Inside LatAm’s payment revolution: The PayTech behind seamless gaming transactions

Let’s start with an introduction to the company. When was OKTO founded? How big is the team? What is your background and how long have you been providing solutions to the gaming industry?

OKTO was founded in 2019 with a clear vision: to be the leading payment service provider for eCommerce merchants in highly regulated sectors, with a core focus on the igaming industry. Our unified payment platform and advanced payment solutions are designed to empower merchants to thrive through innovation, resilience, compliance, and trust—driven by our talented team.

With over 200 skilled professionals, OKTO has quickly become a leading next-gen payment service provider, helping operators optimise financial and payment operations, enhance user experiences and achieve high acceptance rates. By transforming payments into a strategic advantage, we enable our partners to drive sustainable growth.

Where are your clients primarily based? Which major operators do you supply in the igaming industry? What sort of volume do you handle yearly?

We have built a strong presence in major global markets within five years, with particularly significant traction in Latin America and Europe. The company’s strategic expansion into numerous key markets showcases its ability to adapt to diverse regulatory landscapes and meet local market demands. With more than 100 merchants already onboard internationally, we are expanding our reach, delivering tangible value to a growing base of operators and players worldwide.

OKTO partners with both international and local operators, including industry leaders such as Betsson, Entain, Kaizen, Novibet, Superbet, Betboom, Betsul, Brazino, Gallerabet, Maxbet, Mozzart, and many more. Through these collaborations, we offer innovative payment solutions that address the evolving needs of the igaming industry.

Processing more than €15 billion (£12.8 billion) through its platform, OKTO handles an impressive volume of transactions across various igaming platforms. Its solutions are designed to provide seamless, secure and fast pay-ins and payouts, creating a reliable payment ecosystem that scales with operators’ growth. Beyond facilitating transactions, OKTO supports its partners with performance optimisation services, ensuring payments are both efficient and strategic, helping operators maximise their potential.

You’re a particularly dominant force in Brazil. How long have you had a presence in the market? How did you come to occupy a central place in what is now such a highly competitive location?

Brazil represents one of our strongest and most strategic operations in Latin America, and we’re proud to have established a solid presence in the country over the past four years. We entered the Brazilian market with a clear vision: to deeply understand local nuances – regulatory, behavioral, and technological – and deliver payment solutions that truly make sense for the igaming and digital entertainment ecosystem.

“From day one, we adopted a ‘local-first’ approach, building partnerships with leading operators and integrating widely adopted payment methods like PIX natively and intelligently into our platform”

From day one, we adopted a ‘local-first’ approach, building partnerships with leading operators and integrating widely adopted payment methods like PIX natively and intelligently into our platform. This strategic mindset enabled us not only to grow but to lead. We successfully migrated our entire Brazilian customer base to a fully regulated and locally operated infrastructure through OKTO BANK, further strengthening trust and compliance in the country.

Today, we hold a leading position not just because we were fast – but because we were relevant. We offer solutions such as OKTO MAIS, Biometric PIX, Pay And Play 2.0, and a complete ecosystem of banking services that address key industry pain points while delivering operational efficiency, security, and a next-generation user experience. Our goal has never been to simply compete, but to build – to build a payment ecosystem tailored for Brazil, powered by the strength of a global platform. We’re here for the long haul.

As a newly regulated market with a large population and a distinct culture, operating in Brazil comes with unique demands. What are some of the challenges distinct to navigating payments in the market and how have you gone about solving them?

One of the most pressing challenges is navigating the regulatory landscape. With regulations still very much taking shape, it’s essential to stay compliant while remaining agile enough to adjust as new rules are introduced. To address this, we created OKTO BANK, a licensed local financial institution, granting us full operational control. This ensures compliance with local laws, including data localization and AML/KYC standards, while providing the flexibility to adapt to changing requirements.

Another significant hurdle is the diversity in user behavior. Brazil is a highly varied market, where, despite the high rate of digital adoption, many users still rely on less secure financial apps, experience slow onboarding, and face expensive or inaccessible financial services. Recognising this, we developed OKTO MAIS, our wallet solution that offers direct access via WhatsApp – free, highly secure, and already used by over 94% of Brazilians. This solution accommodates all types of user profiles, from fully digital natives to those still transitioning from traditional banking services.

