Although the massive potential of Brazil’s step into the regulated domain are not lost on anyone, the prospects posed by the wider Latin American region ought to remain firmly in the minds of suppliers and operators.
Those are the thoughts of TG Lab CEO Ugnius Simelionis, who provided an extensive deep-dive on what exactly the continent has to offer, and crucially, how to achieve those lofty ambitions.
Everybody’s looking at LatAm
Substantial aspirations emanate from across the industry as seemingly all eyes glare down on the continent, and one nation in particular. However, while impossible to suggest that each will reap the desired rewards, Simelionis stresses confidence in what he believes is a natural step.
With operations well established across regulated Europe and Middle East with some of the industry’s biggest brands, LatAm is labelled as a reasonable direction to expand the business for years to come.
“WE KNOW HOW COMPETITIVE THE FIELD IS HERE, AND WE PLAN ON KEEPING THE MAJOR EDGE WE HAVE”
“We’re still serving customers in different regions, and we’re still exploring opportunities in different regions,” he begins. “However, all in all, I think the biggest effort moving forward would be LatAm. We want to become one of the leading platforms in that region, and our world-class tech is the driving force behind that.”
Amid a seemingly industry-wide descent on the continent comes a plethora of challenges that must be confronted and overcome to make the desired mark across one or more targeted jurisdictions.
For Simelionis, attention is first placed on the necessity to fully differentiate the most talked about nation from the rest. Brazil and LatAm, he says, must simply be treated as completely different markets with vastly different desires.
“Brazil is a huge, huge, huge market of course. We launched with one major brand already, with plenty more big names to come soon.” he comments.
“We think global but we act local. Our job is to offer the best localised service on the market, and we’re already actively working with local lawyers and compliance specialists who understand how the country works, as well as the best product people on the market.
“We’re here to understand every single piece of the puzzle, but we are not in a rush to expand – because this market has its own challenges and everybody is just trying to understand them, adapt and predict what’s next to expect. We know how competitive the field is here, and we plan on keeping the major edge we have as a first mover.”
“IT’S ALL ABOUT UNDERSTANDING THE NUANCES AND DELIVERING ACCORDINGLY”
Hailing localisation as a “key strength” of TG Lab, Simelionis reiterated the need for differing types of products due to a number of key variations across localities, most notably cultural and lingual.
Citing Brazil as an example, he explains: “We completed an acquisition in Brazil for the platform to have local experts in development, not only like account managers, but to have developers, to have DevOps, all the teams which can work at that time zone. While others are speaking about setting up an office in Brazil – we already have a fully-functioning one with top talent.
“But at the same time, this platform was working with the Spanish speaking customers and that’s where they have the experience.
“We’re forming teams who have truly localised expertise – that’s how you become the best. Our teams are able to work with Brazil and with Spanish speaking countries. Not only that, but those teams also have different cultures, languages and overall approaches – making them perfect for servicing the local markets.
“It’s all about understanding the nuances and delivering accordingly. Brazil is a big, exciting, but turbulent yet experimental market, while Spanish speaking countries are really, really advanced – which requires a completely different type of delivery.
“Of course, there are also huge differences between Brazil and Argentina, Colombia, Peru, etc. When it comes to the rest of LatAm, these are established regulated markets that know what they want. Everything with Brazil is new. It’s a little bit like the Wild West, but we’re ready for the challenge.”
“IT’S ALL ABOUT LOOKING TO DELIVER AN EXTRA EDGE FOR OPERATORS”
Brazil: strategies for success
A slow and steady approach will ultimately bear fruit for TB Lab, Simelionis assures, upon being quizzed on the strategies being deployed to gain the ground craved within Brazil.
Despite hinting that the country could perhaps be a little too dynamic, localisation once again comes to the fore as a vital component of the iGaming software developer’s outlook, despite certain headwinds.
“From a technical perspective, localisation and some local tools are a bit challenging, but that’s consistent for every operator in Brazil in the first months,” Simelionis continues.
“Everybody complains about conversion rates, but we see the improvements and we work on them a lot. How do you have it better, can you do something extra as the supplier, which delivers on top of what KYC providers manage. It’s all about looking to deliver an extra edge for operators.”
Furthermore, a word of warning to not walk before you can run is also issued – but better to focus on incremental progress, as the TG Lab CEO shares the importance of not being too aggressive in your approach
From one issuance of caution comes talk of a potential worry when it comes to the future direction of the market. This centres around “throwing out new regulatory ideas”, which he fears could lead to Brazil’s core concept of regulation being lost, and an over regulated environment being ushered in.
“…WE HAVE ONE THE BEST LOCAL TEAMS AND NOW WE JUST NEED TO FOCUS ON GOOD PARTNERS!”
On the company’s own potential pathway, Simelionis continues: “This year we will be focusing on our tier-one partners and helping them enter when they’re ready, but first we want to understand the market and who the front runners are.”
“We’ve already planted our flag, we have one the best local teams and now we just need to focus on good partners because we invest in ourselves, through development technology and resources, that’s a real edge for us already, so we don’t need to overextend.”
Don’t become a new UK
Away from the undoubted industry focal point of recent times, TG Lab has been quietly embedding itself within a smattering of countries across the continent.
However, despite acknowledging the potential that exists across these, namely Argentina, Paraguay, Peru and Colombia, a plea is issued to not follow the lead witnessed elsewhere.
Firstly though, Simelionis addressed a pair of 2025 goals of swelling its client base across this aforementioned quartet and potentially adding one or two further regulated markets before assessing their current standing and future direction.
“IT COULD JUST BECOME A NEW UK, WHICH IS PROBABLY THE ONLY MARKET IN THE WORLD WHERE PEOPLE DON’T WANT TO OPERATE ANYMORE”
“Peru and Colombia are really good markets,” he concludes. “They have a really good understanding of the product. They really want to have a top product in those markets and compete. The people are professional. They’re really good, advanced markets.
“The only problem is that those countries started well with the regulations, but now governments are just trying to squeeze a little bit too much and there is a high risk that with the creative tax upgrades coming in both of the countries, those will become really tough for operators to earn money and to grow the business.
“There are tax improvements in both Colombia and Peru, which can change the situation dramatically for operators as well as on a B2B basis.
“It could just become a new UK, which is probably the only market in the world where people don’t want to operate anymore. It’s overregulated to insanity. And one with one of the fastest-growing black markets. It should be a real word of warning.”
