Codere Online says caution on Brazil licence spared it costly fallout

Codere Online chief executive Aviv Sher says the Nasdaq-listed operator's decision to avoid Brazil's regulated betting market has spared it from a costly setback, after the country's government shut the sector down.

Brazil opened its licensed online gambling market at the start of 2025, drawing in major international operators. Flutter, Entain and Betano all secured a licensed footprint, with Flutter taking a 56% stake in NSX Group, owner of Betnacional, in a deal worth more than $350 million.

Codere Online held back, telling iGaming Business previously that the scale of investment required and the risk of regulatory instability made the market too uncertain to enter.

That caution appears to have paid off. In late September, Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva moved to ban the country's licensed betting sector, closing a market that had been expected to generate as much as BRL16 billion ($3.18 billion) in tax revenue for the government by the end of 2026.

"We dodged the bullet," Sher told iGaming Business. He said the government had broken faith with the brands that had committed hundreds of millions of dollars to the market in expectation of returns through sponsorship and marketing deals over coming years.

He added that much of that capital from the operator side would now see no return, and argued that Codere Online's conservative stance, applied consistently to protect its investors, had proven justified in this instance.

Sher said he was watching for knock-on effects elsewhere in the region. "I think when such a large market in LatAm undergoes a significant regulatory change, you may see some effects across the region," he said, adding that other regulators were tracking Brazil's response closely.

Codere Online currently operates in Mexico, Colombia, Panama and Argentina, but Sher said the company was still weighing further Latin American expansion despite the Brazil episode. "I don't think 2027 will be a boring year," he said, pointing to Chile, Peru and Uruguay as markets under review.

On Peru, where Betsson, Bet365 and Stake have already secured licences, Sher said Codere Online would hold off for now. "Peru is of interest, but not at the moment," he said, noting the company wanted to see how customer acquisition costs and lifetime values evolve before deciding. He praised the Peruvian regulator as transparent and said the framework had stabilised after early difficulties.

Chile and Uruguay remain on hold until their online gambling regimes are formally regulated. Sher described Chile's progress as particularly slow, noting that officials involved in the process had told him the legislation would be finalised by the end of last year, a deadline that has since passed.

He said the proposed framework looked expensive and that delays were costing the Chilean government tax revenue, since grey-market operators continue to take bets and sponsor local teams without contributing tax. He said he hoped regulation would eventually allow Codere Online to take part.

In Argentina, Codere Online already holds authorisation to operate in the City of Buenos Aires and is now assessing the cost of securing a licence covering the wider province, which accounts for a significant share of the country's population.