Rasmus Sojmark, SBC: “Our focus is, and always will be, on quality rather than scale”

Rasmus Sojmark, founder & CEO of SBC, has shared insights about SBC Summit Lisbon.

Exclusive interview.- Ahead of SBC Summit 2026 in Lisbon, Rasmus Sojmark, founder & CEO of SBC, shares details about the expo and how it is preparing to receive more than 40,000 industry professionals.

In an exclusive interview, Sojmark spoke about the topic of discussion that will dominate the event’s debates and how the expo transforms the host city. He also shared the vision for the future of industry gatherings over the next few years.

Rasmus, moving the SBC Summit to Lisbon was a bold and highly successful move. With over 40,000 attendees expected this September, the scale is monumental. What has been the biggest operational and strategic challenge in scaling the event to this level while maintaining the high-quality networking SBC is known for?

Thanks for having me. It’s incredibly rewarding to see how far SBC Summit has come. Today, we’re preparing to welcome more than 40,000 industry professionals to what has become the largest quality-led event in gaming. Reaching that scale is something we’re immensely proud of, but what matters even more is ensuring the experience continues to deliver real value for every attendee.

Growing wasn’t actually the difficult part. The difficult part was making sure that someone attending their first SBC Summit in 2026 still gets the same feeling that someone had attending five years ago. That’s what we’ve obsessed over.

Every element of SBC Summit, from the exhibition and conference to networking, education and hospitality, has to deliver value in its own right. We were seeing trust in our brand grow rapidly, and there was this tremendous need to accommodate that growth without disappointing anyone.

So the challenge was never growing the event per se. The challenge was growing it without losing the value that made SBC Summit so special to begin with. A bigger show floor? Sure, but we needed better and more intuitive audience segmentation and navigation. A bigger audience to accommodate? No problem, but we needed to make it easy for people to find relevant contacts within that sheer volume, so we’re making networking more intentional and structured. A need for the conference to cover everything and ensure every attendee has something valuable to follow? Absolutely. But we are also doubling down on education and learning, because there’s way more to our events than simply sitting on panels.

The challenge was to grow without losing ourselves, and I think that principle continues to be one of the main drivers of our success.

The global igaming landscape is shifting rapidly, from the ongoing regulatory developments in Brazil and Latin America to new frontiers like the UAE. Which specific geographic markets do you think will dominate the debates and attract the most attention on the exhibition floor this year?

It’s a loaded question.

You have to remember that we’re talking about our global event here, which means it practically covers every market where igaming exists. We had people from more than 150 countries travel to the event last year, and we have an obligation to make that trip worthwhile. That’s why market-specific discussions are such a major focus this year.

We have an entire conference stage dedicated to this: Global & Emerging Markets, running across all three days. That alone will feature around 20 market-specific panels covering jurisdictions from Western Europe to Central Asia, LATAM, North America, Africa, and beyond. We also have another stage, Regulation & Compliance, which includes a dedicated Global Regulations track. Again, it’s highly jurisdiction-specific, covering markets such as Romania, Finland, Poland, and many others, all at different stages of regulatory maturity.

So, to answer your question briefly: we do this because we believe every market, whether established or emerging, deserves attention. Different businesses succeed in different regions for different reasons, whether that’s local expertise, strategic focus, market timing, or a stronger understanding of player behaviour. While some jurisdictions attract more attention than others, opportunities exist across the entire global ecosystem, and part of our role is helping attendees identify where those opportunities might be.

What I do want to highlight, though, is a new element we’re introducing this year that I’m particularly excited about: Regulatory Gaming Meetups.

We’re running them in collaboration with our partners at IAGR and IMGL. The goal is to create networking meetups where attendees can connect directly with regulators, legal experts, and other professionals active in the same markets. We already have 21 meetups planned.

So which markets are exciting? All the ones we’re covering. So make sure to check out the stages I mentioned, as well as the meetups, before you head to Lisbon. If you focus on specific geographies, know we’re doing our best to make your job easier.

“What I do want to highlight, though, is a new element we’re introducing this year that I’m particularly excited about: Regulatory Gaming Meetups.”

Rasmus Sojmark, founder & CEO of SBC.

The Affiliate Leaders Summit has become a cornerstone of the event. As search engine algorithms become more unpredictable and operators demand higher quality traffic, how is the relationship between affiliates and operators evolving, and what will be the main focus for affiliate leaders in Lisbon?

I think the fact that the industry is constantly reinventing itself is actually one of the main reasons why this year’s Affiliate Leaders Summit has become an event in its own right, co-hosted alongside SBC Summit.

There’s a lot to learn right now. And a lot to unlearn.

You actually touched on something important in your question: the relationship between affiliates and operators is evolving. Affiliates are no longer seen purely as traffic drivers, which, to a large extent, is how they were traditionally viewed. The expectation today is that they act as strategic partners to operators, which means the demands are higher and the stakes are greater.

Think about it. A traditional casino review on an affiliate site is gradually losing relevance when users are no longer simply Googling “best online casino in the UK”. They now receive AI-generated summaries directly in search results and don’t even have to click on them. They ask detailed questions to ChatGPT as if they’re speaking to a friend. So, of course, a business model that was heavily dependent on search traffic needs to reinvent itself.

