This is the 2nd edition of SBC Summit Malta under its current name. It was called CasinoBeats Summit before, then got rebranded in 2025 as SBC Summit Malta. So 2025 was the first year under the new name, and 2026 is the second. The 2025 event was the newly rebranded continuation of CasinoBeats Summit.
The event ran April 28–30, 2026, at the InterContinental Hotel in St. Julian’s, Malta. Theme for this year: “The Future of Play.”
How big was it?
6,000 iGaming professionals attended, with 2,000 operator representatives, 1,000 affiliates, 250 speakers, and around 100 exhibitors and sponsors. That is a solid crowd for a three-day event focused specifically on betting and online gaming in Europe.
What happened on Day One?
Day one focused on big-picture thinking, with tracks covering Marketing Unplugged, Product Visionaries, and Risk, Regulation and Resilience.
Here is what each room was actually talking about:
1. The Black Market Problem
This was one of the biggest conversations of the day. Flutter UKI COO Tom McGovern pointed out that a report predicted the black market will out-earn the regulated one by 2028, and that the regulated industry needs to make itself the easiest and safest place to transact. His point was simple if players don’t even know they’re on an illegal platform, that’s a product problem, not just a law problem.
If you missed this session, you missed a real honest conversation about how the legal betting market is losing ground to illegal operators and nobody had a clean answer for how to fix it.
2. SEO It’s Not What It Used to Be
The main consensus from the SEO sessions was that SEO for brands right now is not only pure SEO, but also about collaborating with teams and building direct connections.
GainChanger’s co-founder Sean Bianco told marketers they need to think like a “wired pig” not only having a plan to rank, but a plan to recover and recycle links. Basically, if you’re doing well in search, someone is already planning to attack your rankings. The old way of just “doing SEO” is gone.
Miss this and you missed a session that told affiliates and operators something they probably didn’t want to hear but needed to.
3. Prediction Markets: Coming to Europe or Not?
Both panelists at the Prediction Markets session agreed that Europe will have a clear position on prediction markets within the next five years but what exactly that position will say remains to be seen. They’re massive in the US right now, but Brazil already said no, and Europe is still figuring it out.
4. AI and Cybersecurity
CISOs from Superbet Group, Betsson, and Rush Street Interactive warned that fraud levels are higher than ever because AI has made fraud tools more accessible. Their point: AI isn’t coming for jobs, but those who don’t use AI are at risk of being left behind in the fight against iGaming fraud.
5. Cross-Selling Products to Players
Alexandre Tomic, Founder of Alea, talked about how getting a sports bettor to try slots is not easy and the key is a user-friendly interface, not just more offers.
What did people who weren’t there miss?
- A real conversation about the black market eating into legal operators’ revenue with no easy solution on the table
- Honest talk about SEO attacks and why the old playbook is dead
- The first big European debate on whether prediction markets belong here
- A cybersecurity panel that basically said AI-powered fraud is already outpacing the industry’s defenses
Evening
Day 1 wrapped up with the Opening Party at LUMI Restaurant inside the VOCO Hotel. The party ran from 19:00 through to 01:00 and gave attendees the chance to decompress, catch up with old contacts, and keep conversations going that had started in the conference rooms.
Day two starts tomorrow. Workshops, hands-on sessions, and more operator-level debates. If day one set the questions, day two is where people start looking for answers.
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