Brazil: The online gaming industry demands new regulation for the sector

During the first talk of the second day, held at Windsor Barra Hotel, called "Brazilian Gaming Market: Do’s and Don’ts and the way to continue,” exponents of horse-racing, lotteries and traditional betting spoke of the importance of renovating the current legislation, although they pointed out that, given the present circumstances, reaching that goal in the short term is unrealistic and in any case there is a lack of political will for it..

Ney Carvalho, moderator, historian and journalist, gave a clear introduction to the theme, explaining that Brazil is a country with strong roots in the gaming activity. "Games were always present in the habits and pastimes of our society. So nowadays, forbidding or allowing gaming is not the real alternative: the only option is opening doors to gaming, but with strong state control.”

Andre Gelfi, General Director of Codere Brasil, had the following to say: "Discussing the problem from the premise of forbidding or permitting gaming is not a real discussion. We must understand the advantages and the alternatives that a controlled legalization of gaming would bring, regulating the activities within a strict framework, controlling the activity and also guaranteeing employment, generating money for the state through taxes, and ensuring transparency and ethical practise by operators, and, above all, respect for consumers.”

"We must take the best international experiences and adapt them to the Brazilian situation, so, in my view, the debate does not have to do with allowing or forbidding gambling, but with regulating it, in order to safeguard the benefits it could generate for society,” he added.

Filippos Antonopulous, CEO of Vermancia, an international firm dedicated to the production and distribution of gaming content, looked at the experience of Intralot in the country’s lottery operations, and explored alternatives to open the market: "It is important that the people in charge of legalizing gaming may travel and compare the gambling activities globally, especially the market experiences in sportsbooks and, in this way understand that they are part of a ‘social ecosystem’ in many other countries. Sportsbooks are more a cultural issue than a simple activity to regulate,” he stated.

"The providers of international services should participate in the discussion for the regulation of sportsbooks in the country, to bring their vision and experience on the matter. It is remarkable the way in which, once games are legalized, the illegal market decreases and legal gaming starts growing. Sportsbooks are a highly complex gaming activity, and the offer of legal providers is impossible to match by illegal ones, both in structure and in number and quality of products, so legalization is a highly effective way to put an end to illegal activity,” added Antonopulous.

Then it was the turn of Jose Vecchio Filho, president of Jockey Club de Rio Grande do Sul, who argued that nowadays the Brazilian horse-racing industry is working with the aim of including casino games to the operation of the main national horse-racetracks. ”Since we don’t have an organized activity, we see horseracing activities in Uruguay,  a country with 3 million inhabitants, is currently more important and professional than in Brazil, a country with 127 million people".

"From the Presidency of the country’s Jockey Clubs, we have worked hard to bring improvements to the activity, tripling our gaming volume in just four years. However, we have a limit and nowadays, at a national level, the focus of those who comprise the sector in Brazil is on transforming horse-racetracks into "racinos" – betting for casino games as a complement to horse-racing activity – in order to modernize our centers, offer more and better betting models, and making things simpler and more attractive for the bettor,” said Filho. "It is time to innovate; but we need more lobbying, we need more support and while football - an extremely popular activity in the country - has all the government support, we continue working to obtain backing in Congress for new regulation.”

"Bingo halls, several years ago, were very popular. We have a wide gambling culture in the country, but the negative image that press has given to gambling has undermined this activity. Now we need a new law, because the one that is in force is from 1974 and we are asking for a renovation in the regulatory framework,” added the Head of Rio Grande Do Sul Jockey Club.

"We need to renovate and expand technology with Internet and mobile gaming, and enable society to have access to modern centers and gambling alternatives such as those in Uruguay (Hipódromo de Maroñas) or Argentina, (Hipódromo Argentino de Palermo).  If the horse-racing activity does not renew itself, the gambler will emigrate to other alternatives, and here is where illegal gambling comes in, which reduces contributions to the state in taxes and does not support an area of the economy that generates thousands of jobs in the country.”

"We, the presidents of the Jockey Clubs, are working in order to obtain the license for a project to operate slots on horse-racetracks. We will present our proposal, our studies, and we encourage the authorities to pay attention to the experience in Uruguay, because the Jockey Clubs of San Pablo and Rio de Janeiro could easily exceed the performance in Uruguay with Hípica Rioplatense, for example", concluded Vecchio Filho.

In the afternoon, national and international authorities and executives made a review of their main policies and measures to ensure best practices in the sector, tools and strategies, responsible gaming, the fight against money laundering and support of terrorism, security and a panel regarding integrity in sports, ethics and crime prevention.

Today, Maghno José, a journalist and editor of the BNL news service, will feature at the event, speaking on issues such as innovation in lotteries, growth of social gaming and how to draw consumer attention to sportsbooks.