Arrise ends live casino operation in Brazil and moves to Colombia.
The multinational betting technology company Arrise has ended its operations in Brazil and announced, this Tuesday (November 3rd), the transfer of its activities to Colombia. The project, which planned the installation of 37 live casino studios in São Paulo, was dismantled before it even took off: only three units were ever completed.
According to Aline Sordili's column on UOL, the operation began to be set up in 2025 to serve the Brazilian betting market, which was experiencing a period of strong expansion. In 2026, more than 150 employees were hired and equipment was acquired in the United States. The project did not survive the federal ban on fixed-odds betting, enacted on September 25, 2026 through Provisional Measure 1.394.
The regulation encompassed the entire sector's chain: exploration, offering, intermediation, and advertising of bets, including those placed abroad for users in Brazil. With the regulation in effect, Arrise awaited the outcome of the Brazilian elections before making a final decision. With no indication of a reversal in government policy after the second round, the company began implementing the layoffs.
Step-by-step disassembly
The closure occurred gradually throughout October and November. First, the recruitment and selection area was deactivated, with all its members dismissed while several vacancies were still listed as open on the company's websites. Then, the remaining employees were dismissed individually. Only one person per area remained to manage the closure, inventory the equipment, and organize it for shipment to other countries.
The operations took place in a building at the same address as XP, in the Granja Julieta area, in the southern zone of São Paulo, in an area exceeding 8.000 square meters. Also registered at the same location were the companies Jacarandatech, established in February 2025, and Maple Media Brazil, incorporated in April 2026, both associated with Arrise Solutions (Malta) Limited.
Arrise did not disclose the total number of workers hired and laid off, the financial balance of the Brazilian operation, the fate of the equipment, or the detailed reasons for the closure.
Project structure and ambition
The operation brought together young presenters fluent in two or three languages, as well as production, technology, costume, and support teams. Most of the professionals spent three months training in Europe to learn how live game and betting broadcasts worked; some stayed for up to seven months in Romania, Malta, Serbia, and Colombia. The operation's servers were located in India.
The intention was to transform Brazil into the center of Arrise's operations for Latin America and, eventually, the world. The reasoning was based on the quality of the local workforce and the lower operational costs compared to European markets. One job posting for blackjack presenters included 50 positions, the necessary size to keep tables operating 24 hours a day.
Employees also had the prospect of bonuses tied to each roulette, blackjack , and other gaming table. Salaries, hiring, and investments in equipment followed a high standard, according to reports about the operation.
The web of brands and companies
Arrise was at the center of a multi-brand structure. Pragmatic Play provided games for industry platforms, such as digital slots and live casino. Arrise was responsible for technology development and the services that supported this offering. The Arrise Live division was directly associated with the operation of the studios, presenters, and production.
In August 2025, Pragmatic Play announced a partnership with Todos Querem Jogar (TQJ), a company in the Silvio Santos Group's portfolio and operator of Bet do Milhão. Under the agreement, slot games , live casino, and virtual sports would be made available to platform users. Betnacional, PixBet, EstrelaBet, Bet7k, Galera Bet, and Bplay were also among the clients announced by the provider in Brazil.
Víctor Arias was Arrise's vice president for Latin America during its operations in the country. In September 2026, the same month the federal government banned betting, he was announced as vice president for Latin America and commercial head of the Colombian company FIRST.bet, registered in Bogotá.
