Interviews
Mkodo year in review w/ Will Whitehead, Commercial Director
The end of another busy year of growth is almost upon us – what has been the general overview of 2022 for mkodo?
2022 has been record-breaking for mkodo. We’ve seen significant growth in terms of new partnerships and as an overall business. We now have a headcount of nearly a hundred across two offices in the UK which is a dramatic rise over the last couple of years. That in itself is an indicator of how successful we’ve been and how much we’ve evolved as a company.
Commercially, we’re talking to a lot of new partners – something we will talk much more about in 2023. Just as for many of our industry peers and colleagues, we’ve seen a huge spike in activity in North America, with the leap in numbers of new and expanding operators there across a host of states which is hugely exciting for mkodo.
We’ve got a long and established history of working in North America with regulated lotteries, so it’s fantastic to now be able to partner with iGaming sportsbook partners as well in the region.
We’ve seen tremendous growth in terms of app usage and app requirements as well, which of course, is great news for us. More and more operators are investing in a best-in-class app user experience for their customers and therefore are reaching out to expert suppliers like mkodo.
The regulated lottery space has also seen us hard at work in Europe as well as North America, particularly in Canada, which has led to some major projects and updates to lottery gameplay that we’ve spent a lot of time on this year. The industry is taking great strides forward which is always music to our ears as that means their user interfaces require support too and that’s where mkodo comes in.
Would you say that businesses are taking their mobile experience more seriously in 2022 given the growing mobile-centric nature of the business?
I think that’s definitely the case. We’ve seen in 2022, more so than ever, that operators are taking their app development strategy more seriously than they have done previously. The majority of operators recognise that mobile is their most important channel now. As the North American market matures – it’s still, of course, very new – I’m sure we’ll see operators continue to invest in not simply a generic experience, but one that is bespoke and best-in-class, as that’s what their customers expect to see.
And that’s exactly what we’re providing operators. There are challenges inherent in a market like North America, one where Apple is the keychannel, and the challenges that exist around its strict regulation in terms of how to get a casino app into its App Store. But again, we’ve been working with many partners, doing a lot of consultancy in support of operators, to ensure that their apps are compliant and are approved by Apple.
What have been the biggest opportunities and also challenges that mkodo has faced throughout 2022?
The spotlight here is on North America once more. As it continues to mature and more states open up, with more operators getting their licenses, they’re looking to European suppliers who’ve been developing solutions in the regulated market for many years. This presents a huge opportunity for us.
We’ve got over 12 years of experience building apps in these markets which makes us the perfect choice for operators stepping out into fledgling territories. We’re fully conversant with the requirements of businesses that are trying to make their mark in a growing industry.
That said, those in the US and Canada do have different requirements, particularly with states opening up with their own individual idiosyncrasies and compliance challenges. There is more focus on sportsbook at the moment as casino isn’t as widely regulated.
Three years ago, when PASPA was repealed and the markets opened up, there was a real arms race just to get live and many were satisfied with whatever product they could get. Now the dust has settled, operators are able to take more of a step back and review their offering and investigate how they can remain competitive in a more crowded landscape.
Operators don’t want to simply offer the same games and content as each other, they need to differentiate their brand with their user experience. They are now investing in a better experience, focusing on their app strategy and ensuring that content and quality of product are at a high standard along with performance – and that’s exactly where we can help.
This evolution has brought us the opportunities that have driven our commercial growth and that is set to continue into next year.
You mention the all-important differentiation and next year will see a renewed focus on stealing a march on the competition. How do you expect this to pan out in 2023?
Opportunity is just going to continue to grow, not just next year but over the next five or ten.
Ohio looks like it is next up and there are conversations around Maryland among others. There’s so much scope in the US – we may even see California eventually following suit – that’s how fast things are moving there. Ontario continues to deliver in Canada too which is occupying our efforts as much as anywhere else.
So, 2023 is looking like it’s going to be another year of stellar growth for mkodo – can you give us a glimpse into how you expect 2022’s successes to develop?
It’s going to be a period of many significant brand partnerships to announce. Apps that we’ve built for North American partners will be going live, as will several websites we’ve built for
regulated lotteries in Europe. So, we’ll continue our growth with the services we provide from a front-end development perspective.
All this is on top of our geolocation service, GeoLocs, that we’ll be launching next year, which we expect to be our leading focus for 2023. The work we’ve put in globally thus far sets us up fantastically well to take advantage of the benefits that this will shine a light on.
