SBC Summit 2026 brought the global betting and gaming industry together in Lisbon, with more than 40,000 industry professionals attending. From regulatory change and market expansion to fraud, onboarding and the evolution of the player experience, the event provided a clear snapshot of where the industry is heading.
For Jumio, it also provided plenty of opportunity to speak directly with operators and industry leaders about the challenges shaping their businesses. One key theme came through: identity is no longer simply a compliance checkpoint. It is becoming a continuous part of the player journey — helping operators build trust, prevent fraud and reduce friction.
We left SBC Summit with many great insights this year. See our top 7 and watch a quick highlight video with insights from our team here:
1. Regulation is reshaping the industry
Regulatory change was a strong theme throughout the SBC Summit, and Finland was a particularly interesting example.
Raph Apata, Jumio account executive, had many discussions about the country’s move away from its historic gambling monopoly. Under Finland’s new Gambling Act, betting, online slot and casino games, and online money bingo are being opened to competition through a licensing system, with licensed gambling services able to begin operating from July 1, 2027.
This represents a significant shift, creating new opportunities for international operators while also raising the bar for compliance. Operators entering the market will need to demonstrate that they can meet regulatory, KYC and responsible gambling requirements from day one.
This reflects a wider trend: compliance is becoming a prerequisite for sustainable growth.
2. Brazil highlights the complexity of emerging markets
Jumio CRO Matt DeLauro heard a lot about Brazil’s regulatory landscape, particularly the country’s increasingly restrictive approach to online gaming and betting, set out by their current president.
Following a recent introduction of a nationwide ban on fixed-odds betting, including online betting games, the market faces significant uncertainty around the legality of operators, the enforcement of restrictions and the future of digital gambling services. The ban places scrutiny on payment providers, financial intermediaries and digital platforms that may facilitate transactions linked to prohibited gambling activities. It also raises important questions around customer verification, transaction monitoring, fraud prevention and the identification of unlicensed operators.
For businesses such as Jumio, the key challenge is understanding how these restrictions translate into practical compliance obligations, while navigating a regulatory environment in which enforcement priorities, legal challenges and the future of the market remain in flux.
3. Better experiences are becoming a competitive advantage
The player experience is increasingly becoming a competitive differentiator.
Monty Singh, Jumio sales development manager, heard strong interest in how operators can improve onboarding while maintaining robust identity controls. selfie.DONE™ generated particularly strong conversations around this challenge.
Traditional identity verification can introduce friction at a critical point in the player journey, with players often required to repeatedly provide ID documents or complete verification checks.
Reusable identity changes that dynamic. Once a player has established a trusted identity, operators can build on that identity rather than treating every interaction as a completely new verification journey.
The proposition is simple: less friction for trusted players, a better user experience and the potential for higher conversion rates.
The conversations at SBC reinforced that identity can directly influence whether a player completes registration, returns to an operator and continues engaging with the platform.
4. Compliance doesn’t mean friction
For Philipp Pointner, Jumio’s chief of digital identity, a key takeaway from SBC Summit was that licensed operators are actively looking for ways to comply with regulations.
There is sometimes an assumption that stronger KYC and AML controls inevitably mean more friction and lower conversions. Philipp’s conversations suggested the opposite.
Operators want to meet their obligations around KYC, AML and responsible gambling, but they also want to deliver an experience that doesn’t penalise legitimate players.
This is where reusable identity becomes particularly powerful. If an operator can establish that a player is genuine and trusted, they can use that verified identity intelligently throughout the customer lifecycle, reducing unnecessary repetition while maintaining appropriate controls.
The opportunity is to make identity verification smarter, more contextual and more connected to the overall player journey.
5. Moving beyond traditional KYC
For years, identity verification was largely viewed as something that happened just at registration: a player signs up, submits their information, completes a verification check, and gets approved. With modern consumer expectations, that’s something of the past. Players want fast onboarding, personalised experiences and minimal repetition. At the same time, operators are dealing with increasingly sophisticated fraud, including multi-accounting, stolen credentials, synthetic identities and attempts to circumvent traditional verification processes.
The result is a shift from “verify once at the start” toward continuous intelligence.
This is the foundation of the identity intelligence approach: bringing together identity, risk and behavioural signals to help operators make better decisions throughout the customer lifecycle.
6. The fraud problem is becoming more connected
Fraud can no longer be viewed one account at a time.
Gaming ecosystems generate enormous volumes of signals across accounts, devices, transactions and behaviours, while fraudsters are using AI and increasingly sophisticated techniques, including injection attacks, to bypass traditional controls.
Identity verification therefore cannot operate in a silo. We must connect trusted identity data with risk intelligence, authentication, fraud detection and ongoing signals across the customer lifecycle.
The goal isn’t simply to answer “Is this person who they say they are?” It is to understand who the player is, whether they can be trusted, what risk they present and how that assessment should evolve over time.
7. The player journey is becoming the identity journey
From our time spent at SBC Summit, it’s clear that identity is becoming a continuous part of the player journey, rather than a one-time check at onboarding.
Reusable identity and technologies provide a way to address the challenge of improving conversion, reducing friction and delivering a better user experience — while maintaining the consent, privacy, security and compliance controls required for each use case.
The future of gaming isn’t about choosing between compliance and customer experience. It’s about using identity intelligence to deliver both.
