As Brazil pipes up to take over the headlines with the launch of its regulated market, SBC invited a panel of experts to discuss the intricacies of navigating the new landscape.
More than 130 operators are currently lining up to acquire a licence for the region, which is projected to reach a value of US$3bn by 2028.
Moderated by Peter Murray, Director of Strategy at Mitek Systems, the conversation unfolded by exploring three main focus points for companies looking to set shop in Brazil – fraud, KYC and player safety.
Andre Gelfi, Managing Partner of Brazil for Betsson, and also the President of the local industry trade body IBJR, reminded us that the framework of the route towards regulation was published last month, with the agenda on payments and systems requirements expected to be realised by the end of this year.
Additionally, the upcoming authorisation ordinance on onshoring will kick off the process within six months of its publication.
One of the safety measures around player protection to be implemented into the upcoming regulated market is the geolocation of accounts.
According to Elizabeth Cronan, VP of Government Relations at GeoComply, geolocation controls are going to be a vital tool for operators to locate anomalies.
The new regulations envision that players are to be re-geolocated within 30 minutes of the first placed bet to ensure that no suspicious behaviour is at play.
Cronan also noted that internal environments will also become as monitored as external threats – with operators needing to look for employee collusion and employee fraud.
Furthermore, it became clear that two of the biggest pain points that operators are expected to stumble upon in Brazil are the high rates of account takeover (ATO) and bonus abuse.
As Cronan stated, the ATO rates there can be upwards of 5 times as high compared to other markets such as the US. There is also the high use of remote desktop programmes, which is a key gateway that enables exploits for fraudsters. Operators would need to combat this to avoid breakdown of player trust.
Gelfi reassured that once the regulations are in place, there’s going to be a different dynamic, and that all members of the IBJR are feeling comfortable with the vision of the regulatory body as it will ensure that the market “develops sustainably”.
Besides geolocation, another protection measure will be the implementation of biometric scanning, which currently exists prevalently across the financial ecosystem of Brazil.
In this regard, while it could be “a bit of a challenge for operators” in Gelfi’s words to roll out such services at the start, this will be made easier later on as such solutions are already available in the market. One important requirement of the upcoming regulations is that players will need to be verified biometrically every week.
Moreover, although not currently regulated, Brazil will be an interesting market to enter as it has already been active for more than 10 years, Paula Murphy, Business Development Manager and Mindway AI said.
She commented that in a new jurisdiction, there is typically a “marketing land grab” that aims to bring all the players. This is then followed by a regulator reacting to what is happening, which often leads to not-so-helpful regulation.
With Brazil however, there is already an established player base of more than one million players, and the regulator is very interested in raising the bar and setting higher standards, Murphy added.
All in all, if everything above is implemented correctly, experts agree that it would mean a win for players, operators and regulators alike.
To watch the full webinar for more insights, click here.
Source: SBC Brasil
