LatAm’s status as fastest growing market confirmed while Europe is left behind

Brazil and Latin America have been identified as the fastest growing regions for the iGaming sector according to a report by high tech B2B poker supplier Evenbet Gaming. There was little or no mention of the sector’s growth in Europe by respondents participating in the study.

However, findings offered a unanimous response from vendors and operators on in the development of B2B growth in new and emerging markets with a focus on LatAm and Brazil seen as the most important future trend.  Other important markets that are tipped to boom are North America, Asia and Finland. These trends are further supported by professional research statistics of 200 per cent growth in Brazil in the last two years with a market value of 3.7 billion reals [€712,250,000] and an expected rise of gross gaming revenue in sports betting for 2023.  

The report titled ‘Hottest iGaming Trends’ presented an overview of the trends and challenges in iGaming sector for 2022 with some forecasts for 2023. The study identified areas that are most important for businesses and operators in the online gaming sector based on interviews with operators, vendors and service providers in September 2022.  Evenbet Gaming stated in the research that 55 per cent of those interviewed were suppliers and 36 per cent were operators. The number of respondents were not disclosed.

Analysis of the data shows a sharp rise by 178 per cent in the crypto market in relation to the iGaming sector.  The most important trends identified by service providers and vendors are the development of the payment ecosystem for cryptocurrencies and the creation of more web3 projects.  

The findings indicate that since banking has become difficult with delays in opening accounts and completing transactions, the gaming sector needs to adapt to be more crypto compliant.  The study expands to include the overall increase in regulated markets across different jurisdictions in the sector which has been welcomed by both operators and vendors. The sector specialists interviewed for this study agreed that tighter regulation is the future for the gaming industry. 

The study states that all businesses agreed that a regulated market is the future for the sector to thrive and go forward. It adds that current resources in compliance are efficient with an average salary increase of 26 per cent for legal and compliance specialists. It was agreed however that “regulation [also] delays innovation”.

The study found that vendors and operators agreed that an important focus was the generation of online traffic and acquisition of new players. Other challenges identified varied but more common answers were associated with human resources and include the search for talent and the integration of staff in an M&A climate. The study states that 92 per cent of iGaming companies are actively recruiting.

Building brand awareness and social media presence was also important to all businesses. It was noted that the most popular digital entertainment is Netflix (or similar), watching sports especially football and the use of non-gambling video games.