In this interview with CalvinAyre.com’s Rebecca Liggero, Peo Lekare of Betgenius explains how culture shapes the sports betting market in Latin America.
With a diverse consumer market of more than 550 million people, Latin America presents opportunities for sports betting operators to expand their market.
But finding growth is easier said than done for most sports betting businesses as they – like the other before them – make the common mistake of taking a one-size-fits-all approach to the entire region.
In order to penetrate and become successful in Latin America, Peo Lekare of Betgenius said it is important for sports betting operators to have a critical understanding of cultural nuances of the region and a keen awareness of difference by country.
Lekare cited the case of sports betting in Mexico and Brazil – two of the biggest economies in the Latin American region. He pointed out that Mexicans will not place big bets during the World Cup and Copa America unlike in most Latin American countries since football is considered a big sporting event in Mexico.
The story in Brazil is different, according to Lekare, since the country itself is home to football legend Pele, or superstars like Ronaldo and Neymar. He said sports betting operators will have good business during big football events in Brazil than in Mexico.
“Mexico is actually very focus on US sports. I would think 80 percent of all the sports betting in Mexico is on US sports. Soccer is not big thing,” Lekare told CalvinAyre.com. “Although in Brazil, it’s just the other way around. They don’t focus at all in US sports. They do everything that is soccer or any big sports in Brazil, which might be swimming or beach volley, and stuff like that. They are kind of strange sports for most people to bet on, but in Brazil it would be huge.”
Comprehension of the intricacies of each Latin American country’s legalese and history will also help sports betting operators decide on where to put their money, according to Lekare.
He said some Latin American nations have not legalize online sports betting while others are in the process of making sports betting legal through legislation.
“At the moment, legislation is going on in most of the countries to make it legal to bet online because most of the laws are you know are really old, like from the 50s and 60s, when online wasn’t actually available,” Lekare said.
For Lekare, Mexico is the most attractive Latin American country to put up an online sports betting business since it sports betting is legal and most Mexicans are into major US sports leagues, such as the NFL, NHL, NBA, and MLB.
Legislation is going on in most of the countries in Latin America. So right now, it’s not possible to do it in other countries, but as soon as they are, right now is the moment to do it. Just start doing.
