FIRST.bet Appoints Victor Arias as VP of LATAM & Head of Commercial LATAM

FIRST.bet has appointed Victor Arias as VP of LATAM & Head of Commercial LATAM, a move it frames as putting Latin America at the centre of everything it does. Arias joins from Pragmatic Play, where he opened the company’s Latin America hub in 2020 and built it into the casino category leader across the region. He now leads FIRST.bet’s effort to do the same thing in sportsbook, working alongside founder and CEO Tom Light.

Why FIRST.bet’s LATAM appointment matters now

Latin America is the region every supplier says it wants, and FIRST.bet is answering that with a hire rather than a slogan. Arias arrives with nearly two decades in iGaming across both B2C and B2B, including a period at Salsa Technology focused on LATAM business development, before the Pragmatic Play chapter that made his name in the region. The appointment lands as FIRST.bet builds out its LATAM hub and localised team.

What the FIRST.bet sportsbook strategy actually involves

FIRST.bet describes itself as a Tier-1 sportsbook technology provider, with the trading, pricing and modelling depth behind the product. It already runs localised technology live in regulated jurisdictions across the continent, with Brazil, where it already operates, anchoring the commitment. Crucially, the company defines localisation as reaching well past language: it points to local service, local trading, local content and local teams on the ground, not a product simply rendered into Spanish or Portuguese.

Why FIRST.bet is buying Arias’s LATAM relationships, not just his CV

Here’s the part operators care about. Arias built Pragmatic Play’s regional structure market by market, across Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, each with its own pace, regulator and player. Alongside that sits a network built from years of dealing directly with the operators who define these markets. The operator read is straightforward: FIRST.bet holds the product, and, on the company’s account, Arias holds the regional playbook and the relationships to put it in front of the right people, relationships FIRST.bet says he earned directly and brings with him. 

Can a casino playbook win FIRST.bet the sportsbook market?

The playbook Arias has already run to completion was in casino, not sportsbook, and the two verticals sell and price differently. A proven network shortens the path to a conversation, but a sportsbook product still has to win on trading and pricing once it is in the room. Arias himself describes the goal as ambitious, which is a fair reading of moving from established supplier to category leader in a new vertical.

What Comes Next for FIRST.bet in the Regulated Gaming Market?

The near-term work is visible: build out the LATAM hub, deepen the localised team, and convert Arias’s network into operator agreements, with Brazil as the anchor market. If the casino result is any guide, the measure of success will be whether FIRST.bet can move from established supplier to category leader in sportsbook the way Pragmatic Play did in casino. The hire signals intent clearly enough; the region’s regulators and operators will decide whether the same playbook travels across verticals.

Source: FIRST.bet