KTO founder says reports of the company’s death are “greatly exaggerated” after Brazil’s gambling ban

Social posts have sent mixed signals about the future of KTO Group, the Malta-headquartered operator whose only market is Brazil. The immediate issue for high-risk PSPs is simple: if Brazil is the whole business, a nationwide ban is not a weather event, it is the balance sheet.

1. Reports that KTO was shutting down started after Anthony MacKay, Head of Affiliates at KTO, posted on LinkedIn that “the recent developments in Brazil have unfortunately led KTO Group to closing down its doors.” He also wrote that “many of my colleagues are now looking for their next opportunity.”
2. MacKay’s post thanked Andreas Bardun, Founder of KTO, for the opportunity to be “a part of the journey,” which made the message read like an endpoint, not just a bad quarter. Then Bardun answered with a separate LinkedIn post saying that “the reports of KTO Group’s death are greatly exaggerated.” SBC News said it reached out to Bardun for comment.
3. The backdrop is Brazil’s gambling ban, enforced on 25 September by President Lula da Silva. KTO is Malta-headquartered and, according to the text, counts Brazil as its sole market, so the policy hit is not theoretical: it goes straight at the only revenue stream the group has.
4. Brazil’s licensed gambling sector came under regulation on 1 January 2025 and has started pushing back against the ban. The text says there has been talk of some firms, including Betano, challenging the President’s decision in court.
5. Operators’ main legal argument rests on five-year licences that require a non-refundable R$30m. For PSPs and acquirers, that detail matters because it shows the regulated market was built on upfront, sunk-cost commitments — exactly the kind of setup that becomes messy when a government moves from regulation to prohibition.

For payment providers, the useful reading here is not the social-media drama. It is that a Brazil-only operator can go from active to existentially exposed overnight when a licensed market turns into a banned one. In high-risk, jurisdiction concentration is not just a commercial question; it is the main risk metric.