Repeat winners rule the night at SBC Awards 2026

• Kaizen Gaming, Pragmatic Play, Sportradar and BetConstruct AI each win two awards in Lisbon.
• Pragmatic Play takes Casino / Slots Developer of the Year – Large for a third successive year.
• Vladimir Dokov and Alina Mihaela Popa share the Leader of the Year honours.

Kaizen Gaming, Pragmatic Play, Sportradar and BetConstruct AI each leave Lisbon with two trophies from the SBC Awards 2026. Several defending champions held on to their titles at the MEO Arena ceremony on 1 October, which closed this year’s SBC Summit.

Now in its 13th edition, the awards span 39 categories covering company leadership, player protection, payments and product innovation. Dutch football great Edgar Davids hosted the night with broadcaster Kirsty Gallacher.

The ceremony rounded off three days of networking and education at SBC Summit.

Rasmus Sojmark, Founder and CEO of SBC, said:

“One of my favourite parts of these awards is seeing the teams behind the achievements get their moment on stage. We know how much work goes into building a successful business or bringing a new product to market, and tonight was an opportunity to celebrate that together. Congratulations to all of our winners and finalists.”

Kaizen’s double defence

Kaizen Gaming once again set the pace among operators. The Betano owner retained Operator of the Year – Large and kept hold of Sportsbook Operator of the Year.

Betsson Group did the same in casino, defending its Casino Operator of the Year crown. Novibet repeated its win in Innovation in Casino & Gaming Entertainment, and 1xBET held on to Marketing Campaign of the Year.

Not every operator prize went to a familiar name. Coolbet claimed Operator of the Year – Medium, and Vegas Legends took Operator of the Year – Small.

Pragmatic completes the hat-trick

Pragmatic Play, which dominates several of bet365’s slot charts in August, won Casino / Slots Developer of the Year – Large for a third successive year. The studio also added Live Casino Supplier to its tally.

Further down the developer rankings, Pascal Gaming won the medium category and Gameburger Studios took the small award.

BetConstruct AI matched that two-award haul with Sportsbook Supplier of the Year and Land-Based Betting & Gaming Product. Sportradar collected Marketing & Services Provider of the Year and reclaimed Live Betting Product, a title it previously won in 2024.

Other streaks continued too. Soft2Bet made it three in a row in Innovation in Casino Entertainment. SPRIBE‘s Aviator was named Crash Game of the Year, following the studio’s win in the same category in 2025.

On the infrastructure side, Digitain took Platform Provider of the Year and SOFTSWISS won Aggregator of the Year. Amusnet was named Multi-Channel Supplier, and White Hat Gaming collected White Label Supplier of the Year.

Stats Perform won Sports Data Product. Oddin.gg and Playbook Fusion were recognised as Esports Supplier of the Year and Virtual Sports Supplier respectively.

Optimove took the headline technology prize, Industry Innovation of the Year. Kanggiten won Innovation in Mobile, and Xtremepush was named Acquisition & Retention Partner.

Fresh faces, familiar leaders

The Rising Star categories gave newer businesses a platform. Interplay Tech won Rising Star in Casino and Megapari took Rising Star in Sports Betting.

Among suppliers, Insightplay AI claimed Rising Star in Sports Betting Innovation / Software. TaDa Gaming won the casino equivalent.

In payments, Yaspa was named Payment Solution of the Year and OKTO Payments took Payment Innovation of the Year. Incode won Fraud & Compliance Solution of the Year, and EPIC Global Solutions collected Socially Responsible Initiative of the Year.

Workplace culture had its own moment. Alea won Employer of the Year – Supplier, and Allwyn Hellas took Employer of the Year – Operator.

The Leader of the Year honours went to Vladimir Dokov, CEO of EGT Digital, and Alina Mihaela Popa, CCO of ICONIC21. David Natroshvili received the Nico Jansen Vision to Reality Award.

SBC has signed a long-term deal to keep its flagship summit in Lisbon until 2030. Pragmatic Play, Soft2Bet and Kaizen will return next autumn chasing longer streaks.

For this year’s rising stars, the harder test starts now: turning a night on stage into operator deals and market share against suppliers that keep winning the same categories.