SOFTSWISS and World Gaming will hold the Tech Race Summit 2026 in Warsaw, Poland, on 10 September, bringing together technology executives and specialists from the iGaming sector for discussions on engineering, data and artificial intelligence. The event matters commercially because it reflects a broader effort by gambling suppliers, operators and industry event organisers to create dedicated forums for technical decision-makers as regulatory compliance, platform resilience and automation become more significant competitive factors.
The summit is being supported through a media partnership announced in July between SOFTSWISS and World Gaming. In an interview conducted ahead of the event, World Gaming portfolio director Margaret Dunn spoke with SOFTSWISS chief technology officer Sergey Kastukevich about the summit’s intended role, the development of artificial intelligence in gambling businesses and a related technology-focused initiative planned for ICE Barcelona.
Kastukevich said the sector has extensive opportunities for commercial discussions but fewer settings specifically designed for senior engineers, chief technology officers, security leaders and data specialists. The Warsaw meeting is intended to address that gap by focusing on the underlying technology used by online gambling businesses rather than product marketing or customer acquisition.
The framing is notable in a market where technology investment is increasingly linked to regulatory requirements. Licensed operators and platform providers must manage player verification, safer gambling controls, anti-money laundering processes, transaction monitoring, cyber security and reporting obligations across multiple jurisdictions. These obligations often require close coordination between compliance departments and technical teams, particularly where operators serve customers in markets with differing rules on data handling, advertising, payments and responsible gambling.
SOFTSWISS is positioning the Tech Race event as an industry knowledge-sharing forum rather than a platform for presenting its own products, according to the interview. The company supplies software and infrastructure to online gambling businesses, making the event relevant to a client base that includes operators and other technology providers. However, conferences organised or supported by major suppliers can also face scrutiny over whether their agendas provide sufficient room for independent views, including those of regulators, consumer protection specialists and competing vendors.
Dunn said the demand for technology-oriented programming was evident during the previous ICE event, where World Gaming organised the Innovator Challenge with Microsoft and hosted keynote appearances from companies including AWS and Huawei. The organisers now plan to extend that approach through a dedicated Hall 7 initiative at ICE in Barcelona.
Tech Race in Warsaw and Hall 7 at ICE are being presented as connected stages of the same discussion, with the first meeting due to take place in September and the Barcelona programme following in January. The intention is to give technology leaders an opportunity to continue conversations on sector priorities over a shorter cycle than the traditional annual events calendar.
That format reflects the speed at which technical issues can move from research projects into operational concerns. Artificial intelligence has become a central subject for gambling operators and suppliers, particularly in areas such as fraud detection, customer service, player risk analysis, content recommendation and internal software development. Its use is also attracting greater attention from regulators and privacy authorities, which are examining how automated systems affect consumer outcomes and decision-making.
In iGaming, AI tools can assist businesses in identifying suspicious account behaviour, potential bonus abuse, unusual payment patterns and indicators of gambling harm. Such systems may allow operators to review large volumes of data more quickly than manual teams can manage alone. At the same time, their effectiveness depends on data quality, governance arrangements and the ability of staff to understand and challenge automated outputs.
Regulators have generally not treated the use of AI as a separate licence category in gambling, but existing obligations still apply. Licensees remain responsible for customer due diligence, safer gambling interventions, fairness, data protection and the accuracy of records submitted to regulators. An operator cannot ordinarily transfer accountability to a third-party technology provider or an algorithm if a compliance failure occurs.
This creates a practical challenge for companies that operate across regulated markets. Rules on customer interaction, affordability assessments, source-of-funds checks and data retention vary between jurisdictions. A model developed for one country may require significant adjustment before it can be used elsewhere. In some cases, automated decisions involving customers may also trigger data protection requirements relating to transparency, human review and profiling.
The discussion around AI is therefore likely to extend beyond whether the technology can improve efficiency. Industry participants are also under pressure to demonstrate that automated tools do not create unfair customer outcomes, overlook vulnerable players or generate inaccurate risk classifications. Technology suppliers may need to provide operators with more detailed information about how systems are trained, tested and monitored, while operators will need internal governance processes to assess whether those systems remain suitable.
Cyber security is another likely area of interest for the summit’s audience. Online gambling platforms process personal data, payment information and behavioural records, making them a target for fraud and malicious activity. A security incident can expose operators not only to operational disruption but also to licence risk, regulatory penalties and reputational damage. As more services are integrated through cloud providers, payment processors, game studios and identity verification partners, the number of potential weaknesses in a technology supply chain can increase.
For chief technology and security officers, the commercial pressure to release products quickly must be balanced against testing, infrastructure resilience and compliance controls. This tension is particularly relevant in a sector where downtime during major sporting events or high-traffic periods can have an immediate revenue impact. It also affects suppliers, whose systems may support multiple operator brands and regulated markets simultaneously.
The Warsaw summit’s emphasis on gathering senior technology professionals in one place may help participants compare approaches to common problems, including operational scale, platform architecture and regulatory change. Industry events can provide access to peers and vendors that may be difficult to reach through individual meetings, especially for executives responsible for specialist technical functions rather than commercial partnerships.
However, the practical value of such meetings will depend on how directly the discussions address operational constraints. Technology leaders are dealing with market-specific licensing requirements, fragmented regulatory expectations and growing costs associated with compliance, security and data infrastructure. Broad statements about technology adoption may have limited relevance if they do not account for those pressures.
Competition also remains a factor. Established platform providers, smaller specialist vendors, cloud companies and data firms are all seeking to play a larger role in the gambling technology supply chain. Operators may benefit from a wider range of tools, but integration can introduce further complexity. Businesses must assess vendor reliability, contractual responsibility, data access and contingency arrangements before relying on externally supplied systems for core functions.
World Gaming’s decision to link the Warsaw summit with the technology programme at ICE Barcelona suggests organisers see continued demand for more specialised content within large industry gatherings. ICE has traditionally brought together suppliers, operators, regulators and service providers, while a dedicated technology area could create a more focused setting for discussions that are often spread across commercial and product-led sessions.
The sequencing may also be useful for companies planning budgets and technology roadmaps. September discussions could inform priorities for the following year, while the January event may provide an opportunity to assess how those priorities have changed after further regulatory developments or market feedback. Nevertheless, the ability of events to influence investment decisions will depend on attendance from operators, suppliers and stakeholders with direct responsibility for implementation.
Kastukevich’s comments underline an argument increasingly heard across the sector: that technology strategy cannot be separated from business strategy or compliance planning. For gambling companies, decisions about data systems, AI deployment, security controls and platform infrastructure can affect licensing outcomes, customer protection measures and the cost of entering or remaining in regulated markets.
Tech Race Summit 2026 is scheduled for 10 September in Warsaw, with organisers expected to use the meeting to establish topics for the Hall 7 programme at ICE Barcelona in January. The next test will be whether the events attract a sufficiently broad group of technical, operational and regulatory participants and produce discussions that can be translated into practical compliance and investment decisions.
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