Foreign gambling companies eye Brazilian market

Returning after their year-end holidays, congressmen will resume discussions on the legalization of gambling in the country - including bingos, casinos, "jogo do bicho" and bookmakers.

The debate was strengthened by the crisis, which has led the government to consider the revenues from the new activities - estimated in R$ 15 billion (US $3.7 billion) a year - as an option to improve its accounts.

To guarantee a share of this potential new market, companies of the segment have reinforced the lobbyist team. The appetite was clear at a recent international fair of the segment in London.

At the event, Italian slot manufacturer VNE was exhibiting its stand with a Brazilian flag which read: "Machines ready for the Brazilian market." The exhibitor said: "We are all eager."

With the same expectation, another company, multinational AGT, has an office in Brooklin (in the south zone of São Paulo), waiting to resume business, which has been suspended since bingos were banned in 2004.

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Lawyer Luiz Felipe Maia, who works for companies of the sector, says the companies that are interested in entering the Brazilian market should carry out public relations to change the image of gambling in the country - currently it is associated with crime.

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ALTERNATIVE

While the subject is discussed in congress, other multinational companies in the sector began to operate legal forms in Brazil as they wait for a possible expansion.

Intralot has activities in 55 countries and participation in the Minas Gerais state lottery - it also holds the activities as experiments to try to expand its businesses to new places.

This month Codere of Spain launched in Brazil a new online platform for horse racing bets - one of the few forms of legal betting in the country.

WinnerPlay, the new sponsor of Corinthians, an affiliate of Israel's bookmaker Winner.com, has a website that gives prizes to unpaid guesses on soccer game results.

Market analysts say that the model is ready to be transformed into a bookmaker website if the legalization project is successful in congress.

Pedro Trengrouse, a professor at Fundação Getúlio Vargas and a specialist in sports marketing, says that the sector's interest in Brazil is very clear at the moment.

Trengrouse believes that Brazil is one of the last members of the G-20 (the group of 20 wealthiest countries in the world) to regulate the activity.

Members of the Finance Ministry dedicated to managing market regulations were interviewed by Folha on condition of anonymity. They said that, with the economic crisis, the environment to discuss the subject is at an all-time high.

One of the projects on the theme is even part of the Agenda Brasil, a document that lists the proposals against the crises that are considered priorities by the president of the senate Renan Calheiros.

For the proposal to come into effect, it has be analyzed by the special commission and also must be approved in a plenary session and in congress before it can be sent for sanction or veto of the President of the Republic.

Congressmen, in turn, are analyzing another project of similar content, which also has to be approved by the senate first.

At the prospect of the opportunity, lawyer Luiz Felipe Maia, who works for companies of the sector, says the companies that are interested in entering the Brazilian market should carry out public relations to change the image of gambling in the country - currently it is associated with crime.

Maia, speaking to an audience of international investors at the beginning of the month, declared: "This is the time for lobby."