Ultimately, what we’ve seen this year has led to us growing very quickly as a business. There’s an incredible amount of opportunity out there, so we’re trying to build our team quickly, but bring the right people in to support our clients and their needs as they are investing more and more in the digital solutions that we offer.
2022 has been quite a transitional year for mkodo with all the commercial activity we’ve seen, and it sets us up for a 2023 that promises to deliver like no other. I’ll apologise now, but you’re going to see our name quite a lot next year!
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apuestas deportivas
¿Son las casas de apuestas las culpables o la arquitectura económica construida por Brasil en los últimos 35 años?
Esta es la pregunta central planteada por Carlos Akira Sato en su análisis sobre el creciente endeudamiento de los hogares en Brasil.
En lugar de atribuir el sobreendeudamiento a las plataformas de apuestas deportivas, sostiene que el problema tiene sus raíces en décadas de transformación económica marcadas por la expansión del crédito, la financiarización y sistemas cada vez más sofisticados de estimulación del consumo en múltiples sectores.
El debate sobre el endeudamiento de las familias brasileñas ha ganado un nuevo objetivo preferente: las plataformas de apuestas deportivas.
Las llamadas “bets” han pasado a ocupar un lugar central en los medios, el discurso político y las discusiones regulatorias, frecuentemente asociadas al aumento de la morosidad y la compulsividad financiera.
Pero quizá la pregunta correcta sea otra: ¿el sobreendeudamiento de las familias brasileñas realmente nació con las bets?
La respuesta, desde un análisis histórico riguroso, es negativa.
El fenómeno es mucho anterior a la regulación de las apuestas deportivas y está vinculado a una profunda transformación económica, cultural y tecnológica iniciada en los años 90, cuando Brasil abandonó gradualmente una economía cerrada e inflacionaria para entrar en una lógica moderna de consumo, crédito y financiarización de la vida cotidiana.
La apertura económica promovida durante el gobierno de Collor cambió el patrón de consumo del país.
Pocos años después, el Plan Real trajo estabilidad monetaria y transformó la propia psicología económica de la población.
Por primera vez, millones de brasileños comenzaron a financiar bienes, usar tarjetas de crédito, pagar en cuotas e incorporar el endeudamiento como parte normal de la vida económica.
Este proceso representó un avance y una inclusión financiera.
Pero también consolidó un nuevo modelo económico basado en la anticipación del ingreso futuro de los hogares. El crédito dejó de ser una excepción y se convirtió en infraestructura permanente de sostén del consumo nacional.
Bancos, minoristas y entidades financieras comprendieron rápidamente este cambio. Grandes cadenas dejaron de actuar únicamente como distribuidoras de productos para convertirse en plataformas financieras.
Las tarjetas private label, los sistemas de financiación sofisticados y los mecanismos permanentes de crédito pasaron a integrar la vida cotidiana del consumidor. En muchos casos, el margen financiero se volvió tan relevante como la propia venta del producto.
A lo largo de los años 2000, el modelo se profundizó.
La expansión de la bancarización, de los medios electrónicos de pago y de las fintech aceleró la financiarización de la vida cotidiana.
A partir de 2013, con la apertura regulatoria impulsada por la Ley nº 12.865, el celular pasó a funcionar simultáneamente como banco, billetera digital, plataforma de crédito, marketplace y entorno permanente de monetización del comportamiento.
El crédito se volvió instantáneo, invisible e integrado a la experiencia digital.
El consumidor pasó a contratar financiación en pocos clics, muchas veces dentro del propio flujo de compra. Brasil entró definitivamente en la era de la hiperestimulación conductual del consumo.
Y aquí es donde el debate contemporáneo comienza a revelar una contradicción importante.
Mientras el país construyó durante décadas una sofisticada arquitectura económica basada en expansión del crédito, publicidad emocional, gamificación, captura de la atención y monetización del ingreso futuro, la inversión estructural en educación financiera siguió siendo insuficiente.
Brasil enseñó a su población a consumir antes de enseñarle a construir patrimonio.
Hoy, prácticamente todos los sectores relevantes de la economía operan mecanismos avanzados de estímulo conductual: retail digital, aplicaciones, streaming, delivery, marketplaces, bancos, fintechs y redes sociales.
La publicidad dejó de ser meramente informativa y pasó a ser algorítmica, personalizada y emocional.
El consumidor moderno compite por su atención y autocontrol contra sistemas diseñados para maximizar el engagement y el consumo continuo.
