SiGMA World 2026 opens in Rome with 1,200 exhibitors and 30,000 delegates

The event shares Fiera Roma with AIBC, FX World and AGS, bringing gaming, frontier technology, financial markets and affiliate marketing together.

Key takeaways:

• SiGMA World 2026 opened on November 3 at Fiera Roma for its second edition under the new name, formerly SiGMA Central Europe.
• The event covers 120,000 square metres and expects more than 1,200 sponsors and exhibitors and 30,000 delegates.
• Its programme includes 550 expert speakers across five stages, four industry awards ceremonies with charity auctions and three Startup Pitch competitions.
• For the first time, SiGMA World is co-located with AIBC, FX World and AGS, covering gaming, AI and blockchain, financial markets and affiliate marketing.
• The exhibition features more than 1,000 stands across nine halls, with RedCore as main sponsor.

SiGMA World 2026 has opened at Fiera Roma in Rome, bringing together professionals from the gaming, technology, finance and affiliate marketing sectors for the second edition of the event under its new name. The event features more than 1,200 sponsors and exhibitors, 30,000 delegates and 550 expert speakers, while sharing the venue with AIBC, FX World and AGS. The programme will address regulation, AI, fraud, player protection, prediction markets and market developments across Europe, the Americas and Africa.

Italia.- For the second year in a row, SiGMA World (formerly SiGMA Central Europe) opened today (November 3) its doors at Fiera Roma, welcoming professionals from the gaming, technology, finance, and affiliate marketing sectors.

SiGMA World covers 120,000 square metres and brings together more than 1,200 sponsors and exhibitors and 30,000 delegates. The conference programme spans five stages with 550 expert speakers, complemented by four industry awards ceremonies with charity auctions and three Startup Pitch competitions.

New this year, SiGMA World shares Fiera Roma with three other events, AIBC, FX World and AGS, bringing gaming, frontier technology, financial markets and affiliate marketing together under one roof. While SiGMA covers the global gaming ecosystem, AIBC focuses on AI, blockchain and emerging technology, FX World on financial markets and fintech, and AGS, the Affiliate Grand Slam, on the affiliate marketing community.

According to the organisers, each event retains its own identity, specialist programme and dedicated exhibition environment, giving delegates the freedom to focus on the markets and subjects most relevant to their business.

Inside SiGMA World 2026

On the exhibition floor, SiGMA World will bring together more than 1,200 sponsors and exhibitors, with over 1,000 stands spread across nine halls at Fiera Roma. The layout is organised by segment: Hall 1 is dedicated to B2C, Hall 2 to the Affiliate Grand Slam, Hall 3 to B2B2C and Halls 4 and 6 to B2B, while Hall 5 hosts a mixed offering that includes the Italian Pavilion, led by the SAPAR association and focused on the domestic gaming market. The AIBC and FX World exhibitions will occupy Halls 7 and 8, where financial brands will be present, and Hall 9 will house the padel court. RedCore returns as the event’s main sponsor. During the four-day event, attendees will be able to visit the booths from the most renowned industry players, including 1spin4win, 1xBet, 1xCARE, 1xSlots, Alea, Altenar, Amusnet, BETBY, BetConstruct AI, BGaming, Blue Ocean Gaming, Booming Games, Comms Hub, CreedRoomz, DELULU Gaming, Digitain, EGT Digital, Fast Track, FIRST.bet, Frogo, Galaxsys, GR8_TECH, Imagine Live, InPlaySoft, Logifuture, Mancala Gaming, MelBet, N1 Partners, PIN-UP Partners, PopOK Gaming, RedCore, Soft2Bet, SOFTSWISS, TaDa Gaming and WINWIN Partners.

As usual, Focus Gaming News will cover the show live, with news, interviews and highlights from the floor at focusgn.com, and welcomes SiGMA World attendees at stand H3-3093 in Hall 3 (B2B2C). Head towards the Main Stage and the stand is right next to the Media Zone!

The voices shaping the industry’s future, all in one place

The opening ceremony began at 10:30 am with a brief introduction by Trudy Kerr, the host of the SiGMA stage, followed by Tim Draper, the founder of Draper Associates, who delivered an opening speech and discussed the decisions behind his best-known investments, from Tesla and SpaceX to Bitcoin and the next wave of AI.

