Diana Margarita Otalora Taylor is the General Manager of Stake Colombia. She oversaw the acquisition of Betfair Colombia and the transition of adapting Stake’s culture into the Colombian marketplace, writes iGF Latin America correspondent Kelvin Loyola.
Taylor was responsible for launching the company, overseeing employee recruitment, supervision, Compliance, and quality control while generating impressive sales of some US$100 million (£77.07m).
On the eve of the SBC Summit Latinoamerica 2024–the region’s top online gaming and sports betting event–taking place at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Miami between October 29-31, she sat down with iGamingFuturo to discuss the Colombian market: embracing a range of subjects, from the challenges of setting-up-shop to the importance of forging localization.
We began by asking her:
What learning experiences did you take from the merger between Betfair and Stake? And how do you plan to best leverage this going forward to provide added value for the market?
“Firstly let me explain. It wasn’t a merger. It was an acquisition. Of course there are plenty of learnings we can take from the experience, which we can apply to many regions. But the key part was bringing the two teams together after such a massive change.
“We were keen to make sure that Betfair staff were made to feel welcome and at home despite the shape of the acquisition.”
Colombia is not as large a part of the general industry conversation as other markets like Brazil, Peru, or Mexico. What do you think it will take to place the Colombian market among the leaders of iGaming in LatAm?
“Colombia is a growth market where we are seeing some increasingly exciting trends. It is a market with an extremely passionate and growing customer base that deserves the best product, and we believe we provide that.
“In Q3 of 2024, for example, we have already seen an upward trajectory in terms of active players, turnover, affiliates onboarded. And with these trends in mind we have hired more staff.”
Localisation has become an increasing priority for operators. How difficult–especially when a large company buys-up a local one–is it to implement this factor into communication, marketing and B2C to ensure the product is improved but still “local”?
“We have a strong commitment to the entire LatAm region. But we know each country requires a localized strategy within all elements of promotion, whether it be marketing, communications and more. Each country, each audience and each regulation is different, and understanding that is the basis of success when new markets are open. We can call it a ‘glocal’ operational way of working.”
In conclusion, what is the future of the Colombian market in your opinion? What do you see as the biggest growth drivers for this market over the next few years?
“The future is boundless in our opinion, and for a number of reasons.
“Firstly, we plan to strengthen our hub in Colombia and allow it to serve as a central base for our operations in Latin America.
“Our goal is also to position ourselves as a disruptive betting operator with a strong focus on customer satisfaction. We aim to achieve this by offering a high return to the player and continually enhancing our product offerings to meet and exceed the expectations of our users.
“Our ambition is nothing less than to become a leading player in the Latin American sports betting market.”
