SBC Summit wraps Day 3 with stats rundown and breaking the 30,000-attendee mark

Andrew McCarron, SBC Managing Director, and Denis Algreen, Marketing Director, have wrapped up a review of the SBC Summit 2025 numbers, comparing attendance and other key metrics with last year’s edition.

The event has just wrapped up its second edition, which took place in Lisbon, Portugal, with the gathering bringing a lot of new challenges in terms of partners, sponsors, and authorities to work with.

Algreen started by introducing the stats, arguing that the SBC Summit 2025 has hit above its target of 30,000 attendees to begin with.

"We are really pleased with that," Algreen said, referring to the number of people visiting, adding, "I saw the expo full still on Day 3, so we are very pleased with that. That is a 20% increase from last year, and we’ve added 16 more countries that sent representatives. We’re definitely seeing a lot more international involvement."

In terms of operator and affiliate attendance, there has been a 31% and 38% increase, respectively. Similarly, the expo attracted nearly 6,000 key decision-makers, 5,969 to be exact.

"I am fairly confident that this is the highest number of senior decision-makers of any industry event, and that is just CEOs and other C-levels accounted," he explained. The event also increased its size to 135,000 square meters and signed 235 new sponsors and exhibitors since last year.

Algreen also spoke about the event’s decision to fuse core industry verticals with outside help and introduce attendees to core technological and business concepts through the invitations of notable figures such as Randi Zuckerberg, Founder & CEO at Zuckerberg Media, and Gary Vaynerchuk, Serial Entrepreneur & Marketing Powerhouse.

The event has generated an estimated 72,000 room nights, with the wider economic impact still being assessed, Algreen said. McCarron joined his colleague to explain that SBC Summit was the company’s global event, which was reflected in the exhibition’s setup, including the Emerging Markets Stage.

McCarron and Algreen jointly highlighted the Tech Academies, focusing on introducing attendees to important technologies and concepts within the industry, as well as boosting learning.

"You will also see a couple of new editions outside of that, on the networking side," Algreen said, "Legends Charity Game was obviously added in as something that wasn’t a part of SBC Summit but goes hand-in-hand."

"It’s obviously a big leap for us to add an entire international football game into our schedule," McCarron agreed. "Just goes to show how we try to do things differently at SBC. The event was seen by 500,000 people in Spain alone," he added.

Algreen also spoke about the addition of the Affiliate Leaders Awards, which have been added to the most recent edition, which is seen as a logical expansion with the affiliate community, "and give them the attention they deserve."

Algreen said that the event will continue to leverage the Super Stage as something SBC sees as key to bringing outside knowledge contributors, which he deemed important.

The Affiliate Leaders Summit and the Payment Expert Summit continue as their own events within the event, Algreen remarked, referring to the strong core following these initiatives gathered all of their own, despite being part of the larger SBC Summit layout.

Algreen also spoke about the SBC Summit First Pitch Competition, which he believed gave companies an affordable and reliable option for companies to put themselves out there.

More importantly, Algreen argued that it was important to make sure that those innovative ideas are infused into the industry.

McCarron joined his colleague again, drawing attention to the fact that SBC Summit brought together more than 500 speakers, and pointing out that nobody offered as much content as SBC, nor did any other industry event meet the same networking potential that SBC made available through its events.

Both Algreen and McCarron attested to the event’s commitment to fine detail. Algreen explained that there were small details that SBC took care of, but that these small details added up to a fantastic event that is second to none, as McCarron himself argued, down to helping sort out the logistics of how attendees would move around town in Lisbon.

Algreen also spoke about the SBC Summit First Pitch Competition, which he believed gave companies an affordable and reliable option for companies to put themselves out there.

More importantly, Algreen argued that it was important to make sure that those innovative ideas are infused into the industry.

McCarron joined his colleague again, drawing attention to the fact that SBC Summit brought together more than 500 speakers, and pointing out that nobody offered as much content as SBC, nor did any other industry event meet the same networking potential that SBC made available through its events.

Both Algreen and McCarron attested to the event’s commitment to fine detail. Algreen explained that there were small details that SBC took care of, but that these small details added up to a fantastic event that is second to none, as McCarron himself argued, down to helping sort out the logistics of how attendees would move around town in Lisbon.

At this point, McCarron and Algreen began taking questions from the audience.

Regarding why SBC Summit has relocated to Lisbon, Portugal, they explained that there were limited choices, even when considering the whole of Europe, that could offer the same venues and event infrastructure as the city could.

It is the available spacing and resources that partially determine what SBC can try to achieve in every connection, and Lisbon has proven an excellent choice.

In terms of regional growth, McCarron and Algreen both doubled down that they want to maintain an international audience, with some countries, such as Brazil, driving the current spike in regional attendance, not least because of the interest the legalization of iGaming and sports betting at the beginning of the year caused.