By Tatiana Martins, journalist at G&M News.
The company’s recent supplier survey highlights how leading brands are streamlining compliance checks to shorten development cycles. Could you share the most striking findings?
The headline takeaway from the Vixio Gaming Supplier Survey is that online gambling suppliers are experiencing regulatory scrutiny intensifying as authorities grow increasingly concerned at the resilience of the illegal market and regulators develop a more sophisticated understanding of suppliers’ influence in the global online gambling ecosystem. More jurisdictions in Europe and beyond are now requiring suppliers to obtain their own licenses, and this trend is set to continue. However, regulators aren’t the only source of pressure: three out of four suppliers we surveyed told us that operators are increasingly pressuring suppliers to remain compliant as well. Looking ahead, 71% believe suppliers will be forced to choose between serving licensed and unlicensed markets within the next five years, with little room for grey-market activity. At the same time, suppliers are concerned about the disconnect between regulations being established by policymakers and industry reality: 86% of suppliers say new rules are often drafted without sufficient consideration of technical or product impacts. Together, these findings suggest that suppliers are no longer secondary to operators in terms of regulatory compliance burden, and being able to effectively navigate this reality will be a critical business differentiator for many suppliers in the years to come.
How are suppliers balancing the pressure to innovate quickly with the need to maintain robust compliance in highly regulated markets?
It’s a constant tension. Suppliers, of course, want to develop innovative games that will resonate with players, but the risk of misinterpreting a rule or missing a requirement is high: just one overlooked technical rule can derail months of development, trigger costly recertification, or even materially delay entry into a lucrative market. Another challenge is that regulations and requirements are fragmented across jurisdictions, not always available in English, and are frequently changing. Too many compliance teams are still relying on spreadsheets, PDFs, or outdated notes, methods prone to human error. When we surveyed compliance teams last year, 55% reported feeling overwhelmed at least monthly, so it’s no surprise that 77% said they were looking to outsource solutions for compliance. That’s where Vixio comes in: our RegTech platform helps compliance teams at suppliers and operators reduce their market research time by up to 90%, which enables them to speed up decision-making, development, and new product and market launches. We also help teams remain compliant in existing markets because regulations are in constant flux, and they may need to adapt to remain in that market. As explored in a recent Vixio webinar, no two regulatory regimes are ever the same, and operators and suppliers need to be able to adapt quickly to shifting requirements if they want to succeed in scaling globally.
Ten months into Brazil’s regulated online gambling and sports betting market, what key trends stand out from a compliance and market growth perspective?
After a little over ten months of operations, Brazil is more than living up to its billing as a uniquely complex and volatile market for online gambling. As is often said in Brazilian business circles, Brazil is not for beginners, and that is certainly proving to be the case for gambling! Still, Brazil is also showing itself to be a major market on a global scale. Initial data released by the regulator suggests the 80 or so licensed operators generated more than USD 3 billion in GGR in the first six months of the regulated market, despite some initial teething problems related to customer migration and KYC in the first months of the year. Vixio analysts now forecast the regulated online gambling market to exceed USD 10 billion in annual GGR by 2028, making Brazil the second largest regulated market globally after the UK. That’s not a market that leading operators and suppliers can afford to ignore. On the regulatory and compliance side, as the regulated market went live on January 1st, 2025, observers were expecting the first few months of the new regime to be challenging due to a series of unique compliance requirements, unresolved policy questions, and the media and political blowback against online betting that had already caused heartburn in the run-up to the launch of the regulated market. All of that has proven to be the case, with the industry confronting some pivotal challenges already.
Could you describe those challenges?
Yes. Two of the most critical themes to watch in the coming months are whether the SPA and other federal authorities will be able to ramp up enforcement of the new licensing regime against unlicensed operators, and where Congress will land on two pivotal issues of tax and advertising. On tax, an executive decree to increase the headline tax rate from 12% to 18% of GGR recently expired, but the Lula government is set to try again to implement a tax increase through legislation or through another decree. On top of that, the government seems to be determined to impose back-taxes on those operators who rose to prominence in Brazil before the licensed market went live this year. It will be interesting to see how officials are going to approach that, and whether they face legal challenges from the industry. Finally, a separate consumption tax is due to be implemented at the start of 2027, and we don’t know at what rate that will be set yet. On advertising, a bill to materially restrict advertising by licensed operators was approved by Brazil’s Senate in late May and now must be evaluated over the coming months by the Chamber of Deputies, which can either pass the bill, reject it or decide to amend the proposed restrictions. One way or another, some additional restrictions on advertising are likely at some point, but most operators and even Brazil’s chief regulator argue it is too early in the lifecycle of the regulated market for these changes to be imposed. On enforcement, it’s fair to say that Brazil is struggling to curtail the offshore market of operators that haven’t applied for a federal license. Web-blocking efforts are probably insufficient on their own, and industry groups are now looking to support the government in this endeavor. Maybe more important, though, is payments and specifically a dedicated regime to block illegal gambling transactions from being processed by Brazil’s Pix instant payments network. There have been some proposed legal amendments to address this, and it’s likely the key to more effective enforcement overall. On top of these three core issues, you can add ongoing legal uncertainty regarding the role of Brazilian states and municipalities in regulating betting, and a series of court and enforcement actions being taken by Brazilian consumers and consumer watchdogs alleging violations of Brazilian consumer-protection laws on the part of the industry. Vixio has 20 years of experience in helping clients adjust to new regulatory regimes, but few new markets have been as exciting or as complex as Brazil.
What regulatory lessons from Brazil might be relevant for other Latin American jurisdictions considering the legalization of online gambling?
The reality is that the Latin American regulatory map is actually pretty well drawn out in terms of online gambling now that both Brazil and Peru have legalized. In South America at least, Chile, Bolivia and to an extent Uruguay are the countries yet to regulate, so we already have a well-established market in the region. That being said, I think a key lesson from Brazil is that Latin American markets are ultimately going to experience similar regulatory pressures to Europe over the next few years. After European countries regulated, we have seen a trend of governments and regulators revisiting their initial rules a few years later to impose tighter restrictions on marketing, responsible gambling and in other areas, often alongside increases in taxation as well. In Brazil, we are seeing this same trend play out on fast-forward, and some of the same policy pressures are in play at both the national and provincial levels in Argentina, too. One lesson is the importance of industry alignment as operators confront an adverse policy climate. The Brazilian industry is represented by at least five or six trade associations, and this doesn’t help when it comes to advocating against tax increases or other unwelcome or premature regulatory changes, because the industry is not speaking with one voice, so the message can be diluted.
How do you see compliance technology and regulatory frameworks evolving to support both suppliers and operators in the Americas?
The gambling industry globally and in the Americas has always been subject to stringent regulations, but the pace and scope of change have accelerated dramatically in recent years, causing more pressure on compliance teams. Compliance leaders can’t do everything, all at once, and, as they look to prioritize without dropping the ball elsewhere, they need tools like Vixio, which uses both AI and human expertise to sort through the regulatory noise and surface relevant information. We’re moving from reactive compliance -tracking spreadsheets and PDFs- to proactive, tech-enabled compliance where teams can get real-time, analyst-verified updates, and have a clear line of sight into how regulatory changes are being implemented within their organizations. Particularly in such a dynamic industry as gambling, compliance experts are time-poor. By adopting tools like Vixio, compliance teams can cut research time from weeks to minutes, reduce errors, and focus on more strategic initiatives, including supporting new market entry. At Vixio, we believe the winners in the Americas will be the companies that treat compliance as a core strategic function, supported by the right technology and insights.