Online gaming regulation across Latin America is always a hot topic in the industry, and has been for some time. As a supplier, being able to tailor products and solutions in the diverse LatAm markets when they finally open up will be crucial to achieving success.
The best way to approach this is by making sure our offering is localised to each individual market. With 33 countries in the region and the total population of approximately 650 million, there are many nuances to consider.
Player tastes and interests will vary in each individual country, and even within local regions. Our offering will have to meet the expectations of operators, and ultimately, their player demographics. We need to focus on providing mobile-friendly platforms and diverse payment options that cater to this range of local preferences.
Key considerations
The LatAm markets individually possess significant differences, and provide a unique range of challenges, both in terms of player preferences and technological capabilities.
Take Brazil as an example. Regulation across the country is expected to be incredibly lucrative when it comes to sports betting, mainly due to the popularity of football there. This a contrast to players in Mexico who tend to show a higher level of engagement in online casinos.
These differences inform our technical and development decisions, and it is important for us to incorporate flexibility within that development so that the playing experience matches up with the expectations of the players.
Redefining the landscape with Tropicana
To ensure we can fully deliver, we have been developing a front-end which can cater to the specifics of individual LatAm territories: Tropicana. The platform is a customised, tailored front-end specifically for partners across LatAm.
Tropicana has been built on the back of extensive market research, where the data informed us about player and operator requirements.
Within Tropicana, the experience across both sportsbook and casino is quite similar, in terms of switching and navigating, and the benefits are twofold. When you’re navigating in the casino, we will deploy a sportsbook widget which will present you with a list of ongoing matches, which can generate a payslip in one tap without necessarily moving away from the online casino. Similarly, the widget can show online casino offers and games while the player is using the sportsbook.
The different payment methods, such as cash-based solutions and local e-wallets, should be region-specific, and we’re currently looking into the best methods to implement payment solutions in this way.
Incorporating local languages, themes, promotions and payment methods will increase the client’s relevance and appeal to local players. We are also working on building targeted promotional and loyalty programs which will encourage players to engage with multiple product lines between the verticals.
The technical process
Having an experienced team who understand the nuances of your target market is always a good start and then, from that point, you have to prioritise market research and player feedback from the outset.
When developing a product that has to be adaptable for different markets, there are several technical issues to consider. Traffic levels differ in each individual market, so it is important to ensure our infrastructure is robust and scalable enough to handle higher volumes. Another differentiation between markets can be languages, so you have to be able to provide multilingual support.
There is also the task of integrating local payment gateways, because the technicalities of this can be complex and must be deeply considered. You need to incorporate flexibility in the product design to allow for ongoing customisation and updates based on player feedback. This will undoubtedly enhance the product’s relevance and success.
These are all issues which Tropicana seeks to address, offering a simplified method of being able to implement technology which incorporates each of these tasks.
Research is paramount
Games must be tested extensively before launching, but you also have to work out which particular games to launch by conducting market research and seeing how player habits are changing over time. Following the launch of games, we monitor and update the games based on player feedback and market trends.
A proactive and strategic approach to improving games ensures products remain competitive in the long-term, so we always keep a close eye on these factors.
Find out more
Our experienced and dedicated team are always willing to chat and tell you about how we can help you. If you want to find out more about Tropicana and how we can deliver a tailored approach for the LatAm markets you are operating in, please feel free to reach out today.
