GVC plots aggressive LatAm push
Kenny Alexander expects Brazil to regulate “within three years” as government mulls over 15% tax rate
GVC is plotting an “aggressive” expansion of its offering in Brazil and other Latin American markets, group CEO Kenny Alexander revealed on Friday.
The exec hailed rapid growth in Brazil as a major driver behind GVC’s 16% jump in revenues for 2017, and pledged expansion to other South American nations in 2018.
“I have always been very keen for [the exec team] not take their eye off the ball and start going off into Argentina and Colombia or Peru,” Alexander told analysts in Friday’s webcast.
“But we are now getting to a point where I would be more confident about letting them tackle a couple of the other Latin American markets, and aggressively as well, because ultimately we want to be the brand leader in all of Latin America and not just Brazil,” he added.
GVC CEO Kenny Alexander
GVC is active in Brazil through its Sportingbet and betboo brands, where the business grew approximately 26% last year.
Sportingbet advertises its free-to-play services on television on a frequent basis, and Alexander revealed that GVC has almost three and a half times more active customers than it did in Turkey, where it recently disposed of its business to ease through a deal for Ladbrokes Coral.
The firm is also involved in lobbying efforts with the Brazilian government to introduce taxation on gambling revenues and push through betting regulation, although a key egaming bill was voted down last week.
“Our main growth in Brazil is on sports and we are only scraping the surface but it is a good market for us,” Alexander said.
“The Brazilian regulatory environment makes it difficult to get things through there but we are lobbying and trying to help them, and I expect regulation within two to three years.
“We are the biggest there for sports betting and probably the biggest full stop, and we would welcome regulation and taxation, as long as it’s sensible obviously as our brand is well established.
“In terms of the regulation, they were talking about a 15% tax which is pretty reasonable and we would be very supportive of that,” he added.