Sevenex Solutions: Preparing for a regulated Brazil

The arrival of 2025 marks a transformational shift for the global iGaming industry as Brazil officially moves into its fully regulated era. While the transition has been discussed for years, the reality of operating within this new federal framework is now front and centre for operators and suppliers alike. This is no longer a market defined solely by potential; with tens of millions of players now online in a regulated market for the first time, the landscape will be defined by structure, compliance and, most importantly, the immediate need for operational discipline.

Tatiana Koupepidou, Director at Sevenex Solutions Ltd, explores what the first few weeks of regulation mean for the region, why the volume-heavy strategy of the past is becoming a liability, and how smarter curation is the only sustainable path forward in a market as dominant as Brazil.

With the Brazilian market now officially regulated as of January 1st, what is the immediate priority for operators on the ground?

The immediate priority has shifted from speculative growth to total operational stability. For years, the strategy in Brazil was about building a footprint in the grey space, but under the new Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA) framework, the pressure is now on certification, real-time reporting, and meeting incredibly strict delivery standards.

At Sevenex Solutions, we believe that the operators that will succeed in the early days of the market are those that have invested in the technical infrastructure to handle regulatory pressure without slowing down their player experience. In a market of this scale, the margin for technical friction is non-existent. The goal now is to ensure that every title in the portfolio makes commercial sense within the cost of compliance. We are advising our partners to move away from a generic global mindset and focus on a roadmap that reflects the specific demands of the Brazilian player—one that is mobile-first and deeply rooted in local culture. PG Soft titles and local studios are a perfect example of this.

How has the regulatory framework, particularly the new Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements, changed the way content is being selected for the region?

The new laws have introduced some of the most rigorous KYC standards in the world, including mandatory facial recognition for player registration. This is a significant friction point. If an operator’s onboarding process is clunky, they will lose players before the first bet is even placed.

This naturally makes operators far more selective about what they launch. You can no longer afford to host hundreds of generic titles that don’t perform when the cost of acquiring and verifying a player is so high. What we are seeing at Sevenex Solutions is that the strongest-performing games are those that borrow from land-based familiarity while being perfectly optimised for mobile devices. Clear game loops and intuitive features matter far more than complexity. Brazilian players often favour traditional paylines and recognisable mechanics over experimental formats that may be gaining traction in Europe.

We often hear about the “mobile-first” nature of Brazil. How is this playing out now that the market is formalised?

It is the absolute baseline for survival. In Brazil, the smartphone is the casino for nearly 90% of internet users. This influences everything from UI design to game speed and payment flows. With the ban on credit cards and the total dominance of PIX for transactions, the entire ecosystem is built for speed and mobile efficiency.

If a game works well in a land-based context but doesn’t translate cleanly to a mobile screen with straightforward onboarding, it simply won’t survive this new regulated environment. This is why we see certain studios—those who build specifically for short, engaging sessions on a phone—continue to deliver strong results. At Sevenex Solutions, our strategy is built around this mobile element. We focus on ensuring that our partners have access to modular content that can be adjusted without the need to rebuild the entire platform.

Beyond the federal shift, how is the use of mandatory “.bet.br” domains and local partnership rules impacting the wider strategy?

The requirement for the “.bet.br” domain is a powerful tool for channelisation. It makes it very easy for the government to identify and block unlicensed sites, which we expect to see happen aggressively throughout the first quarter. Furthermore, the 20% local shareholder requirement ensures that this is a market that belongs to Brazil, which demands a genuine commitment to local presence.

For Sevenex Solutions, this reinforces the importance of being proactive rather than reactive. We go beyond only looking at what works today; our goal is to build an ecosystem that allows operators to stay flexible as other LatAm markets follow a similar path. By building around the requirements seen in Brazil, we are creating a model that is scalable and adaptable for the future of the region. The ability to adapt quickly to new regulatory updates and technical requirements is what will ultimately separate the sustainable platforms from those that struggle to keep up with the pace of change. We’re excited for the potential that 2025 holds and we look forward to seeing what it will bring.

With the mass exit of unlicensed “grey market” operators this month, how is the competitive landscape shifting for those who have secured their place in the regulated era?

The shift has been instantaneous and quite dramatic. We are seeing a significant vacuum left by the hundreds of offshore brands that have been forced out or blocked by the SPA. For the licensed operators, this is a golden window to capture a massive, displaced player base. However, it comes with a caveat: the cost of acquisition is skyrocketing. Because everyone is fighting for the same eyeballs at the exact same moment, marketing spend is at an all-time high.

At Sevenex Solutions, we are advising our partners that they cannot rely on marketing alone to retain these new players. The competitive landscape means that you need to beyond being the loudest. Instead, those who succeed will be the ones that have the most reliable and culturally resonant product. With the noise of the grey market being filtered out, players will inevitably become more discerning. They will naturally gravitate toward platforms that offer the fastest PIX payouts and a game lobby that feels local and goes beyond being a generic European export. If your technical groundwork isn’t solid enough to handle this sudden influx of traffic, you’ll lose those players to a competitor who was better prepared for the January rush.