Alexandre Tomic, Alea: “SBC Americas brings two of our biggest markets into the same room at the same time, North America and LatAm”

Alexandre Tomic, founder of Alea, has shared how the company is preparing for SBC Summit Americas.

Exclusive interview.- Alexandre Tomic, founder of Alea, shared how the company is preparing for SBC Summit Americas. The event will be held in Fort Lauderdale in June.

In this exclusive interview with Focus Gaming News, Tomic spoke about Alea’s objectives for the show and its main focus for the first months of the year. He also shared insights about sweepstakes, igaming industry challenges in the US, and the plans for the coming months.

Alea started 2026 with new commercial agreements, participation in various events, and award nominations. How would you sum up the first few months of the year?

So busy. Since January, the team has been everywhere: Brazil, Africa, Dubai, all over Europe. If there’s a conference bringing our clients and providers into the same room, we’re there.

The big story for us this year has been the Alea jackpot. We launched it at ICE in January, did over 70 demos in three days, and the reaction told us we’d built something the market actually wanted. An agnostic jackpot that sits above game studios, where the operator is fully in control. Since then, it’s been our main commercial and product focus.

The schedule continues with SBC Summit Americas. How are you preparing and what are your objectives?

SBC Americas brings two of our biggest markets into the same room at the same time, North America and LatAm, so we make sure we’re there properly. Local teams, people flying in, time set aside for clients. We prepare the same way every time, honestly. You show up, you make yourself available, you have the conversations.

Sweepstakes is where a lot of the energy is this year, and where it’s heading next. Brazil is on the table now, and a lot of LatAm markets are looking at it seriously. The model is attractive because you don’t need a licence, you get a legal opinion, and markets that were completely closed to real money gaming suddenly become accessible. That’s what we’ll be there to talk about.

“The big story for us this year has been the Alea jackpot.”

Alexandre Tomic, founder of Alea.

You were in New York in March. What surprised you most about discussions with US operators regarding sweepstakes?

The US market has become very creative about finding ways to gamble without calling it gambling. Sweepstakes, prediction markets, social casinos. There’s this deep cultural pull towards gambling, but a very complicated regulatory history with it, so the industry just keeps finding the gaps. And the operators there are sophisticated. They understand the mechanics, they understand the opportunity, and they’re moving fast.

That market never stops surprising you. Every time you think you know where it’s going, it’s already somewhere else.

What are the biggest challenges currently facing the igaming industry in the US market?

The regulation. It’s fragmented to the point that it’s genuinely hard to navigate. Every state has its own rules, its own appetite, its own red lines. What works in New Jersey doesn’t work in Nevada. There’s no federal framework holding it together, so you’re essentially operating in multiple different countries under the same flag. And the political environment can shift quickly. Something that’s legal today in one state can be gone tomorrow, and there’s very little warning. The only saving grace is that if one state closes, you can still operate in others. But it keeps everyone on their toes.

In what ways do North American players differ from those in other markets, and how are you tailoring your offering?

The US player has grown up with a very different relationship to gambling than a European player. Sports betting got there first and shaped expectations around interface, speed, and the social element. Casino is newer, which means the habits aren’t as established, but the appetite is there.

We tailor the offering through people and data. We have local teams in these markets who actually know them, and we have the player and market behaviour data to back it up. Game preference, what works and what doesn’t, that changes completely from one market to the next. You need both to get it right.

“The US player has grown up with a very different relationship to gambling than a European player.”

Alexandre Tomic, founder of Alea.

What are Alea’s plans for the coming months?

iGB Live in London in July is the next big one on the calendar.

On the product side, the jackpot is live and running well. That’s the main focus right now. But the broader direction is clear: aggregation doesn’t have to mean just games. We started with payments, now the jackpot, and there’s more coming before the end of the year.