Acceptance rates, particularly for deposits, have been a key pain point for many operators, especially following recent regulatory changes. To support our partners, OKTO has prioritised performance optimisation services, offering tailored guidelines to help operators achieve higher acceptance rates. We understand how vital it is to ensure smooth transactions, especially for deposits, where issues can have a direct impact on player satisfaction and retention.

To this end, we’ve invested in innovative solutions like biometric Pix, which leverages cutting-edge security features to enhance approval rates, and Pay and Play 2.0, a solution that streamlines the deposit process, increasing efficiency and reducing friction in the user journey. These solutions, powered by smart routing and real-time payment capabilities, are specifically designed to help operators navigate and overcome the challenges of declining transaction approvals.

Additionally, localisation, which is a concern for operators, has been at the core of our strategy. Rather than merely translating our services, we rebuilt them to fit the unique needs of Brazilian users. From UX design to settlement preferences and local customer support, every aspect of our offering is customised to the local market.

LatAm more broadly is one of your top priority areas as a company. What strategy have you adopted to get ahead in LatAm? How is this helping operators improve their offering in the region?

Across Latin America, local payment methods play a crucial role in ensuring that operators meet their customers where they are, especially in a region where credit card penetration is still low and alternative payment methods like e-wallets, bank transfers and cash-based solutions are more commonly used.

In LatAm, operators face constant pressure to maintain high transaction acceptance rates, as payment failures can result in lost revenue and poor customer experiences. These issues are compounded by the fact that many markets have local regulations and consumer behavior that differ significantly from one country to another. Operators need solutions that not only support a wide array of payment methods but also adapt to the regional nuances to minimise transaction declines and maximize approval rates.

A solution that addresses these challenges effectively requires more than just an aggregation of local payment options – it needs to be driven by technology that can intelligently route transactions based on real-time factors such as payment method availability, local regulations and user preferences. Smart routing, combined with tailored payment methods, ensures that payments are processed through the most optimal channels, improving efficiency and reducing failure rates.

In this context, the ability to integrate a variety of local payment methods through a single interface becomes invaluable. Operators are not only able to cater to regional payment preferences but also ensure their systems remain agile, scalable and adaptable to new market demands as they expand.

This is where our unified payment platform stands out. By offering a comprehensive gateway with a diverse range of payment options tailored to LatAm’s unique demands, we enable operators to improve their transaction acceptance rates. Our platform’s advanced paytech powered by payment orchestration and easy-to-integrate system unlocks an efficient payment ecosystem across multiple LatAm countries with a single integration, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Peru and Colombia, but also across Europe. Through this solution, operators can deliver a seamless, reliable payment experience, helping them overcome common regional challenges while optimising performance across their operations.

OKTO’s founder Filippos Antonopoulos recently transitioned from CEO to the role of executive chairman, with high-profile payments veteran Edward Chandler stepping into the CEO role. Why now for this move and what does it say about your ambitions, in LatAm and more broadly, moving forward?

OKTO’s recent appointment of Edward Chandler as Group CEO represents a pivotal moment in the company’s ongoing evolution and its commitment to delivering value to igaming operators worldwide. Chandler’s appointment, following the transition of founder Filippos Antonopoulos to the role of Executive Chairman, brings fresh leadership with over 30 years of experience scaling fintech and payments businesses. This leadership shift comes at a critical time, as the company continues to solidify its position as a leader in the global digital payments space, particularly within the igaming sector in LatAm, Europe and beyond.

Chandler’s deep expertise in scaling high-growth companies and driving innovation in the payment’s ecosystem will be instrumental in accelerating our strategic expansion and strengthening our payment solutions for igaming operators and beyond. His leadership will focus on refining OKTO’s core offerings, ensuring that operators continue to benefit from secure, seamless and scalable payment solutions that are increasingly essential in today’s competitive market. As igaming continues to evolve, Chandler’s experience in leading companies through complex digital transformations will help OKTO stay ahead of market demands and regulatory changes.

While Chandler takes the reins, Filippos Antonopoulos, who founded OKTO and has driven its vision since day one, will continue to play a central role in shaping the company’s strategic direction as Executive Chairman. Antonopoulos’ long-standing commitment to the company ensures that OKTO remains anchored in its core values of innovation, resilience, and customer-centricity, while also embracing new opportunities in the fast-moving digital payments landscape.

For igaming operators, this leadership transition signals a continued focus on advancing the payment experience and expanding global reach. OKTO’s evolving leadership will bring further refinement to its solutions, helping operators optimise payment performance, increase transaction acceptance rates, and expand into new markets with confidence.