iGaming Check: The Intelligence Briefing for SBC

Here is a carefully curated collection of original reporting, exclusive interviews and thoughtful perspectives on an ever-evolving industry. Written for those in strategic roles, including operators, investors, top management, compliance officers and product architects, the journal is for anyone whose decisions shape their organisation’s trajectory. While the conference floor reverberates with talk of growth, our pages address a question: how to grow with discipline, foresight and an accurate understanding of the underlying factors that determine long-term outcomes.

The journal features a selection of narratives that move deliberately past the obvious: 

Retention Always Wins in the Long Run

This paper examines why sustainable growth has emerged as the defining competitive advantage in today’s iGaming landscape and explains why prioritising acquisition is a strategic miscalculation for those who fail to adapt.

Brand vs Performance: The Shift Nobody Fully Admits

Giorgi Tsutskiridze, SPRIBE’s Commercial Director, offers expert commentary on dismantling the false binary between brand equity and performance marketing. He discusses the emerging synthesis that forward-looking operators can no longer afford to ignore.

The New Role of the CMO

In this exclusive interview, we explore how marketing leadership is undergoing a fundamental transformation with Diana Larina, Chief Marketing Officer at Evoplay. We discuss how the role is shifting from overseeing funnels and campaigns to a strategic approach that influences product direction, organisational culture and long-term commercial positioning.

The Game Design Behind 40% Player Retention

This detailed examination of 1Spin4Win’s design philosophy reveals why player retention begins with the structural mechanics of the game itself rather than with rewards or promotions. It also explains how deliberate design choices produce sustained engagement.

Loyalty Programs Are Dead. Are They?

Henk Wolff (iGaming Consultant) and Alex Malchenko (Head of Sales at Evoplay) offer two distinct perspectives on the evolution of loyalty strategies, the limitations of traditional reward models, and what meaningful alternatives might look like in an increasingly sophisticated market.

Beyond Content: AI’s Shift Toward Better Business Decisions

As Chief Operating Officer at Golden Whale, Claudia Heiling offers a considered perspective on artificial intelligence, which is moving beyond content generation and chatbots to play a more significant role in product development, operational intelligence and strategic decision-making.

The Price of Playing by the Rules

This is an exploration of how sophisticated operators are transforming the burden of compliance into a commercial advantage by leveraging trust and governance as strategic assets in an environment where reputation is becoming increasingly important.

Africa: The iGaming Frontier

Anastasiia Shcherbyna, Chief Marketing Officer at MelBet Partners & Affiliates, shares grounded insights, complemented by market intelligence from Blask. Together, they offer a clear-eyed view of what genuinely drives success across the continent’s diverse and rapidly evolving iGaming markets.

Why This Journal, Why Now?

The iGaming sector is flooded with information, including daily newsletters, transient commentary and hastily composed social media posts. What is needed is context, the connective tissue that reveals the influence of a regulatory adjustment in Brazil on retention metrics in Europe, for example, or how a CMO’s evolving mandate can recalibrate an entire product strategy.

The journal provides incisive analysis, meaningful discussion and conceptual frameworks that remain relevant long after the conference has ended.

Come Find Us at SBC

A limited number of copies will be available at the conference. Readers are invited to collect a copy and engage with its contents. In the world of iGaming, it is not the most vocal participants who enjoy enduring success, but rather those who combine perceptive analysis with disciplined execution. This journal is intended as a tool to help readers achieve this: to read deliberately, examine established assumptions and maintain a position of foresight in a rapidly shifting landscape.