SPARK 2026: Sofia Summit to Tackle Software, Payments, Affiliates and Revenue

SPARK 2026 will launch in Sofia, Bulgaria on 19–20 October 2026, assembling operators, affiliates and suppliers focused on Southeast Europe. The inaugural event, billed as SPARK (Software, Payments, Affiliates, Revenue Kickoff), targets the intersection of product, payments and commercial partnerships as the region's regulatory landscape evolves.

SPARK 2026 agenda and the market focus

Organisers position the summit around the Bulgarian market's role as a stable EU-regulated entry point for operators expanding across Southeast Europe. Day one, 19 October 2026, opens with an address titled “Shaping the Future of Gaming in Southeast Europe: Strategy, Technology, and Growth” by Kristof Szucs, Co-Founder & Principal of ai. The day then moves into a panel on retail transformation, a fireside chat on compliance and UX in multi-jurisdiction markets, and sessions on live operations, revenue growth and payments-led conversion strategies.

Day two, 20 October 2026, includes a keynote by Nikolas Monti-Potsolakis, CEO & Founder of Black Lantern Marketing, titled “SEO to AIEO: Transitioning from Ranking Websites to Becoming the Direct Answer in AI Search.” Panels scheduled for the closing day include “The Affiliate Power Shift: From Traffic Brokers to Strategic Partners” and a fireside chat on regulatory innovation contrasting proactive and reactive compliance approaches.

Why SPARK 2026 matters for operators and vendors

Bulgaria's EU-regulated status makes Sofia a recurring staging post for companies scaling into Southeast Europe. The summit explicitly targets operators that must align product, payments and affiliate channels across multiple licences and consumer markets. For payments vendors and platform providers the sessions on conversion and payments-led growth present a concentrated opportunity to speak to operator priorities on monetisation and checkout friction.

Vendors and affiliates will find sessions framed around commercial integration rather than pure product features. Panels are designed to surface how affiliates move from traffic-sourcing to strategic partnership models and how operators can use payments and live-ops to protect lifetime value.

Speaker perspectives and what they will discuss

Kristof Szucs will open SPARK 2026 with a strategy-focused address on technology and growth across Southeast Europe. Nikolas Monti-Potsolakis will anchor day two with a keynote linking search strategy to emerging AI-powered search behaviours, signalling a shift in how acquisition specialists must think about content and discoverability.

Kristiyan Kyulyunkov, CEO of Websa Ltd, provided a speaker perspective ahead of the summit. He described Websa's priorities as building authoritative brands and understanding player needs. He said:

"Our top priority at Websa is to build our brands as an authoritative and expert source of information for users. Also, we aim to understand players' needs, assist them when necessary and provide a value that can't be found elsewhere." — Kristiyan Kyulyunkov, CEO, Websa Ltd

Kyulyunkov elaborated on monetisation and trust: “You need to earn the trust of the audience by giving them value, exclusivity and a personal approach. When users find what they are looking for on your website and you show them that there is something more related to their interest, most of them continue going back to your product.” He also said he expects debates on AI integration across affiliate marketing, product development and competitive scaling.

Sessions that will matter to compliance, payments and affiliate teams

Sessions specifically target practical concerns for multi-jurisdiction operations:

• Retail Gaming in a Digital-First World — land-based operators discussing digital transformation.

• Balancing Compliance and UX in Multi-Jurisdiction Markets — regulatory navigation without alienating players.

• Payments-led conversion strategies — product tactics that affect checkout and retention.

• The Affiliate Power Shift — evolving affiliate-commercial relationships and measurement.

Attendees seeking regulatory context will find the compliance sessions relevant to operating across EU licences. The summit packages these debates alongside commercial talks to encourage cross-discipline discussion between product, payments and affiliate teams.

Practicalities and how the industry is engaging

SPARK 2026 runs over two days on 19–20 October 2026 in Sofia, Bulgaria. Event contacts for sponsorship or exhibition enquiries are handled by Lou-Mari Burnett, Chief Operating Officer at Eventus International. The summit is aimed at a mix of operators, affiliates, platform vendors and payments providers who have strategic interests in Southeast Europe.

Organisers present the event as a kickoff that deliberately crosses functional silos — product, payments, affiliates and commercial strategy — to reflect how growth decisions are made in practice. For delegates the agenda offers concentrated sessions on monetisation, compliance, and acquisition in a market positioned as a regional gateway.

Who should attend and the expected outcome

Operators expanding across Southeast Europe, affiliate networks and B2B suppliers responsible for integrations, compliance and payments should prioritise the summit. Attendees can expect practical debate rather than vendor marketing: sessions emphasise the commercial and regulatory realities of scaling across EU-regulated jurisdictions.

For registration, programme details and the full speaker list consult the event page or contact Eventus International for sponsorship and exhibition options.