Colombia’s Health Sector Receives $94.8 Million from Gambling Since January
Coljuegos, the regulator of gambling in Colombia, says gambling has contributed close to COP397 billion ($94.8 million) to the health sector between January and the end of August.
That marks a 10 percent rise when compared to the same period last year, with Coljuegos President Marco Emilio Hincapié Ramírez setting his sights on COP470 billion being contributed across the entirety of 2024.
Coljuegos claims the gambling industry has helped around 316,000 Colombians benefit from local and departmental health funds.
“This increase in transfers is largely due to the actions we have taken at the National Council of Games of Chance and Luck to boost the industry through strategies such as authorizing the use of foreign lottery results, the capitalization of lotteries, among others,” Hincapié said.
Flutter Reports 11 Percent Brazil Market Share After NSX Acquisition
Flutter’s acquisition of Betnacional parent NSX Group means it’s now among the top three betting companies in Brazil with an 11 percent market share.
Flutter announced it had agreed to acquire NSX Group earlier this month, with the deal expected to close in Q2 2025. Flutter will establish a new ‘Flutter Brazil’ business, including its existing Betfair brand.
At the group’s Capital Markets Day presentation Sept. 25, Flutter claimed the combination of Betfair and NSX Group’s brands, which include Betnacional, Pagbet and MrJack.bet, were third in Brazil over 2023 in terms of revenue.
Minister: Land-Based Gambling Opportunity to Boost Brazil Tourism
Brazil’s tourism minister Celso Sabino has highlighted the vote on legalizing land-based casinos as a chance to provide a welcome boost to the nation’s tourism sector.
PL 2,234/2022, which includes the legalization of land-based gambling such as casinos, bingo, jogo de bicho and betting on horseracing, is yet to be voted on by the senate.
Sabino feels the legalization of land-based gambling is an opportunity to provide a big economic boost for Brazil’s smaller tourist hubs by decentralizing its main resorts.
Speaking to iGB, Alex Pariente, Hard Rock International’s corporate senior vice president of casino and hotel operations, previously compared Brazil’s flagging tourism sector to that of the Dominican Republic, which welcomed over 10 million tourists in 2023 to Brazil’s approximately six million despite its land mass fitting into Brazil around 175 times.
Grupo Silvio Santos Partners with OpenBet for New Brazil Brand
On Sep. 23, Grupo Silvio Santos (GSS) announced it will deploy the provider OpenBet’s end-to-end betting ecosystem for its new gambling brand Todos Querem Jogar.
The long-term deal will see GSS, a conglomerate including the Brazilian Television Network (SBT), utilize OpenBet’s player account management (PAM) system, its responsible gambling technology and its managed trading services.
GSS applied for a license for its new Todos Querem Jogar venture during the 90-day window of preference, which closed on Aug. 20, ensuring its application will be processed ahead of the legal online market launch of Jan. 1, 2025.
GSS believes the partnership with OpenBet will enable it to become the “number one” leader for player protection in Brazil. OpenBet first entered the country’s sports betting market in September 2023 when it partnered with Play7.Bet.
Pix Gambling Transfers Surge 200 Percent Since January
Central Bank of Brazil President Roberto Campos Neto revealed betting transfers using Pix have risen by 200 percent since January.
Pix, an instant payment service controlled by the Central Bank, is used by the majority of the Brazil betting industry. It allows transactions to occur in less than 10 seconds.
Campos Neto highlighted the rising popularity of the use of Pix for gambling while also warning about the potential fiscal impacts, saying: “We can map what Pix has done for these platforms and the growth since January has been quite large.”
Pix will form a key part of the government’s fight against illegal gambling, with transactions made via Pix to unlicensed operators set to be banned.
