Better Collective co-CEO Jesper Søgaard has admitted Brazil’s welcome bonus ban presents an “incentive” for players to engage with black market operators.
Ahead of the South American country’s regulated market launch on 1 January 2025, SENACON, Brazil’s National Consumer Secretariat, issued an order banning all forms of bonuses and sign-up offers in a bid to prevent encouraging people to gamble.
Affiliate giant Better Collective has endured a mixed start to life in Brazil’s regulated market, after stating in February that it was expecting significant headwinds due to new regulations coming into play.
Those headwinds could result in a €50m hit this year, although there is the expectation the market will return to growth in 2026.
Despite operations in Brazil returning €10m in Q1 revenue and performance being “better than expected”, Better Collective’s efforts in the market still fell €7m short compared to the corresponding quarter last year.
Both the operator’s paid and publishing divisions were also impacted by Brazilian headwinds, with the former reporting 14% year-on-year (YoY) revenue slump to €24.6m.
While speaking on the company’s earnings call, Søgaard was pressed for comment on Better Collective’s reluctance to revise underlying forecasts in Brazil, given the better-than-expected performance.
The affiliate’s co-CEO explained: “There is still uncertainty, as we alluded to. The [domestic] football season just started at the end of the quarter and, when you consider the lack of welcome bonuses – so no offers there – there is the challenge of the offshore market still offering bonuses.
“The channelisation of the market can be affected by this regulatory environment, which is why we really think its important that there are market participants continuing to have the dialogue around welcome bonuses.
“A change there could impact the competitiveness of the market and ultimately our ability to drive new depositing customers to our partners.”
Søgaard did note that there had been initial positives since the turn of the year, with the declines in wagering activity less than expected.
On the impact of black market firms being able to offer bonuses, he added: “Without the welcome bonuses, the migration for the biggest partners and strongest brands in the market is more efficient as there’s less competition and incentive to switch to a new partner.
“But then we have the challenge that there is an offshore market where you have that incentive. From us operating in the regulated market in order to drive new customers to different partners, we would welcome the welcome bonuses for sure.”
Meanwhile, Better Collective’s topline figure for the three months ending 31 March 2025 amounted to €82.6m, representing a 13% YoY decline from the €95m generated in the same period last year.
EBITDA before special items also fell from €29m to €22m, while post-tax profit followed a similar downward trajectory to €3.6m, down from €7.6m.
As exclusively revealed by EGR earlier this year, Better Collective will be running under a co-CEO model moving forward, with former COO Christian Kirk Rasmussen stepping up to the top job, sharing duties with Søgaard.
The post Better Collective co-CEO bemoans Brazil’s black market welcome bonus “incentive” first appeared on EGR Intel.
Jesper Søgaard states the fact offshore operators can offer Brazilian players welcome bonuses presents a “challenge” for those in the regulated market
The post Better Collective co-CEO bemoans Brazil’s black market welcome bonus “incentive” first appeared on EGR Intel.