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The Battle for Leadership in Peru: A Comprehensive Guide to What’s Working and What’s Not

By jili tutorial · September 19, 2026

The Battle for Leadership in Peru: A Comprehensive Guide to What’s Working and What’s Not

Introduction: Peru’s Regulated Market Takes Shape

Peru’s online gambling market officially opened under a regulated framework in February 2024, quickly attracting a wave of international operators. This created a competitive arena that blends global giants with entrenched domestic players such as market leader Apuesta Total. According to Jennyfer Escobar, Stake’s Peru country manager, the country is now “one of the most competitive in Latin America.” The market’s rapid evolution provides a valuable case study for operators and regulators alike, revealing the dynamics that drive success—and the pitfalls that threaten stability.

The Competitive Landscape: From Marketing Spend to Product Quality

In the early days of Peru’s regulated market, competition was primarily driven by aggressive marketing investments: advertising, sponsorships, and brand visibility. However, as Escobar explains, the focus has shifted. “Today, product quality, platform performance and the overall user experience are becoming much stronger differentiators. Players are more informed, have higher expectations and will switch brands if those expectations aren’t met.”

This transition is common in nascent regulated markets. Initial acquisition costs are high, but long-term retention depends on the quality of the offering. Operators that invest in seamless mobile experiences, fast payouts, diverse game libraries, and responsive customer support are pulling ahead. For example, Betsson—which has operated in Peru since 2008—has maintained its market-leading position by continuously evolving its product to match local preferences.

The Polarization of the Market

Andrea Rossi, Betsson’s commercial director for Southern Europe and LatAm, describes the Peruvian market as “quite polarised.” A handful of operators dominate, while the rest struggle to catch up. “I think competition has already evolved,” Rossi says. “We have seen fierce competition. We have been there for a long time and we have our positioning quite cemented. [But] we need to look at ourselves and keep improving, keep embracing the Peruvian culture and the way we fit in the market by applying a localised approach.”

This polarization underscores a critical theme: local knowledge combined with global resources creates a formidable advantage, but only if operators remain agile and culturally attuned.

Local vs International Operators: The Localization Imperative

Across Latin America, a recurring challenge for international operators is competing with local brands that possess deep cultural insights. Ramiro Atucha, founder and CEO of Atucha Strategic Advisory, warns that global scale alone is insufficient. “When we talk about localisation, we’re not talking about the language or doing a game about Machu Picchu. We’re talking about taking the effort to understand what the history of those players is, what they’re used to.”

Lessons from Colombia: Evolution of Player Preferences

Atucha uses Colombia as a cautionary tale. Early in that market’s regulation, operators claimed “players here do not like slots” as if a different DNA governed their tastes. Five years later, the same operators admitted that players did like slots—but only simple ones. Another five years passed, and Colombian players were enjoying the full range of standard slot games. “It’s not that they didn’t like slots,” Atucha emphasizes. “If someone takes the time to understand what they’re used to playing, what they like, what their history is and take that into consideration, then you can bridge that gap.”

This pattern repeats in Peru. International operators must resist the temptation to impose their global templates. Instead, they should invest in local market research, hire local talent, and adapt their product roadmap to the nuanced preferences of Peruvian players.

The Technology Gap: Closing the Divide

Local operators have responded to international competition by strengthening their technological backbone. Many are partnering with world-class suppliers to improve platform stability, game variety, and data analytics. Yet this is easier said than done. As Atucha notes, some larger platform providers entering Latin America will only work with tier 1 operators, ignoring smaller or emerging companies.

“It’s challenging because first, whatever you would consider a tier 3 or a tier 2 or even a startup in an emerging market like Latin America can eventually become a tier 1 operator,” Atucha points out. He highlights EstrelaBet as a case in point: “They started from nothing and they grew a lot. And probably platform suppliers will have ignored them and regret that later on.”

The lesson for platform providers is to adopt a flexible, long-term view. For local operators, the path involves building scalable technology while maintaining their unique market understanding.

Betsson’s Long-Standing Presence: First-Mover Advantages and Localized Strategy

Betsson entered Peru in 2008, well before regulation. This deep local experience gives it a significant edge over newer international entrants. Rossi reflects: “We have seen it all.”

The Recipe for Betsson’s Success in Peru

According to Rossi, there is no single ingredient behind Betsson’s success. Peru has long been a key growth market for the company in Latin America. In Q2 of 2023, LatAm overtook other regions as Betsson’s largest revenue contributor, accounting for 36% of its total €310.2 million quarterly revenue.

