Entain CEO Stella David has said should the Brazilian market reopen with only sports betting the operator would be “well set” to succeed.
Speaking on the London-listed operator’s Q3 earnings call, David explained the Sportingbet brand would be able to capitalise on such a truncated market.
The online sports betting and igaming market in Brazil shutdown on 6 October after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed a provisional measure banning the sector on 25 September.
The octogenarian labelled the industry “a cancer” in the runup to the first round of the presidential election.
His primary rival, Flávio Bolsonaro, slammed the move as “desperate”. Bolsonaro is reported to be in favour of legalised sports betting but would retain the igaming ban.
The second voting round will be held 25 October, given no candidate reached the 50% threshold in the first round.
Bolsonaro is the son of right-wing populist and former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence, albeit from his home, for his role in an attempted coup in 2022.
Entain reported Q3 NGR from Brazil was down 36%, as bosses pointed to an “increasingly challenging market”.
Speaking on the call, David said: “Brazil is proving to be a volatile and challenging market. Clearly, the fact that the entire market was closed down […] has had, obviously, a clear impact for many of us.
“We were already taking what we would call a pragmatic approach to make sure we were investing in the right sort of customer and not chasing volume at any cost.
“I think that has proven to be the right thing to do because the fact the market can be closed down with no notice does put you at a degree of risk if one does not take a sensible approach.”
The earnings report noted the operator had taken a “disciplined marketing and player engagement” approach to the change.
On the potential outlook should Bolsonaro become president and reinstate sports betting, David suggested Sportingbet would be well placed to succeed.
She added: “Sportingbet is a great brand. It has been around a long time in Brazil.
“It has got one of the best equities and it is predominantly a sports brand. It is about 70% sports. If the market came back and it was sports only, then I think we would be well set for that.
“Our intention is to reopen up in Brazil, seeing what the framework looks like when it eventually happens and making sure we are doing it with the appropriate level of investment to be, what I would call, proportionate and sensible.”
The post Entain CEO: Sportingbet would be well placed in Brazil in an online sports betting-only market first appeared on EGR Intel.
Stella David says Brazil has been “volatile and challenging”, as she cites sports betting-heavy split for the brand as a potential future boost
The post Entain CEO: Sportingbet would be well placed in Brazil in an online sports betting-only market first appeared on EGR Intel.