NSX, a Brazilian technology company founded by Brazilians in Recife (PE), has developed one of the most stable and reliable sports betting platforms on the market, to the point of having become a reference for most operators operating in Brazil.
The platform's success was such that the company decided, upon launching its operations in Brazil – Betnacional, Pagbet and MrJack.Bet, among others – to make the solution exclusive to the group's bookmakers.
Newton Neto, marketing director at NSX, spoke with GMB about the company's change in strategy and the current situation in the Brazilian sports betting market.
GMB – How was NSX's change of strategy in the Brazilian sports betting market?
Newton Neto – The NSX story begins with a platform. We are a technology company and we developed a platform that was very well accepted by Brazilians. The sites that used our solution are consolidated in the country and from the operation of the platform, we put our site on the air, Betnacional, the first operation of the group and the success was enormous. Today, with just over a year of operation, we have become one of the largest sports betting sites in Brazil. On this journey, we decided that the platform would be exclusive to the group that was starting to form, as we realized that the tool was the driving force behind this success. So we completely changed the business model. We were a platform provider, where we delivered a subscription to a system and suddenly we became a betting site with the development of technology that subsidizes the entire structure.
Was that the kick-off for, in addition to Betnacional, other sports betting companies to be launched, such as Pagbet and MrJack.Bet?
That's right. And we have others in the group. But the most relevant are Pagbet and MrJack.Bet, with Betnacional. Today, Betnacional has grown to such an extent – with the concept of ‘Bet dos Brasileiros’ (Bet of the Brazilians) – that we started a new campaign with Vinicius Jr. Think about it: the company started a year ago and we already have Vinícius Jr. And we have just participated in a ceremony to launch the ‘Taça das Favelas’, in partnership with Celso Athayde, from CUFA (Central Única das Favelas).
We are entering places we never expected. We knew we would succeed, but not so quickly. The other sites that were born were emerging by our strategy. We created focus areas and the great success of NSX was the thought that we are a start up, which is to prototype, launch on the market, test, validate and improve. We were not born the size we are, we were testing and improving. Today, Pagbet is operating very strongly in the Northeast and MrJack.Bet in the South. And Betnacional, which is the 'Bet of the Brazilians'.
Betnacional scored a goal by having Vinicius Jr. as a brand ambassador, as he is one of the best football players in the world!
Exactly. An incredible figure. I had the pleasure of meeting him and he is fully involved with our project. It's even a big gamble. He will be in the World Cup, winner of the Champion League, with his goal. I imagine the World Cup could make him the greatest player in the world. See what luck and what strategy, which collaborated with what we imagined. Vinicius Jr. represents the Brazilian very well for us, for all his trajectory, for his history in Flamengo and in the fields of floodplain. The Brazilian is it. And that's what we're looking for at Betnacional, showing that it's Bet do João, Bet da Maria, Bet do José. We want to show that the gambler is the guy who is taking a bus to go to college and gambles, the one who is fishing. Anyway, it's not just the one who's always sitting on the couch watching a game.
You said 'Brazilian'. NSX is a Brazilian company, but how did it achieve such technical expertise to launch a successful sports betting platform and promote this success story for the entire group?
NSX is based in the United Kingdom, but our team is based in Brazil, in Recife (PE) and also in São Paulo. As I said, we started as a technology company. Recife is a technological center, in its Digital Port. There, we have a very large pool of developers and professionals trained in technology. It was there that it all started. It is obvious that with the time and the size that things took, we had to increase the team and decentralize. So, today we have the operation there and in São Paulo, which is the city that drives the economy.
Is the platform closed and exclusive to the group?
Yes. The platform is exclusive to the betting sites of this ecosystem. It's important to talk about this, because we go from a system to a group of sites. And today we have an ecosystem because there are other businesses that are not linked to sports betting and technology, but that are part of and orbit around it. We have an advertising, events, content production, journalistic and podcasts company. Even physical structure, such as our own studios, have been formed and feed this entire ecosystem and are available to the market. Only the platform is exclusive for the betting sites of the group.
Is there a plan for the company to grow outside Brazil, as the sports betting market is expanding a lot in Latin America?
Exactly. It's not something we discard, but today our focus is Brazil, a huge country where we have a lot to grow. So, we focused 100% on Brazil and with an eye on the strategies of how it will be with the regulation. We don't want to go a step further, but this is in our minds, to go to other countries in Latin America.
Regarding regulation, do you expect it to come out soon? Do you think it will come out before the World Cup?
I believe it comes out before the World Cup.
Will there be time to formally operate at the World Cup?
Yes. The companies of the NSX group are all structured and prepared for this. We still don't have the rules of the game clearly, but from everything that has been commented, we can say that we have solid companies and an extremely capable team structure for this.
Source: Exclusive GMB