“I always like to say that it’s a mix of different factors,” Rossi explains. “As a matter of fact, Peru has always been one of our driving markets in LatAm, and you always have the attention from the business to be kept on a quite substantial level of investment. But that is not just marketing. It also goes into product and into the way that you develop your offering and how you localise what you present or you offer to your customers.”

He underscores the importance of local talent: “Without leaving out local talent, because of course the success also comes from the level of understanding of the market and the cultural embracement and to understand what the customers are really looking into when they have to choose between operators.”

For Betsson, Peru is a legacy market—one of four core LatAm markets—that plays a pivotal role in its global operating model. The company is “really careful about developing in terms of product, and also operationally.”

Stake’s Global Scale Meets Local Adaptation

Stake entered Peru in 2024 and quickly secured its license in August. Like Betsson, Stake aims to combine its global scale with deep local understanding. The company now holds licenses in Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Mexico, and the Province of Buenos Aires in Argentina.

Balancing Global Capability and Local Relevance

Escobar argues that global scale only delivers a real advantage when paired with a thorough grasp of the Peruvian market and its players. “We benefit from world-class technology, a market-leading product and one of the strongest brands in the industry, but success isn’t achieved simply by bringing a global platform into a new market,” she says.

Stake has invested heavily in understanding Peruvian players by building local partnerships, working with local content creators, supporting football (a national passion), and tailoring its marketing and customer experience to local preferences. “That balance between global capability and local relevance has allowed us to establish a strong position in one of Latin America’s most competitive markets,” Escobar adds.

This dual approach—global infrastructure plus local customization—is becoming the blueprint for successful market entry in Latin America.

The Regulatory Foundation: Strengths and Challenges

Peru’s regulated framework is widely regarded as one of the most comprehensive in Latin America. Rossi praises it: “The rollout of the regulation was super positive. I believe that the Peruvian regulation is one of the best regulations in Latin America. [It’s] flexible, modern, business-friendly. The regulator has demonstrated a commitment to creating a safe and transparent market environment, and there’s a great relationship between the regulator and the operators.”

Positive Early Outcomes

Escobar echoes the sentiment, noting that the market has been live for just over two years (as of early 2026). “Looking back over the past two years, the regulation has achieved its primary objective: creating a safer and more transparent market. It has established common standards for all licensed operators, particularly around KYC, AML and responsible gaming, ensuring that customers receive a more consistent experience regardless of the platform they choose.”

Strong player engagement and high digital adoption rates suggest the regulatory model is working.

The ISC Tax: A Threat to Stability

Despite the solid foundation, a significant challenge emerged in July 2025: the implementation of a 1% selective consumption tax (ISC) on the value of every online bet. The tax was originally proposed in 2021 but was scrapped from early regulations. Its reintroduction has raised alarm among operators.

Atucha warns that governments often start with operator-friendly regulations and later seek additional revenue, a process he likens to “boiling a frog.” He has observed similar tax increases in Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico in recent years. “Regulations are often perceived as operator-friendly at the start before governments begin looking to squeeze licensed sectors,” he says.

Rossi believes the ISC exemplifies a government imposing new taxes without fully understanding the industry’s dynamics. “Peru has been quite successful in channelling customers into the regulated framework,” he comments. “The risk is that this channelisation can decrease in favour of the black market. We know the black market won’t have any consumption tax.”

He calls for a review of the ISC framework: “There should be, in my opinion, a review of the whole ISC or consumption tax framework and find a kind of alignment or a better way to get an income in terms of taxes, but that should be balanced in order to avoid the disruption of businesses and a migration of customers to the illegal market.”

The Tipping Point: Lessons from UK and Germany

Atucha emphasizes that there is a critical tipping point where higher taxes undermine channelisation—the measure of how many gamblers use licensed rather than black-market operators. He cites the UK and Germany as important case studies.

“I sometimes wish regulators would look at other cases,” Atucha adds. In the UK, the introduction of tighter regulations and increased taxes (e.g., the Gambling Act review and FOBT stake cuts) led to a notable shift of players to unlicensed sites. Germany’s complex regulatory framework and high tax rates have also struggled to curb the black market. Peru risks following the same path if the ISC is not carefully managed.

Operators argue that a moderate, sustainable tax regime is essential to keep the licensed market attractive. Without it, the very channelisation successes of the regulatory framework could reverse, harming both industry and state revenue.

Conclusion: What’s Working and What’s Not?

What’s Working

What’s Not Working

Peru’s journey offers valuable insights for any regulated market in Latin America. The battle for leadership is not won by the biggest marketing budget alone, but by the operator that best blends global resources with genuine local connection—while navigating a regulatory landscape that must balance revenue generation with market health.