SBC Awards announce the 2023 Champions of Betting and iGaming

The triumphant champions of Betting and iGaming were unveiled during the 10th Anniversary of the SBC Awards, a ceremony in which the most outstanding performers of the last 12 months in the sports betting and iGaming industry were awarded in kind. 

The ceremony was held on the 21st of September 2023 at Barcelona’s legendary Caves Codorniu, a location of great significance for being the oldest leading cava company in Spain. 

The hosts for the grand evening were Former Dutch Football legend Clarence Seedorf, and TV Presenter Kirsty Gallacher. 

In addition to this, the shortlists for the 10th-anniversary edition of the SBC Awards were announced back in August, featuring some of the industry’s finest operators, suppliers, affiliates, and leaders.  

A record number of entries were attracted in the 2023 edition of the Awards ceremony, with 39 categories that this year’s independent judging panel had to shortlist for.  

These categories included the following awards: 

• 12 Operator awards 

• 3 Affiliate awards 

• 18 Supplier awards 

• 3 Operator & Supplier awards 

• 3 Payment & Compliance awards 

Shortlisted Performers 

Having accumulated an impressive 9 nominations in total, Betsson Group was the leader among this year’s shortlisted performers, closely followed by the following prevalent entities in the gambling industry: 

In the category for Affiliate Awards, including Affiliate Product Innovation, Casino Affiliate of the Year, and Sports Affiliate of the Year, the following were shortlisted: 

• BetanDeal 

• Betting Hero 

• casino.online 

• Checkd Group 

• Gambling.com Group 

• XLMedia 

Last year’s winners in this category were Gambling.com Group and Better Collective, both of which, interestingly, were competing for the respective titles that they had previously been nominated for again this year.  

For both the awards of Operator of the Year and Sportsbook Operator of the Year, both of which many entities crave to obtain, the following were nominated: 

• Betsson Group 

• Kaizen Gaming 

• LeoVegas Group 

• Novibet 

• Sisal Italia SpA 

Last year’s winners of both of these coveted awards were competing again this year: Betsson Group for Casino Operator of the Year, and bet365 for Sportsbook Operator of the Year. 

In addition to this, other categories in which various operators were nominated included the following: 

• Esports Operator of the Year 

• Best Affiliate Program 

• Eastern Europe/Western European/Northern European/South European Operator of the Year 

• Rising Star in Sports Betting/Casino 

• Innovation in Casino & Gaming Entertainment 

• Marketing Campaign of the Year 

The Payment & Compliance Categories included Fraud & Compliance Solution of the Year, Payment Innovation of the Year, and Payment Solution of the Year. 

For these categories, the following were nominated: 

• Aircash 

• MiFinity 

• Trustly 

• OKTO 

• Pay4Fun 

The winners of this category during last year’s awards ceremony were the following: 

• Trustly won the award for Payment Innovation of the Year and Payment Solution of the Year. 

• IDnow won the award for Fraud and Compliance Solution of the Year. 

In the categories pertaining to Game Suppliers, a total of 16 software providers were nominated for the award of Casino/Slots Developer of the Year. Amongst these, the following made it on the esteemed shortlist: 

• Amusnet 

• Endorphina 

• Pragmatic Play 

• Yggdrasil 

• Relax Gaming 

A total of 12 nominations were made for the category of Sportsbook Supplier of the Year, and an additional 16 more categories were included with regards to Game Supplier Awards. 

Rising Star Categories include awards for up-and-coming entities who have stood out amidst the many for their considerable impact on the sports betting and iGaming industry in the last year. 

These include the Rising Star in Casino Innovation award and the category for Rising Star in Sports Betting Innovation. 

The awards for Operator & Supplier included the following shortlisted nominations: 

• Betsson Group 

• Bragg Gaming 

• Entain Foundation US 

• EPIC Risk Management 

• Mindway AI 

• OPAP 

• Videoslots 

For the category of Employer of the Year, 16 companies were nominated and were set to compete against one another for this prestigious reward. 

Finally, the award of Leader of the Year included the nominations of 19 leaders in the gambling industry: 

• Flutter International 

• Greentube 

• Sportingtech 

• PIN-UP Global 

• Evoplay 

Winners of the SBC Awards 2023  

The final results of the grand finale to the 10th-anniversary SBC Awards 2023 were unveiled on the 21st of September 2023. 

You may find the winners pertaining to each category of this prestigious awards night below: 

Operator Awards 

Operator & Supplier Awards

Affiliate Awards

Supplier Awards 

Payment Awards 

What are The SBC Awards? 

The SBC Awards ceremony is a prestigious annual event that is hosted with the aim of rewarding the achievements of operators, affiliates, and suppliers that pertain to various disciplines in the gambling industry.  

Among others, these disciplines include payment providers, marketing, platform providers, and data.  

The goal of this yearly event is 'recognizing and rewarding expertise and innovation in the betting and gaming industries’. 

The SBC Awards is the largest awards ceremony in the gambling industry, acknowledging the outstanding performances of the various operators, suppliers, affiliates, and leaders in the sport betting and iGaming markets. 

Being shortlisted for an award at this event is a great honor that many entities in the industry covet.  

The SBC described this year’s awards as follows: 

“The SBC Awards is now in its tenth year of rewarding and celebrating the very best in sports betting and gaming and continues to recognize the achievements of operators and affiliates, as well as suppliers from across all the major disciplines including payments, marketing, platform providers and data.” 

They continued by describing the ceremony night in the following manner: 

“Attendees will enjoy a night to remember as we ensure that there will be plenty of fun, entertainment and networking opportunities throughout the evening.” 

The Judging Process for the SBC Awards 2023

The judging process for the ceremony consisted of a hand-picked judging panel comprising some of the best individuals in the betting and iGaming industry. 

Any conflicts of interest on behalf of the jury selected were required to be declared, and those individuals with such conflicts of interest were also required to abstain from judging the particular categories that they found themselves to be biased in.  

The knowledge and area of expertise of the judges selected determined the categories that they were allocated to judge. 

In this way, the truly ground-breaking entries were awarded for their spectacular performances in the gambling industry during this past year, setting up an evening to remember for all the attendees who took part in this particular edition of the SBA Awards Ceremony.