Latin America's Betting Market Demands Smarter Technology and Local Strategy
Latin America has become one of the most commercially significant regulated betting and casino markets in the world, defined by mobile-first consumption habits, a young and engaged population, and a regulatory environment that is shifting — country by country — toward formal licensing frameworks. On 11 June 2026, SBC Summit Americas will host a dedicated Latin America Sports Betting & Casino track as part of Stage Five of the event, gathering operators, suppliers, regulators, and technology executives to examine how businesses can build sustainable operations across one of the world's most fragmented and fast-moving markets.
A Region of Opportunity, Not a Single Market
The most common mistake made by operators entering Latin America is treating it as a single commercial territory. It is not. Brazil operates under a distinct regulatory structure, Colombia has a mature licensing regime through Coljuegos, Argentina operates through a patchwork of provincial authorities, and several other countries are at earlier stages of formalisation. Each jurisdiction carries its own compliance demands, tax structures, payment infrastructure, and cultural expectations around what entertainment products work best.
This fragmentation is not a deterrent — it is the defining strategic challenge. Companies that invest in understanding local consumer behaviour, adapt their product catalogue to regional preferences, and build compliance capacity for each jurisdiction are better positioned to capture the commercial opportunity as regulation matures. The track at SBC Summit Americas is structured around exactly this premise: practical approaches to product design, technology deployment, and market strategy that reflect operational reality rather than generic expansion theory.
Mobile Is Not a Feature — It Is the Foundation
Across Latin America, the mobile device is the primary — and in many cases the only — screen through which consumers access digital entertainment. This shapes everything from interface design to payment integration to session length expectations. A product built primarily for desktop and adapted for mobile will consistently underperform against one designed for handheld use from the start.
The track will examine this directly through a session on mobile-first design, exploring how suppliers are refining gameplay to match the expectations of users who engage almost entirely on handheld devices. The implications extend beyond aesthetics. Load times, data consumption, offline resilience, and one-handed navigation all affect retention in markets where connectivity can be inconsistent and users have little tolerance for friction. Suppliers who optimise for these conditions gain a measurable advantage over those who do not.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are increasingly applied to understand how mobile users behave within these products — not just what they do, but when they disengage, what keeps them returning, and how personalisation can be applied at scale without compromising responsible gaming standards. A dedicated session will explore how operators are using these tools to improve the user experience and identify growth opportunities across the region.
Lotteries and the Push Toward Modern Engagement
National lottery operators across South America represent a distinct category within the broader market. Many carry significant public trust and long-established retail networks, but they face genuine competitive pressure from digital-native operators who offer a wider range of instant and interactive products. The response, increasingly, is modernisation: building cross-platform capabilities that allow participation via mobile, online, and retail channels within a single unified experience.
The track will include a session examining how lotteries can add instant games alongside traditional draw products to keep their catalogues varied and relevant to a younger audience. This is not a cosmetic change. It requires investment in platform architecture, digital payment integration, and a fundamental rethinking of how engagement is measured — moving away from draw-cycle frequency toward continuous, session-based interaction. The lottery operators that succeed in this transition will do so by combining the public trust they already hold with the product design sensibility of a digital entertainment company.
Regulatory Progress and the Conditions for Long-Term Growth
Rasmus Sojmark, CEO and Founder of SBC, framed the broader ambition of the track clearly: as more countries across Latin America formalise their gaming markets, success depends on understanding local demand, building mobile-ready product catalogues, and applying technology in ways that enhance trust, safety, and long-term engagement.
This framing reflects a wider reality. Regulation, where it arrives thoughtfully, does not constrain the market — it enables it. Licensed environments give operators the legal certainty to invest in infrastructure, give consumers confidence in the products they use, and create conditions for responsible gaming frameworks to function properly. The challenge is that regulatory timelines differ significantly across the continent, and operators must make strategic decisions about where and how to invest before those frameworks are fully settled.
Confirmed speakers across the track include Marcos Bonetti of Appuesta, Ximena Martinez of WPlay, Emilia Perez of Rush Street Interactive, Andrea Rossi of Betsson Group, and Pablo Viana Ruiz de Aguirre of RETAbet — executives with direct operational experience across Latin American markets. Their participation alongside sessions on payments, compliance, and responsible gaming reflects the organiser's intent to address the full commercial and regulatory picture rather than focus exclusively on growth narratives. For delegates building or refining their Latin American strategy, the track offers a concentrated examination of the conditions that determine whether market entry translates into durable, profitable operation.
