GMB - What is your assessment of the work done to regulate sports betting so far? Do you believe it will be made the best law for the activity?
Leonardo Baptista - Regulation for us is something super important and it needs to happen, but it needs to be done the right way. I think they are still skidding a lot, there are several points to be tied up and it still needs to be well discussed. As it is, I don't like it, I don't think it's the right way. It will favor a lot of people who keep working the Gray way and help maintain that market, which is not the goal. What we really want is to regulate and make everything right.
Do you believe that there will be an expansion beyond the imagined for the gaming market in Brazil with the regulation of sports betting from 2020?
I think this boom only with the approval of the law, which has already happened, has been occurring. You look at the clubs of the Brazilian Championship -Serie A-, all or 80% of them already have some bookmaker sponsorship, they are all here, coming and looking here; We recently had, for example, the acquisition of 75% of Suaposta by Betsoon. We see that companies are coming to the country, investing money. It's a huge market, and obviously when it's regulated it's going to explode even more. But we are already on a paved path, everyone operating, who is not yet will come to operate. At Pay4Fun we already have 83 sites operating with us, plus 25 in integration, meaning the market is huge. Will there be this boom? I think it already has. Will increase? It will. The Brazilian market is giant.
How do you see Pay4Fun in this upcoming regulated sports betting market in Brazil?
The regulation for us will work very well. Today we already work tied to the central bank and follow its rules. That is, we form a payment method that does our homework from beginning to end. We know exactly who our client is, where the money comes from, where it goes. For us, regulation will only help. More customers will come to the country, more companies needing payment methods, and our future as fintech, as a digital bank, is fantastic with regulation. For us it will only help and not disturb. So, I am completely in favor. I want the regulation but making it clear: in the right way.
Towards the end of another business year, what is your assessment of 2019? What do you consider Pay4Fun's biggest achievement?
It has been “the” company year so far. In 2018 we started to crawl with the company. By in 2019, we are ending the year with 83 sites, 55 subscribers signed, plus 20 integration contracts. It was a phenomenal year for us. The whole company that starts, especially in Brazil where we know how difficult it is to start a company, we had that fall curve, we almost closed it, it was difficult, but, overcoming this barrier, the business exploded, grew and we are very happy. So,2019, for us at Pay4Fun and for me Leonardo Baptista, as director of the company, was a phenomenal year.
And what are the company's plans for 2020? Are there any plans to make new investments in the gaming market and even expand to other segments?
2020 is a year that we will be opening for e-commerce in general. We are already talking about partnerships with some banks to reach e-commerce and not be focused only on the gaming sector; we already have some agreements in this regard. We are going out with the Master Card prepaid credit card where the user will be able to enjoy his balance online directly on the card, which is very cool. We are launching the Pay4Fun app. And new giant customers are coming. Unfortunately, I can’t disclose here for the sake of contract, but I can say that some industry giants have already signed with us and are about to start operation early in the year.
Source: Exclusive GMB
