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RS: When I look back at SBC, it's actually quite difficult to believe how far we've come. We didn't start with some enormous business plan to build one of the world's biggest gaming and tech event companies. We started by bringing people together. That was really the foundation of SBC. I've always believed this industry is built on relationships and respecting the people that have continued to support you. In the early days, we were organising relatively small gatherings and events. Today, we're bringing tens of thousands of people together from all over the world. There have definitely been moments where I've thought, "How did we get from where we started to this?" I’m a big football fan and I well remember the early Betting on Football days at Chelsea’s ground Stamford Bridge. We hosted keynotes and appearances from some of our idols like Peter Schmeichel, Ruud Gullit, Marcel Desailly, Petr Cech, Franco Baresi, and Gaizka Mendieta. We grew our Awards events from a small Octoberfest Pub in Fulham to spectacular gala events at the Natural History Museum in London, and today we host it at MEO Arena in Lisbon. Year by year we managed to scale and retain the quality business and experiences we have become known for, and every year it felt special. We've had some incredible footballers, sports stars, business leaders and personalities involved over the years. And now we're preparing for the SBC Summit in Lisbon with my all- time favourite person: Michael Jordan. If you'd told me when we started that one day we'd have Michael Jordan speaking at our event in Lisbon with Carsten Koerl (Sportradar Founder and CEO) and Jason Robins (DraftKings Co-founder and CEO), I would not have believed you. I don't think anyone would. Even today this still feels like a dream. SP: How did you manage to scale up while keeping a focus on quality and not becoming so big that the events lose their character and uniqueness?
Ultimately, I see the partnership as IMGL bringing some of the world's best legal and regulatory minds into the SBC ecosystem, and SBC giving those voices a global platform. I can also add that we have created some additional strong partnerships that tie closely in with our IMGL partnership. We have formed partnerships with IAGR and are also collaborating with GRAF for the SBC Summit in Lisbon. And we are working closely with key industry Associations in Europe, Latam, Brazil, North America and Africa. SP : You mentioned a public part: What will visitors to Lisbon see as a result of the partnership? There are really quite a few things. We’ve got the Leaders Summit which we’re opening with an announcement of the deal. We have invited many of the regulators and the IMGL members to that event to deal on a very high level with operator CEOs and some of the key supplier and top affiliate CEOs so that should be an exciting day. Then at the SBC Summit itself there is an IMGL super-masterclass on one of the main conference stages and, in addition, we have created new Regulatory Gaming Meetups, which are running over the course of three days. There’ll be over 20 of these focused networking sessions hosted by IMGL and IAGR members and regulators covering most of the European jurisdictions, LatAm, North America and places like New Zealand and Australia. That’s a hugely strong addition to the event where operators can come and meet regulators and IMGL can contribute on the legal side. Rounding off the week we have added in a dedicated day on prediction markets where several IMGL members are participating. So I think you will see the partnership really making a difference to the event. SP: As a veteran of more industry events than I can remember, I genuinely think you strike a balance between the commercial part, high quality content and stellar entertainment, particularly with some huge names on board. I guess it wasn’t always like this. How did you get to this point?
IMGL MAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2026
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