At 11 am, “AI vs. Complexity: Can Tech Simplify Cross-Border Growth?” will bring together Valentina Bagniya, CMO of SOFTSWISS, and Gil Soffer, CCO of Digitain, among others, to examine where AI can help operators assess new jurisdictions and where specialist oversight is still required. It will be followed by “Regulatory Backfire: How Crackdowns Empower Offshore Rivals”, where the panel will explore how regulators can disrupt black-market operators while ensuring licensed businesses remain competitive and player protection doesn’t come at the expense of channelisation.

At 12.30 pm, the official opening ceremony will feature Italy’s Minister of Enterprises and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, Inter-Parliamentary Union President Tulia Ackson and SiGMA founder Eman Pulis. The afternoon will then turn to regulation. “The World Cup Betting Autopsy: Did Prediction Markets Kill the Old Playbook?” will analyse how sportsbooks, prediction markets and AI-powered betting experiences competed for the same fans during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. At 1.30 pm, “Brazil’s Regulatory U-Turn: From Boom to Ban” will bring Juan Camilo Carrasco, managing partner at Sora Lawyers, and Stepan Dobrovolskiy, CEO of BetBoom LATAM, to discuss what Brazil’s change of course means for operators, payments and player funds.

At 2 pm, “Europe’s Enforcement Era: Regulation Is Winning But At What Cost?” will gather Mikel Arana Etxezarreta, general director of the Spanish Gaming Authority, Pierre Tournier, senior director at the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), Panagiotis Trisokkas, president of the Cyprus National Betting Authority, Tomas Bures, from the Czech Ministry of Finance, and Vassiliki Moutafi, head of illegal gambling enforcement at the Hellenic Gaming Commission. The track will continue with “One Country, 50 Systems”, featuring Marcus D. Fruchter, executive director of the Illinois Gaming Board, on why US expansion multiplies costs, and “Africa’s Legal Mirage: Are Regulatory Frameworks Delivering Results?”, with regulators such as Erastus Johannes, CEO of the Gambling Board of Namibia, and Bashir Abiola Are, CEO of the Lagos State Lotteries and Gaming Authority.

On the Italy Stage, the day opened at 10.35 am with “The Italian Public Gaming Market: Current State and Future Prospects”, featuring Geronimo Cardia, founder of Studio Cardia. At 11.05 am, Fabio Angeli Bufalini, country director of Stake Italy, will take part in “Italy’s New Online Gaming Regime: One Year Later”, assessing a framework that reduced the number of licence holders from around 90 to 46. At 12.05 pm, Moreno Marasco, chairman of LOGiCO, and Valérie Peano, founding partner of EGLA, will discuss a new model of responsible advertising amid Italy’s advertising ban. The afternoon will address the future of gaming machines with Francesco Gatti, founder and CEO of Bull Gaming, ahead of the next tender, and the challenges facing small retail operators, with Hon. Andrea de Bertoldi, member of the Italian Parliament.

Day two: Europe’s regulators take the stage

Wednesday’s Main Stage will begin with affiliate-focused keynotes, alongside speeches by two members of the European Parliament: Hon. David Casa at 10.50 am and Hon. Brando Benifei at 1 pm. At 11.15 am, Tim Gorenkov, head of affiliates at PIN-UP Partners, will give a keynote titled “Personal Branding: Become An Opinion Leader With Only 1 Hour Work Per Week”, where he will explore how working across multiple GEOs helps affiliates reduce risk, find new growth opportunities, and build stronger long-term partnerships.

The “Global Regulation Reset” block will then open at 1.05 pm with “Fragmented Europe: Can Regulators Coordinate Without a Single Rulebook?”, where Prof. Pieris Chourides, president of the Cyprus Gaming and Casino Supervision Commission, and Raigo Uukkivi, director general of the Estonian Tax and Customs Board, among others, will discuss intelligence sharing, payment disruption and AI-driven risk detection without full harmonisation.

At 1.35 pm, “Black Market Economics: Why Illegal Gambling Still Wins” will feature Anders Dorph, director of the Danish Gambling Authority, James Baldacchino, general counsel at the Malta Gaming Authority, and Pierre Tournier of EGBA, alongside regulators from Bulgaria and Latvia. At 2.10 pm, “Transparency in Gambling: Can Trust Be Engineered?” will bring Dan Ghiță, chairman of ROMBET, and Sissel Weitzhandler, co-founder of EGARA, to examine how RTP, odds clarity and RNG visibility can build player trust. The stage will then host “CEOs & Founders in 90 seconds”, a fast-paced fireside with leaders from Games Valley, The Playa, FIRST.bet and LVLX.

