What was wrong with the SIGMA expo in Rome? Someone has to say it

Too many iGaming conferences

There are a lot of conferences. We have local events with a few thousand people, but in terms of the most important events of the year, focused on the biggest markets, we have – ICE Barcelona – Clarion, as a professional event organizer in the world, simply delivers quality. If someone had to choose only one event per year, it should probably be ICE. After changing the location from London to Barcelona, it turned out to be a bullseye – the exhibition hall, hotels, weather and above all, transportation! Everything works.

Another event that has grown to be a hegemon is SBC. It seems that the first edition in Lisbon, and now the next one, showed a totally new face and an attempt to compete in rank with ICE. On-site organization, division into zones, a lot of space, the possibility of partly moving around on foot, or an attempt to order an Uber doesn’t end in disaster, because the traffic to and from the expo partially dissipates over time. The biggest problem with Lisbon is the slightly poorer hotel offer (compared to Barcelona), so companies that are late in organizing may have a problem fitting all their employees in one place.

SBC also tries to change the image and perception of the entire industry by inviting, among others, famous people from various walks of life. SBC also organized a charity match, showing that all companies (often competitors) unite for a good cause. SBC simply tries to set trends. Let’s remember that we all have to work on the PR of this industry, because it’s not the best.

Returning to SBC. It was really hard to find any weaknesses.

Next, we have Sigma, and here I have the biggest problem with my assessment. The last editions in Malta were not successful. The infrastructure was not suitable for organizing the event, people fell into holes because there was no proper floor, it smelled of fish, and the toilets… sometimes existed only theoretically. Several of these elements failed due to simple neglect and very poor organization.

Sigma had to put some pressure on decision-makers in Malta (due to the lack of solid infrastructure) and moved the event to Rome. It was supposed to be better, but many things stayed the same.

Transportation

Sigma declares that 30,000 people attended the event, although one can have doubts about this (the visual impression was much smaller, exhibitors said the same, as many companies decided not to come).

Regardless of the calculations and estimates, 30,000 or less – such a mass of people must be able to move around efficiently. Visitors strategies varied – closer to the expo and the airport or a decision to stay closer to the city center.

The most efficient form of communication was the train, but this was not always a possible option.

Sigma organized special shuttle buses with various routes, but especially on the first day, nobody was in control. Total chaos. This is confirmed by people’s opinions in groups, so it’s not only my private suggestion.

A journey on such a bus took a very long time, and getting to the center of Rome could take up to 3 hours.

Uber? If you managed to order one, a single ride cost at the worst moments could be as much as 200 or 300 euros. I saw it with my own eyes.

In a situation where someone was in a hurry for an evening event or meeting, they simply had to pay it.

The exhibition hall was located outside of Rome, which meant that people couldn’t naturally disperse into the city and take different means of transport from there. In Sigma’s case, thousands of people started ordering rides at the same moment.

Chaos with booths

No concept for arranging the halls by zones – e.g., division into slots providers, platforms, payments, operators. Everything was mixed together, many halls, few signs, no maps, so you had to use virtual ones, which, as we know, is more difficult when the internet is very slow.

Both ICE and SBC win on this point, especially SBC, which thought this through very well.

Lack of good organization

I get the feeling that from the very first day, there was a lack of coordination. More people involved in checking if everything was running smoothly. My first surprise was when… I entered the hall without showing my badge. I saw that on the second day it had improved, and there were people by the stairs, but the first day was total chaos.

It feels silly to write about such mundane things as the cleanliness of the toilets, but Sigma, despite the change of location, still has a problem with this. Is it really that hard to check if there is paper and hand towels in the toilets? Small things, really.

Exhibitors had similar feelings; depending on the account manager, many of them complained about a lack of commitment from the support staff.

Prices for booths are very high, and exhibitors were additionally charged very highly for everything. Many of them also complained about the poor gastronomy, as there were no restaurants nearby, which was the case, for example, in Barcelona or Lisbon.

Sigma is in a calendar trap

Let’s be honest: Sigma does not have a good date for organizing a large, European conference. In January, there is ICE; in September, there was SBC, which is constantly developing and growing in importance (a moment later, there was also G2E). The calendar is so bloated that most attendees agree that a third similar conference in such a short time span simply makes no sense.

SBC has announced that their 2026 Lisbon trade show will run from September 29th to October 1st. SIGMA’s website states that their Central Europe event is set for November 2nd to 5th – barely a month later. It’ll be the same attendees at both, so what could possibly change in just one month? This madness genuinely needs to stop.

Sigma must reformulate its events and find a concept for the conference, and above all, avoid mistakes that can be eliminated. There are many companies that already see this, but not everyone wants to talk about it loudly. After all, that’s what independent industry media should be for.