Play’n GO: “It’s Time to Double Down on Latin America”

Play’n GO is one of the household names in the iGaming industry. The company is known the world over and in light of its latest entry in Latin America, and Buenos Aires in particular, Play’n GO remains dedicated to consolidating its footprint in new and promising markets. 

Latin America has been a strategic region for the company for years now with ties to multiple jurisdictions and brands already present in the region. In this context, we reached out Cristian Acuna, Keith Caruana, and Arturo Chaltelt of Play’n GO to find out more about the company’s involvement in the region and how important it is to the future. 

Gambling News: Latin America is a brand new market for many companies, but not for Play’n GO. How important is LATAM for you today? 

Cristian Acuna, Head of Sales LATAM at Play’n GO: The region is critical. From the moment we entered Latin America we have always treated the region with the respect and attention that it deserves. And I believe that our considered approach to Latin America has earned the trust of operators from Mexico in the north down to Argentina in the south.  

The region has always been full of excitement, but there is now a real palpable energy thanks to the opening of new markets. I think LATAM will only continue to grow in importance for Play’n GO. 

GN: Do you see the potential of the region still stifled by lack of regulatory consensus in key jurisdictions? 

CA: While the changes to regulations in future will certainly grab the headlines, it’s important to remember that in the existing jurisdictions that are fully regulated and already live, we’re only just scratching the surface of what’s possible for the industry. 

Every country in Latin America is different, and so are the players. We take a unique and personal approach to each country to ensure that we’re helping our customers bring the best entertainment possible to their local market. And there is vast potential for growth within the current set of fully regulated markets in Latin America.   

GN: Is Play’n Go interested in facilitating talks between stakeholders and legislators to help demonstrate the benefits of a regulated market? 

Keith Caruana, Technical Compliance Lead at Play’n GO: Regulated marketplaces are vital to ensuring that players are protected, and that the entertainment provided by the industry is fair, and fun. Play’n GO only operates in regulated markets and would warmly welcome any opportunity to share our point of view with legislators in jurisdictions who are thinking of moving to a fully regulated iGaming environment. 

GN: What do you reckon the next market to regulate iGaming will be in the region? 

KC: We closely monitor the legislative agenda of governments all around the world to ensure that we secure access to newly regulated marketplaces, as our customer base has come to expect. We see changes across Argentina with Santa Fe, Entre Rios and Mendoza following the footsteps of the City of Buenos Aires and Province of Buenos Aires. 

We also see Chile, Bolivia and Peru taking initiatives to regulating whilst also Panama have moved rapidly ahead. While we wouldn’t wish to speculate too much, I think it’s safe to say that following our recent accreditations in Buenos Aires City and Province, we expect further market openings in other Argentine provinces soon. 

GN: Where do Play’n GO’s strengths in LATAM lie?  

Arturo Chaltelt, Account Manager LATAM, Play’n GO: Our content is second to none, but I feel that we really flourish in the region because we truly live and breathe Latin America. We’re on the ground in the region, our key people are from the region [Chaltelt is from Mexico and Acuna is from Chile], and we have experience in working with operators to ensure that they are giving players what they want. 

Without giving away too many of our trade secrets, we believe that we have a pretty good idea of the types of games that players in, say, Mexico will respond best to, which won’t be the same as players in Colombia or Peru.  

There are many variables, of course, but the constant is our commitment to our partners – we want them to flourish and grow and will do everything we can to help them. 

GN: What is your biggest expectation from LATAM in 2021? 

AC: Of course, we can’t get away entirely from talking about the pandemic. Latin America is a highly varied region, and that can be seen in healthcare too where Chile’s vaccination programme is the envy of almost every other country in the world, but other countries in the region are lagging far behind.  

That will affect the wider betting and gaming industry significantly, especially as the southern hemisphere goes into winter. Yet there is real reason for optimism as we’re seeing a significant shift to digitalization for everything from payments to entertainment, which should stand the iGaming industry in very good stead. 

Play’n GO will continue to champion LATAM and we’re excited about helping our partners – both new and old – to be successful. For this we ensure to provide bespoke Account Management, working very closely with our partners and their goals. It’s an incredibly exciting time to be in Latin America.