GameArt made its SiGMA Americas debut at the 2024 edition, held from 23 to 25 April at the Transamerica Expo Center in São Paulo.
The studio shared booth F105 with BlueOcean Gaming, a Malta-based aggregator whose GameHub platform claims more than 140 providers.
BlueOcean Gaming was no stranger to GameArt. Fury Penguins, an exclusive crash game the studio presented in January 2024, had been made for it.
The showcase lined up five slots billed as designed for Brazilian players. Golden Furong and Dragon King Megaways™ topped the bill, alongside Frozen Joker, Great Buffalo Hold'n Win and Big Fruit Show.
None of these titles was launched for the occasion, and three had already been on display at the latest London show in February 2024.
On their official game pages, checked on 29 October 2026, Frozen Joker and Great Buffalo Hold'n Win do not list Portuguese among their languages.
Brazil's Law 14,790 of 29 December 2023 was already on the books at the time of the show. The federal regulated market only opened in January 2025.
Provisional measure (MP) 1,394/2026 of 25 September 2026 bans fixed-odds betting, online games included. Operator authorisations ended on 25 October 2026.
No GameArt press release announces a return to São Paulo, and the studio was back on the European circuit by November 2024 with the SiGMA show in Malta.
Real-money play depends on where you live: only operators licensed in your jurisdiction can legally offer these slots.
São Paulo, late April 2024. For three days, the city turns into a giant trading floor for Latin American gambling. In the halls of the Transamerica Expo Center, a European exhibitor makes its debut behind an unassuming number: booth F105. It isn't there alone. GameArt, a Malta-based HTML5 specialist, welcomes visitors alongside BlueOcean Gaming, its distribution partner.
The studio had announced its attendance on 25 March 2024 in a press release on its website. It promised slots “tailored to the preferences of Brazilian players”. The release presented Brazil as a major iGaming player and the show as a chance to forge partnerships.
Two and a half years later, looking back is a little dizzying. The market GameArt came to court opened under federal licences on 1 January 2025. Then a provisional measure issued by the government shut it on 25 September 2026.
So I'm revisiting this show from the other end. What GameArt showed in São Paulo, with whom and for which operators. Then what that stopover says about a Brazilian bet the studio hasn't mentioned since August 2025.
SiGMA Americas 2024: three days on the show floor in São Paulo
Organised by the SiGMA group, SiGMA Americas 2024 ran in São Paulo from Tuesday 23 to Thursday 25 April 2024. The exhibition and the conferences took place at the Transamerica Expo Center.
Focus Gaming News announced more than 10,000 delegates and over 300 exhibitors on 23 April, the eve of the official opening. The programme started that same afternoon with a panel on women in the industry, followed by the SiGMA Americas Awards. The exhibition aisles opened the next day.
Everyone was jostling at the gates of a regulated market that had yet to open. The industry was waiting for a vote on Bill 2,234. It would legalise land-based casinos, bingo, jogo do bicho and online games of chance. Eman Pulis, the founder of SiGMA, saw Brazil as “the gateway to Latin America”. For a European studio, turning up in São Paulo meant grabbing a seat at the table before the cards were dealt. Since that show, judging by its press releases, GameArt's trade show circuit has never left Europe.
The studio's news feed lists Malta in November 2024, Barcelona in January 2025 and again in January 2026, then Rome in November 2025. Lisbon came in 2026, followed by Rome once more in November 2026. Brazil never reappears.
Booth F105: why GameArt exhibited with BlueOcean Gaming
BlueOcean Gaming runs GameHub, a casino game aggregation platform. Its listing in the iGaming Business directory highlights more than ten years of experience and over 140 providers available. Sharing a booth with it was more than a neighbourly gesture. It showed Brazilian operators the shortest route to the studio's games.
Aggregator or direct integration: what an operator came looking for
An online casino can sign with each studio, at the cost of one contract and one technical integration per provider. It can also plug into an aggregator, which unlocks dozens of game libraries in one move. The same directory sums up GameHub's promise: launch many providers through a single API integration.
For an operator preparing its bid for a Brazilian licence in 2024, the maths was simple. Adding GameArt through BlueOcean Gaming meant adding the platform's other studios at the same time. No need to multiply technical projects when complying with the country's new rules was already a job in itself.
That directory actually files both names under a single supplier listing, “GameArt / Blue Ocean Gaming”. I'm careful not to infer an ownership link from it. All I take away is that this particular partner knows the house from the inside.
From Barcelona to São Paulo: a long-running partnership
The relationship didn't begin in São Paulo. At the SBC Summit in September 2023, the two companies already had a shared stand in Barcelona. In January 2024, GameArt's ICE London 2024 line-up also featured Fury Penguins, a crash game developed exclusively for BlueOcean Gaming.
São Paulo simply carried that story forward. In this duo, each partner keeps its own seat at the table: the studio makes the games and the aggregator deals them out.
