One of the most significant appearances took place at the international debate on the future of the betting industry during the Payments, Fraud & Compliance Gaming Leaders’ Summit (GLS), held in November in Miami.
The closed-door event, aimed exclusively at senior leadership within the global industry, brought together executives, regulators and experts to discuss trends, challenges and the transition toward increasingly regulated markets.
With Brazil’s betting regulation coming into force in January 2025, the country was given a dedicated panel, during which Galerabet CEO Marcos Sabiá presented a detailed overview of payments, fraud prevention and governance in the new regulated environment.
“We are entering a market fully based on instant payments. Pix accounts for 97% of all transactions and will remain the protagonist, but with much stricter expectations around security and efficiency,” Sabiá said.
He also highlighted that in the first half of 2025 alone, the sector generated USD 3 billion in GGR (Gross Gaming Revenue) and USD 87 billion in total deposit and withdrawal volume.
According to the executive, the central challenge is not cost, but performance. “There is a lot of talk about cents per transaction, but the real problem is failure. An operation that stalls or goes down undermines engagement and trust. The market demands true instant payments, near-absolute uptime and zero friction,” he noted.
Sabiá also presented trends that are beginning to take shape in Brazil, such as the use of automated Pix for continuous engagement, integrated biometrics for identity verification, and intelligent payment orchestration to optimise liquidity.
“We are entering a phase in which payments stop being just transactions and become technology. Everything needs to be predictable, auditable and scalable,” he emphasised.
The topic of fraud also featured prominently in the panel, encompassing both financial fraud — such as Pix-related attacks and bonus abuse — and sports fraud, including illegal arbitrage and match-fixing.
“Regulation requires a unified ecosystem that connects operators, PSPs, KYC providers, public authorities and sports entities. Without integration, there will be no control,” Sabiá added.
The executive also spoke about the expansion of new technologies beyond Pix, including Open Finance solutions, tokenised deposits and real-time compliance engines embedded directly into payment flows.
“Brazil has the most advanced payments market in the world. The regulated industry will require everyone to keep pace with this evolution, and that means end-to-end applied technology.”
Source: GMB
