SBC announced the Affiliate Leaders Awards 2026 shortlist on July 30, opening an industry vote that will run until August 14. Hub Affiliations leads the field with eight nominations ahead of the September 30 ceremony at Lisbon’s MEO Arena, where winners will be selected through a combination of public voting and judging-panel scores.
Key facts
| Detail | Confirmed information |
| Announcement date | July 30, 2026 |
| Organizer | SBC |
| Event | Second Affiliate Leaders Awards |
| Ceremony date | September 30, 2026 |
| Venue | MEO Arena, Lisbon |
| Number of categories | 20 |
| Expected attendance | Around 400 industry professionals |
| Shortlist leader | Hub Affiliations, with eight nominations |
| Voting deadline | Midnight on August 14, timezone not stated |
| Selection method | Weighted industry vote and judges’ scores |
Hub Affiliations leads the 2026 shortlist
SBC identified Hub Affiliations as the most-nominated organization in the 2026 field, with eight shortlist appearances. AFFPRO and KR3W follow with five each, while Betandeal, Matching Visions, SlotCatalog and Vault Network received four each.
The 20-category program covers the wider affiliate-marketing ecosystem rather than affiliates alone. Awards recognize operator affiliate programs, marketing agencies, campaign execution, content management, traffic acquisition, technology platforms, casino games and individual managers.
The principal affiliate categories include:
- Best Affiliate Network
- Sports Affiliate of the Year
- Casino Affiliate of the Year
- Crypto Affiliate of the Year
- Affiliate Employer of the Year
- Affiliate Product Innovation
- Affiliate Traffic Source of the Year
- Rising Star of the Year
The full list also includes operator, supplier and individual-management categories.
Crypto and casino affiliate nominees
The Crypto Affiliate of the Year shortlist contains four nominees: GottaGamble, LUCKLANDIA, Matching Visions Ltd and coingambling.info.
Casino Affiliate of the Year has a larger field that includes Betandeal, Betting Hero, BIG4PLAY, Brian Christopher’s FlipTheSwitch.com, Catena Media, Hub Affiliations, Kasinoseta.com, KR3W, LUCKLANDIA, Slotsoo, Traffic Lab and TrafficStars.
The nomination of an affiliate does not establish that every operator or casino it covers is licensed, legally available or suitable for U.S. players. Awards recognition should therefore be treated as an industry accolade rather than a consumer-protection certification.
Readers assessing casino recommendations should still verify operator identity, licensing, location restrictions and account terms independently. OnlineCryptoCasino.us provides separate responsible-gambling guidance covering limits, warning signs and support resources.
Returning winners appear across major categories
Several 2025 winners have returned to the shortlist.
Flashscore Network is again nominated for Sports Affiliate of the Year alongside companies including Better Collective, Betting Hero, Clever Advertising, Spotlight Sports Group and Vault Network. Flashscore won the category at the inaugural ceremony in 2025.
Bet365 Partners is shortlisted for Affiliate Programme of the Year – Large, together with 1xBet, Betsson Group Affiliates, Boomerang Partners, C24 Partners, Megapari, N1 Partners, NOVIBET and Rainbet Partners. Bet365 Partners won an affiliate-program award at the 2025 ceremony.
Vegas Legends is seeking another Affiliate Programme of the Year – Medium/Small award. Other nominees in that category include Aff Republic, Evo Affiliates, GG.BET Affiliates, STOIXIMAN, Stars Partners, Tonybet Affiliates and WINANDYOU Partners.
Technology and casino-content categories
The supplier categories include Affiliate Technology of the Year and Affiliate Management Platform of the Year.
Affiliate Technology of the Year nominees include Affiliate Roulette, AFFPRO APP, Betlyzer Creator, GEOMOTIV, Hub Innovation, Kanggiten, PartnerMatrix, SlotCatalog, Top Premier Cloud Services and Vault Network.
RavenTrack is returning in the Affiliate Management Platform of the Year category after winning in 2025. Its 2026 competitors include Betlyzer Creator, Mediacle, MyAffiliates, PartnerMatrix and ReferOn.
Casino Title of the Year differs from a conventional game-of-the-year shortlist because the voting portal lists provider or studio names rather than individual game titles. The nominees are 1spin4win, BGaming, Evolution, Evoplay, Pragmatic Play and Wazdan. That naming format should be preserved unless SBC later publishes the specific submitted games.
How the Affiliate Leaders Awards voting works
Voting is being conducted through the official Affiliate Leaders Awards portal.
The portal states that each person may cast one vote for a company in each category. Voting is scheduled to close at midnight on Friday, August 14, although no timezone is shown.
The public vote will not determine the winners by itself. SBC will combine it with confidential scoring from a panel of industry judges using a weighted system. The organizer has not published the precise percentage assigned to the vote or judging scores.
Judges are required to sign nondisclosure agreements, disclose conflicts and abstain from scoring categories where a conflict exists. SBC says judges are allocated categories based on their professional knowledge.
The Affiliate Leader of the Year award will be handled differently from the publicly listed categories. SBC plans to disclose the recipient during the ceremony rather than through the shortlist announcement.
Affiliate Leaders Awards and SBC Awards are separate events
The Affiliate Leaders Awards should not be confused with the main SBC Awards 2026.
The affiliate ceremony is scheduled for September 30 and focuses on affiliates, operator programs, campaigns and supporting technology. The broader SBC Awards will take place on October 1 and covers 38 categories across operators, suppliers, payments, compliance, platforms and data. Both events are being held at Lisbon’s MEO Arena.
This distinction is important because some reporting packages place the two shortlists together. Nomination counts and categories from the SBC Awards should not be attributed to the Affiliate Leaders Awards.
What the shortlist means for the industry
The awards reflect the growing separation of affiliate recognition from general operator and supplier awards. SBC launched the standalone Affiliate Leaders Awards in 2025 after previously including fewer affiliate categories within its wider awards program.
For affiliates and publishers, the shortlist provides visibility across content, SEO, media buying, product development, networks and campaigns. For operators, it highlights the teams and programs responsible for recruiting, managing and supporting marketing partners.
The announcement does not create legal, regulatory or operational changes for players. It also does not confirm the licensing status, U.S. availability or consumer-protection standards of any nominated company.
What happens next?
Industry voting is scheduled to close at midnight on August 14. SBC will then combine the voting results with judges’ scores before announcing the winners at the MEO Arena on September 30.
The voting portal should be monitored for deadline or nominee updates. SBC may also clarify the applicable voting timezone and the different event times currently displayed on its website.
Until the ceremony, Hub Affiliations remains the nomination leader, but the shortlist and public vote do not indicate which nominees are ahead under the combined scoring system.
FAQs
SBC announced the shortlist on July 30, 2026. Public voting opened alongside the announcement.
The winners are scheduled to be announced on September 30, 2026, at the MEO Arena in Lisbon, Portugal.
The official voting portal says voting closes at midnight on August 14, 2026. It does not specify the applicable timezone.
Hub Affiliations leads with eight nominations. AFFPRO and KR3W follow with five each.
No. SBC will combine industry votes with confidential scores from an independent judging panel through a weighted scoring system. The exact weighting has not been published.
No. The Affiliate Leaders Awards take place on September 30 and focus on affiliate marketing. The broader SBC Awards are scheduled for October 1 and cover additional operator and supplier disciplines.