That doesn’t make affiliate marketing any less relevant. But it does create a need to understand the new status quo and learn how to operate within it.

So, to answer your question, the Affiliate Leaders Summit exists to help this entire ecosystem, whether that’s affiliates, operator affiliate programmes, martech suppliers, or anyone involved in performance marketing, understand how to navigate these changes in a way that future-proofs their business and keeps them competitive in the long term.

And that doesn’t only apply to the educational side of the event, whether that’s the conference agenda or the Affiliate Leaders Academy. It also applies to what you can learn from the companies showcasing innovative technology on the exhibition floor, and from the people you meet through networking, who can challenge your thinking and offer new perspectives.

Player protection and compliance are no longer just regulatory checkboxes; they are central to long-term business sustainability. How is SBC Summit 2026 highlighting technologies and frameworks that help operators balance strict safer gambling compliance with a seamless player experience?

I think the statement that these issues are “no longer just regulatory checkboxes” couldn’t be more accurate.

We’re seeing that shift happen in real time. We started with a handful of panels on player protection. Then we created dedicated conference tracks. The entire stages. Then, a standalone media platform through the Player Protection Hub. And now we’ve reached a point where player protection sits at the heart of almost every discussion, regardless of which stage, track, or area of the show floor you’re on.

It’s no longer a standalone topic. It’s a foundation that underpins everything the industry does.

Understanding player protection means understanding regulation, marketing, product development, payments, compliance, and ultimately the relationship between operators and their customers. It touches every part of the ecosystem.

As event organisers, we do our best not only to address these topics on stage, but also to create space for them throughout the event experience. Whether that’s through the dedicated Player Protection Zone on the exhibition floor, specialised networking opportunities, or the content delivered across our conference programme, we’re committed to ensuring these conversations happen in meaningful ways.

Attendees can expect to find player protection woven throughout every major pillar of the event, whether that’s the exhibition, conference agenda, networking activities, or educational initiatives. That’s because it is no longer a niche conversation. It’s one of the defining priorities shaping the future of the industry.

Understanding player protection means understanding regulation, marketing, product development, payments, compliance, and ultimately the relationship between operators and their customers. It touches every part of the ecosystem.”

Rasmus Sojmark, founder & CEO of SBC.

An event of this magnitude inevitably transforms its host city. Beyond the networking and business deals within the venue, how has the relationship between SBC and Lisbon grown, and what kind of economic and cultural impact is the summit leaving on Portugal’s tech and hospitality ecosystems?

Lisbon is the home of SBC Summit. Simple as that. So we treat it like our home.

Every year, this bond and relationship grow, and we couldn’t be happier with the choice we made when we moved to Lisbon, even though the circumstances that led us here were unexpected. Looking back, we are grateful for how it all turned out.

In terms of economic impact, in 2025, the summit resulted in over 72,000 hotel nights booked and an estimated contribution of up to €130 million to the Portuguese economy. During our first year in Lisbon, the then Minister of Economy, Pedro Reis, was one of the government officials who came to visit us.

While the city lends us its beautiful venues, whether that’s Feira Internacional de Lisboa and MEO Arena, the venues we choose for our evening networking events, or the locations our sponsors and exhibitors select for their dinners, our event ultimately contributes to promoting Lisbon as a destination. Thousands of industry leaders leave not only with new business opportunities but also with a deeper appreciation for the city itself. In that sense, the summit doesn’t just take place in Lisbon, it actively contributes to reinforcing the city’s position as one of Europe’s leading destinations for international business events, innovation, and hospitality.

We are very grateful for all the local support we receive from our partners and the government officials who work with us on so many levels, so the Greatest Show in Gaming can keep happening in the Portuguese capital.

As Focus Gaming News celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, we’ve witnessed the incredible evolution of the industry alongside SBC. Looking at the sheer scale of SBC Summit 2026, what is your ultimate vision for the future of industry gatherings over the next few years? What’s next after hitting the 40,000-attendee mark?

More attendees is never the end goal. More VALUE FOR attendees is.

Our focus is, and always will be, on quality rather than scale, because we firmly believe that great quality will naturally drive scale. No one should underestimate the power of word of mouth. It’s still one of the most powerful forms of marketing, and when I hear how people talk about this event, I’m confident that our focus on quality is paying off.

So what is our focus?

You can’t network with 40,000 people. It can take only five meetings to be transformational. Our job is helping people find those five.

Better matchmaking. More personalised networking opportunities. More targeted content experiences. Stronger communities. Stronger year-round engagement. More meaningful shared experiences. Inspirational moments where we bring you face-to-face with people you would likely never otherwise have the chance to meet. Celebrating the end of a conference by dancing to Tiësto because we’re genuinely committed to bringing attendees the very best.

That’s the focus: constantly adapting, improving, and raising the bar.

At the end of the day, we have to ask ourselves what defines our success. It’s your success, right? The success of our attendees, exhibitors, sponsors, and speakers.

And what makes an event successful for you? The connections made. The business opportunities created. The things you learned. The experiences you’re genuinely grateful to have had.

So if we continue to put your success first, we’ll always be successful too.