Este fenómeno aparece incluso en sectores raramente asociados al debate regulatorio.
El comercio alimentario, por ejemplo, utiliza técnicas sofisticadas de neuromarketing para impulsar el consumo de productos ultraprocesados, bebidas alcohólicas e ítems de compra impulsiva. Sin embargo, pocos segmentos han enfrentado un nivel de monitoreo similar al impuesto a las apuestas deportivas.
El sector regulado de las bets surgió en Brasil bajo uno de los marcos más estrictos de la economía digital.
Las plataformas deben identificar usuarios biométricamente, monitorear el comportamiento, rastrear operaciones, comunicar movimientos sospechosos al COAF, implementar políticas de juego responsable e impedir apuestas financiadas con crédito.
Es decir: el regulador entendió correctamente que la combinación entre compulsividad y crédito podía ser socialmente explosiva.
Pero aquí surge una pregunta inevitable: ¿por qué sectores históricamente asociados al sobreendeudamiento de las familias brasileñas operaron durante décadas bajo niveles significativamente menores de monitoreo conductual?
Datos de la CNC muestran que el porcentaje de familias endeudadas alcanzó el 80,2% en febrero de 2026 — el nivel más alto de la serie histórica.
Este escenario no nació con las bets. Es el resultado de décadas de expansión agresiva del crédito, financiarización de la vida cotidiana, hiperestimulación del consumo y ausencia estructural de educación económica de la población.
Marco comparativo : obligaciones regulatorias y conductuales
| Tema / Obligación | Bets | Bancos | Retail / Alimentos |
|---|---|---|---|
| Identificación formal del cliente (KYC) | Obligatoria, robusta, con biometría | Obligatoria | Limitada |
| Validación de titularidad de cuenta | Obligatoria | Generalmente obligatoria | Normalmente inexistente |
| Monitoreo conductual | Alto | Enfocado en fraude y crédito | Bajo |
| Prohibición del uso de crédito | Sí | No | No |
| Publicidad emocional | Con restricciones crecientes | Permitida con límites | Ampliamente utilizada |
| Protección contra compulsividad | Obligatoria | Muy limitada | Prácticamente inexistente |
| Herramientas de autoexclusión | Obligatorias | Inexistentes | Inexistentes |
| Obligación de reporte al COAF | Sí | Sí | Limitada |
| Control del origen de fondos | Obligatorio | Obligatorio | Generalmente inexistente |
| Fiscalización conductual | Intensa | Moderada | Baja |
| Políticas de consumo responsable | Obligatorias | Parciales | Generalmente inexistentes |
El punto más provocador quizá sea justamente la asimetría regulatoria que este debate revela.
Varios sectores históricamente asociados a la compulsividad, el hiperconsumo y la dependencia han operado durante décadas bajo una lógica regulatoria menos intervencionista que la actualmente aplicada a las apuestas deportivas.
Al final, el verdadero debate tal vez no sea solo “cómo regular las apuestas”, sino cómo preparar a la sociedad para vivir en una economía digital, hiperinanciarizada y permanentemente orientada a la captura de la atención, el consumo y la monetización conductual.
Carlos Akira Sato
Co-Founder de Fenynx Digital Assets y especialista en Mercados Regulados, Infraestructura Financiera, Gobernanza e Innovación. Vicepresidente de Relaciones Institucionales de PAGOS (Asociación de Gestión de Medios de Pagos Electrónicos).
The post ¿Son las casas de apuestas las culpables o la arquitectura económica construida por Brasil en los últimos 35 años? appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
Betting Companies
Are betting operators to blame, or is it Brazil’s economic framework of the last 35 years?
Are betting companies to blame or is it Brazil’s economic framework of the last 35 years?
This is the central question raised by Carlos Akira Sato in his analysis of Brazil’s rising household debt.
Rather than attributing over-indebtedness to sports betting platforms, he argues that the issue is rooted in decades of economic transformation shaped by credit expansion, financialization, and increasingly sophisticated systems of consumer stimulation across multiple sectors.
The debate surrounding Brazilian household debt has gained a new preferred target: sports betting platforms.
The so-called “bets” have taken center stage in the news, political discourse, and regulatory discussions, often associated with rising default rates and financial compulsiveness.
But perhaps the correct question is another one: did the over-indebtedness of Brazilian families really begin with bets?
The answer, under a serious historical analysis, is no.
