Latin America had a remarkable space of analysis at G2E conferences

At 2 p.m., around 50 executives gathered at the conference hall, in which, on a relaxed atmosphere, Alan Burak (show manager of SAGSE Latin America) leaded the talk, which counted with the participation of lawyer Cristina Romero (partner of Loyra Abogados), Heliodoro Giner (General Secretary of the Spanish Casino Association), Sebastián Salat (WMS Gaming President) and Francisco “Paco” Nolla (VP of Business Development of Spectrum Gaming Group).

For more than an hour, and with different points of view, specialists analyzed the main regional markets (Mexico, Panama and the Caribbean, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile and Argentina. “Today Mexico is about to surpass  Argentina and is, no doubt, one of the strongest examples, with more potential in Latin America with regard to games of chance,” assured Romero, who was accompanied by Salat, commenting that “the Mexican market has a huge potential, although the country needs to order its legislation to achieve more growth.”

 “Panama is probably one of the most remarkable and interesting cases in the whole region, because it counts with a solid, clear and mature legislation, which enables operators to make big investments,” commented Giner during the exhibition, and was supported by Nolla, who considered that “Panama growth has been very important, not only for its local gaming industry but also for the whole Latin American sector.”

When commenting about the positive changes of some of the regional markets, Salat assured: “Three years ago, Peru offered a highly irregular gaming sector, with a great number of illegal operations, and MINCETUR labor achieved to boost a very positive legislation, forcing operators to become legal. NOwadays, we can say that Peru has become one of the most regulated regional markets, with almost 100% of its machines operating legally. And Colombia seems to follow a similar path, because recently, it counted with many small operations that were difficult to control, to which it added a great number of second-hand machines, that infringed the copyrights of the top international companies. Today, with the decision of the government to dismantle ETESA and creat Coljuegos, there have been clear intentions to bring this huge potential market the possibility to regulate and grow in a healthy manner. Both Peru and Colombia are very interesting markets for the operators that wish to expand their presence in Latin America.”

Finally, he commeted about Chile and Argentina, to highly different markets with characteristics wortly to analyze. Chile carried out a strong growth in recent years, so it currently offers a widely regulated markets, in which the operators have a sort of “exclusivity or monopoly,” in the region in which they operate. “It has enabled to srengthen very profitable operations in Chile, due to a solid legislation.”

Argentina, on the other hand, offers many aspects, which concentrates a highly developed gaming sector, with a gaming volume that, according to the four specialists “may difficulty be compared to any other worldwide”. However, far from imposing, goes through a sort of crisis. “Nowadays one of the main difficulties that the sector faces has to do with a descentralized system of gaming control, because each province manages in an independent way, which has generated a conflict that has prevented the creation of a national frame in issues such as the development of online gaming,” commented Romero, who also added that policies boosted by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner with regard to imports “have put more obstacles in the growth of a potentially huge market.”

Salat added that, due to political demands imposed to providers of the sector, to respect a well-adjusted trade balance, many companies have to make deals with exporters of any kind of products in order to be able to sell machines, which has led to decrease the sale of equipment to local operators.

This way, the panel revised some of the main qualities of the region, highlighting that, instead of analyzing the “risks of operating in Latin America”, it is important to remark the opportunities that the region offers today in terms of growth, only similar to some of the thriving Asian markets.