VIE 29 DE MARZO DE 2024 - 11:22hs.
Sergio Jardim, Clarion Brazil president

"OGS exceeded our expectations and we would like to repeat it at the end of 2019"

Closing the week of the first edition of Online Gaming Summit Brazil, GMB talks to Sergio Jardim, event’s director. 'The presence of the speakers was greater than we anticipated and I thank all the participants,' said the president of Clarion Brazil who already think of repeating in 2019: 'We'll evaluate if at the end of the year we make a second edition of OGS. It would be very interesting having the regulator here talking about what they are doing. We need to work quickly to establish the online gaming market soon in Brazil and not wait four years.'

What is your assessment of the first Online Gaming Summit Brazil? A new event with a new theme and so much needed in the country after the recent legalization of sports betting?

I think the event was very successful and even exceeded a little our expectations. We had a very great adhesion of the speakers in the last three weeks that was very positive. Recalling that the event was scheduled before the provisional measure was approved; we did not know it would happen. And why do we schedule the event? We talked to potential exhibitors and got very positive feedback from them that was confirmed; and there came the provisional measure (PM) that helped us bring speakers. So, I think it was good for theexhibitors, the presence of the speakers was greater than we anticipated initially and from the point of view of the lectures and panels I think, despite the short time to organize all this as we had only a few months, we have been able to bring people who are leading the process, for example the deputy that led the PM and got the approval. He was with us on Monday and spoke very well about the history and challenges he faced. I think overall it was very good.

Clarion often holds its events, like the BgC, at indoor places, like hotels and convention centers. For the sports betting theme of the OGS, the Pacaembu stadium was chosen to host it. What is your evaluation of the stadium? Has the structure offered by the venue worked well for the event to achieve its goals?

It worked very well. We actually had this idea to do at the Pacaembu stadium because there is already a similar event that is held at the Chelsea stadium in London and another one in Colombia that is done at El Campim. So we wondered if this existed in São Paulo and we came across the Pacaembu, whose great advantage is all its historical significance. It is a stadium that is almost 80 years old, can not be stirred and has a whole history of great confrontations that happened here. We came to know the place and we think that the auditorium, the facilities that we have here were enough to hold an event focused exclusively on online. As you know, sports betting is clearly going to focus on football because we do not have other so popular sports in Brazil. Abroad, you have the NFL (American football), baseball, the NBA (basketball), USA has many things and sports betting in England are focused on the various divisions of football. We know that this will be strong in Brazil, the theme coupled with the place and I thought it was good. I only regretted that few people stayed until later to participate in the visit to the Football Museum because it is surprising. A lot of people think that it is small, with little content and it is not. It is well stuffed with history and every football fan will remember many things when entering the museum.

Do you believe that taking place soon after sports betting was approved by MP 846 and during the start of the discussions about regulation of this modality, the event provide any political effect of being able to collaborate with the debate on the legalization of the activity as a whole?

One can not forget, and was treated in the event by several people, that there are many gambling sites in Brazil. They are not here, they are not based in the country, they do not pay taxes and do not hire a Brazilian to work. They are on the other side of the border, in the countries around here, in Europe, in Japan, whatever; because once this goes on the internet as long as you can do it and the player can put his money to bet, it works. And so, as some say here, it's perfectly legal; because you pay the IOF (Tax on Financial Transactions) send the money, it is registered, so there is nothing wrong with that. But it does not bring benefits to the country, and this is very bad for the country. So I think this helps to explain, but we have to keep in mind that a lot of people already play and the important thing is to understand how important will be bringing this market that already exists to Brazil. And here comes my personal criticism: two years, two more to regulate this is too much. It is a very long term and does not make sense. I think this has to be reduced, I hope that President Temer in making the sanction will do a partial veto and reduce the time. In the digital world, it has no sensce to take four years to implement a regulation that several countries in the world have already done. I think we have the competence to hire an experienced company and also use our heads; there are several lawyers here who are in the industry. So, it does not have to take four years to make a regulation of online gambling or any modality. It's a very long time.

What is the momentum that online can give to the other gaming modalities to also get their regulation?

