SiGMA Europe relocates to Italy: An Exclusive Interview for Chilli Partners

SiGMA is the largest conference in the iGaming industry. For over 10 years, it has brought together thousands of industry experts from around the globe to its various events and conferences.?

Chilli Partners met up with SiGMA's CCO, Ana Maria Duarte Delgado to discuss last month's highly successful SiGMA conference in Malta, some behind-the-scenes details that went into planning it, as well as SiGMA's exciting plans for 2025.

— We learned that the SiGMA conference will be moving from Malta to Italy. What motivated you to change the location of the conference?

We explored several new destinations for 2025, including hosting an event in Colombo, Sri Lanka which will be a first for SiGMA South Asia.

While SiGMA Central Europe will take place in Italy, Malta remains a key player in SiGMA’s events calendar. SiGMA will retain a strong foothold in Malta, and will now host SiGMA Euro-Med with its 2025 event scheduled for September at the Mediterranean Maritime Hub (MMH). The 2025 SiGMA Euro-Med will be offering a more niche experience, ensuring that Malta retains its strong connection to the iGaming industry.

— Why Italy? Could you share how the plans for the development of the Italy conference are coming along?

Italy is an epicentre for entrepreneurial pursuits and so, positions the event in one of Europe’s most promising and fastest growing markets. We received positive feedback from clients about our 2025 calendar of events and we are excited to explore this market more closely next year. We’re expecting to welcome 30,000 delegates, and over 1,000 exhibitors to the November conference.

— SiGMA turns ten years old this year. During these ten years, you have gone from being a local event into the largest iGaming conference in the whole world. Can you share some interesting figures that you achieved during this time? And the figures that you started with 10 years ago?

We started out as a small local conference in 2014 with just 1,500 delegates. This year, our Malta-based event welcomed 27,000 global attendees to the MMH - a venue that boasts 45,000 square metres of indoor and outdoor space. In 2021, we held our first event outside of Malta - SiGMA Eurasia, and since then, the UAE's regulatory landscape has changed considerably allowing for so many exciting opportunities for the industry in this region. We’re now looking forward to hosting the 4th edition in 2025 which will once again take place in Dubai.

After SiGMA Eurasia, we’ll be hosting a further 6 events throughout the year: we’ll be returning to South Africa, Sao Paulo and Manila in the spring, we’ll be hosting SiGMA Euro-Med in Malta in September, and we’ll be hosting in two new destinations - Italy and Sri Lanka - in November and December respectively.

We are also proud to have achieved incredible success through our charitable arm, the SiGMA Foundation, with projects supporting educational pursuits for women in Ethiopia and cleft palate surgeries for underprivileged children in Colombia. Throughout 2023 and 2024, with the support of generous clients, SiGMA raised just under a million through its charitable auctions, held during the prestigious Award ceremonies. The funds will go towards new projects in 2025, including the building of a new hospital wing in the Peruvian Amazon, and, alongside Centurion FC, an MMA training centre for young people in Sao Paulo.

— What is the secret to organising conferences that go on to receive rave reviews? What, in your opinion, distinguishes a professional event from an amateur one?

We focus heavily on maintaining a high level of quality throughout our events, seeking out credibility and expertise. From our stand builders and venue providers to industry-leading speakers and publishers, we seek out the best in their field, and we make sure to build long-standing partnerships that don't cut corners. Additionally we work closely with local? businesses to integrate cultural and regional nuances.

Seamless logistics and operations are a cornerstone of our events, with months of meticulous planning going into each activity - whether it's the creation of our in-house EMS software and networking apps, or picking the right restaurant for a great iGathering.

We secure support from government agencies and regulators to ensure compliance and cultural sensitivity, and also reach out to local teams to help us address the needs of the local community and enhance the event’s reputation and sustainability.

— How much time did your team spend preparing for the SiGMA Malta conference? Can you share some interesting stories related to planning, construction, or anything related?

This November, 2,000 workers transformed Malta’s MMH shipyard—45,000 square metres of active port space—into a world-class venue. The ambitious project mobilised nearly 1,000 to 2,000 specialists from across the globe to build over 600 stands, crafting the venue’s metamorphosis from a shipyard into one of Europe’s largest gaming and tech conferences.