Michael Jordan will be headlining the keynote session at SBC Summit 2026 in Lisbon, Portugal, according to a SBC News release.
Jordan, of course, is the the former NBA superstar, and the press materials for the keynote — in which he’ll share the stage with DraftKings co-founder and CEO Jason Robins and Sportradar founder and CEO Carsten Koerl — label him as a “basketball icon, investor, and philanthropist.”
What isn’t mentioned in the release is Jordan’s monumental, and at times hair-raising, passion for gambling.
Some examples …
The night before Game 2 of the 1993 Eastern Conference Finals against the Knicks, Jordan hopped a limo out of New York and drove down to Atlantic City to gamble with his father. He shot 12-of-32 the next day, the Bulls lost, and he spent the rest of the series stonewalling reporters over it. He never denied the trip, only the timeline, snapping that anyone who claimed to have seen him there at 2:30 a.m. was lying. Chicago won the next four and the title anyway.
Then there is the $57,000 check. Jordan wrote it to James “Slim” Bouler, a golf hustler and convicted money launderer, and when the feds found it, Jordan first called it a loan. Under oath in federal court, he admitted the truth — it was to cover golf gambling losses.
That was not even the biggest tab. In 1993, San Diego businessman Richard Esquinas published a whole book claiming Jordan owed him $1.25 million from golf bets. Jordan called the figure preposterous but did not deny owing something, and the two reportedly settled for a fraction of it.
When he finally sat for an interview about all of it, in sunglasses, indoors, Jordan delivered the line that has followed him ever since: He did not have a gambling problem, he had “a competition problem.”
And it really was about the action, not the money. This is a man who bet teammates on whose luggage would hit the airport carousel first, played cards for thousands on the team plane, and tossed coins for cash with United Center security guards before games.
Back to Lisbon
The SBC Summit’s headline session, hosted by former Sky Sports News presenter, broadcaster, and journalist Kirsty Gallacher, is titled “Leadership in Sports Business” and will take place on the opening day on Sept. 29.
According to the release, the “connection between sports betting and iGaming will be examined, highlighting how the two sectors are increasingly operating in parallel and in collaboration.” The panel will also discuss the evolution of sports, tech, media, data, and fan engagement.
“This is the kind of conversation that transcends our industry,” said SBC CEO and Rasmus Sojmark. “To have Michael Jordan, Carsten Koerl, and Jason Robins on stage together is something truly special. These are individuals who have each changed the way people engage with sports and business in completely different ways — through performance, technology, innovation, and vision. Bringing them together at SBC Summit reflects both the scale of where this industry is today and where it is heading.”
Over 40,000 professionals in the sports, media, and gambling sectors are expected to attend the event.