We heard some very interesting words about it. I remember I asked the PMU staff, the company that runs the turf, thinking of the following: you have an old client population, they are not young people. How do you see the future of the sport if you can not bring the young audience? They replied that they are working on this, but also said they think online gaming will encourage the business. That is, those that can grow in this market by approaching young people, will start with online because youth is much more digital. So they're going to start online and think it's going to get clients to the racecourse. That was his opinion, specifically speaking of the turf, and also of other people who think this can happen. I've seen this too in Las Vegas, the casinos have this same concern. You see a casino and you do not see a young man. They are not in there. And how they will run a business in the future if young people do not participate. So, the way some people see a solution is with online becoming the gateway to the land based gaming.

What are the next events that Clarion Events is preparing for the gaming audience in Brazil?

Now in sequence, I do not know exactly the dates, but, we will have the first event in February that is ICE in London, in which we (from Clarion Brazil) have a very small participation because it is an international event. There are more than 100 nationalities present and you have everything because in England all gaming modalities are represented there; different from the American event that is aimed at the interests of the United States.

Our participation there is in panels that are assembled over Brazil, Latin America, we heard the regulator of Colombia, Brazil, the authorities of the Ministry of Finance. After that, we have in late May, the beginning of June, the Juegos Miami event, which takes place in Miami and has a very strong Latin American presence that is the focus of the event and Brazil appears a little there in panels to discuss regulation and other things. Then we have the BGC here in Brazil, on June 24 and 25, this year it was in April for the World Cup and now we return to the June date. Then there is a sports betting event in the United States called ICE North America that happened last week in New York and next year will be in Boston in December. And over time we have some other events going on around the world, like Japan and South Africa.

Here directly to us we will have the BgC in June; in May Juegos Miami and we will evaluate if at the end of the year we make an OGS 2 here in Brazil taking care specifically of online gaming.

The OGS 2 already with part of this regulation of online gaming working?

I hope so. It would be very interesting to have the regulator here telling what they are doing, where they are, when they will end, which are the important contributions. But, I think there is a certain lack of urgency. An online gaming regulation can not take four years. The world changes a lot in four years and not only new paths and channels can emerge, but also relevant facts that change the scenery. You can not discredit the speed of technology and innovation today. I think we need to work quickly so that Brazil can go online. We need to bring to Brazil the jobs and taxes that are already out there.

What is your message to all the people who participated in the Online Gaming Summit Brazil as lecturers, exhibitors, speakers, press and other groups that formed the audience of the event?

We have the duty and the obligation to thank our sponsors and exhibitors who supported the idea from the beginning, were favorable and were here confirming what they said. With regard to the congressmen who were sitting here, with whom we had a record number considering that we did an event without a greater preparation and still benefited from the approval of the PM; I found it extremely positive and we were immensely grateful these people were following the discussions. About the ones that participated on the panels, I do not have anything to talk about. They have made an extremely important contribution to us.

And the media is fundamental. I think in Brazil we need to have a strong movement in favor of the activity and can not make a move if we do not have the action of all the media. We talk about specialized media, which was all here and are our partners. But what about the big media? Our biggest example is Bandeirantes that covers all our events, likes to participate in it, focuses on this market and is always supporting us. I hope this will increase because in addition to the work of the industry that wants to present the proposals and expects the state to vote in favor of gaming, I find the work of the mass media very important to show that this is the worst of the worlds where you do not have any of the benefits of legalized gaming and all the malfunctions of legalized gaming. It's incredible, but it's what we have. So this reality needs to change. We do not have the option to choose whether or not to have a gaming sector in Brazil, it already exists, there is no way to curb it, it is impossible in a country with Brazil’s dimension, with the institutions that we have here, that gaming will be restrained.

So our chance is to choose whether we will regulate or not; we have all the advantages in regulating and many disadvantages in non-regulating. It is full of casinos, bingos, shops of machines where you can get it and play, all clandestine. Other countries exploring online gaming in Brazil, 150 thousand Brazilians go out every year to play outside and could be playing here, and all this is something we all know. And it is not because of the problems of gambling addiction, here you have an example: if you have a food problem and eat too much, if you go to a restaurant they bar your entrance? If you go to a pharmacy do they bar your access to medication that does not need prescription? In regulated gaming we have the opportunity to bar entry, even if the person is addicted to a particular modality, we can bar in all modalities thanks to a centralized control, a gaming agency and everything neede to do so. If you have a sector that gives even to control the addicts while you don’t have it in other things of our daily life. So what's the big disadvantage we're seeing? You can even suspect that there is something behind it. I know many have an ideological, religious position; but when you present the advantages of this business it is impossible that these people are not sensitive to it.

Source: Exclusive GMB