Latin America is where the emotion is according to JD Duarte, Betcris CEO, who compared the region’s adoption of football to the gaming industry, claiming it “added flavour” to its offerings.
Durate, who was in charge of the keynote at last week’s SBC Summit Latinoamérica in Miami, also emphasised that, whilst complex with various regions, each have “a lot in common”.
He continued: “When asking non-Latin friends about words that would describe Latin America, the most common was ‘passion’, ‘warmth’, ‘kindness’, ‘life’ and ‘opportunity’.
“Although we’re a region with many similarities, we’re not a single market. A word that often comes up is ‘complexity’, but we have a lot in common and one of those things is definitely the passion that we put into everything we do.”
Moreover, Betris’ CEO noted that what really makes the region “great” is “because of its people”, explaining that LatAm is a “young region” in which the average age is 31-years-old and has seen an increase in technology and smartphone adoption.
“Those of us who are gathered here have a great responsibility, because we have the chance to lay the foundations of our region and work to improve the conditions that allow a formal and sustainable development of the industry,” he added.
“After many years leading Betcris, I’ve made it my mission to be a positive agent of positive change through the creation of opportunities for the Latin American people.”
He also added that he hopes the same will happen to the industry, in order to “generate opportunities for entertainment, work and personal fulfillment, to generate resources for social work with institutions, regulators and governments.” That is why he highlighted SBC for “focusing on creating opportunities.”
Moreover, Duarte said that Latin America is currently in a full development stage, driven mainly by technology digitisation, and he assured that having a main role in history it’s not the only important thing, as it’s also necessary to “be the ones who help write it.”
Duarte concluded: “No matter the pace, Latinos hit the track. We dance and we play: lottery, slots, cards and sports betting. Doesn’t matter which game, we hit the track,” he explained.
SBC Summit Latinoamérica gathered the most important delegates from regulators, providers and operators of the region and experts in the field at the JW Marriott Marquis Miami on October 27-28.
