John Maddox, Vice President of Government Relations at Caesars Entertainment, recalled that while Brazil still has no casinos, its company has been around the country for years. "Brazil has always aroused a lot of interest and the moment is the most favorable, since we are sure that in a short time we will have casinos approved in Brazil."
Alex Pariente, Senior Vice President of Casino Operations at Hard Rock, said there is great interest from his group in investing in Brazil. "We have been following with great care the direction of the discussions and I am fully convinced that the country will soon enter this important market," he said.
Pedro Cortés, from the Macau-based Rato Ling Lei & Cortés law firm, has been following debates around legislation to open casinos in Brazil and said that the path that the country is following leads his office to believe that the time has come for the passage of a law, seeking what has been done best in various parts of the world.
Pariente said that both his company and the big international casino operators look at the country with great attention and that after the experience of the bingos, which were closed many years ago, the philosophy of gaming has changed a lot and today it is expected that, as happens in Las Vegas, Macau, Singapore and Australia among others, Brazil will also take a new course, focused on seriousness, transparency and adequate rules of compliance in today's world.
Maddox compared what the gaming sector represented in the 1980s with what such an operation means today. According to him, today only 30% of revenue refers to gaming, while 70% represents non-gambling.
For Pedro Cortés, the integrated resort model is the most appropriate when thinking about complementary activities and, even more, from the point of view of the economy, since the whole environment would have benefits.
Pariente commented on the concern that some hotel operators are having when it comes to integrated resorts. "There should be no fear, since there will be a natural integration between an IR and the hotels of the region and the whole operation will complement."
Bruno Omori, president of the Brazilian Hotel Industry Association of the State of São Paulo, said that there should be no concern about a resort with a casino that would make other establishments unfeasible. "We have examples of big hotels that have settled in tourist cities and that have caused the same concern in the local operators. We have the example of Atibaia, in São Paulo, where a large hotel was set up, and the owners of small establishments thought they would have to close their doors. They just did not notice it and we showed them that this big hotel would have a convention space for more than two thousand people and that the hotel itself would not be able to handle the demand for rooms. And that's what happened, and everyone works in an integrated and complementary way," he describes.
Asked about the challenges that those interested in investing in Brazil will face, Pedro Cortés said that from a cultural point of view, there will be a much smaller impact than the same companies faced when they started their operations in Macao. "Important businessmen will come to Brazil and the country will have to offer political and legal stability for investors to make their contributions. This will be critical to a successful operation," he said.
Alex Pariente said that local partners will be key to the success of a venture as a whole, as in several operations. The same opinion has Maddox on the subject and Bruno Omori commented that the association he presides welcomes the big entrepreneurs of resorts integrated with casinos and that "many Brazilian entrepreneurs are willing to seek partnerships with major operators in order to participate in this market."
All the speakers of the panel agreed, in terms of legislation, that the regulation of gaming is fair to all parties. Investors should have legal security for their investments, the government should have a fair remuneration from the point of view of taxes and the population should have the assurance that the games are clear, transparent and protected, including education about responsible gaming.
Source: Games Magazine Brasil
