Lisbon mayor Carlos Moedas told gambling operators at the opening of SBC Summit 2026 that business growth has to come with social purpose, and pointed to a gaming startup building tools for people with dementia as his example. SBC founder and chief executive Rasmus Sojmark opened the event alongside him, marking the summit’s third consecutive year in the Portuguese capital.
The ribbon-cutting on 29 September started three days at Feira Internacional de Lisboa (FIL) and the MEO Arena. SBC reported 40,000 attendees from 150 countries, and organisers projected 85,000 hotel room nights across the week.
Moedas on jobs and tech companies
Moedas opened with the city’s record on attracting tech businesses. He said Lisbon has drawn 18 unicorns and 120 other tech companies, which together have created more than 20,000 jobs.
“I truly believe that innovation and technology are the engines of a city’s growth and are what create jobs,” Moedas said.
He tied that record to Unicorn Factory Lisboa, the city’s startup programme. In 2023 Lisbon was named European Capital of Innovation for the project, an award that came with a €1 million prize. Moedas said the city chose to put that money into social innovation.
“I wanted to use that money to invest in innovation, social innovation,” he said.
A dementia project as the example
To make the case to a gambling audience, Moedas told the story of Hossein Jalali, an Iranian engineer who moved to Lisbon and founded a video game company with support from the city’s programme. The company builds games that train cognitive skills in people living with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
“The gaming industry understands, like no other, emotions, behaviour and people,” Moedas said. “I am very proud to know that Hossein is in Lisbon and that, through your industry, he is changing the lives of so many people.”
Jalali’s company is a video game developer, not a gambling operator. Moedas presented it as proof that the sector’s knowledge of player behaviour and engagement can be applied to health and social care.
Growth with a purpose
Moedas told operators to keep growing. He listed profit, tax payments and job creation as obligations the industry should keep meeting, then asked for one more.
“You must continue to grow your businesses, because you need to make money, pay taxes, and do everything else that’s necessary. But you also need to do something more: create a purpose,” he said.
He returned to the same point when addressing the international companies in the hall directly.
“You create jobs, you have technology, you have great ideas, but you can also change the lives of people,” Moedas said.
His remarks, as reported, did not touch on gambling regulation or player protection. He closed by repeating the city’s welcome.
“Create a purpose, change people’s lives. We will always be here to welcome you to this extraordinary city,” he said.
Sojmark on year three in Lisbon
Sojmark welcomed delegates back to the city that has hosted the summit since 2024.
“We’ve come a long way in 12 years,” Sojmark said. “We are very happy to have the support of the city we have chosen to host our biggest and most ambitious event.”
He called Lisbon the right fit for the summit and thanked the city and national authorities for the time they gave to the opening. SBC managing director Andrew McCarron joined him on stage.
Attendance rose by a third in a year, from the 30,000 delegates recorded in 2025 to 40,000 this year. The same opening day put Michael Jordan on the MEO Arena stage, where he talked fans and betting with Sportradar’s Carsten Koerl and DraftKings’ Jason Robins.
Portuguese officials at the opening
Moedas cut the ribbon with Maria Luísa Aldim, deputy mayor for innovation and social development; Rita Prates, chief executive of Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa; António Ramalho, vice president of FIL; António Valle, director-general of Turismo de Lisboa; Carlos Abade, president of Turismo de Portugal; and Jorge Vinha da Silva, chief executive of MEO Arena.
Two of those bodies sit directly in the Portuguese gambling market. Santa Casa holds exclusive rights to the state lotteries and runs the Placard sports betting game. Turismo de Portugal houses the gambling regulator, the Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos (SRIJ), which oversees a licensed online market that posted record revenue in the first half of 2026.
What comes next
Moedas set out the request without a mechanism. In his opening remarks he named no fund, partnership or programme through which gambling companies could back social projects in the city. Unicorn Factory Lisboa, which supported Jalali’s company, is the existing channel.
SBC has already confirmed a fourth Lisbon edition for 21 to 23 September 2027. That gives the city and the industry a year to show whether the call for purpose produced anything beyond the speech.
Source: SBC Summit
