BtoBet CEO Alessandro Fried took center stage at a workshop dedicated to the Latin American market during the recent SIGMA event in Malta, taking the opportunity to highlight the region’s potential and openings for local and international operators.
Also presenting was Ingrid Alvarado Lopez, from Colombia’s gambling regulatory body Coljuegos, who detailed the regulatory processes in place in her jurisdiction and underlined the importance for any market to be strongly regulated.
She commented on the success of the legislative framework that Colombia has adopted, and how this has had a positive impact in the local industry’s exponential growth throughout the past year.
Fried used his address to press home the importance for operators to have good knowledge of the stratification of the local market, which is still dominated by retail business to the tune of circa 80%. He stated that the dominance of terrestrial shops has initially proved to be a challenge for operators seeking to expand into online gaming, with operators lacking the adequate knowledge on how to make the shift to digital.
Explaining the fundamental requirement for operators to put their players at the center of their business model, he said: “While broad similarities exist between betting markets across the world, if you’re going to make it big in LatAm you have to know the differences, whether they be practical, such as language and culture, or subtler, such as gambling preferences and domestic approaches.”
He added: “It is useless trying to expand into the LatAm market by copying a formula that has proved to be successful in other markets, such as Europe. Each market is driven by its own set of unique elements.
“Each and every aspect of the user experience – be it the payment gateways, the sports market offered, the online casino games provided – must reflect the local scenario and preferences. Even the technology itself that platform providers such as BtoBet grant to operators must be adapted to the local scenario, taking into consideration various factors such as the hardware readily available on the market, and the internet and smartphone penetration.”
