KTO founder says shutdown reports are “greatly exaggerated” as Blask Index fell almost to 0

The affiliate chief said KTO was closing, but the founder’s LinkedIn post said otherwise.

KTO head of affiliates Anthony MacKay told LinkedIn on 8 October that Brazil’s betting ban had led KTO Group to close its doors, with many colleagues now job hunting. Hours later, founder and CEO Andreas Bardun posted on LinkedIn that “the reports of KTO Group’s death are greatly exaggerated”.

KTO bet the group on a single regulated market. It withdrew from Peru and Chile in August 2024 to focus on Brazil’s SPA licence track. According to Blask data, KTO stayed below 1% BAP in Brazil in every month from September 2025 through September 2026; in that last month it held 0.7% and ranked 20th among tracked operators, far from the top-three goal Bardun set at licensing.

Blask Index for KTO in Brazil was already compressing before the 6 October site-offline deadline, then dropped to zero on 12 October in Blask data — the last daily row available at pull time. 

Congress and the courts still have to decide whether the ban sticks after the 25 October election cycle. As a result, the decision to concentrate on Brazil only can cost KTO a business. 

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