Becky’s Affiliated: BetGamesTV Eddie Morales talks on Latin America strategy

The thrilling LatAm iGaming business is unsurprisingly on our minds after moderating the "Understanding and Meeting LatAm Teams" panel last week at SBC's Barcelona Digital Summit and with Sigma LatAm coming up next week.

The new COVID condition has nudged gaming firms around the world who still have to get on the digital bandwagon and jurisdictions that still have to control to pull in most of the tax dollars that are required. Though destructive in so many ways, hopefully 2020 will be remembered as the year that the casino industry in Latin America has finally taken off.

"The fact, that Latin America is working hard during these times isn't a blessing. It's because a lot of land-based business has been running the Latin American area, a lot of the transition to the digital market has been sadly but luckily driven by the COVID reality," claimed BetGames.TV LatAm Sales Director Eddie Morales.

Morales went on to clarify that BetGames.TV provides Latin American operators a powerful B2B live casino service, creating a rare ability to cross-sell between online sports betting and casino play.

"We deliver video games in a variety of markets that are really appealing to a lot of players who already use sports book. Sports betting in Latin America is hugely popular, the logistics of working with a fixed odds model really make us really competitive in cross-selling our commodity," he said.

"We would claim that at least 80% of our teams are actually sports book competitors...[games] have the same dynamics where you're betting on a sports book case because essentially you're betting on another event - it's broadcast right from our studios," said Morales.

In 2019, Morales spent a substantial amount of time in Latin America, flying around to numerous business events throughout the area and meeting with existing and prospective collaborators. Unfortunately, as we all know, 2020 has prompted COVID to bring a damper on our global travel and in-person activities, but Morales is still driving the BetGames.TV LatAm footprint forward and rising in other respects.

"It's all about relationships really. And if you don't see people face-to-face, relationships develop. It takes a little longer but they are already moving ahead," he added.

"We've continued to expand our partnerships, our product's word of mouth is the strongest and most important asset we've got on hand these days, aside from the ads or the publicity we get," Morales said.

"I would admit that many of the customer-to-customer suggestions have worked wonderfully for us and i would also note that we are working with a vast range of partners with which our brands are aggregated or combined, so we have continued to expand by expanding such strategic relationships with aggregators or networks with which we have already collaborated," he said.

When asked what Latin American regions are most interesting to him, Morales grinned and said, "I guess they all excite me, to be honest."

Undoubtedly Morales is conscious of the regions where he is actually making the most profits, but what truly, really excites him are the regions with promise for the BetGames.TV product to come.

"For about everyone you're going to ask for in terms of opportunity, the greatest enthusiasm will be Brazil, since Brazil is a nation within a continent and essentially the whole world has the demographic – the identity community – that really makes a huge difference to the rest of Latin America," he said.

"Brazil is the most exciting possibility, but i will also suggest that Colombia is really, really interesting for us right now because we will be certifying our goods under the newly controlled category of live casinos," Morales said.

"Colombia I'd say is the continent's most robust, regulated economy. A successful stepping stone will also be set up for the rest of the managed markets to come," he added. "And right now we're collaborating very closely with some collaborators in Peru and Mexico in particular," he said.

In addition to LatAm, BetGames.TV has a presence in many countries and aims to give versatility to all participants in changing their deals to suit the needs of a specific customer. Morales also clarified how consumers around the world are looking for fast-past games which is just what his business is selling.

"We found that consumers really aspire for faster paced games and its reality, it's happening a lot worldwide, no variations between Latin America, Africa, Europe. Faster paced games are giving the developers and us the best outcomes," he added.

When it comes to Latin American player's gaming expectations vs. the rest of the country, Morales broke it down for both retail and online.

"I have to admit our lottery related games are the most common for the retail players we have data on, but if you go to the online gamers, there's more of a mix," he said.

"Lottery-themed games are still doing really well, but the country relies. Poker games are very popular, fortune wheel is a very classic game that has been played forever and is still very loved, or even the dual game dice we have," Morales said.

"So it's different from country to country but i'm going to say poker and lottery games are the most common," he said.