KTO withdraws from Chile and Peru to concentrate on the Brazilian betting market.

KTO Group has withdrawn its sports betting brand from Peru and Chile to concentrate on the upcoming regulated market in Brazil, which is set to launch in January 2025.

KTO founder and CEO Andreas Bardun explained to iGB that the company has scaled back its presence in Latin America to focus solely on Brazil, aiming to increase its market share in the region.

KTO is one of 17 operators that applied for a betting license during the initial 90-day preference period. This early application ensures that KTO will receive a license in the first wave, allowing the company to be operational by the January 1 launch date.

Bardun emphasized the importance of being an early entrant in the Brazilian market, stating, “We entered Brazil maybe four or five years ago now when there wasn’t so much attraction, people couldn’t really see the potential. And we realised there wasn’t any kind of localisation of the product.”

He added, “We thought this is a good opportunity for us to come in and really start making a difference by really speaking to the local population in Brazil, and I think that gives us the head start.”

KTO Brazil, which launched in 2018, is backed by sponsorships with regional and national sports teams, including Serie B football club Chapecoense, basketball’s Caxias Do Sul, and Minas Tênis Clube in volleyball and basketball. Additionally, in 2023, KTO partnered with other leading operators to form the Brazilian Institute of Responsible Gaming.

While KTO exited Peru, where it initially entered in 2020, Bardun did not rule out a return to the market in 2025, indicating that the company may apply for a license in the future. Unlike other operators such as Betsson and Rush Street Interactive, KTO chose not to seek authorization in the newly regulated Peruvian market this year.

“Our current focus is entirely on Brazil because we’re targeting fully regulated markets,” Bardun said. “We have so much more to do in Brazil.”

Despite its narrowed focus, KTO is still exploring opportunities in other Latin American markets. Bardun noted, “But the one thing in Brazil is that it’s so big, we always have an internal joke and say that Brazil is actually not a country, it’s a continent because we have only scratched the surface on Brazil.”

He concluded, “We’re seeing such a good return on investment in Brazil at the moment that even though we probably will enter at least one or two more markets in the LatAm region in the next three to four years, I would say Brazil is still going to be the full focus because we have so much more to do there.”