Awards
Recognising the Powerhouses of Performance: SBC Launches Affiliate Leaders Awards
This year’s SBC Summit will see the premiere of the Affiliate Leaders Awards – a bold new addition spotlighting standout contributions in the affiliate marketing industry.
The Affiliate Leaders Awards will take place on Wednesday, 17 September 2025, from 19:00 to 24:00 at the MEO Arena, marking the first time SBC is hosting a standalone ceremony dedicated entirely to celebrating the achievements of affiliates, their operator partners, and the suppliers driving the affiliate ecosystem.
The new ceremony builds on the incredible momentum generated by the Affiliate Leaders Summit, which was first introduced during last year’s SBC Summit and has since been rolled out at SBC Summit Rio and SBC Summit Americas. This event has quickly become a flagship feature within the broader SBC Events portfolio, offering a highly focused environment for affiliates and their partners to connect, learn, and do business.
According to SBC Founder and CEO Rasmus Sojmark, the creation of the Affiliate Leaders Awards is a natural next step in SBC’s ongoing efforts to elevate and support the affiliate community within the iGaming and sports betting industries.
“Over the last year, we’ve doubled down on providing dedicated spaces and meaningful content for the affiliate community,” said Sojmark. “We’ve listened closely to what this community needs and the Affiliate Leaders Awards is the next phase – not just recognising their contributions, but celebrating them in the way they deserve.”
The Affiliate Leaders initiative – which includes the summit, community, magazine, news portal, and now the awards – has always been about empowering the affiliate sector and making business easier for its members. Whether it’s curated expo zones for affiliates and their partners, deep-dive content on SEO, AI, and acquisition strategies, or networking formats built for deal-making, SBC continues to create spaces where affiliates thrive.
Historically, affiliate-focused awards were limited to just a handful of categories within the broader SBC Awards. The introduction of a standalone ceremony enables SBC to significantly expand the recognition offered to this important segment of the industry.
This year’s Affiliate Leaders Awards will feature multiple categories, covering three key stakeholder groups:
- Affiliates – Featuring categories that showcase the full spectrum of affiliate excellence, from top networks and niche verticals to standout campaigns, content leaders, and rising stars.
- Operators – Celebrating operator teams and strategies that actively support, engage, and collaborate with affiliates.
- Suppliers – Honouring the platforms, tools, and service providers that drive affiliate performance and innovation.
Award categories include Affiliate Network of the Year, Affiliate Content Manager of the Year, Affiliate Campaign of the Year, Social Media Campaign of the Year, and Affiliate Technology of the Year — all designed to spotlight the creativity, strategy, and innovation fueling affiliate success.
“With the launch of the Affiliate Leaders Awards, SBC adds a new layer of visibility and recognition. We want to highlight the innovation happening across the affiliate world – not just from the biggest names, but from rising stars, emerging content formats, and the tech providers enabling it all,” added Sojmark. “And we want to do that in a setting that brings everyone together – affiliates, operators, and suppliers – in a night of celebration, inspiration, and connection.”
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Applications Now Open
Entries for the Affiliate Leaders Awards are now officially open and will be accepted until Friday, 4 July. Entrants are invited to submit their applications via the Affiliate Leaders Awards website, where they can also review the full list of categories and entry criteria.
To attend the Affiliate Leaders Awards, participants must purchase a separate ticket. Attendees can choose between individual tickets or book full tables for their teams. For ticket information, please visit the Affiliate Leaders Awards website or contact [email protected] directly.
The Affiliate Leaders Awards will be followed the next evening by the long-established SBC Awards, now in its 12th year, continuing the tradition of honouring excellence across the entire sports betting and iGaming ecosystem.
Affiliate Success
ReferOn Wins Prestigious “Best Affiliate Software 2025” at SiGMA Central Europe B2B Awards
A milestone achievement as ReferOn continues to impress
ReferOn, the next-generation affiliate management platform, has taken the title of “Best Affiliate Software 2025” at the SiGMA Central Europe B2B Awards, held in Rome.
The award recognises ReferOn’s rapid growth in becoming a leader in iGaming. It distinguishes the platform for its cutting-edge architecture, exceptional product innovations, and measurable impact on affiliate operations.
Redefining Affiliate Management
In a short amount of time since its inception, ReferOn has become one of the most recognised names in affiliate technology, leading the way by creating user-centric features that help the real needs of affiliate managers.
The platform recorded rapid adoption, supporting an influx of tens of thousands of affiliates and millions of clicks while continuously evolving and growing with new features and refinements. The platform’s approach to innovation and user-facing experiences is its new living interface, Refie. Refie brings awareness and human-like interaction to the platform, helping make affiliate operations more personable and accessible.
