Lucia Gando tunes into SBC Noticias webinar diving into the shared concerns and commonalities Brazil and Peru have regarding their respective market transitions. 

Both countries have pursued regulation of online gambling, but regulators and politicians in each jurisdiction have very different expectations of outcomes. A panel of local experts provides  insights into the regulatory challenges, tax burdens, and market forces shaping both jurisdictions.

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The webinar, “Lessons from LatAm: How Have Brazil and Peru Handled Regulation?”, took place this week, organised by SBC Noticias and moderated by Isadora Marcante, Relationship Manager for Brazil.

An expert panel featured Gonzalo Pérez, CEO of Apuesta Total; Felipe Fraga, Chief Business Officer of EstrelaBet; Charmaine Hogan, Global Head of Government Relations at Playtech; and Hugo Baumgartner, CBO of Esportes Gaming Brazil.

The debate focused on the challenges and lessons that have emerged in Brazil and Peru since both Latin American markets regulated their iGaming and sports betting sectors in the last two years: Peru in February 2024, and Brazil in January 2025.

For Gonzalo Pérez, 2024 was “a year of transition” in Peru. While land-based casinos were already legal and regulators had experience in that area, the online sector was still new to them. 

“We consider the market was officially launched this year, when we started paying taxes. The transition was smooth, and I acknowledge the work of the regulator, although taxes remain a major challenge,” he commented.

In Brazil, the situation is different. Felipe Fraga noted that, eight months after regulation, tax increases are already being discussed and no clear progress has been made against the illegal market.

“We feel the illegal market is even growing. The challenge is educating politicians so they understand the industry’s positive economic and social impact on job creation and sustainability,” he said.

Meanwhile, Charmaine Hogan agreed that the big difference is that Peru had previous experience with land-based gambling, while Brazil started from scratch. As a provider representative, she highlighted the challenge of migrating players from illegal platforms to a regulated environment, which requires understanding the technical requirements, timelines, and costs from the outset to facilitate operations. She added: “In Brazil, that timeframe was much shorter and stricter, which impacted the number of licences approved.”

In this regard, Hugo Baumgartner added that in Brazil, the industry is still “educating clients, politicians, society, and the economic world” about how the new betting market works. “It’s only been eight months of legal operations, and the framework continues to change,” he described.

Unsettled storms on tax and advertising

The impact of increasing taxes and advertising restrictions took up a large part of the debate. Pérez warned that taxing players directly could push them towards the illegal market, which is harder to control. “Politicians think they’ll collect more revenue this way, but in the long term, they’ll lose everything to the illegal sector,” he argued.

Hogan also reinforced the idea of focusing the conversation on player protection, crime prevention, and fair competition, rather than just on revenue collection. Fraga warned that in Brazil, companies allocate more than 50% of their revenue to taxes, which is causing operators to leave.

Regarding advertising, Fraga argued that restrictions tend to harm only the legal market, reducing its ability to attract customers and leaving room for illegal platforms. Given this, Hogan emphasised that the key is the intelligent use of data to design more effective strategies tailored to each market.

In Peru, according to Pérez, there is still no debate about limiting ads, but they already face problems with social media promotion, even for licensed operators. Baumgartner noted that in Brazil, paradoxically, illegal platforms manage to advertise on Meta and Google without restrictions, while legal platforms face more obstacles.

In comparison with other markets, Hogan emphasised that both Peru and Brazil have managed to recognise the existence of the grey market and work on its transition to a legal framework, rather than trying to eliminate it all at once. Fraga, on the other hand, observed that Brazil’s regulatory and cultural complexity makes some international operators hesitant to invest.

The consensus among the speakers was that regulatory stability and the education of all stakeholders be it politicians, society, regulators, and players are essential for both markets to fulfil their potential and become benchmarks in the region.

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