Betway Out, Betsson In as Cordoba, Argentina, Approves Online Betting

Posted on: September 14, 2022, 07:42h. 

Last updated on: September 16, 2022, 04:54h.

Erik Gibbs Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Gaming Business, Global Gaming.

In Argentina, the online gaming segment is gaining more traction as provinces establish their markets. The province of Cordoba is on that list, and has decided that Betway doesn’t warrant an opportunity to operate within its borders.

Betsson Studio
The Betsson Studio in Stockholm, which the company launched in 2020. The global gaming company continues to find success in Latin America, where it has made the cut to be part of the market in Cordoba, Argentina. (Image: Betsson)

Cordoba has spent the past few months gathering interest from operators. It collected applications from 10 outfits and revealed their names less than a month ago.

Among those were Betway and Betsson, which already have a presence in the country. Cordoba’s gaming regulator, the Cordoba Lottery, has revealed that Betsson will move on to the next round while Betway will not, according to media outlet La Voz.

Betway likely thought it would have no trouble gaining access to Cordoba’s online gambling space. It had partnered with Picapertor, a company led by the son-in-law of a senator and the former governor of the province of Salta, Juan Carlos Romero.

The Lottery didn’t explain the rejection, only providing a list of approved submissions. The other company to miss out is SkillOnNet, which had already been rejected.

Coming Soon

Cordoba has had to move the timeline for awarding the licenses a couple of times, including now. The Lottery expected to provide the final list of names on Sept. 2, with time after that for any rejected candidates to appeal. That deadline was to be Sept. 16.

It’s all going to change now, and companies have two weeks to issue challenges of their rejections. Those entities still alive will also have the opportunity to justify with the Lottery why another survivor should be eliminated.

Should that happen, the existing field of eight will dwindle. That would be good news for the rest since it would increase their market share.

Ready For Revenue

Cordoba estimates that its online gambling market will be worth as much as ARS16.12 billion (US$113.05 million) per year. There’s no information on betting platforms and types of games the province will allow.

Once the operators receive word that the Lottery approved them, each will present a list of games and betting options it wants to offer. The regulator will approve or reject the items, after which a schedule for introducing them will be created.

It’s known that they will not be able to offer the Quiniela, a product the Lottery controls. The range of remaining games is very wide, however, and includes sports betting.

In addition to Betsson, Codere, Intralot, SG Digital, and four others with regional gambling experience also made the final cut. The last week of October could reveal the final list and potential gambling offerings.