Fish of Fortune

What is Fish of Fortune?

Jackpots and free-to-play may be very different propositions, but Wilson judges both against the same unromantic measure: whether they produce value for the operator.

For free-to-play, that process can begin before the customer has committed money. “It’s about building muscle memory, providing achievable incentives to players and gamification,” Wilson explains. By lowering the barrier to participation, a free-to-play game can provide an accessible first interaction with an operator, while repeated play builds familiarity and creates a reason to return.

The format, however, cannot simply be copied and pasted from one market to the next. “We’ve found that the more localised the offering, the better,” Wilson says. “We’re talking about building anything from sumo wrestling to Love Island, as well as the headline sports. Ice cage fighting has been a popular one in a certain market for us.”

What is Fish of Fortune?

During a livestream on Sunday, he said he had met with “eight victims of online betting”. To reinforce his criticism of the sector and in an attempt to win over conservative voters, he pointed out that one gambler had made 1,400 instant fund transfers (Pix) to a betting site. Lula criticised the Central Bank for failing to detect such a high volume of transactions to a single company.

However, that responsibility does not lie with the Central Bank. It is the role of the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets to monitor and regulate the sector. Betting companies submit detailed daily reports on bettors’ financial transactions with the sites. A specific module within Brazil’s betting management system detects recurring transfers.

“Today I met a young man who made 1,400 Pix transfers in three months, and the Central Bank didn’t detect that this was an excessive number of transfers to the same company?” Lula said.

What is Fish of Fortune?

Conducted in 2026, it surveyed 70 professionals actively engaged in VIP management, including VIP account managers, heads of VIP and consultants, with 64% employed directly by gambling operators. 

The report sought to understand how VIP portfolios are managed daily, how the tools are utilised and other key operational challenges.

Although three-quarters of respondents rated their VIP data as good or very good, 71% reported data spread across multiple systems. Half admitted sometimes making decisions with incomplete or outdated information.