“Just in bingo, Brazil would be a market twice as big as all Latin America”

How do you asssess your participation in the 2016 ICE?

Europa is different from Latin America. The most important products here are coin hoppers. That’s why we have brought the whole range of CPI coin hoppers to the show. We have also exhibited the recicler, a new validator that recicles, which is widely used in Germany and is a top product in Europe. Besides, we have presented EASITRAX, a product that is already consolidated in the US and, of course, the SC Advance, the leading validator of the industry.

Of the products presented at ICE, Is there one in particular you wish to promote in Latin America?

We have several projects for EASITRAX. The concept proposed by our new recicler would also be positive for the region. However, SC Advance is the product that is actually used worldwide.

The company has had presence in Latin America for many years. What are the most attractive markets for 2016?

With the change of government, Argentina terminated the DJAI system (Sworn Import Declarations for goods) and we will see how does the market behaves from now on…

Do you expect further investments from operators? Or will there be a period of adjustments?

I think now they are free to purchase. Perhaps the demand was repressed during the last couple of years, but, paradoxically, our best year in Argentina was 2015. So it is something difficult to predict…We expect to maintain the level of sales.

And what about the rest of the regional markets?

We are very interested in Chile due to the upcoming opening of the casino in Ovalle and the tender process of the local casinos, which will start in 2017. Once again, it will be the top market. Peru continues growing. We are expecting to see the development of the implementation of the online control system in Colombia, which was postponed once again until October. Panama is a very stable market. We are having a normal growth rate.

Rumors indicate that the Brazilian market will reopen this year. What are CPI's plans in regards to Brazil?

It would be THE market. We predict that, between June and November, the law would be approved. The issue are the regulations. All the things that are not written in the law need to be defined. The devil is in the details. Just in bingo, Brazil would be a market twice as big as all Latin America. Everyone assures that there is an 80% probability that the law will be approved. In my view, I think that there is a 65% probability that it will be approved.