Speaking at September’s Betting on Sports conference in London, Chief Executive of BetCris JD Duarte outlined some of the key differences between the Latin American and European betting markets, and how regulation in Brazil offers a plethora of new opportunities.
Having initially worked on business development within the sports betting industry in 2004, Duarte explained that BetCris saw the opportunity to expand across Latin America and become one of the first operators to ‘educate the market.’
He commented: “I started doing business development for sports betting back in 2004, specifically in Latin America. It was a great opportunity at the time, we were the first to arrive in many markets.
“We were able to set up business in a number of countries, and become the first operator to educate the market on how sports betting works, and sell it as a form of entertainment. Now, many years later, people know BetCris and trust the brand. The credibility is there, which has really helped.”
With sports betting continuing to spread across the region, Duarte explained that the LatAm market differs from the European market in terms of market maturity, and player value.
He continued: “There are a lot of differences between Europe and LatAm. I would say that the first thing that comes to mind is the maturity of the market when it comes to the players. Sports betting is still new, it’s not as widespread across the Latin American countries. You will find a large number of people who might not know what sports betting is, or how it works.
“The player value is also different. The expectation of what you can get out of a player in Latin America versus Europe are two different things, while the culture also differs, and what sports people follow. Here in Europe you have football, handball, basketball and a plethora of other sports which people can watch and follow. In Latin America, for the most part, Football is king.
“But at the minute, Brazil is the most interesting country right now. At the moment, they’re talking about regulation. It is supposed to be in place before the year is over. We’re talking about 200 million people who are super passionate about sports, and in particular about football. So it will be very interesting to see what happens there.”