keep them entertained – just like Netflix,” said Petr Vonarshenko, Senior Business Development Manager at ELA Games in conference room 2 during the ‘Future of Slots’ session.
‘An absolute agreement’ on that also came from Janick Bonnici, Principal Gaming Content Manager at Betsson Group.
“Episodic content is a good way to create a constant fanbase. From an operator perspective when we see a game that is a series, it grabs our attention too. We’re definitely in favour of episodic content.”
Both view points was finally solidified by Steve Cutler, CEO and co-founder at Kalamba Games, who summarised:
“It becomes a mission if you’re selling a different game every time, with different mechanics and concept.
“However, if you’ve had a successful series, it’s a far easier sell to operators, because you see that it’s already resonating with players and you don’t start from a base level.”
Reporting from Viktor Kayed
15:40 – COOs on how to cope in 2026
Conference Room 3 is heating up, with a COO Horizon panel assessing the opportunities and challenges in iGaming this year.
When the panel were asked about why exactly the black market is growing, differing views emerged.
For Flutter UKI COO Tom McGovern, the strengths of the black market are clear, “… the major factor that’s already been mentioned is the frictionless signup effort of the black market product. That product today is very comparable [to the regulated one] and if you surveyed customers, many of them wouldn’t even know that they’re transacting in the black market, in many cases.”
He goes on to highlight a report, published last week, that predicted the black market will out-earn the regulated one by 2028. “I would think if you can measure it in those terms, you can enforce it,” he added.
McGovern concludes, “As a regulated industry we need to make the regulated market the easiest and safest place to transact with the best customer experience, that’s where we need to compete.”
Chris McGowan, COO at Scatters, disagreed.
“We need to be more creative with how we deal with the unregulated market” he interjected, “If I wanted to know how to stop thieves stealing from my house, I wouldn’t call regulators, I would call the thief”.
He argues that the current way of thinking around dealing with the black market is outdated and approaching it from the perspective of regulators will only lead to a greater share of market loss.
Reporting from Luke Miles
16:00 – If your SEO strategy works, you’ll be under attack
GainChanger’s co-founder Sean Bianco has a stark warning for any marketers in conference room 1 as part of Ivana Flynn’s SEO Trilogy.
Bianco described marketers as like a “wired pig” when it comes to being attacked.
“A lot of people are thinking in the context of ‘Google’s going to come and help us’. This is not going to work anymore. This is not right. This doesn’t make sense. We can’t do things the old way.”
Marketers have to think of themselves as the “wired pigs”, he says. “If you’re actually doing well, you are going to have people coming at you.”
But, he goes on to explain there are ways you can check negative SEO and do it automatically… “this is the mentality you need to have in SEO now”.
“You have to have not only a plan to rank, but you have to have a plan to recover. You have to have a plan to recycle [links].”
Reporting from Jyoti Rambhai
16:20 – Should you know black-hat tactics
The SEO Trilogy is still ongoing, now focusing on blackhat vs whitehat SEO techniques.
The main consensus is that SEO for brands right now, it’s not only pure SEO, but collaborating with teams and direct connections.
Conrad Bugeja, Marketing Director at LiveScore Group, says you can certainly use white-hat tactics, but if you think about a “grand organisation that has 45 million monthly users, to cooperate in this market, you need to sustain”.
If you’re a big company, you can “leverage brand power”, but “if you don’t have a name, what do you suggest… black-hat”.
“The game has changed,” he says adding that affiliates need to understand “the whole game”, including black-hat tactics.
Reporting from Jyoti Rambhai
16:50 – I Predict A Riot
Prediction markets have entered thr news headlines across the world. We’ve seen them expand significantly in the US, but do they have an open pathway towards Europe? That’s what is being discussed in conference room 2 for the Prediction Markets: Data, Demand and the European Opportunity session.
“The opportunities are huge,” said Fiorentina D’Amore, CEO Malta at Blockchain.com.
“The real potential for it is to have the same life cycle of crypto, which had the same challenge – we didn’t know if it was an investment, a payment, or something else.
“Are prediction markets an investment or a gambling product? The truth is it’s a hybrid product. It is both and none.”
How relevant it is then that were reporting straight out of Malta, the first country to regulate crypto in the world. D’Amore believes that the same blueprint will follow soon with prediction markets.
An interesting takeaway was that if prediction markets do manage to find a solid footing in Europe, they’ll need to fall under the umbrella of multiple international regulators – so that they can become both financial and a gambling instrument.
If this doesn’t take place, D’Amore added, it will be tough to passport prediction markets into all free trade markets of the Union – a luxury that financial instruments are currently enjoying.
Simultaneously, the fact that prediction markets are a form of gambling also shouldn’t be forgotten, the panelists added. And as any type of gambling, if its not regulated, consumers will find their way to it eventually.
Lucimara Batista, Chief Compliance Officer & MLRO at Tipico, commented: “It’s either the prediction market comes as an option, or the player will still find a way without the necessary oversight of regulations.”
Both panelists agreed that Europe will have a clear position on prediction markets within the next five years – what exactly will this position say, however, remains to be seen.
Reporting from Viktor Kayed
17:20 – That’s all, folks!
That’s a wrap on today’s coverage of SBC Summit Malta, where we learned about the threat of the black market, the future of slots, the rise of prediction markets and almost everything in between.
The good news is we will be back tomorrow with a jam-packed agenda as we look at what the industry might look like in 2036, learn how to price up a tournament as big as the World Cup and hear how AI workflows can improve productivity and decision making.
Thanks to ELA Games for making this coverage possible. See you tomorrow when we will do it all over again!
