What are the main business units of the company and how are being developed in Brazil, Mexico and Peru?
Eightroom (https://eightroom.com/) is the largest affiliate company in Brazil and our main focus is on acquiring players for our “parceiros,” which are the operators with whom we have commercial agreements. In addition, we provide solutions in a variety of categories for successful operations in the Brazilian market: legal advice, media, payment solutions and other services. We will be entering Mexico and Peru in the second half of the year. Unfortunately, the situation caused by the Coronavirus has slightly delayed our regional expansion plans.
The company specializes in Affiliates. In Latin America, this segment has not yet reached the diffusion and growth that it already shows in Europe. What aspects should be focused on to promote Affiliates in the region?
This year, we had a booth at the ICE event in London, UK. It was very interesting to receive such diverse people from the industry and, above all, many Europeans with whom we were just able to exchange ideas and experiences on the affiliate model. Europe represents the First World and, at times, they find it difficult to understand the issues facing each country in our region. For this reason, we offer a comprehensive service based on trust and positive results.
Could you clarify what is the current situation of gambling regulation in Brazil? Why does there seem to be so much delay, doubts and obstacles on the way to legalizing iGaming in that territory?
Officially, the regulation should come out before the end of 2020, but this has had many twists and turns since 2018 with Law #13756. An important aspect that the actors in our industry must try to understand is the tax. As it is raised today, it is really impossible to be profitable. We understand many adjustments are necessary for the legalization of online gambling in Brazil to work fine and to be beneficial for companies and the State.
How is Eightroom working to take advantage of the favorable situation that Coronavirus generates for the online gaming sector?
Current circumstances have affected the industry and have led us all to rethink relevant aspects of the business. Our focus was mostly on sports betting. Thus, we had to quickly turn to other verticals that had been left a little aside, such as casino, live casino, bingo, video bingo, virtual sports and Esports. Crises are opportunities and we have an important content portfolio that allows us to generate constant traffic. These days, we launched a promotional campaign that is already showing very good results.
What is your consideration on iGaming progress at the Latin American level?
We believe that LatAm has lots of space to grow in terms of online gaming. There are countries like Brazil that are more mature in this regard and others that are just beginning. Therefore, it is essential to develop a localization strategy for each market, understanding their interests and behaviors to deliver the best user experience. Another key to the business is finding the right partners in each country.
What goals does your company have on the horizon for the next two years?
At Eightroom, we seek to expand the service offering and continue to propose ways to optimize the investment of companies that trust us. In the next two years, we will be penetrating new markets, with the challenges that this implies, in order to consolidate our participation in the Latin American market. Of course, we are also working on some projects that we hope to be able to present to the industry in the near future.