Elsewhere, the Affiliate Grand Slam will centre on AI in media buying and creative, the AIBC x Litecoin stage will host the Litecoin summit, and the Global Finance Stage will look at PSPs, stablecoins and prop trading.

Day three: fraud, player protection and prediction markets

The final day will open on the Main Stage at 11.05 am with “The New Era of Risk: AI-Driven Fraud Networks & the Intelligence Gap”. At 12 pm, “Financial Crime in Motion: Fraud Networks vs Investigative Response” will pit fraud tactics against AML teams in a live simulation, with Francesco Venditti, head of the Special Unit for Combating Technological Fraud at Guardia di Finanza, Giuseppe Lopez, head of Europol’s European Financial and Economic Crime Centre, and former DEA investigator Jason Sandoval.

At 12.35 pm, “From Compliance to Care: The Ultimate Player Protection Toolkit” will ask which safeguards genuinely protect players, with Francesco Rodano, group head of Responsible Gaming at Allwyn International, and Lissa Mencía, director general of Lottery and Gaming Operations at LOTO Honduras. At 1.15 pm, Hon. Sinuhe Wallinheimo, member of the Finnish Parliament, will deliver the keynote “The Monopoly Paradox: Why Opening the Market May Restore Control”, on Finland’s reform replacing Veikkaus’ online monopoly with a licensing system from 2027. In the afternoon, Silvia Paleari, head of corporate affairs at IBIA, will take part in “Women in Betting: The Industry’s Most Ignored Growth Segment”, and Alexandre Tomic, founder of Alea, will present data from 28 months of sweepstakes activity covering 2 million players and 3 billion bets.

The Italy Stage will dedicate the day to the player and to prediction markets. “Under Italy’s Lens: Built for the Thumb, Not the Desktop” will open the programme with Fabrizio Veltre Stolfi, former head of gaming operations in Italy at Evoke, followed by “When Betting Meets Trading: Prediction Markets and Regulatory Chaos”, with Fiorentina D’Amore, CEO Malta and senior director of business operations (EU) at Blockchain.com.

Later sessions will cover responsible gaming across land-based and online channels with Stefano De Vita, general director of Fondazione FAIR, payment traceability with Hon. Marcello Coppo, and “Crypto Assets, Prediction Platforms: A Bet Within the Bet?”, with Moreno Marasco. The stage will close at 3.15 pm with a speech by Hon. Rosaria Tassinari, Member of the Italian Parliament.

SiGMA World Awards 2026: Focus Gaming News named best iGaming Media 2026

The SiGMA World Awards took place yesterday (November 2) at the Corsie Sistine, in the Santo Spirito in Sassia complex in Rome. With 35 categories organised around five overarching distinctions, Player Champions, Content Masters, The Architects, The Pacesetters and The Growth Makers, this year’s programme recognised companies across both B2B and B2C segments.

Among the winners was Focus Gaming News, which was named “Best iGaming Media 2026”. The award marks the fifth consecutive year that the media outlet has been recognised in this category at SiGMA’s European events, after its wins in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, and the ninth time overall, counting its recognitions in LatAm. The distinction recognises Focus Gaming News as a leading source of information on regulation, legislation, markets and enforcement across the global gaming industry in the year the media outlet is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

• Where and when is SiGMA World 2026 taking place? SiGMA World 2026 is taking place at Fiera Roma in Rome from November 3. The four-day event is co-located with AIBC, FX World and AGS at the same venue.
• How many people are attending SiGMA World 2026? Organisers expect 30,000 delegates at SiGMA World 2026. The event also brings together more than 1,200 sponsors and exhibitors, with over 1,000 stands across nine halls.
• What events are co-located with SiGMA World 2026? SiGMA World is co-located with AIBC, which focuses on AI, blockchain and emerging technology; FX World, focused on financial markets and fintech; and AGS, the Affiliate Grand Slam, focused on affiliate marketing.
• What topics are covered at SiGMA World 2026? The programme covers regulation, cross-border growth, black-market competition, Brazil, Europe and Africa, AI-driven fraud, player protection, prediction markets, affiliate marketing and Italy’s gaming market. Sessions run across five stages with 550 speakers.