The phenomenon predates the regulation of sports betting by decades and is linked to a profound economic, cultural, and technological transformation that began in the 1990s, when Brazil gradually abandoned a closed and inflationary economy to enter a modern logic of consumption, credit, and the financialization of everyday life.
The economic opening promoted during the Collor administration changed the country’s consumption patterns.
A few years later, the Real Plan brought monetary stability and transformed the population’s economic psychology itself.
For the first time, millions of Brazilians began financing goods, using credit cards, paying in installments, and incorporating debt as a normal part of economic life.
This process represented progress and financial inclusion.
But it also consolidated a new economic model based on the anticipation of families’ future income. Credit ceased to be an exception and became permanent infrastructure supporting national consumption.
Banks, retailers, and financial institutions quickly understood this change. Large retail chains stopped acting solely as product distributors and became financial platforms.
Private-label cards, sophisticated installment plans, and permanent financing mechanisms became part of consumers’ daily lives. In many cases, financial margins became just as relevant as the sale of the products themselves.
Throughout the 2000s, the model deepened.
The expansion of banking access, electronic payment methods, and fintechs accelerated the financialization of everyday life.
From 2013 onward, with the regulatory opening promoted by Law No. 12,865, mobile phones simultaneously became banks, digital wallets, credit platforms, marketplaces, and permanent environments for behavioral monetization.
Credit became instant, invisible, and integrated into the digital experience. Consumers started obtaining financing in just a few clicks, often within the purchasing flow itself. Brazil definitively entered the era of behavioral hyperstimulation of consumption.
And this is where the contemporary debate begins to reveal an important contradiction.
While the country spent decades building a sophisticated economic architecture based on credit expansion, emotional advertising, gamification, attention capture, and monetization of future income, structural investment in financial education remained insufficient.
Brazil taught its population how to consume before teaching them how to build wealth.
Today, virtually every relevant sector of the economy operates advanced behavioral stimulation mechanisms: digital retail, apps, streaming platforms, delivery services, marketplaces, banks, fintechs, and social networks.
Advertising is no longer merely informative; it has become algorithmic, personalized, and emotional. The modern consumer competes for attention and self-control against systems designed to maximize engagement and continuous consumption.
This phenomenon appears even in sectors rarely associated with regulatory debates.
The food retail industry, for example, uses sophisticated neuromarketing techniques to boost the consumption of ultra-processed foods, alcoholic beverages, and impulse-buy products. Yet few segments have faced a level of monitoring similar to that imposed on sports betting.
Brazil’s regulated betting sector emerged under one of the strictest frameworks in the digital economy.
Platforms are required to biometrically identify users, monitor behavior, track transactions, report suspicious activity to COAF, implement responsible gaming policies, and prevent bets financed through credit.
The Brazilian model requires prior deposits and prohibits “uncovered” betting.
In other words, regulators correctly understood that the combination of compulsiveness and credit could become socially explosive.
But here an inevitable question arises: why have sectors historically associated with the over-indebtedness of Brazilian families operated for decades under significantly lower levels of behavioral monitoring?
Data from CNC show that the percentage of indebted families reached 80.2% in February 2026 — the highest level in the historical series.
This scenario did not begin with bets. It is the result of decades of aggressive credit expansion, financialization of daily life, hyperstimulation of consumption, and the structural absence of economic education for the population.
Comparative framework: regulatory and behavioral obligations
| Topic / Obligation | Betting operators | Banks | Retail / Food |
|---|---|---|---|
| Formal customer identification (KYC) | Mandatory, robust, biometric | Mandatory | Limited |
| Account ownership validation | Mandatory | Generally mandatory | Usually nonexistent |
| Behavioral monitoring | High | Focused on fraud and credit | Low |
| Prohibition of credit use | Yes | No | No |
| Emotional advertising | Under increasing restrictions | Permitted with limits | Widely used |
| Protection against compulsiveness | Mandatory | Very limited | Practically nonexistent |
| Self-exclusion tools | Mandatory | Nonexistent | Nonexistent |
| Obligation to report to COAF | Yes | Yes | Limited |
| Source-of-funds control | Mandatory | Mandatory | Generally nonexistent |
| Behavioral oversight | Intense | Moderate | Low |
| Formal responsible consumption policies | Mandatory | Partial | Generally nonexistent |
Perhaps the most provocative point is precisely the regulatory asymmetry revealed by this debate.
Several sectors historically associated with compulsiveness, hyperconsumption, and dependency have operated for decades under a less interventionist regulatory logic than the one currently applied to sports betting.
