Andreas Bardun, founder and Chief Executive Officer of KTO Group, confirmed on 15 October 2026 that the Brazilian betting operator has made a significant number of redundancies. The KTO Group job cuts come three weeks after Provisional Measure 1,394 banned fixed-odds betting in Brazil. Bardun said the company has not shut down and its licence runs until 25 October.
KTO Group job cuts
Bardun did not say how many of KTO Group’s staff were affected. He described the redundancies as one of the hardest moments of his professional life, in a statement reported by InterGame Online.
It was an incredibly difficult decision for me, and an even more difficult experience for the people affected. I am incredibly proud of the people who have worked at KTO and of the culture we built together. My focus right now is on supporting those affected in whatever way I can.
Andreas Bardun, Founder and CEO, KTO Group, in a statement on 15 October
He said KTO’s understanding is that “our licence remains valid until 25 October under the current Provisional Measure”, and that the company intends to comply with Brazilian law while it assesses its next steps. Asked by InterGame Online about the company’s plans, Bardun declined to comment beyond saying: “Right now, no-one knows what will happen.”
Closure reports
The confirmation followed LinkedIn posts by former employees suggesting KTO Group had stopped trading. Anthony MacKay, who led affiliates at KTO, wrote that the ban had “unfortunately led KTO Group to closing down its doors”, and Simon Bugeja, head of BI and analytics, described its “devastating impact”, according to InterGame Online. Both said they were looking for new roles.
Bardun answered those reports on 14 October with a LinkedIn post saying “the reports of KTO’s death are greatly exaggerated”. He also criticised industry news sites, which he did not name, for spreading inaccurate information.
The Brazil betting ban
Provisional Measure 1,394, signed on 25 September 2026, prohibits the operation, offer, intermediation and advertising of fixed-odds betting, covering both sports betting and online games, according to the Ministry of Finance’s guide to the measure. Other lottery products authorised by law are not affected.
Under the ministry’s timetable, betting accounts stopped taking deposits on 25 September and sites and apps had to go offline from 6 October. Banks were due to return remaining player balances between 9 and 14 October, with Caixa Econômica Federal acting as intermediary from 15 October where they could not.
The ban follows President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s earlier call to ban online betting platforms. Operators paid R$30m each for five-year federal authorisations, and Brazil’s licensed market generated $7bn in GGR in its first regulated year.
Next steps
Federal authorisations lapse on 25 October, the day of Brazil’s presidential runoff. The Attorney General’s Office (AGU) has asked Supreme Court Justice Luiz Fux to keep the ban in force, and Congress has 60 days, extendable by a further 60, to convert the provisional measure into law or let it expire. KTO Group’s job losses add to the sector’s 2026 layoffs.
Source: KTO Group
