The Peruvian gambling market has entered a promising new era

On February 12, Law 31557, which regulates the exploitation of sports betting and online games, came into force, Peru is the fourth country to regulate this gaming sector in the LATAM region, placing it in the global showcase of destinations of interest for new investment projects.On March 13, the deadline for companies currently operating in the market to submit a request for exploration authorization ended, as part of the schedule for compliance with the law and some benefits granted. According to the regulator's report, 80 companies (national and international) requested authorization in this first stage. It is important to highlight that the law did not establish a limit on authorizations, making the Peruvian market open to new investments and companies wishing to enter, growing and maturing over the last 15 years.At the close of this note, we have verified on the regulator's platform (MINCETUR) that 7 international laboratories have been registered to comply with the homologation tasks, and 146 related service providers, including live casino providers, slots, virtual sports, fantasy games, payment methods and platform providers.We consider that this is the beginning of a new stage of the Peruvian market already regulated, with a growth projection in new applications for operating authorization to operate sports betting games and online games by international companies, and new related service providers requesting authorization and registration (homologation) to continue providing their solutions in the market.In the last quarter of 2023 we developed a study in the 15 companies that operate in the online and retail channel that to date highlight their leadership and participation in the Peruvian market, we found that in the online casino segment they use the content services of 370 international providers, the categories that stand out are Slots,  live casino, roulette, virtual sports, among others. In the TOP 5 ranking that we prepared from the data obtained, we identified platforms that use 179, 174, 140, 130 and 107 content providers, being the largest online casinos in the country.The regulator MINCETUR has more than 15 years of experience in control and inspection, starting its management in casino rooms and slot machines. In its first 15 years, it raised more than US$950 million in exploration rights for the Peruvian state. It now faces the challenge of digital consumption, with technology-savvy operators and consumers maintaining focus on physical betting rooms, which represent more than 50% of sales in the gaming sector.

Roosters & Poker: The opportunities to be developed

The breeding of fighting cocks, the execution of tournaments and competitions have a long tradition in Peru (more than 200 years), which we inherited from the Spanish conquest and even a literary work was written about this passion (author Abraham Valdelomar, title "El Caballero Carmelo").On our tour of the country, we executed the task of visiting some of the cockfighting coliseums and experiencing this passion up close. To have a key reference of this activity and the potential of the market to be developed in this vertical. In the country there are 1,600 cockfighting coliseums, more than 3 million cockfighting breeders (according to the association of cockfighting breeders), competitions run on average from Tuesday to Sunday, in other cases from Thursday to Sunday. The average bet ticket is between $5 and $30 per fight, so we estimate annual sales in this vertical of more than $250 million.In the case of Poker in the country, the growing passion of the "Poker Room" has been lived, which is a vertical that was empowered thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and in which the preference of this sport of mental ability is based on competition and face-to-face interaction between players. This same trend is observed in other countries in the region, but with greater development in countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Chile.In the research we carried out in the first quarter of 2023, we found relevant information, which evidences the development of this vertical outside of casino halls, located in private apartments, and other entertainment-related businesses in which face-to-face attendance is the common denominator. It is important to note that the poker room is a game format not contemplated in the regulator's authorization guidelines, so here is a challenge and opportunity to move these players to the casino floors and the online channel of online casinos.Currently in the country there are more than 110 poker room clubs, a community with more than 82,000 players that is constantly growing with preferences in Texas Holdem Poker tables, strict application of the rules of the game, croupier, professional chips and cards, player profile between 20 and 35 years old, mainly men, with activities ranging from university students,  employees of multiple professions and even trades. The average bet ticket ranges from US$2 to over US$100 in international competitions. Annual sales are estimated at more than 150 million dollars, to date online platforms and providers have little penetration in this segment.The development potential of the Peruvian market in the gambling sector has sales projections of over 3 billion dollars in the coming years, being able to generate more than 100 million dollars in revenue from exploitation rights, which may represent up to 1% of the national GDP after the first 5 years of regulation.

Jonathan Daniel Felix Vilchez

Jonathan Félix Vilchez is a senior international executive and entrepreneur, with more than 22 years of experience in the gaming industry in Latin America. He has been part of the staff of international companies operating in Peru. In addition, he has advised international companies based in the United States, Europe and Asia for the development of businesses and projects in the Latin American region. He is CEO of Global Business Company de Perú S.A.C. https://globalbusinesslatam.com), a company based in Peru, specialized in consulting, business development and new investment projects in the gaming, financial services and value-added sectors.