Brazil betting applicant list shrinks before market launch

Neha Soni November 11, 2024

SiGMA news

At least 20 operators in Brazil, including Super Group’s Betway, have dropped out of the application process to receive federal betting licences. This comes less than two months before the legal market’s launch on 1 January 2025.

Other operators that have dropped their applications include Arena Esportiva, AmuletoBet and Vera&John, which are currently owned by Bally’s Corporation.

Operators’ dilemma

Under current regulations, the certification process involves high costs like licensing fees and companies needing to undergo regular audits and ongoing testing to maintain compliance. Those regulators that have been approved for a licence will require to pay a fee of BRL30 million ($5.3 million).

These regulations may deter small operators from entering the regulated market due to the hefty licence fee. However, since the companies not applying for a licence will be shut down by the authorities, this translates to a misleading current number of applicants as some operators who are not in a position to pay the fees have still applied.

The application process, which had an initial deadline of 20 August, saw 113 applications registered on Sigap, the country’s betting management system. The operators applying before the deadline were guaranteed to have their applications processed ahead of the market launch.

However, the operators were still allowed to file for licences after the initial deadline, with the number of applications reaching 273 earlier this week.

Super Group’s decision

Super Group announced its financial results on 6 October, where the company’s president and chief commercial officer Richard Hasson reiterated the need for the operator to focus on markets to generate returns following its launch.

“Brazil is obviously being spoken about a lot across the industry at the moment,” Hasson said on the call. “That’s a market where we are not currently proceeding in line with all markets that we look at.

“We want to ensure that we can identify the same path to profitability once we go live.”

The company is continuing to prioritise Africa, which constituted the largest share of revenue for the second quarter running, rather than trying to compete against the likes of Flutter Entertainment and Bet365 in Brazil.