In the end, the real debate may not simply be “how should betting be regulated?”, but rather how to prepare society to live in a digital, hyper-financialized economy permanently driven by attention capture, consumption, and behavioral monetization.
Carlos Akira Sato
Co-Founder of Fenynx Digital Assets and specialist in Regulated Markets, Financial Infrastructure, Governance, and Innovation. Vice President of Institutional Relations at PAGOS (Association for Electronic Payment Management).
The post Are betting operators to blame, or is it Brazil’s economic framework of the last 35 years? appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
Following his appointment as CEO of BC.Game in March, Kar Kheng Giam (KK) speaks about the strategic priorities shaping the company’s next phase, from strengthening operational foundations to navigating the evolving role of crypto within regulated gaming markets.
You’ve stepped into the CEO role at a pivotal time for the industry. How do you assess the current position of BC.Game?
BC.Game enters this stage from a position of strength in terms of product, user engagement and global reach.
At the same time, the broader industry is evolving. Expectations around governance, regulatory alignment and operational maturity are increasing, particularly for businesses operating across multiple jurisdictions.
So while the foundation is strong, there is a clear opportunity to further strengthen the structure of the business to support long-term, sustainable growth.
That foundation is reflected in the scale of the business today, with more than 9 million registered users and over 500,000 monthly active players, and in the progress we’ve made across licensed markets such as Anjouan, Kenya, Nigeria and Mexico.
How would you define the strategic focus for BC.Game over the next 12 to 24 months?
It comes down to three interconnected areas. First, reinforcing the operational and governance framework of the business, ensuring we are well aligned with the expectations of more established regulatory environments.
Second, continuing to invest in the product – not just in terms of content, but in the overall user experience and platform reliability.
And third, taking a disciplined approach to market expansion, focusing on jurisdictions where we can build a sustainable and compliant presence.
It’s about evolving the business in a structured and deliberate way.
You’ve highlighted governance and structure. What does that mean in practical terms?
It means putting in place the systems, processes and organisational clarity needed to operate at scale.
As companies grow internationally, complexity increases – across regulation, payments, technology and operations. Strengthening governance is about ensuring those elements are well coordinated and consistently managed.
This is not about changing what BC.Game is, but about building the framework that allows it to grow more effectively.
Why has trust become so important at this stage?
At BC.GAME’s scale, trust is no longer just about brand but increasingly becomes a business issue – it affects retention, partnerships, market entry and long-term growth.
And trust is built in very practical ways. People judge a platform by whether the rules are clear, whether communication is smooth, and whether issues actually get resolved. That’s why growth on its own is no longer enough.
Where is the most immediate trust pressure on BC.GAME showing up today?
The pressure shows up most clearly in user experience and issue handling because that’s where people feel it first.
Some of the feedback does point to response times and cases where issues stay in the same entry point for too long. When that happens often enough, it becomes bigger than a service issue, it starts to shape trust.
What changes is BC.GAME putting in place in response to these issues?
We’ve already started making changes. That includes upgrading how user issues are handled, bringing cross-functional teams in earlier, and improving how issues are identified and coordinated internally.
As the business has grown, relying too heavily on a single customer support entry point is no longer enough. The focus now is to make issue handling clearer, more stable, and better suited to the scale of the platform.
What role does organisational development play in this next phase?
As the business grows, it’s important to ensure that the organisation evolves alongside it. That includes strengthening leadership structures, clarifying roles and responsibilities, and building capabilities in key areas such as compliance and market operations.
Ultimately, strategy is only as effective as the organisation delivering it.
From a leadership perspective, how do you approach guiding a globally distributed business?
In a global organisation, alignment is critical – everyone needs to understand the strategic direction and how their role contributes to it. At the same time, there needs to be flexibility to adapt to local market dynamics.
My role is to create that balance – providing clear direction while enabling teams to execute effectively within their markets.
Finally, what does success look like for BC.Game over the next few years?
Success is about building a more structured, resilient and trusted business.
That means strengthening our position in regulated markets, continuing to evolve the product, and ensuring the organisation is equipped to operate at scale. This current period is a crucial one for us as we introduce multiple product rollouts at BC.GAME, with several key updates scheduled to go live. These include BC Engine, along with a broader upgrade to the bonus system and, of course, the World Cup.
If we can achieve that through consistent, incremental progress, then we will be well positioned for the long term.
The post BC.Game’s new CEO Kar Kheng Giam on strategy, structure and growth appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
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