GMB - What is your evaluation of CONAFUT? Do you believe that the event also became a relevant space for the Brazilian gaming market?
Ricardo Magri - I think that CONAFUT has become a phenomenon organically, I am very happy to be involved in all parts. In the first editions I was invited to participate, there are two Sportradar supports in some way, but, it has reached a spectacular size this year, is small for the physical space where it is and, most importantly, is an open event that I believe the public invests in to gather important information and go back home happy. But for us, that we are part of industry, it was very important, as everyone was there. The clubs, the federations, the service sectors, I've seen people from digital television, data-market, very strong companies that everyone knows as Futstats, Nsports, rights representatives, ESPN is one of the supporters too, everybody was in CONAFUT. I've been working for six years with absolutely everyone that's relevant here and when I use that term is to say that it turned out in a meeting place for us as well. It is a mark on the calendar next year: 'when will be the CONAFUT?' to pursue any subject with anyone in the sector.
Regarding the panel on the Impact of Sports Betting on Brazilian football in which you participated, what is your evaluation and the importance of it at that moment?
This was a theme that we always came across in other panels when we talked about something else. There was a panel I participated in last year on the audience's digital consumption where I talked a little bit about betting and the fantasy games that are correlated. This year we had a panel about it and it's very healthy, it's time. The regulations are close but the activity of the betting companies here already happens and this is a situation in a perfect timing to be approached competently in a well-assembled panel with service providers, a great mediator from ESPN who has shown himself understood and studied to conduct the panel well; an operator itself and a club that has already benefited from this ecosystem. It's a situation that I was very happy to have participated in and contributed to add to content.
During the talk you mentioned the importance of legislation absorbing illegal gambling. What is the importance of this and how can Brazil achieve this goal?
When legislation, in a country that has no regulations, cannot get players to play legalized products, there is the fault. If you google ‘regulations in that country failed’, everyone who understands and even those who do not like to quote 'Portugal did not work'. If you google ‘why’ you will read just this: the failure was in bringing aliquots or charging the wrong line of the wagering site balance; instead the revenue is the profit; instead of being a tax in such aliquot was in another; these things make the betting site to be competitive and do not damage its own performance, it has to put a higher price and then players do not play on it, continue to play in other markets and this does not absorb illegal gambling. This has been a very big concern in the United States, in Colombia, who are doing it very well. There are countries in Europe that have not done very well, and in the US itself, as it is state by state, it is important to see which ones went the wrong way and are not getting that result. So, when you hear someone saying that the legislation in some country has failed is because it has failed to absorb the public who plays illegally to the legal options. That is the great virtue of legalization, and in what we need to pay attention so that we don’t take the risk that it happens here.
You will attend the public hearing tomorrow in the Sports Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, which will discuss the best practices for the regulation of sports betting. What is your expectation and what do you intend to present to parliamentarians?
This audience is an exchange of knowledge, a way of contributing knowledge to our legislators. Of course, they also made up their teams with people who know gaming and the situations of other countries, but companies, not people. For example, Sportradar has a privileged position in this situation by providing technology for gaming, as it is the main supplier of the gaming market in all parts of the world, we bring some nuances of what worked or not with our customers and what is observed in different situations. So, Sportradar goes with three representatives: Ricardo is a fourth person on the agenda, but it is not necessarily my content that will contribute. The package of information we are taking, along with other providers who have been invited, is the main one. So the main reason is this: it is to make an exchange of information to ensure that those points of attention that we have touched lightly on a one-hour law panel are well documented for them to pay attention not to run the risk of make a law that does not bring the main benefit.
Besides the audience, what is your opinion about the other political movements for the legalization of gaming in Brazil? Do you believe that we will have the approval of any project still during this government’s period?
This is not exactly my specialty, but as I am following some moves closely I can say that I am impressed with the speed. There are several political and bureaucratic locks in the legislature, for example. Some projects are not priorities and end up staying for later, and this happens with gaming and sports betting. The legislature will, of course, prioritize themes such as social security, but I believe that once this matter has been followed, others will be treated with the attention they deserve. The gaming industry has worked hard to show its importance to the economy and tourism industry, for example, has already embraced the cause of casinos as a strong generator of wealth for Brazil. And the industry looks favorably on how the American market, for example, has adopted sports betting within casinos. Today, a foreign betting website cannot simply reach the American market and settle in. You should join the big casinos for that. In Brazil, large corporations such as MGM and Caesars, for example, are not yet present, but are working hard with the tourism industry to show the importance of the activity. I think it's good that they do this, and that Brazil has this regulated activity. I just do not believe that the legislature will deal with all issues at the same time. I believe that you should start with what is already better addressed, such as online betting. Then the other gaming modalities. So, I think there is a chance that something will be approved in less than a year or even later this year, depending on the pace of the themes considered as priorities.
Returning to sports betting, what would be your preferred model for regulating the activity? In the form of concessions or a monopoly model?
The model must be free. We have a huge market and Brazil has enormous potential. The country has an incredible audience and once we are well structured financially and in infrastructure - like everyone with internet access, for example - we will divide the podium with countries like the United States and China. We cannot miss this timing, this prerogative for the gaming industry. What I mean by that is that if we do everything right, we'll have the right number of players, no monopoly. Who will regulate this will be the will or the ability to work well the licenses. That is, instead of restricting the 15 players of the sector, put a barrier of entry in which perhaps fifteen can overcome and allow others to improve to be the sixteenth and thereafter. That does not mean that you directed, you used the ruler to make a filter naturally; because you cannot risk that after leaving behind a few years of regulation, five or six regulated sites are approved. Colombia has already reached 17 in a year, which is something expressive for a country of its dimensions, with regulated gaming.
Do you believe that the Ministry of Economy will use the time it has been given to make the regulation of sports betting or will it need another period to finish the job?
I think they will use a concept that the new digital generation class knows well. I think they will release not a beta system but will use a prerogative that Portugal used and needed, which was to have two years to adjust and repair. It went wrong there, but they used those two years for tweaks, and everything is getting better. They're going to launch, probably this year or the beginning of the next as I told you, to adjust and integrate more things, like casinos, bingos and other types of online gaming. I think this can happen quickly and everyone involved will use the two-year period for adjustments and course corrections. This is the usual time that markets that regulate the activity take to consolidate the legislation.
Source: Exclusivo GMB
