SiGMA Americas and AIBC Digital Summit were launched with great success in the past week, pushing the shifting grounds of the gaming industry towards LatAm and discussing the current developments in digitalization

In line with a growing global portfolio of events, this week SiGMA launched its first foray into LatAm markets, with SiGMA Americas Digital. In a first for SiGMA, both the gaming and the tech segments of the conference were offered in 3 languages, English, Spanish and Portuguese. 

This in itself, apart from being an advantage when it comes to expanding the reach of readers, audience members, and participants, is also a symbolic gesture of certain significance showing the first step towards the localization of the industry within the Americas.

The opening speech addressed the current state of the continent, what with the effects of COVID-19 and the way in which that affected the countries and the gaming sector, and what followed then, was an analyses of particular countries, specifically  

  • Brazil  
  • Panama 
  • Argentina 
  • Chile 
  • Mexico 
  • Peru 

Complementing this microscopic approach, what followed were a panel solely addressing the importance of distinguishing the LatAm countries and their cultures, and a closer panel discussing investors and what would be the best ways for them to develop a healthy and positive relationship with LatAm.  

The following day then started with addressing the rise of mobile technology in LatAm and how this impacted the industry, introducing the more technical, methodological and strategic side of approaching the market.

Topics: 

  • Sports betting brands in football 
  • Sports betting beyond football 
  • 2020, Covid-19 and the acceleration of a new era of gaming 
  • Compiling the human infrastructure for the industry in Latam 
  • The issue of payments in LatAm  
  • The issue of the necessary technologies for localisation  

The issue of regulation was addressed in detail because it is what will make or break the industry’s move to LatAm. 

Considering that there has been a significant growth in the number of operators in the last four years as the President of Coljuegos of Colombia, Jose Hidalgo noted, and that this naturally kickstarted a domino effect of interest, intrigue and operation that are still ongoing now, COVID also left an impact since it accelerated the normalization of gaming in regions where it was not so popular before.

The negative financial effects of the pandemic on the countries’ economies is also something which can be solved through introducing the gaming industry, which would boost the tourism sector and also create a lot of jobs.  

The SiGMA summit came to a 360-degree turn, with the word localization bookending the topics of conversation, and so SiGMA very proudly hosted the summit with speakers from the Americas, such as the President of the Brazilian Institute of Legal Gaming, Magnho Jose and Manuel Sánchez Ortega, Executive Secretary of the Gambling Control Committee in Panama,  expressing their opinions and concerns in their own languages, and having translators passing on English content to the interested parties who logged in to the summit from LatAm.  

By DOMENICO DRAGONE

iGaming expert - with over 10 years of experience in the retail market in Italy and knowledge of global online gaming. In the past he has worked with the largest national gambling companies and he managed some land-based shops on their behalf. Entrepreneur, investor and enthusiast of difficult challenges, in 2015 he founded The Betting Coach Group, an international news and social marketing agency geared towards sports, esports and gambling companies. He is currently the C.E.O of The Betting Coach and is a consultant for Loginbet.it Mr. Dragone collaborates with providers (game developers) and event organizers with the aim of helping them develop networks and business across continents. Passionate about journalism, he is the creator and promoter of iGaming Cafè, the first talk show in Italy, dedicated to companies and delegates from the gaming world.