Opinion: Latin America's mobile gaming future

In Latin America last year, Brazil was by far the largest online gaming market and is forecasted to grow with annual rates of over 20% in the next few years as the expanding internet and smartphone audience boosts the mobile games market.

At present, 13.5m Brazilians have access to fixed broadband. If we compare these figures with other countries like Spain (12m), Italy (15m) and the UK (20m), we can observe that the Brazilian market has the potential to be number one in the relatively near future.

The government is actively involved in expanding the broadband network nationwide so that those living in some of the more remote parts of Brazil will have access. Under current plans, mobile broadband coverage is set to reach 88% of Brazilians by the end of 2014, while Brazil is also leading the way in terms of mobile phone usage and the use of 3G technologies.

There are more than 260m active mobile phone connections and 60m mobile broadband connections and by the end of 2016, it is estimated that there will be 75m smartphone users in Brazil.

More than half of internet users in Brazil now play online games of some variety, with the largest segment of gamers using mobile devices, and in Mexico most gamers also play through a mobile device. However, Latin America is still a relatively untapped market for gambling operators looking to acquire new players through this channel.

Mobile is also disrupting gambling in less obvious ways by bringing in a whole new type of customer, and opening up the opportunity to brands and marketers from outside the traditional industry to promote casual, entertainment-focused, gambling games direct to mobile.

Mobile broadband is now more popular than fixed broadband in Argentina, as there are now 4.5m fixed broadband subscribers and 5.3m mobile broadband subscribers. In Argentina, 24% of the population owns a smartphone.

The online gambling regulatory framework is still a pending subject in most LatAm counties. Colombia is leading the way as it looks to take the good practices from regulation in Spain, Mexico would be the next one, and there are some rumours that Brazil could be in the loop as well. Argentina has real money online gaming regulation but it is not at a national level.

Whilst ‘hard’ forms of betting and gambling, such as playing in a land-based casino or betting in a bookie, are still somewhat taboo in many respects, ‘soft’ casual games, positioned as fun rather than risk, are socially acceptable and highly shareable.

However mobile egaming operators are relatively limited but still somewhat successful. Betmotion.com is the most active mobile real-money gambling operator in Latin America at the moment with its mobile-based Video Bingo, a highly profitable game blending bingo and slots player experience.

The mobile entertainment gambling industry is just starting in Latin America. Various operators are investigating the best route to market as the convergence of social and freemium to premium gathers momentum on a global scale.

Maximiliano De Muro is an egaming executive with an extensive experience in Latin America. Currently he is the head of business development at Patagonia Entertainment.