Five slots for a first date with Brazil
The five GameArt slots on show in São Paulo were Golden Furong, Dragon King Megaways™, Great Buffalo Hold'n Win, Frozen Joker and Big Fruit Show. Four had been released between 30 January and 20 February 2024. The fifth, Frozen Joker, dated back to February 2023.
Slot
Release
Grid
Paylines or ways
Volatility
Key feature
Portuguese on the page
Golden Furong
30 Jan 2024
5 x 3
25 lines
Medium
Lucky Coins Respins and three jackpot tiers
Yes
Dragon King Megaways™
6 Feb 2024
6 cascading reels
117,649 Megaways
Medium to high
Up to 25 free spins and an x25 multiplier
Yes
Great Buffalo Hold'n Win
20 Feb 2024
5 x 4
25 lines
Medium
Fireball respins, Mini to Grand jackpots
No
Frozen Joker
7 Feb 2023
3 x 3
5 lines
Low
Sticky Wilds and an x5 to x50 wheel
No
Big Fruit Show
13 Feb 2024
5 x 4
40 lines
Medium
3 x 4 giant symbols and a Gamble option
Yes
Data taken from GameArt's official game pages on 29 October 2026. None of the five publishes an RTP there.
A showcase already road-tested in London
On 11 January 2024, GameArt detailed its ICE London showcase, scheduled for 6 to 8 February at ExCeL. Frozen Joker featured among the studio's best performers, with Golden Furong and Dragon King Megaways™ among its new releases. Three of the five São Paulo games had therefore already made the trip to London.
The other two came out just after the London show: Big Fruit Show on 13 February and Great Buffalo Hold'n Win on the 20th. So no title was launched for Brazil. In São Paulo, the studio replayed the hand it had already shown in London, topped up with its two freshest releases.
I don't hold that against GameArt. A trade show is mainly there to display finished games, already tested and live somewhere. Nobody develops a slot in a few weeks just to dress a stand. Still, the promise of games tailored to Brazilian players had more to do with selection than creation.
Dragons and a 3x3 grid: the selection versus Brazilian tastes
To understand that choice, look at what was turning heads in Brazil. According to the specialist site BNLData, Fortune Tiger had become the country's most popular slot. Launched by PG Soft in 2022 and nicknamed “jogo do tigrinho”, it only asks you to line up three symbols on a payline. GameArt doesn't mention it in its announcement, and the comparison is mine. But the São Paulo selection echoes it.
Golden Furong and Dragon King Megaways™: Asia takes top billing
Two of the five titles draw on Chinese imagery. Golden Furong features a benevolent water dragon, a symbol of good fortune. Six or more coins trigger its Lucky Coins Respins: three respins that build up wins and jackpots across three tiers, including during free spins.
Dragon King Megaways™ plays a different tune, that of the cascade. Winning symbols disappear and new ones drop into their place, sometimes several times on a single spin. Its 117,649 ways lead to a bonus of up to 25 free spins, with a multiplier that can climb to x25. Players choose between seven options, including a mystery one.
Frozen Joker: the 3x3 format as a counterpoint
Frozen Joker bets on simplicity. It's probably the title closest to that culture of quick play: three reels, three rows, five lines. In principle, its low volatility means more frequent but smaller wins. A high-volatility game does the opposite, keeping you waiting longer for rarer wins.
Its Wilds stick to the grid for the next spin when they form part of a winning line. Nine identical symbols trigger a wheel of fortune that awards a multiplier from x5 to x50.
Great Buffalo Hold'n Win and Big Fruit Show: respins and giant symbols
The last two titles rely on mechanics you'll find from one studio to the next. Great Buffalo Hold'n Win awards three respins for six or more fireballs, and each new fireball resets the counter to three. Its Grand jackpot goes to whoever fills all 20 positions on the grid.
Big Fruit Show, played on a 5 x 4 grid with 40 lines, drops 3 x 4 giant symbols. Its Gamble option offers to double or quadruple a win, at the risk of losing it. Four of the five showcase games also offer a Buy Bonus feature, where you pay upfront to go straight to the bonus round. It's a convenience that mainly speeds up spending.
Portuguese missing from two official game pages
One detail stings. On 29 October 2026, the official pages for Frozen Joker and Great Buffalo Hold'n Win show thirteen and twelve language flags respectively, without Portuguese. The other three titles do show it, under the flag of Portugal rather than Brazil's.
A game page isn't the game. The translation may exist elsewhere, at the aggregator or the operator. For a showcase announced as designed for Brazil, that silence on the pages is still surprising.
April 2024: a new law and a Brazilian market still closed
By April 2024, Brazil's Law 14,790 of 29 December 2023 had been in force for almost four months. It regulates fixed-odds betting, online casino games included. Yet no operator held a federal authorisation. These were only issued at the end of 2024, for the national regulated market to open on 1 January 2025.
The rules were written over the course of 2024. On 29 July, Brazil's Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA) issued Ordinance No. 1,207. It set a minimum RTP of 85% for online games over their game cycle, to be displayed for each title.
RTP, or return to player, measures the share of stakes paid back over a very large number of spins. It promises nothing about a single session, which is precisely why it's so often misunderstood.
