"If legalized, Brazil would quickly become the leading country in the region"

GMB - Tell us about the success and the repercussions after the 1st National Convention of the Gaming Industry in Mexico…
Miguel Ángel Ochoa Sánchez - The First National Convention of gaming has a double repercussion. In the first place, it is the first time that the entire gaming industry in Mexico gathers around issues of common interest. Not only the Permittees and Operators, but also the suppliers and, very particularly, the regulatory authority and other authorities related to the sector. The repercussion is that this will imply that, being the first, there must be others.

How was your participation in the round table "Challenges and Opportunities of the Industry"?
I tried to make it clear that today we have, among other challenges, to make the governmental authorities and those of the states stop seeing the Industry as an enemy. On the contrary, the sector is an opportunity to create jobs, get investment and, above all, to generate resources.

Another challenge is the fiscal issue. Currently, the Mexican tax system is very confusing; because the Federation, the states and the municipalities charge us taxes. We need this to be organized so that there is only one charge in the whole country and this offers greater certainty for those who are investing. A great opportunity is to take advantage of a new legal framework that provides greater certainty to the sector as a whole.

About the contents, did you draw interesting conclusions to share?
Conclusions? The most important is that there is a new regulatory framework of the law in our country and the second that regulates a more orderly tax system, as we have just commented.

The presence of large companies, associations, etc., suggests a new edition for 2018 ...
Of course. Having managed to get the first, it was difficult because we had little time for it. In addition, we had the quake of September, in addition to the Las Vegas exhibition. However, we managed to celebrate it. This makes us think of 2018, although, in advance, we know it will be a complicated year. Because for this date, there will be a new President elected in our country. However, the second Convention will be done, I am convinced. And, from now on, there will be more editions.

How do you see the Mexican gaming industry in the context of Latin America?
I think we are really children, in the sense of time, in the sector. We are only ten years old and, evidently, Argentina, Peru, Colombia, and in its case Brazil, are older. However, very quickly Mexico ranked second in Latin America and I think this allows to think that in the Latin American context it has a great advantage because it is close to the economies of the United States and Canada. And also, it has very favorable weather and geographical conditions.

Specifically, the casinos issue comes down for Mexico. Is it real that Chile exceeded its numbers?
No. The issue of casinos in Mexico is not down. It has grown. The issue is that it has grown very slowly because the regulatory authorities have wanted to order the sector a lot, causing a very slow growth that, evidently, has allowed other countries such as Chile to have grown much faster and exceeded us. I think it is a temporary overhaul and that Mexico will soon recover its second place in Latin America and could point, if the authority sees with a more positive approach the growth of the industry, to have the first place in Latin America.

Is local legislation the one that slows growth? What changes are needed?
Yes, we have obsolete legislation. This year marks 70 years in force, when it also had no reform. When this law was created in 1947, there were no major scientific and technological advances that we have today and that do require a new law. It has already been approved, in our country, by the Chamber of Deputies in 2014, and we are expecting that of Senators in this legislative period. I hope so.

From your place, what information arrives to you on the process of legalization of gaming in Brazil?
What arrives is that apparently the subject is on the right track. However, the sector is in a situation very similar to that of Mexico. The Chamber of Deputies has already approved it and the Chamber of Senators is missing. But it is in the midst of a great controversy and confusion of corruption at the federal level. However, I think Brazil's problem is that if they do not legalize gaming, it will continue to exist, but in hiding. So it is better to regulate, to control and also generate taxes that help the Brazilian economy.

How do you imagine the Brazilian market in case legalization is approved?
Very quickly it would displace other countries in the market because of its size. And very likely, Brazil would become the first place with respect to gaming in Latin America, displacing not only Mexico but also Argentina.

AIEJA is an association in constant growth, what are your latest developments and future projects?
Indeed, the AIEJA is fulfilling this year, eight years of existence. Today we have more than 35 partners: we have 10 Licensees, 8 or 10 Operators and the others are suppliers, among which are very important manufacturers and another series of Authorized Service Providers, a training academy for croupiers, dealers, etc. , not to mention them all. This makes our association grow.

A novelty has been to promote the Convention with the other associations in the country, publish a magazine that has an important national circulation and now, I think the project will be that it has a Latin American and international circulation, why not? And, above all, there are new developments that we will surely present in the magazine of February next year. There we will talk about the projection of the association at least for the next two years, that is to say for the years 2018-2019.