Genius Sports, a world leader and official data, technology and broadcasting partner that feeds the global ecosystem that connects sports, betting and media, has been increasingly engaged with leagues, federations and bookmakers operating in the Brazilian market to guarantee everyone – and sports fans and bettors – unique experiences.
Guilherme Buso, Brazil Business Development Manager, gave an exclusive interview to GMB to talk about the current moment of the company in the country and his expectations regarding the regulation of sports betting.
Genius Sports is a sports data and technology company that provides data management, video streaming and integrity services to sports leagues, bookmakers and media companies. In April 2021, Genius Sports completed a special purpose acquisition business combination agreement with dMY Technology Group, Inc. II to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Founded on integrity, Genius Sports has become the trusted partner of hundreds of sporting bodies, including the world's largest international federations and professional leagues such as FIBA and the English Premier League. Taking a true partnership approach to working with sport, they distribute official data to organizations such as the NBA, La Liga, ATP and WTA.
Genius Sports betting partners include over 300 sports betting brands such as FanDuel, Skybet and Bet365. The company provides sports betting with live data, odds and streams of over 240,000 live sporting events per year.
In Brazil, the company adopts the same principles that guide its worldwide growth in the data, technology and transmission sector, even though the country has not yet achieved the regulation of sports betting.
GMB - Genius Sports has a strong presence worldwide. How is business specifically in Latin America and, of course, in Brazil?
Guilherme Buso - Here in Brazil it is a construction process. We already have a very large penetration in the sports area with good relationships, not only in Brazil, but in Latin America, with leagues and federations. Sports data is very important for Genius and now we are building, reformulating our approach with bookmakers and these relationships that we have been building for a while, and that have been consolidating in recent months.
Sports data is the backbone of sports betting, isnt’ it? I mean, is it a key product?
Exactly. It is fundamental. For you to have a bet with the greatest possible integrity, for everything to run smoothly for the end user and the bookmaker, the data has to be collected in the best possible way. So, Genius has always worked hard to create solutions that could collect this data at the edge of the court in a very precise, accurate and fast way. This is how we have behaved in the market for a long time and this is what we are betting on to continue to triumph not only in Brazil, but throughout the world.
And how do you see this movement of effort to really create regulation?
I believe it's something the market believes will happen. It is a demand from several players in the sector. In fact, we hope that something will always happen in favor of the market, that it will in fact be strengthened with whatever decision is made. But, in any case, Genius is looking for the situation to be as favorable as possible for all the players involved.
Do you believe in quick regulation?
It's hard to "believe", isn't it? I don't think it's up to us to imagine what will happen. I think if it happens we'll be ready for it; if not, we keep working hard as we always did. So it's hard to give an opinion on that. I think there are people much more capable of making that decision up there.
With the regulation, what lies ahead with Genius Sports in Brazil?
I think we will continue to focus on strengthening relations here in the country. With or without regulation, we actually managed to bring our product, provide good services and that's what we have to focus on: that Genius continues to be a good partner for bookmakers here in Brazil.
And have these partnerships been very beneficial?
It is beneficial because the bookmaker, the operator, sees value in this official data, in the services that are provided. No doubt it is beneficial.
So, let the regulation come and Genius establish itself even more in the Brazilian market.
Good business to everyone. We continue to try to collaborate more and more with this ecosystem as a whole.
Source: Exclusive GMB
