MGM Resorts International CEO says operator is ready for concerted push in Brazil
Bill Hornbuckle reveals efforts will increase over the next four to six weeks as he estimates the market to be worth “$8bn”
MGM Resorts International CEO Bill Hornbuckle has said the operator is ready to make a concerted push in Brazil over the next two months, which he speculates is potentially an “$8bn market”.
The South America country’s market went live on January 1 2025, with MGM establishing a joint venture (JV) with Brazilian media giant Grupo Global last August.
By February, Brazil’s Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA) had granted 35 full licences to companies looking to operate in the market.
Through the Globo JV, Hornbuckle said he believed the operator is in a strong position to take advantage of a market that is struggling to get people to gamble online due to what he described as a “laborious” signing up process.
Claiming that every business operating in Brazil is currently “struggling” due to the sign-up issue, Hornbuckle said in a JP Morgan Gaming, Lodging, Restaurant and Leisure Management Access Q&A on 13 March that his firm will start to hone in on Brazil over the next “four to six weeks”
The CEO remarked: “Brazil is the push. Brazil is really where it’s all going to be about. We think initially it’s an $8bn market. We have an amazing partner in Globo. Everyone is struggling within Brazil right now, getting people online. You have to have facial recognition and to get through a sign-up process which is extensive.
“We think we’ve found something very specific and special to us in Globo because of the way they sign up people for movie subscriptions and anything else in all their other products. We think there’s leverage off that database and off those people, which I think ultimately will uniquely position us to really excel there because if you’re not online already, it’s laborious.
“We’re excited about where that goes. We have to really begin to dial that up within the next four to six weeks.”
Hornbuckle was also pressed to make comparisons to the Ontario market, which turned from grey to fully regulated in April 2022.
Noting that operators like Betano did not have to reset after operating in Brazil’s grey market, Hornbuckle said Brazil will be “bigger for sure” but that Globo will have to catch up to its rivals.
He added: “I believe it will be bigger. As you know, it is a great market.
“Betano and a lot of these other brands had been there and continue to go forward, unlike in some markets [where] they didn’t make them reset so they could just keep going – which is what it is.
“We’ve got catch-up to do, particularly all the new legit licence brands have catch-up to do.
“But I think we will get there. When Globo has on television a betting odds show with the top guy … promoting the site, promoting gaming, promoting activity, promoting odds, promoting how he has a view on certain games, it is a big deal there [Brazil].
“We are everywhere there right now in terms of brand because of their exposure.”
MGM Resorts’ online casino and sports betting arm BetMGM reported revenue of $2.1bn ($1.6bn), representing a 7% increase year-on-year.