The entry ticket was set at 30 million reais per authorisation, valid for five years and covering up to three brands. In São Paulo, studios were therefore securing a place in the game libraries of future licensees, before the first federal authorisation had even been signed.
GameArt knew the drill, though. Its 2023 push into Spain relied on a game library certified title by title. For Brazil, its news feed mentions no certification at all. What it does show is a run of commercial announcements aimed at the country. The KTO Group deal came in December 2023, then demos for the CacaNiquesOnline site in November 2024. The agreement with JogosDeApostas.com followed in August 2025.
From the 2025 opening to the 2026 betting ban: a game cut short
Brazil's federal regulated market ran from 1 January 2025 to 25 September 2026, nearly twenty-one months. Then the house changed the rules mid-game.
What the provisional measure changed
Published on 25 September 2026 and effective immediately, MP 1,394/2026 bans fixed-odds betting nationwide. Operating, offering, brokering and advertising it are all prohibited. The ban applies online and on land, online casinos included.
Sites and apps have been offline since 6 October, after a short transition designed to let bettors withdraw their balances. The authorisations expired on 25 October 2026, with no refund of the 30 million reais paid for each and no compensation, Focus Gaming News reports.
The government presents it as a protective measure. Before the Supreme Federal Court (STF), the Attorney General's Office (AGU) cited a study by the National Confederation of Commerce (CNC). It estimates that some 268,000 families fell into serious default as betting boomed. The industry, for its part, is asking the same court to suspend the measure.
What strikes me, as an affiliate, is how fast things turned: less than two years between a market's opening and the end of its licences.
Where does the case stand on 29 October 2026?
Nothing is set in stone. On 26 October, Justice Luiz Fux called a public hearing at the STF for 3 November 2026, BNLData reports. He did so without ruling on the merits or suspending the measure.
In Congress, 99 amendments have been filed, and 94 are still in play after five withdrawals. A joint committee must review the text before the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate vote on it. The first deliberation deadline runs until 23 November 2026 and can be extended by 60 days, according to Focus Gaming News.
On GameArt's side, radio silence. The studio's news feed hasn't mentioned Brazil since 20 August 2025, and it carries no public reaction to the measure.
Reading a trade show press release without getting carried away
This story has at least one virtue. It shows what a trade show announcement says, and above all what it leaves out. Before drawing conclusions about a studio, three checks are often enough.
Freshness: compare the release dates of the featured games with the date of the show. In São Paulo, none was less than two months old.
Market: open the official game pages and check languages, volatility and published RTP. Here, two pages out of five ignore Portuguese, and none shows an RTP.
Distribution: a booth shared with an aggregator points to distribution through its platform as much as to direct deals with operators.
That leaves the question many readers ask: can you actually play these games? Showing a slot in São Paulo doesn't make it playable where you live. Real-money online casinos are legal in some countries and banned in others. Where they are allowed, only an operator licensed in your jurisdiction can offer them lawfully. Most regulators publish a list of licensed operators, such as the public register of the UK Gambling Commission for Great Britain. If these titles intrigue you, a demo version played without a deposit is enough to grasp their mechanics and pace. It won't tell you how it feels when real money is on the line.
For GameArt, São Paulo may remain an interlude, a polished stopover in a market that changed its rules just as the game had started. If Congress or the STF reopens the door, booth F105 will at least have left a business card in Brazilian operators' drawers.
FAQs:
Was GameArt at SiGMA Americas 2024?
Yes. The studio exhibited there for the first time, from 23 to 25 April 2024. It shared booth F105 with the aggregator BlueOcean Gaming.
Where and when was SiGMA Americas 2024 held?
From 23 to 25 April 2024 in São Paulo, where the exhibition took over the Transamerica Expo Center. The show was organised by the SiGMA group.
Which games did GameArt show in São Paulo?
Five slots already on the market, from oldest to newest: Frozen Joker, Golden Furong, Dragon King Megaways™, Big Fruit Show and Great Buffalo Hold'n Win.
Who is BlueOcean Gaming?
A Malta-based casino game aggregator that runs the GameHub platform and shared booth F105 in São Paulo with GameArt.
Did GameArt exhibit at SiGMA Americas in 2025 or 2026?
No studio press release announces a return to the São Paulo show after 2024. Its later trade shows all take place in Europe.
Is online betting still legal in Brazil?
No, not for fixed-odds betting, whether on sports or online games. MP 1,394/2026 has banned it since 25 September 2026, pending a vote in Congress and a review by the STF.
What minimum RTP did Brazil require for online slots?
85%, measured over the full game cycle, under an SPA ordinance of 29 July 2024 that also required the rate to be displayed for each title.
Can you play GameArt slots for real money?
Only where online casinos are legal, and only with an operator licensed in your jurisdiction. Elsewhere, demo versions played without money are the only option.
What does a casino game aggregator do?
It connects an operator to many studios through a single technical integration, instead of signing and plugging in each provider one by one.
