A leading Southeast European gaming and technology conference has evolved significantly for its 2026 edition, merging with a dedicated technology stream to create a broader platform where operators, affiliates, payment leaders, compliance teams, marketing innovators, and regulators can engage with the convergence of commercial growth, regulatory change, and accelerating technological transformation.
A Strategic Expansion That Reflects Industry Realities
Eventus International has announced an expanded format for SPARK 2026 (Software, Payments, Affiliates, Revenue Kickoff), taking place October 19-20 in Sofia, Bulgaria. The expansion comes through the addition of the dedicated iGaming 3Tech conference stream — merging SPARK’s established focus on gaming, software, payments, affiliates, and revenue growth with a new track dedicated to MarTech, FinTech, and RegTech.
The merger reflects an increasingly important reality: across Southeast Europe’s rapidly evolving gaming landscape, product performance, payments infrastructure, and compliance frameworks are no longer separate disciplines that can be optimized independently. They are deeply interconnected drivers of sustainable business success, and the most effective strategies address all three simultaneously.
Two Days of Strategic Content
Day One: Product, Payments, and Acquisition
The first day’s program focuses on the core drivers of gaming growth in Southeast Europe, covering topics including retention strategy versus acquisition investment, payments as a conversion optimization tool rather than back-end infrastructure, modernizing the retail gaming floor, and balancing compliance with user experience in multi-jurisdiction markets — reflecting the complex regulatory landscape that operators in the region navigate daily.
Day Two: Scaling With Confidence and the iGaming 3Tech Stream
Day Two explores how operators can scale sustainably in an AI-defined, regulatory-pressured environment. Topics include the transition from traditional SEO to AI Engine Optimization (AIEO), responsible AI in marketing under the EU AI Act, the evolution of affiliate partnerships from traffic sources to strategic relationships, and the application of technology as a compliance enforcement mechanism. The dedicated iGaming 3Tech stream runs simultaneously, examining how data, regulation, and performance are converging to reshape growth strategies in modern regulated markets.
A Stronger Platform for the Entire Ecosystem
For sponsors and exhibitors, the expanded SPARK 2026 format creates a highly targeted opportunity to engage decision-makers across two complementary streams. The event brings together a diverse mix of operators, affiliates, payment leaders, compliance teams, marketing decision-makers, technology buyers, regulators, and senior executives — making it one of the most concentrated gatherings of technology and business leadership in the Southeast European gaming calendar.
Distinguished speakers include executives from companies spanning gaming operations, regulatory consulting, payment processing, legal advisory, and marketing technology — creating the cross-sector collaboration that organizations increasingly need to navigate an industry landscape defined by simultaneous commercial, technological, and regulatory transformation.