Building Beyond the Standard
Alex Bukin, General Manager at ReferOn, commented on the win, “This award is more than recognition. It empowers and validates our team, encouraging us never to stop building. At ReferOn, we always aim to shape how affiliate marketing should work. At its core, it should be simple, transparent, and powerful. Every new integration and feature comes from a team that deeply understands the product and what real affiliate managers need. This helps us refine our platform to be the best it can be. And we’re only getting started!”
Continued Momentum
ReferOn’s win at SiGMA Central Europe marks another significant achievement. In 2025, the platform conducted multiple migrations and released groundbreaking features to transform affiliate operations. Its sights are set on 2026 — a year that will be focused on product refinements, sustainable growth through key industry partnerships, and delivering more key solutions for real affiliate managers.
Affiliate Success
Casino Guru secures SiGMA Central Europe B2C Awards’ Best Affiliate 2025 distinction
Casino Guru has won the “Best Affiliate 2025” category at the SiGMA Central Europe B2C Awards, distinguishing the company’s efforts in delivering the best online casino database and guiding players to the safest casinos of their choice.
Via Tuscolana hosted the ceremony on Tuesday, November 4, in Rome, Italy, distinguishing a number of companies, among which was Casino Guru, which secured the landmark accolade for itself.
Commenting on the win, Casino Guru’s Head of Casino Research, Matej Novota, said: “Winning the Best Affiliate 2025 award at the SiGMA Central Europe B2C Awards is a meaningful milestone for us as we approach the end of the year. At Casino Guru, we are honored to be recognized in this category. Our mission has always been to build the world’s most comprehensive online casino database and to offer impartial insights that empower players to make informed decisions. This award strengthens our resolve to continue serving as a trusted bridge between players and operators, while upholding the highest standards of integrity, transparency, and fairness in everything we do.”
Casino Guru has been awarded for its unflagging commitment to providing players with the most reliable up-to-date information about casinos and bonuses.
At its core, Casino Guru is committed to making the gambling industry safer and promoting best practices in Responsible Gaming. The company plays an active role in shaping these standards, drawing on its extensive experience, expertise, and firmly held values of fairness, integrity, and transparency.
Platforms such as the Global Self-Exclusion Initiative and Casino Guru Academy have been created to foster a better understanding of Responsible Gambling and how players and industry professionals can leverage it to their benefit.
Notably, the Casino Guru Awards have become a trend-setter in actively encouraging change on the part of industry stakeholders, and distinguishing deserving individuals and companies across numerous categories, such as Rising Star in Responsible Gambling, Most Impactful Social Responsibility Initiative, Fairest Bonus Policy, Industry Culture Shaper, and more.
Casino Guru has worked tirelessly, developing the world’s most complicated ranking system, the Safety Index, which carefully examines each casino’s offer, focusing on criteria favored by players, and issues an objective score that is also regularly updated.
Besides the Safety Index, Casino Guru has launched and maintains a world-beating independent adjudication service, the Complaint Resolution Center, which has returned more than $50m to players, including closing cases that involved more than $1m disputed by a single player.
Casino Guru is proud to receive the latest accolade from the SiGMA Central Europe B2C Awards, celebrating the company’s commitment to making gambling safer and better for everyone out there.
Awards
Casino Guru wins in Casino Affiliate category at the EGR Operator Awards 2025
Casino Guru is proud to announce that it has won in the “Casino Affiliate” category at the just-concluded EGR Operator Awards 2025. The company was distinguished amongst the world’s leading casino affiliates and crowned with the ultimate accolade.
The awards ceremony was held at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in London on October 22, 2025, and marked the 20th anniversary of the EGR Operator Awards.
Commenting on the award, Matej Novota, Head of Casino Research at Casino Guru, had this to say: “This recognition confirms our commitment to delivering one of the best possible experiences for casino players worldwide. We are grateful to the EGR Operator Awards for this distinction, which reinforces that our work toward a safer and more transparent industry is making a real impact. Casino Guru will continue to guide players toward better and fairer gaming experiences, and we are honored to receive this award.”
Casino Guru has repeatedly delivered one of the most comprehensive services in helping inform player opinion. The website focuses exclusively on reviewing online casinos and bonuses based on criteria that matter to the players, such as fair bonus policies and general terms and conditions, ease of withdrawals, and more.
Casino Guru has also served as a trustworthy mediator in disputes between players and casinos, having returned more than $52m in player funds through the Complaint Resolution Center, and making sure it offers a comprehensive service that goes beyond its meticulous reviewing process.
To help quantify the data points Casino Guru leverages to make decisions about what casinos are worthwhile, the company has developed the bespoke Safety Index metric, which gauges a casino offer based on player-specific preferences, overall fairness, and industry standards, and assigns a rating that players can trust.
This is the latest distinction secured by Casino Guru over the past several months. Casino Guru is also contending in various categories for the SiGMA Central Europe B2C Awards as well as in the AffPapa iGaming Awards LatAm.
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