Rush Street Interactive Becomes Latest Gaming Operator to Open Offices in Colombia

Posted on: December 13, 2022, 09:18h. 

Last updated on: December 13, 2022, 11:53h.

Erik Gibbs Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Gaming Business, Global Gaming.

The South American country of Colombia is becoming the heart of online gaming in Latin America. It’s recently attracted several international operators, and Rush Street Interactive (RSI) is now part of that group.

RSI's Bogotá, Colombia Office
Rush Street Interactive’s new Bogotá, Colombia office sports a video entertainment wall. The US-based gaming operator is opening two new offices in the South American country. (Image: Rush Street Interactive)

Last week, Betsson announced that it was setting up a new operations center in the city of Bogotá. That was three months after FSB opened its new tech hub in the city of Medellin.

RSI has two new offices, one in Bogotá and the other in Medellin. The addition of US-based RSI, which owns the BetRivers and PlaySugarHouse online gambling brands, is further helping Colombia’s gaming industry grow and support other activity in the region.

RSI Ready for Latin America

The new RSI office in Bogotá spans 8,000 square feet and will be the company’s headquarters for all of its operations across Latin America. To help keep its workforce in the right frame of mind, the operator took a unique approach in designing the spaces.

There are complete multimedia walls where employees can catch up on all the live sports action. The marketing team will occupy a space that could double as a partial basketball court for a pick-up game. In addition, the conference rooms are decked out like poker rooms, and the facilities come complete with a production set that simulates a stadium.

Eight hours to the north in Medellin, RSI will operate a tech center. The city has been pushing tech innovation, and its plans are paying off. The local government has developed skilled tech talent in an effort to become the quasi-Silicon Valley of Colombia and Latin America.

RSI doesn’t have the domestic US footprint that other companies like DraftKings and FanDuel have. But it is setting itself up to be a global powerhouse. It’s the first US-based gaming operator to enter Colombia, and already has several key regional partnerships under its belt, including one with Spanish soccer league LaLiga.

RSI’s RushBet brand became the league’s official partner in the country last year, and expanded to cover all of South America a couple of months ago.

RSI Eyes Growth

The most recent financial health report for RSI covered the third quarter of the year, and showed promising results overall. The quarter had $148 million in revenue, representing a 20% year-on-year increase.

That coincided with the onset of the fall football season. But not everything in the quarter was positive. With increased sports action came increased spending by sportsbooks to stay competitive. RSI’s adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) was $12.5 million, a 2.5% drop from last year.

The company also had to report a net loss for the quarter. It dropped $22.7 million, $3.8 million more than it did a year ago. On the bright side, RSI has now seen 14 straight quarters of upward revenue movement and has no outstanding debt.