BetBlocker’s expanding global footprint -Part 2
From strategic collaborations in the U.S. to skyrocketing uptake in Brazil and Africa, BetBlocker is strengthening its role in responsible gaming worldwide. Founder Duncan Garvie discusses partnerships, market dynamics, and what’s next with SiGMA News.
Expanding responsible gaming standards in the United States
BetBlocker’s partnership with the Responsible Online Gaming Association marks a noteworthy milestone in the U.S. market. Garvie explains why operator-led signposting and industry backing can dramatically improve access to support for players in need.
SiGMA: With your partnership with ROGA, you’re extending BetBlocker’s reach to a U.S. audience. How do you see this affecting the iGaming sector’s broader responsible gaming practices?
Duncan: BetBlocker has been supporting U.S. users since day one, almost 9 years ago now! But our partnership with ROGA is a huge step forward.
ROGA represents a vast section of the legal U.S. gambling industry. To have their backing and support makes a massive difference, encouraging their members to signpost our support to their customers. For many people who need BetBlocker’s support, their first point of contact is with a gambling operator’s live support. How prominently and effectively operators signpost BetBlocker makes a considerable difference to a LOT of people in terms of finding the support they need. I really can’t overstate the difference that ROGA’s support makes to us, nor its potential to ensure that a lot more people find BetBlocker when they need it.
Blocking the black market and addressing severe harm
With software capable of blocking both regulated and unregulated operators, BetBlocker occupies a unique position in harm prevention. Garvie discusses why black-market coverage matters most for users experiencing the most severe gambling-related harm.
SiGMA: BetBlocker software can block more than 325,000 gambling websites and 1,500 apps, including unregulated ones. How crucial is it for harm-prevention tools to cover both regulated and unregulated operators?
Duncan: I don’t want to over-extend my points here to all harm prevention tools. As the entire sector has learned in the last decade, restricting the black market is not easily accomplished, and no jurisdiction has a truly effective strategy in place, short of curtailing public access to the internet entirely!
Gambling harm is a spectrum, and different tools and support can help people at various places on the spectrum. Harm prevention tools should not be judged on a binary pass or fail based on whether they can restrict the black market.
But blocking software is one of the few solutions that can, and that makes it uniquely effective for people experiencing more severe levels of harm. By the time someone is considering playing with illegal gambling operators to bypass the support options that they have used to manage the regulated market, harm is moving towards the more severe end of the spectrum, and a tool that can effectively block the black market becomes essential.
Bringing responsible gaming into physical casinos
A new partnership with MGM Resorts places BetBlocker messaging inside major land-based casinos. Garvie outlines how offline visibility reaches new audiences and encourages earlier reflection on gambling behaviour.
SiGMA: Your partnership with MGM Resorts will see BetBlocker messaging appear across 13 hours a day on 16 casino properties. How do you anticipate this physical-casino visibility impacting user adoption?
Duncan: MGM’s support of BetBlocker has been absolutely outstanding. We really cannot thank them enough!! The signposting in MGM’s land-based casinos reaches an entirely different audience for BetBlocker. This type of signposting is seen not just by people who are directly looking for support, but also by many other people. This has the potential to prompt people to consider whether they may benefit from support, or to think about people in their lives who may need our help.
To have one of the biggest stakeholders in the offline market promote our support in this way is something that we could only achieve via partnership and cooperation. It’s something worth more to us than money could buy.
Brazil’s surge and Africa’s rapid adoption
Brazil has become one of BetBlocker’s fastest-growing markets, while African countries are climbing adoption rankings. Garvie explores the regulatory, cultural, and language factors driving growth across underserved regions.
SiGMA: BetBlocker recently passed 50,000 active users in Brazil, making Brazil one of your fastest-growing markets. What factors in Brazil’s iGaming market are driving this rapid uptake? Can we expect to see such growth in markets like Africa?
Duncan: Uptake in Brazil is absolutely exploding at the moment. We only announced passing 50k a few weeks ago, but already we’re at over 55k active users this year.
We don’t have all the answers as to why we’re seeing such rapid growth, but there are several factors that are likely behind the trend. The remote gambling sector is growing rapidly in Brazil, which is likely to impact demand for gambling harm support. But alongside this, compared to more mature markets, Brazil is still significantly under-resourced to address this societal change. BetBlocker’s support is available in Brazilian Portuguese, and that makes us one of the few easily accessible channels of support in Brazil.
We’re working to build relationships within the Brazilian marketplace in order to support their growing sector. Still, to date, it has proved challenging to engage in a dialogue, with only some committed treatment providers really willing to talk to us about the challenges that gambling harm is creating.
And yes, we are seeing similar rapid growth in African markets, with three African countries – Kenya, South Africa, and Nigeria – in our top ten. Underserved emerging markets are embracing BetBlocker’s free, anonymous support, and we expect to see similar trends across Asia as we translate the service to support more Asian languages.
What’s next for responsible gaming in Africa?
With momentum building across the continent, BetBlocker is focusing on deeper localisation. Garvie highlights language expansion and stakeholder collaboration as priorities for supporting African communities more effectively.
SiGMA: In reference to the positive trajectory visible in BetBlocker’s adoption in Africa, what new approaches can we anticipate in the near future for the African sector?
Duncan: Our primary goal has to be to translate into languages that will better enable us to support African communities. We’re working with several stakeholders in the African sector to try to make this happen.
Africa’s iGaming force is rising, and Cape Town’s shaping the continent’s future. From 03–05 March 2026, SiGMA Africa will bring together 3,000 delegates, 780 operators, and 150+ speakers to the table. This isn’t hype. It’s happening. Don’t sleep on it.
