KTO Group Withdraws from Peru and Chile to Focus on Brazil's Licensed Betting Market

KTO Group has decided to withdraw its sports betting operations from Peru and Chile, shifting its focus entirely to the soon-to-be-licensed Brazilian market, which is set to launch in January 2025. Andreas Bardun, founder and CEO of KTO, explained to iGB that the company has scaled back its presence in Latin America to prioritize expanding its market share in Brazil.

KTO is among 17 operators that have already applied for a betting license within Brazil’s initial 90-day preference window. This guarantees that KTO will receive its license in the first wave, aligning with the official launch date of January 1, 2025.

Having launched KTO Brazil in 2018, Bardun believes the company will benefit from a first-mover advantage as the licensed betting market opens. “We entered Brazil maybe four or five years ago now when there wasn’t so much attraction, people couldn’t really see the potential,” Bardun told iGB. “And we realised there wasn’t any kind of localisation of the product. We thought this is a good opportunity for us to come in and really start making a difference by really speaking to the local population in Brazil and I think that gives us the head start.”

KTO’s Brazilian operations are bolstered by sponsorship deals with both regional and national sports teams and athletes, including partnerships with Serie B football club Chapecoense, basketball team Caxias Do Sul, and Minas Tênis Clube in volleyball and basketball. Additionally, in 2023, KTO joined forces with other leading operators to form the Brazilian Institute of Responsible Gaming.

Despite its withdrawal, KTO does not rule out a potential return to Peru. The company entered the Peruvian market in 2020, and Bardun mentioned that they might consider applying for a license and re-entering the region in 2025. Although Peru is now a licensed market, KTO chose not to seek authorization, unlike competitors such as Betsson and Rush Street Interactive. “This year the focus is just on Brazil at the moment because our target right now is to operate only in fully regulated markets,” Bardun stated.

Expanding into other Latin American markets is still a possibility for KTO, as Bardun indicated that the company is exploring various opportunities across the continent. However, he emphasized that Brazil remains the primary focus. “But the one thing in Brazil is that it’s so big, we always have an internal joke and say that Brazil is actually not a country, it’s a continent because we have only scratched the surface on Brazil,” Bardun said. “We’re seeing such a good return on investment in Brazil at the moment that I think even though we probably will enter at least one or two more markets in the LatAm region in the next three to four years, I would say Brazil is still going to be the full focus because we have so much more to do there.”

By fLEXI tEAM