GMB - Tell us about Pronet Gaming. In which markets does the company operate and what are its main strengths within the gaming industry?
Alex Leese - Pronet Gaming is next generation platform provider that supplies operators with tailored online sportsbook and casino platforms, alongside a host of retail solutions. We work across Africa, Asia, Latin America and parts of Europe. I would say that our main strengths are speed and localisation. We can get brands up and running very quickly with a solution that works for them wherever they are in the world. We know the individual markets and add real value to our partners using our network of local contacts and B2C expertise.
How would you describe Pronet Gaming's presence in Latin America, and how important is this market within the company's global operations?
Our presence in Latin America is growing all the time and it represents a major number of markets for us, including Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Argentina and, very soon, El Salvador, Africa and Asia may have been established for longer, but we are seeing more and more opportunities presenting themselves in LatAm. We have lot of partners there already, both local and international. Many of them want the sort of multi-continental solution that we can offer.
Does a country of 210 million inhabitants represent a potential in terms of the volume of players and bets that can place Brazil among the top markets in the world?
There is undoubtedly great potential in Brazil driven primarily by the sheer size of the population, but there are also many other socio-economic factors which make it interesting for us. One example of this is the fact that relative to the population size, each of the top clubs have many more fans in-country compared with what you might see in Europe where the fanbase is much more fragmented per football club, and across different sports of course. This means that the value that operators can get from sponsoring clubs is potentially much greater than in other markets in terms of audience engagement. It is no surprise then that over 75 per cent of all top-flight Brazilian football teams already have a betting partner, despite the absence of regulation. The market is also geared to above the line TV and radio advertising, providing operators with an incredible opportunity to leverage that volume.
If you had to advise international operators… is it time to start working in this “grey market” that is Brazil today or is it better to wait for final regulation?
There probably isn’t an easy answer to that, unfortunately. Nobody knows what the taxes will be like when the market regulates. Moving in now as an early market mover could be very advantageous and it’s probably worth the risk, particularly for smaller operators. Anyone going in now needs to drive a much faster ROI to cover against the scenario that if things subsequently become prohibitive in a regulated market, any exit won’t incur massive losses. If I were to give any advice, therefore, I’d say proceed with caution, make sure you can profit quickly and that your business is scalable.
Games such as bingo or jogo do bicho are now prohibited in Brazil. However, gamblers continue to maintain fanaticism for them and go to the illegal market. How can operators run business in the face of this type of competition so deeply rooted in the country?
Games like jogo do bicho have always been prohibited in Brazil but are so embedded in the culture that even if regulation is enacted that business will continue to thrive. It’s just too hard to prohibit. If I was an operator, I would try to embrace it rather than fight against it. What I mean by that is to make your product attractive to people who like these game types. Brands need more lottery and video lottery providers on their sites. Wherever you are in the world, it’s about localised content that people want to play.
What does Brazil represent for Pronet Gaming today and how do you assess the market in the future? Which of your services do you consider best suited to the local public?
We already have customers in Brazil - and we intend to expand there. Our product is particularly well suited to the market because of its breadth, with the widest range of sportsbook, casino, virtuals and eSports content on the market, and also our ultra- flexible front end UX and UI. That allows our partners to tailor and simplify the presentation of their sportsbook, which will be particularly important post-regulation when appealing to a bigger and potentially less knowledgeable audience. We will be guided by what the customer needs and have the flexibility within our offering to deliver that.
Do you currently work with operators for the Brazilian market? Do you notice that more and more companies are interested in having Pronet Gaming’s products to offer sports betting in Brazil?
Yes, we do – and the pipeline of interested clients is filling up on a daily basis. Companies are certainly looking for early mover advantage and have increasing confidence to invest. Interestingly, that’s not just local operators, but others that have established operations in Africa and Asia. We work with them there and they know we are adaptable enough to work in LatAm too.
For those of us in Brazil there is a feeling that all progress is slow and does not occur with the same speed at which the global market moves. Do you see it the same from the outside? What do you attribute it to?
It is just sometimes the way these things work. There was a flurry of activity at first and it has slowed down. Once things are announced in the summer, I think they will speed back up again and we will see a lot of people trying to move quickly and gain an edge. Deadlines that operators need to comply with may well be very tight. If that is the case, they may need a tried and trusted third party platform like ours that is quick to launch, in order to get up and running. The impact of the pandemic on the economy may be another factor that applies the turbo chargers, of course, but the Brazilian authorities will be very conscious that they need to balance the tax benefits with social responsibility.
It is a very complicated year for everyone due to the pandemic in which, however, Pronet Gaming grew and added more products to expand its portfolio for operators. How have those agreements been and what are your plans for 2021?
I don’t say this with any glee, as it has been a very difficult time for many people around the world, however at Pronet Gaming we were able to continue to support our clients during the pandemic to keep their businesses profitable, particularly when there was no live sport. Due to the flexibility of our platform, we could change the UX and UI over night when live sports were suspended, shifting our focus to virtuals and casino products. We work with all the important virtual suppliers, as well as eSport providers like UltraPlay. What is interesting is demand for these products has not tailed off with the resumption of sports, as some people predicted. We’re now taking 12 million casino bets a day, by way of example. Consequently, we’re in an excellent position to work with more and more operators across Latin America and beyond - and we’re very excited about the prospects that 2021 holds.
Source: Exclusive GMB
