FIRST.bet appoints former Pragmatic Play LATAM leader Victor Arias as VP of LATAM & Head of Commercial LATAM

Arias brings a proven edge in Latin America and one of the deepest operator networks in the region as
FIRST.bet makes LATAM the centre of its commercial strategy

FIRST.bet, the Tier-1 sportsbook technology provider, has announced the appointment of Victor Arias as VP of LATAM & Head of Commercial LATAM. Arias joins from Pragmatic Play, where he built and led the company’s Latin America business from its first days into a category leader, and takes on the region at the point where FIRST.bet is putting LATAM at the centre of everything it does.

Arias joined Pragmatic Play in 2020 to open its Latin America hub. What he built is one of the strongest regional structures in the industry, with a localised team, and it turned Pragmatic Play into the category leader in casino across Latin America. Before that, Arias spent close to two decades in iGaming across both B2C and B2B, including a period at Salsa Technology focused on Latin America business development.

The edge Arias brings is proven rather than theoretical. He has already taken a supplier to number one in this region, and he did it market by market: Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, each with its own pace, its own regulator and its own player. Alongside that sits a network few people in the industry can
match, built from years of sitting across the table from the operators who define these markets. Those relationships are his, earned directly, and they come with him.

Arias arrives as FIRST.bet doubles down on Latin America. The company is building out its LATAM hub and its localised team, on the principle that LATAM has to be serviced by LATAM. FIRST.bet already runs localised technology live in regulated jurisdictions across the continent, and treats localisation as something far deeper than translating a product into Spanish or Portuguese: it means localised service, localised trading, localised content and localised teams. Brazil, where FIRST.bet already operates, anchors that commitment.

What Arias takes on now is the same challenge he already answered once, in a different vertical. FIRST.bet holds a Tier-1 sportsbook product and the trading, pricing and modelling depth behind it. Arias holds the regional playbook and the network to put it in front of the right operators. Together with founder and CEO Tom Light, he will lead the push to make FIRST.bet the category leader in sportsbook across
Latin America.

Tom Light, Founder and CEO, FIRST.bet, said: “LATAM has to be serviced by LATAM. That is how we are building the business, and Victor has run that playbook at the highest level already. He knows these markets are not one market. Having him lead our commercial effort in the region is the strongest signal we can send about how seriously we take it.”

Amram Vita, Chief Commercial Officer, FIRST.bet, said: “Commercially, Latin America is where the sharpest growth in this industry is happening, and it is not won from a distance. Victor has spent years earning the trust of the operators who set the pace in these markets, and that trust does not transfer to just anyone. Having him running our commercial effort in the region changes the conversations we can have and the speed we can have them at.”

Victor Arias, VP of LATAM & Head of Commercial LATAM, FIRST.bet, said: “I am honoured to take on Latin America for FIRST.bet. This is a market I know deeply, having led Pragmatic Play’s growth into the leading provider in the region, and the opportunity here is immense. We are bringing Tier-1 sportsbook technology together with a completely localised strategy. The goal is ambitious but simple: to make FIRST.bet the number one sports betting partner in Latin America, with a truly local identity.”