With a population of more than half a billion people combined, it should come as no surprise that the LatAm iGaming scenario is set to be the next focal point of activity for the whole industry. International operators are keen to diversify their activities away from the European market which is becoming ever more of a financial burden to operate in. But population numbers are not the sole element that are attracting interest in the region. What I consider to be the game-changer is the regulatory aspect that is set to take the whole region by stride.
“Adopting a one-size-fits-all approach to the region is simply not an option. If one were to contrast the sports preferences in Mexico and Brazil, the results can’t be anymore contrasting than they are. Whereas in Mexico there is a big interest in the American sports scene, the Brazilian scene is totally different, with football and other local sports generating the greater interests. Be it beach volley, swimming, or local football, the interest of local sports in Brazil is huge. Thus, it is obvious that operators must take into consideration these varying aspects on a regional level. A successful approach in Mexico, could well be unsuccessful in Brazil”, says Alessandro Fried, Chairman de BtoBet.
For Fried, “LatAm has everything in order to attract big interest. However, it is now up to the operators themselves to ensure that they harness this potential and transform it into a successful story. The regulatory aspect is only one piece of the puzzle. A deep knowledge of the diversity that constitues the region is a must. It is only once all this is in place that operators can truly start focusing on expanding their activities in the region”.
Latin America presents a big opportunity for iGaming operators. With a diverse consumer market counting well over 600 million people, one could easily say that the region, with a tendency to manifest big interest in a wide variety of sports, is a fertile ground especially when it comes to sports betting operators seeking to expand into the region.
With a population amounting to over 639 million person in 2016, LatAm surely has the numbers to attract the operators’ interest. The key question is if it has the infrastructure in place to transform this interest in concrete opportunities for the whole region.
From an internet penetration point of view, the Latin American region is well above the global average. In fact, it is estimated that as much as 66.1% of the LatAm population has access to the internet, 13% more than the 53.1% of the world’s total penetration. In the whole region as much as 417,940,160 people are thought to be internet users, which amount to around 10.3% of all the internet users on a global level.
Brazil leads the ranking of mobile connectivity in the region since it has 234.6 million mobile lines, of which 73% are through a Smartphone, with a 45% connection via 4G.
“The passion for sports in South America is incredible but football is the big one, which is hardly surprising given the presence of huge footballing nations like Argentina, Brazil and Colombia. That passion is one reason why LatAm is one of the biggest opportunities that a sports book operator has to easily be attractive for users to go to their site and bet,” explains Lorenzo Caci, Director Business Development and Strategic Partnerships, Sportradar AG.
Caci adds that “while countries like Mexico and Brazil are perhaps more developed than some of their neighbours when it comes to betting, football as a whole is still very much an emerging market and it’s mainly limited to the basic 1X2 market. Corner markets and player markets are scarce, while live betting is still in the early stages – many local operators are not offering much live betting yet because we are still around 70-30 pre-match in LatAm”.
In addition to the more technical opportunities in the region, there are logistical advantages with the growing LatAm market too. South America has a population of approximately 600 million people with just two languages spoken – Spanish and Portuguese – meaning a major simplification of processes for bookmakers when compared to somewhere like Europe.
A big priority for many European operators is the online market and both the e-commerce user and the e-commerce market has grown a lot as a whole, going hand-in-hand with sports betting opportunities and gaming opportunities. In South America we also have a situation where it’s a multi-channel market – you have retail betting, mobile penetration and online, where credit card use is growing all the time.
The whole online market there is still emerging but there’s a lot of potential provided the appropriate preparation measures are taken care of. For instance, as well as the need to have customer support representatives who speak the appropriate language, you need to be aware of the cultural differences. Brazilians will think slightly differently to Peruvians or Colombians, while the power and economic influence that Brazil has in relation to other areas of LatAm is a big factor too.
Many experts consider the Latin American region to be the next big thing for the iGaming industry. And with the prospect of countries within the region working to adopt a stable legal framework that acts as a safeguard for the substantial investments made by operators whilst also ensuring the players’ interest, this is a milestone not to be disregarded. With local authorities seeking to regularize the online market, operators are setting their eyes on the benefits they could reap through such a strongly supervized environment.
In Brazil, lawmakers have been trying to legalise at least one form of gambling in the fully-restricted Brazilian market for a number of years, along with creating a regulatory framework to liberalise the market. It is estimated that around 200,000 residents travel across the border to Uruguay to gamble at local casinos. The market’s potential is huge and there will likely be an equally high demand for iGaming offerings.
Source: GMB
