SAGSE South America 2026 Aims to Maximize Business Quality and Reinforce Regional Leadership in Buenos Aires

With more than 60% international visitors and 67% C-Level executives and decision-makers attending its most recent edition, SAGSE South America arrives at its 34th edition firmly established as Latin America’s leading gaming industry exhibition.

For Alan Burak, Vice President of SAGSE Latam, the 2026 objective is clear: to further elevate the quality of meetings and business conversion. “SAGSE South America 2026, March 18 & 19 at the Hilton Buenos Aires, arrives with a clear objective: maximize the quality of meetings and commercial conversion. SAGSE is international, regional, and built on a format where relationships and high-quality encounters prevail,” he states.

The executive emphasizes that the strategy is centered on deepening understanding of the Latin American market and its specific needs: “Our strategy is to provide a space to truly understand Latin American stakeholders. To understand the needs of the Latin market.”

In terms of expectations, he anticipates stronger international traction, particularly from Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Bolivia, and Ecuador, in addition to solid delegations from the region’s historical markets. The attendee profile, he assures, will remain aligned with the event’s essence: operators, regulators, lotteries, associations, suppliers, and real decision-makers focused on agreements, regional expansion, and compliance. “SAGSE is a space where the ecosystem comes together to close deals and align vision.”

Curation, Institutional Ecosystem, and Compliance: The Keys to Executive Profile

Maintaining a high-level audience is not accidental, but strategically designed. Burak summarizes it in three fundamental pillars.

“It’s not by chance: it’s designed,” he stresses, explaining that the first axis is curation and access, with a participation model that prioritizes relevance and decision-making roles. The format is tailored for C-Level efficiency: concrete meetings, short timeframes, and maximum contact density.

The second pillar is the institutional ecosystem. “When the ‘policy makers’ are present, the market responds with its ‘deal makers’,” he says, highlighting the active presence of regulators, lotteries, associations, and authorities that elevate the level of discussion.

Finally, he underscores the centrality of compliance and operational integrity in the region’s new growth stage. “Today, growth in gaming is sustained by integrity, fraud prevention, AML, and responsible gaming. SAGSE positions itself as the place where what truly matters to operate seriously is discussed, and that naturally filters toward a more senior and qualified audience.”

LATAM: From Promise to Global Priority

Following recent meetings at ICE Barcelona, where Latin America once again took center stage on the global agenda, Burak observes a structural shift in how the market is perceived.

“The opportunity is direct: LATAM moved from promise to priority. A mature and sustainable market. Capital, global suppliers, and international operators are no longer ‘exploring’ the region — they are executing.”

In this context, he identifies three key vectors: regulation and institutional maturity, which raise standards and attract serious investment; trust infrastructure — identity verification, fraud prevention, KYC/AML, payments, and cybersecurity — as essential for sustainable scale; and global convergence.

“SAGSE fulfills that bridging role: we connect global opportunities with local execution, and in turn, bring the LATAM agenda to the international stage,” he explains.

A Compact, Premium, Results-Driven Venue

The Hilton Buenos Aires format in Puerto Madero remains another strategic differentiator. Its compact structure enables agile networking, minimal logistical friction, and a high density of strategic encounters.

“The Hilton works because it’s a compact, premium, high-performance format: everything happens within walking distance, without logistical friction,” Burak highlights.

For 2026, organizers will deepen this approach with more qualified meeting spaces, VIP activations designed for decision-making environments, and thematic signaling to drive conversations around compliance, payments, acquisition, responsible gaming, regulation, and applied technology.

Pre- and post-event communication will also be strengthened to ensure attendees arrive with semi-closed agendas rather than improvising. The guiding principle is clear: less dispersion, more impact.

The 2026 Agenda: Business, Regulation, and Trust as the Growth Formula

The 2026 edition will integrate expo, summit, acquisition spaces, and VIP activations under an agenda aligned with Latin America’s structural market challenges.

Key thematic priorities include compliance and trust (KYC/AML and fraud prevention), responsible gaming and the protection of minors — “minors cannot bet” — the fight against illegal gambling, payment evolution and performance, commercial efficiency in acquisition and retention, and comparative regulation with regional expansion strategies.

“SAGSE 2026 is a regional gathering for the entire region. It will be the point where business + regulation + technology + trust come together, because that is the formula that today allows growth in the region without burning reputation or capital,” Burak concludes.

With this roadmap, the 34th edition of SAGSE South America seeks to reaffirm its position as the strategic hub where Latin American gaming defines its present and projects its future.