André Boesing, OKTO Payments: “One of the most important things for operators, on top of approval rates, is having the best payment system behind it”

Shows & conferences - 13 October, 2026

During SBC Summit Lisbon 2026, Focus Gaming News sat down with André Boesing, General Manager South America at OKTO Payments, to discuss how operators should approach payments, the role of cash management in Latin America and the upcoming regulation in Chile.

Boesing began with the idea that payments are often treated as an afterthought, even though getting them right can take quarters. His recommendation is to look at payments “from a decoupled perspective”: just as operators must apply for their own licences, payment companies must do the same, building the rails and local infrastructure to support operators. With nearly every Latin American market now regulated, he said, providers need to work with local banks and central banks to offer the best “approval rates”.

Approval rates, however, are only part of the picture. Boesing pointed to treasury, “how you move and control your cash”, as another key issue, using Argentina as an example. Rules there vary by province: in some, operators must handle cash and are able to invest, while in others they must provide AML solutions such as account validation. This also differs from how things worked in Brazil or work in Mexico and Colombia.

Fast payouts, he argued, are “key”. With instant payments now available in most countries, “everything happens in a matter of milliseconds”, so the account must be validated and the payout made at the moment the player requests it, which requires cash to be on hand. Boesing described OKTO Payments as a “boutique” provider. It is not a bank, but holds what he called the highest payments licence available, allowing it to handle acquiring and issuing and to let merchants earn interest on cash left in its accounts, through an “overnight” product in Brazil and a similar one in Argentina. Part of the cash must always remain available for payouts, while the rest can be invested. “Our objective is basically to let them handle the sports betting part and let us handle payments,” he said. Boesing has more than 27 years in the payments industry, starting in Europe, and has handled payments in LatAm for around a decade.

Turning to Chile, Boesing called it “the final market to regulate in LatAm”. At the time of the interview, it remained unregulated and operated on a cross-border basis: merchants cannot have a local entity, so they serve Chilean players from abroad while providers such as OKTO Payments process payments and settle funds back in their home country. He said a bill to regulate games of chance was expected to be approved and issued by the end of December, setting out the framework and the time existing players would have to adapt. He cited two key factors: a tax of 20 per cent plus VAT, and a 12-month period for companies to apply for a licence and become fully compliant.

The government, he noted, has moved on taxes ahead of regulation. A bill issued in May requires companies to be registered with the tax office since June, and OKTO Payments' customers are already paying tax in Chile without holding a licence. “The taxes came before the regulation,” Boesing said.