JUE 28 DE MARZO DE 2024 - 18:33hs.
Ricardo Mendes and Rafael Reuter, Livre Tecnologia Financeira executives

“Sports betting is already booming in Brazil and we are inserted in this reality”

The Brazilian firm Livre Tecnologia Financeira is a fintech that has been in the market for 14 years and, with the regulation of sports betting, will begin to offer its services to operators arriving to Brazil. GMB talked to executives Ricardo Mendes, director of the commercial and financial area; and Rafael Reuter, head of the sports betting sector; about Livre's trajectory, its position on the process of opening bets in Brazil and its action and expansion plans not only national, but also international.

GMB – Let’s start talking about the first steps of Livre and what are its services for the gambling industry?
Ricardo Mendes
- Livre started in the technology market 14 years ago. At first it was focused on the telecommunications sector and five years ago we opened a financial market division on the concept of fintech [digital banking] with payment gateway solution, wallet accounts for asset management, billing, issuance Master cards and also own flag cards. We have a flag that we have created in the last five years. Basically, this is Livre's core business. And recently through a partnership with new investors, Rafael is part of this group, we entered the online gaming sector, either for betting or virtual games. This is Rafael's know how. He has the business expertise and can explain better.

Rafael Reuter - With the legalization and future regulation of sports betting in Brazil, Livre saw a very important loophole: making White Lebel for betting sites. And what would that be? We will create a global financial universe. That means the person will have from P.O.S, the issuance of a card with the name of the site itself, the digital wallet and the digital account. We are able to do the whole eco financial system for a gambling site. That is our focus. Livre is one of the few companies in Brazil with its own software that can tailor our program to customer needs.

 

Rafael Reuter, head of the sports betting sector



What is your opinion about the process of regulation of sports betting in Brazil? Do you believe the Ministry of Economy will deliver a good job?
Reuter - It's hard to criticize, but whenever the gambling industry is regulated by the government, the entrepreneur's expertise or even international expertise is lacking. What I see in Brazil are some errors in taxation and a very long delay. While the rest of the world is already playing, collecting taxes; here we are skating and waiting to collect, and Brazil cannot afford to wait. Today bets are placed in the country that are not taxable. So, in my view, it should be faster and listen more to entrepreneurs.

Mendes - From my technical point of view on the financial side, Brazil is still very embryonic. I played poker 15 years ago and had companies that made money from Brazilians on international sites. We are not inventing the wheel, we have the tool, the market is lacking in it and we cannot act for the sake of regulation. In my opinion, it is a shot in the foot not to release the activity as I may have my tool being used internationally and generating taxes for other countries and not for Brazil.

Do you believe that after the sports betting regulation came into force there will be a boom in the Brazilian gaming market?
Reuter - Informally Brazil is already experiencing this boom. It's hypocritical the person who doesn't want to see this. Authorities should see reality and not pretend it is not happening. Sports betting is already done in Brazil, the financial movement is impressive, so surely being regulated, because it is legalized, this market will generate other factors and among them is marketing, digital marketing, on television, are a lot of jobs that will emerge.

And how do you see yourself in this market? How do you intend to insert yourself?
Reuter - We are already inserted. Attending the Clarion Fair [OGS / SPAC] is our first step into the market by offering White Lebel service to sports betting sites.

Mendes - We have tools ready to serve any betting site today and customizing products with own site layout. So, without having to create a patchwork we are already integrated with any kind of platform, any development. That’s just the beginning.

 

Ricardo Mendes, director of the commercial and financial area



Towards the end of the year, what evaluation do you make of 2019 for Livre? Which do you consider was the great achievement of the company?
Mendes - Our investments were all focused on eSports and betting. So, our vision is that 2020 is a very promising year.

Reuter - For this we closed two contracts. One with Instabet, a Canadian gambling site, and Fourbet, a Brazilian company based in Sao Paulo with website and physical points in the country. We have already started to do the development part. We can say that for Livre the betting market is already a reality.

Mendes - These two clients, which we recently got, believed in our product, our tool and are already operating. Livre is a reality in the world of eSports and sports betting.

What do you plan for 2020? What are the new projects and the main objective of the company?
Mendes - We are targeting the European market. There is a huge demand in this market and also in Asia. Electronic games and gambling in these centers are a reality. Our idea is to form partnerships and the OGS / SPAC event allowed us to meet new companies in the industry, which are not competitors, but partners, to strengthen this union and invade the European market with our services.

Reuter - Since gaming is online it can be explored internationally, so Livre has to be ready for 2020 with partners looking to enter the international market because today our payment solutions are only internal to the Brazilian banking system. The fair was very important for that: seeing new partners. And, of course, online gaming is not restricted to one country and will naturally be played in other markets.

Source: Exclusive GMB