“An operational skill” – Super leadership on the two pillars of Romania-to-the-globe expansion

Super Technologies, the gaming firm behind Superbet, has spent the past few years growing its flagship brand from the market leader in its home nation of Romania to an international powerhouse. The Superbet online sportsbook is now one of the biggest names not just in the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region but also in Brazil, where it is one of the biggest international firms by traffic, downloads and volume. Albert Simsensohn, Super’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer and a SBC Summit Lisbon speaker, walks SBC News through the company’s journey so far and explains the core pillars of its growth strategy for the coming years. A highly experienced businessman, Simsensohn held senior roles at Meta, OLX Group and eBay, and McKinsey & Company prior to joining Super. Now a prominent name in the global betting space, Super’s Deputy CEO shares predictions not just for his company, but for the industry as a whole at a time of rapid change and constant challenges… SBC News: Super has increasingly positioned itself as a technology-driven business rather than simply a betting operator. What prompted that strategic shift, and how do you see technology becoming a competitive differentiator in the years ahead? Albert Simsensohn: Super started in 2008, as a retail betting business in Romania, and spent its early years building its position at home. As the results came, the ambition grew with them; once the company had proven it could lead in one of Europe’s most demanding markets, competing globally moved from aspiration to plan. Building our own technology was a natural evolution of that, not a strategic shift. From early on we wanted to own the experience we give customers, and over time the way to do that was to build the platform ourselves rather than assemble it from parts. Today we build and maintain it across engineering teams in the UK, Spain, Romania, Croatia and the Netherlands. That ownership is what allows us to shape the product around each market, and to improve it at our own pace. The company has spoken about creating the ‘future of play’ and building deeper fan engagement. What does the next generation of sports entertainment look like, and how much of it will still resemble the betting products we know today? We believe the next generation of sports entertainment is about depth, not about chasing every new format. The fundamentals stay the same: people follow their teams and want a stake in the outcome, and that does not change. What changes is how much more we can offer around it. A fan’s relationship with the game does not start and end with the product we are offering today. We want to earn the right to serve fans across all the ways they experience a match: following their teams, sharing in the moments that matter, being part of it with others. What made Maxbet such a compelling proposition – and how underrated do you believe the Romanian market is within the industry? Maxbet is an excellent business. It has operated in Romania for over twenty years, built a strong casino-focused brand, and earned a loyal following among gaming players on the strength of its product and service. Its longevity and local knowledge make it a natural fit for the group. In Romania, alongside our Napoleon brand, Maxbet strengthens our offer to casino and gaming players and broadens the portfolio. And it fits the consolidation we expect to see: as regulation tightens and taxes rise, it gets harder for smaller operators to compete alone, and scale increasingly decides who can keep investing and keep pace. On Romania being underrated: it is one of the most demanding regulated markets in Europe, and outsiders tend to miss that. Regulated since 2015, a tax and compliance regime among the strictest in the region, and most of the industry’s major operators competing here. Advertising is tightly restricted, so you win on the quality of your product, not the size of your marketing budget. It is our home market, and the standard it sets is the one we carry into every other one. Super has also expanded beyond its Central and Eastern European roots into major international markets including Brazil. What lessons have you learned about scaling a gambling brand globally while still remaining locally relevant? Two lessons stand out. The first is discipline about where you go. We only enter a market where we can see a sustainable path to the podium; if we cannot realistically become a top three operator, it is not for us. The instinct in this industry is to expand into as many markets as possible, and we have deliberately done the opposite: a small number of markets we can genuinely win, with full commitment. Brazil is the clearest case. We would be up against many of the same operators we already compete with in Europe, with the same product, so we knew it was a fight we could have; and with the federal market live from January 2025, we could build on a regulated, licensed basis. The second is that scale and local relevance have to come together. What travels is a platform and product proven across many markets, resilient and built on years of learning. What makes it locally relevant is the flexibility that the same platform gives us to serve very different customers, plus local teams who own execution. The product is built centrally, but on insights from the ground; in Brazil that means people in São Paulo and Rio who know the customer and stay close to how the market moves. The aim, in every market, is that customers see us as a home-grown brand. As more markets move towards regulation and compliance requirements become increasingly demanding, what qualities will separate the industry’s leaders from the rest of the field by 2030? We already operate across markets with very different regulatory frameworks and a substantial level of uncertainty. The rules of the game keep changing, sometimes several times in a single year. At the same time, the online black market has been seeing rampant growth across the past years. Illegal operators run no age or identity checks, there are no responsible gaming safeguards, no data protection, no anti-money laundering controls. Instead, due to inefficient enforcement measures, black market platforms lure players with fake bonuses, unrestricted betting limits, and anonymous payments, targeting minors, maximizing addiction and criminal exposure while operating entirely outside the law. Handling these challenges, across many markets at once, without slowing the business down, is an operational skill. The companies that lead will be those willing to invest for years before a market rewards them, disciplined about the markets they choose, and content to be held to a high standard rather than to work around it. We are looking forward to hearing what you have to say on the panel in Lisbon with the other industry leaders – is there any message in particular that you believe the industry needs to hear? If there is one message, it is that licensed operators need to stand together on the issues that decide the future of this industry, above all the growth of the illegal online market. We compete hard with each other, but on this we are on the same side. Regulators cannot solve it alone, and no operator can solve it alone. It will take a common position, held consistently, and the sooner we get there, the more stability we create for everyone, including the customer. Is there anything in particular you’re looking forward to exploring at the SBC Summit? The conversations, first of all. Everyone in this industry is working on the same questions, but in different markets, under different rules, and from different starting points. A few days of talking with people who are solving the same problems in completely different ways always sharpens your own thinking. And Lisbon is a good place to do it. SBC Summit is one of the world’s largest gatherings of betting and gaming professionals. Taking place in Lisbon, Portugal, from 29 September-1 October, the event will bring together 40,000 attendees from across the international industry. The event encompasses three days of learning, networking, and discussion, alongside a major exhibition featuring leading brands from around the globe. For more information and tickets, visit sbcevents.com/sbc-summit